Ch.1 Nicollette
"Nikki," called dad.
"Yea," I said.
"Are your things all packed and ready to go," he asked.
"Almost, I'll have everything soon, like gimmie 5 minutes," I said.
"Well get a move on because we are leaving in 15 minutes," he said.
I grabbed the rest of my tanning lotions and sun block and looked over to where my guitar was on my bed. I cannot forget that, it's my life. I realized that I haven't written a song in a while. Through my middle school and half of my high school years I used to write new songs all the time. It was the only thing that made me feel peaceful. My friends and family loved them and would look forward to me writing a new one. That all stopped at the end of my sophomore year of high school.
My parents had split and it was a nasty split. She cheated, he got mad, she moved and left us, and he supports the family now. I give a lot of credit to my dad because he is so busy all the time I don't know how he manages everything. However, he is doing a very good job with my help. I take care of Allison and Drake, my younger siblings. Allison is 13 and Drake is 10 so they fight a lot and are hard to handle sometimes.
It's summer time and I am going down to Florida to stay with my mother. Usually I don't go down there except for her birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This is an extra special occasion that im going down there for. Last year I sent my mom a song for fun to say that I was thinking of her. She gave it to one of the music producers she works with. (Yes, my mother works for a music video production studio called A Common Thread, Inc.) The man obviously though it was really good because he is coming to record my song in July. I should be happy about this but I feel like im trapped. There is no way out only to go forward where I will then have my picture in every magazine like Star! and OK. I'm the kind of person who likes to keep to themselves and not attract attention but I better be prepared.
I grab my guitar and my folder of songs, put my guitar in its case and grab my bags and bring them downstairs to the door. My dad was all ready to load up the car, he smiled at me and took my bags. I held onto my guitar because it makes me calm in stressful situations. I rounded up Ally and Drake and had them get into the car. Lastly I grabbed my cell and IPod and jumped into the passenger seat in the front. We were on our way to the airport. I plugged my IPod into my ears and slowly fall asleep.
"Nikki! Wake up," yelled Drake.
"Im up," I said groggily.
We had arrived at the airport and dad was getting my bags out of the trunk of the car. I put my IPod back into my purse and took it along with my guitar out of the car and put the guitar on my back. After everything was out of the car, we all walked into the airport lobby. We stopped and stood to the side. My dad got my plane ticket out of his pocket and handed it to me.
"Please be safe Nik ok. You promise," my dad said.
"I promise daddy. I will miss you guys sooo much," I said.
"No you wont, not that much, you'll go off and have fun and become famous and make us all proud. Don't worry ok just give us a call when you get to the airport in Florida," he said.
"Ok," I said.
I gave them all hugs and kisses goodbye and I was off pulling my luggage behind me waving to them as I walked away. I headed toward the check in where I gave the lady my two bags with my clothes and what not. She said my flight had been confirmed and to have a nice trip. I said thanks and took my ticket and put it in my purse. My flight doesn't leave for another 45 minutes so I might as well get something to eat. I went through security and had my purse and guitar bag checked along with me. I made it through and walked into the main corridor of the airport. There were many souvenir shops along the sides and even little restaurants. I found a Panera Bread and decided to get a sandwich from there. I walked in and stood in line and decided what I wanted.
I got to the cashier and told her that I ordered an Italian Combo on wheat, a small Iced Tea, and a sugar cookie. I gave her the money and waited for my food to be prepared. The man behind the order platform asked if I wanted it to go or if it was for here. I said to go so he put it in a nice container and bag. I took it and went across the hallway to the Souvenir shop. There I got a couple magazines, 5 gum, and Skittles just for a treat. By then my plane was leaving in 10 minutes.
I took out my ticket and saw that the Gate to board my plane was 25. I was at Gate 3 so I had to hustle. I walked fast and soon enough my Gate came up on the right. I stood inline and then gave my ticket to the ticket collector and walked down the platform to the plane. The flight attendant took the other part of my ticket and escorted me to my seat. I put my guitar in the upper compartment and sat down. A couple minutes later another girl came along and sat in the vacant seat next to me.
"Hey, I'm Shannon," she said.
"Oh hey, I'm Nicollette, Nikki for short," I said.
"So what are you doing traveling to Florida," she asked.
"I'm staying with my mom for a little bit for the summer," I answered.
"Awesome. I'm actually going to find a job being a DJ at one of the clubs in Miami. I'm all into music and shit," she said.
"Cool. So do you remix a lot of songs and stuff?" I asked.
"No, my dad helped me with most of that. I'm going to see if I can get some help practicing that stuff by someone down here. Hopefully I'll find someone," she said.
"So basically you wanna start a music career down there," I asked.
"Pretty much. So do you play anything, like the drums, guitar, keyboard," she asked.
"Yea, I play the guitar and write my own songs to play on it," I said.
"That's pretty amazing not a lot of people I know can do that. You must be really talented. So who is the musician in your family," she asked.
"Noone actually, I became inspired when one day this girl at my school played the guitar at the talent show and from that day on I wanted to learn how to play it. Then when I mastered it I started to write my own songs.," I said.
"Do you have any of your songs with you," she asked.
"Yea, you wanna read one" I asked.
"Hell yea, if it is alright with you," she said.
"Sure," I answered.
I stood up and took out my folder from inside my guitar case and picked a song that she would read. I picked My Lovely Lullaby. I handed it to her and she started to read it. As she was reading it I quickly texted my mom to tell her I was departing in 5 minutes and that I would be there at 3 p.m. She texted back saying she couldn't wait and that there would be someone there with a sign that said Nicollette DeSan. I thought to myself great, what a perfect way to draw attention to myself. Fuck! Oh well. Shannon then tapped my on my shoulder.
"Damn girl this is amazing! How did you get to be so good as song writing," she asked.
"I don't know I get inspiration from my life and other people's stories and I just write it down then add a beat," I said.
"Well it is amazing, and I will be right back because I am going to get some headphones. Do you want a pair," she said.
"No it's ok, and thanks," I said.
She got up to go get some headphones and then the pilot came on and said that we were hitting the runway on our way for take off and that we should be seated in the next three minutes with our seatbelts on. Shannon rushed back and we both put our seatbelts on. As we took off I looked out the window and said my last goodbyes to Connecticut for a while.