"What the hell where you thinking? Going out back here by yourself?" asked Daniel grabbing my arm after kicking the man on the ground who was moaning in pain right in the ribs. He rushed me around to the front of the building. "You could have been hurt! This ain't Oregon you know."
"I know, I'm sorry," I said, flustered. "I just thought I could get some fresh air."
"Yeah, and I'll tell ya, you almost got more than you bargained for," said Daniel. I looked nervously over at the man on the ground. "Don't worry Miss Rowena, he won't bother you while I'm with you."
"That's good," I said. "But what's with all of this 'Miss Rowena' business? I'm a singer, not a preschool teacher!"
Daniel shrugged. "Sorry honey, just thought I was being respectful," he said with a playful smirk. "I did just save your life you know."
"Yeah, I know, than you," I said, getting frustrated. "I'm grateful, but—"
"But what?" asked Daniel. "You know Rowena, if you wanted to get out of there so bad, you could have asked Audrey or me to go with you."
"I kind of just wanted to be alone," I said, trying to brush Daniel off and head back inside. Before I could reach my hand out to the door handle, he stepped in front of it.
"Ya know Miss Rowena, that's a load of bullshit," he said.
"I thought I told you not to call me that," I said grumpily. I shoved him aside and walked back into the bar. I looked around and saw that no one seemed worried about me missing; perhaps if they saw that Daniel was walking back inside with me no one would worry.
"Come on," said Daniel, following me to the stage. "Why would someone like you wanna be alone? You've practically got this whole bar at your feet!"
"That's why I want to be alone," I said, crawling up on the stage. "If you don't mind, Mr. Daniel, I have a show to perform."
"All right then honey, sing away Prima Donna!" said Daniel, giving a mock-salute and walking away to sit with Audrey. I gave him a rude look and got myself situated on stage.
"Everything okay, Rowena?" asked Paul to the side as he strapped his guitar back on.
"Peachy," I said. "I hope I wasn't gone for too long." I hope he didn't notice how long I was gone, or what happened. I know my own father would have a heart attack and get mad at me or anyone else who was with me. I just hoped that Paul wasn't like my dad.
"No…just in time," said Paul. "Where did you go?"
"Just outside, I'm fine," I said. "Needed some air."
"Okay Rowena baby, let's get this show started!" Henry called over from the soundboard. I nodded and the band started. As I sung, I put on the show that I had before, strutting about the stage, looking into the audience, same old show. I noticed eyes following me, and that was okay, but the eyes that caught my attention most where those of Henry. He seemed really into whatever I was doing on stage, which I guessed was a good sign, but upon closer inspection, I found that there was something…off about the way he was looking at me. I looked across the way to Audrey and Daniel; Audrey was having the time of her life, and Daniel was giving me that same smirk he always had on his face. I knew he was still busting me for what happened earlier. I looked back to Henry to see if he was still looking at me, and he was; eyes firmly fixed.
Trying not to let it faze me, I finished up the set, ending on an enthusiastic note. There was a loud applause once again, and I left the stage, careful not to venture out the door again.
"Terrific job beautiful," said Henry as I walked past the soundboard. "We've got a few things to tweak for the next show; we'll talk about them later, it's late."
"Ok—uh—okay, sure," I said, a little confused. The audience seemed to think I did a good job, and the band I played with too.
"Come on Rowena, let's get going," said Paul, gently nudging me out of the bar.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Gotta get out of here before Henry starts talking," said Paul. "He'll probably get you anyway, but it's best to stay safe." I didn't have the slightest idea what Paul meant, but I figured it was good to listen to him. "Nancy, Audrey, we've gotta go."
"Aw man, already!" Audrey moaned.
"Listen to your father Audrey," said Nancy, walking over. "Rowena, you sounded wonderful."
"Thank you," I said.
"Till next time then?" asked Daniel, coming over with Audrey.
"I guess so," I said.
"It was nice to see you too," Daniel scoffed. Audrey laughed, knowing already that Daniel and I were as good together as oil and water so far.
"I'll see you around," I said to him as we left the bar. Paul, Nancy, and Audrey were already outside when I turned to look at Daniel again. "And…thank you for earlier."
"Not a problem Miss Rowena," said Daniel with a wink. I turned back around with a sigh and met up with the others outside again.
"What did you just thank him for?" Audrey whispered to me.
"I'll tell you when we're in your room," I said.
"Oooh, secrets, I like!" said Audrey.
"What was that dear?" asked Nancy.
"Nothing mom!" called back Audrey, caught in the act. She looked back to me and said slyly, "It's a secret." We hid smiles behind out hands as Paul hailed a taxi and we headed back to the house.
Once we were off the taxi and in the house, Audrey grabbed me by my arm and dragged me up the stairs to her room. She shut the door, made sure it was locked, and turned to me. "Well?" she asked. "What's the big secret?"
"It's not so much that it's a secret," I said. "It's just that I don't want your parents to worry."
"Okay then, so what happened?" asked Audrey, getting jumpy.
"Okay," I said. "I stepped outside after the first set ended, for some air, and I started getting bothered, and I mean really bothered by this creepy guy."
Audrey's face turned from intent curiosity to one of disgust and worry. "Oh man Rowena!" she said. "Well, what happened? Is everything okay?"
"Well yeah, I'm alive, aren't I?" I said. "So this guy was coming onto me pretty strong and I thought that he was gonna end up having his way with me." I stopped and smiled a little. "But Daniel followed me out and punched him."
Audrey's eyes grew wide and interested again. "Oh!" exclaimed. "So Daniel saved you? You still think he's a pain in the ass now?"
"Well…I mean…yeah, I do, but I am grateful," I said.
"You do know he's gonna have this hung over your head as long as you're here," said Audrey.
"I'm prepared for that," I said. "I'd rather have that then a homeless creeper guy…uhg, I can't even say it…"
Audrey laughed. "Yeah, Daniel being a dumbass is better than a lot of things," she said. "Trust me, I know better than anyone in this place."
"I'm sure you do," I said. "Say…speaking of annoying guys…what exactly happened between you and Jack? Sorry if it's too personal, I'm just curious." Who knew? Maybe we could get to the point where I could tell her everything about Mr. Holland…I was itching to tell somebody, and Audrey seemed like the person I'd tell…too bad her father was a close friend of his.
"Oh, come on, it ain't personal at all, half the neighborhood knows," said Audrey. "Mostly because Jackass likes to sing to me from below my window…I'm actually surprised he hasn't started yet tonight. Maybe too late now…"
"He does that?" I asked.
"What can I say?" said Audrey. "He's a Jackass! Okay, so on to what happened. We've actually been dating on and off for about a year and a half…he broke up with me once for a little break, we got back together despite many warnings…from—like—everybody. Needless to say I didn't listen. Then the second time he dumped me was for a piece of stupid city plastic that ended horribly. Of course, silly little lovestruck me went back to him when he begged! Now this time he says I was too clingy, breaks up, and guess who's being the freaking clingy one? Nah, I ain't going back to him this time, damn sure!"
"Wow…" I said. "You sure landed a winner, didn't you?"
"Hell yeah," said Audrey. "So what about you? Romance? Daniel?"
"Oh, God no, not Daniel," I said. "Just…just some guy from back home, older guy." Boy was I getting close.
"Oooh, tell me more?" asked Audrey, intrigued.
"I—not right now, not the time," I said, blushing and turning away.
"What's wrong?" asked Audrey.
"Just—embarrassing, later," I said. Why was it so hard to tell a friend about a silly little teacher crush? Maybe because I was still feeling that way about him. This stupid situation had to get easier sooner or later.
"Fine, suit yourself," said Audrey. "It's late Rowena, wanna get some sleep? You must be exhausted after having your life saved!"
"Shut up," I said, tossing one of Audrey's pillows at her.
Audrey chucked the pillow back before taking it back and putting it on her bed again. "Goodnight goofy," she said. I said "goodnight" back and climbed up to the top bunk. After all of the craziness with the guy outside of the bar and Daniel, and also the chickening out of telling Audrey about Mr. Holland, I was satisfied with the day. It was still sinking into me that I had this gig every week! It was so fantastic, and I hoped that Mr. Holland would be able to get and reply to my letter soon; even if I didn't have feelings for him, it would still be very nice to hear from an old music teacher about my musical endeavors. Although…my mind went back to Henry and the way he acted tonight…very strange, almost creepy. Well, Paul and Audrey did warn me about him, maybe it was just him acting weird. Nevertheless, I would keep an eye on Henry, though not the borderline creepy one he had on me back at the gig.
Trying not to think of negative things like that to drain my happiness of the night, I drifted off to sleep. I went off faster than I did the night before; it was nice to not have worries for the next morning. Then I dreamed…
I was on a stage, dressed in a long, classy, black gown, with a big band behind me blasting out jazz hits. It was in a concert hall, and I was singing to thousands of cheering fans in the audience. Among them I saw Paul, Audrey, Nancy, Daniel, Henry, and Mr. Holland. All of them were smiling up at me as I performed; Daniel had his trademark smirk, Audrey was ecstatic, and Mr. Holland was looking at me with the utmost satisfaction—I could tell he was very proud.
Then I noticed Henry. He was looking up at me hungrily, lustful, next to Mr. Holland. He seemed to be studying every move I made up on that stage. It made me uneasy, but I kept on singing, walking the stage. Suddenly, the others were giving me warning looks, shouting, "Rowena, look out, you'll fall!" Of course, I didn't listen until it was too late; there was a nail sticking out of the stage, and I fell and tripped on it. The band stopped playing and turned to see what was wrong.
Tried to stand up again, but my gown was caught on the nail. I couldn't free it—when I stood up, the nail caused my gown to tear, ripping it all the way passed my knees. Everyone in the audience, except for Audrey, Paul, Nancy, Daniel, and Mr. Holland, who had horrified, worried looks, cheered, Henry the loudest of them all. Embarrassed at my lack of clothing, I rushed off the stage, ignoring the applause and the evil, lustful stare of Henry…
I woke up after what seemed like a few minutes, but the clock on the wall was at ten in the morning. I took a deep breath and tried to forget that horrible dream I just had and got out of bed to get ready for the day.
"There you are Rowena," said Paul when I came down the stairs all dressed. "Henry said he wants to see you in his bar today; just some business talk, you should go alone."
"Oh…uh…okay," I said, a little freaked out by that dream. I know most dreams people have go away after a while, but I had a feeling this one would be sticking with me for a while.
"Is that okay?" asked Paul.
"Oh, yeah, it's fine," I said. "If it's business it shouldn't be so bad."
"And Daniel will be there if you need any saving," said Audrey with a wink.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Nancy.
"Nothing, just being silly," said Audrey, covering up her blunder.
"Okay then," said Nancy. "Rowena, why don't you grab a quick bite and then get going. I think Henry wants to see you very soon."
"Okay," I said. Why was I so nervous? It was just a dream after all—I knew Paul wouldn't send me to a guy who was that creepy or dangerous. And Audrey was right—although Daniel was Henry's nephew and a little too high on his horse, he wouldn't stand by while anyone was giving me a hard time. I grabbed a biscuit up off the table and started to head out. Once I got outside, I chased down a cab that was driving by the house. I figured I would skip the subway since I would be travelling alone. Once I gave the driver the location, I held on for dear life through all of the stupid traffic and wondered why in the world Henry would want to see me this badly the morning after a show.
