It had been a full month since the girls first heard about going on tour from Gus. Life had remained pretty static for them up until this point: going to work every day, hanging out at Jack's at lunchtime for a few hours, going home to prepare various things for their trip, and a little bit of relaxing while they still had the chance. Even Dusk reconsidered (albeit slightly) and finished off her last month working at Jack's, but still remained stubborn in her decision to quit when they went on tour.
"I'm going to miss you so much, daddy." Thorn said, feeling emotional. Although she lived in her own apartment and felt independent, she still saw her dad often and very much enjoyed her time with him. It was going to be hard to not see or talk to him for so long.
"I'll miss you too. I'm so proud of you girls, though. You've come so far in just a few months. This is going to be an adventure you'll never forget." Robert smiled.
Thorn gave her father one of the biggest hugs she ever had. The girls were leaving for their tour tonight after all, so it would be the last time they saw each other for a while.
"I love you, Sally." Robert said with a warmth in his voice.
"I love you too, daddy." Thorn replied, as she separated herself from her father's warm embrace.
Thorn felt a pang of sadness as she walked out the door. She was very excited to go on tour, so it surprised her how emotional this was making her. She tried to put the sadness behind her, and focus on the excitement of this new experience.
The black-haired goth got in her car and turned on the radio, as she turned the vehicle on and began driving away. Of course, the song she heard was "Hex Girl." Even a few weeks ago, this might have surprised Thorn. However, the song had continued to make great leaps on the chart. The song was now #5 on the charts with 13,000 plays weekly on the radio. Pretty much every station in the country was playing their song now at least once a day, if not more. According to Gus, many stations were playing their song every few hours. The album had declined a little on the Billboard Hot 200, but maintained a steady #2 spot. It was only beat out by a popular boy band, *NSYNC, with their album, No Strings Attached. If there was one thing America loved, it was boy bands, so it hardly surprised Thorn. She felt lucky that their album was still charting at all.
"Goodbye, dad! Goodbye, mom!" Luna waved emotionally, as she was giving her mother and father a hug outside the dentist's office.
"Wasn't that so nice of my mom to come to the office just to see me off?" Luna said to Thorn, as she got in the car. Her eyes looked a little red and puffy, signaling to Thorn that she had been crying. The three of them seemed to be on a spectrum of emotional reactions to this big life change: Thorn was moderately emotional yet excited, while Dusk was purely excited and acted like the change couldn't come soon enough. Luna, on the other hand, seemed somewhat resistant to the change and anxious about leaving her cozy life at home.
"Yeah, that was sweet of her." Thorn smiled. "How are you feeling about leaving today, by the way?"
"I'm not sure if I'm ready." Luna sighed. "I think I want to, but I'm nervous. I'm excited to share our music with the world, but it's going to be nerve-wracking to perform in front of such a big crowd. But I guess Gus said I'd get used to it once the tour began, so that's good."
"It's not forever, either." Thorn promised, patting the redhead on the back to comfort her. "It's only a month. If you really hate it, maybe we can figure out something else if we go on tour again someday."
"That's true." Luna looked a bit comforted.
Thorn pulled into the single empty parking spot on Jack's street. At this point, almost all of the leaves had fallen, leaving a few barren trees decorating the outside of the restaurant. As the girls entered the restaurant, they saw Bridgit, Sam and Nia sitting in their usual booth. On the other side of the restaurant, they noticed Dusk waiting on a bald-headed customer and his red-haired wife.
"Hi!" Bridgit exclaimed. "Come on and sit down! We've got so much to talk about before we all leave for the tour this afternoon."
"Yeah, can you believe we're going to be gone for a month?" Nia questioned.
"I really can't." Thorn shook her head and chuckled politely.
"Ma'am, this soup has a fly in it." Thorn could hear the bald-headed gentleman complain.
Thorn peered over to see how Dusk was handling the situation. To her surprise, she saw Dusk rudely put her finger in the man's soup and remove the fly, flicking it on the ground.
"Okay, there you are, sir. Sorry about that." Dusk apologized.
"I don't mean to be rude, ma'am, but that's disgusting! I'd like you to bring me a new bowl. I don't know where your hands have been!" the customer complained.
"They're gonna be up your ass if you don't back off! This is my last day working here, so I don't have to put up with your shit." Dusk snarled, as she walked off.
"Hell yeah!" Sam exclaimed. "Dusk's not taking shit from anyone. She's so empowered!"
Thorn most certainly didn't feel the same way. Ever since the girls found out about going on tour from Gus, Dusk had started occasionally becoming overly full of herself, to the point of thinking she was above other people. Dusk had always been a very sassy, tough-as-nails type person, but it had never gotten to the point of actively being mean to others like it had in recent weeks. Thankfully, it'd only happened a few times thus far. Thorn didn't care for Sam's remark either, because there was a difference between being empowered in yourself and disempowering others. Thorn wasn't particularly sure how anyone else felt about it, though.
"Hey Dusk." Jack said, sounding a little weary.
"Yeah, what is it, Jack?" Dusk said, her voice sounding more receptive once again.
"I know occasionally the customers can be a little less than sensitive, but can ya please at least try not to swear at 'em?" Jack said, seeming cautious about offending Dusk.
"I'm sorry…this customer was just being unreasonable and I let my temper get the best of me." Dusk apologized. "It won't happen again, I promise."
It was a very meaningless promise as far as Thorn was concerned, because Dusk had only 20 minutes left of her final shift. Moreover, Thorn disliked how Dusk pinned it on the customer. Thorn felt he was being very reasonable in not wanting a bug in his food, and Dusk took offense far too easily.
"So, are you girls all packed?" Nia asked, once the spectacle of Dusk's temper tantrum was over.
"Yeah. We packed last night." Thorn answered. "I always thought packing for a long trip like this would take forever, but it's really just making sure you've packed all your essentials and two weeks worth of clothes…since you can wash them while you're traveling."
"We're all packed too." Bridgit confirmed. "Now, we've just gotta wait for Dusk's shift to be done, and we'll be all set to meet my dad at the studio. From there, we can hit the road."
"Well, if ya want to head out whenever, you know, for your big trip, that's fine with me." Jack informed Dusk from a couple booths away. "I've really liked havin' ya around, Dusk. It's been helpful, even if it couldn't last."
"Thanks, Jack." Dusk gave Jack a big hug, as he returned the display of affection. "It's been fun working here."
"Best of luck on your trip!" Jack said, as he broke the embrace. "I just know you girls will bring the house down!"
"Thanks, Jack." Thorn said, taking her turn next to give the restaurant owner a hug. Once the hug ended, she noticed Luna tearing up a bit as it was her turn.
"I'm gonna miss you girls a lot." Jack said, hugging Luna.
"We'll really miss you too. But we'll be back in a month, and I guarantee you that we'll still come here all the time once we come back." Luna tried not to cry.
Jack quickly gave the other three girls, Bridgit, Nia and Sam, hugs as well.
"I'm so proud of all of you! I'm excited to hear about your adventure once you come back." Jack said, as the girls grabbed their coats.
"We can't wait to tell you about it." Thorn smiled.
The girls had driven back to their apartment, with Bridgit, Nia and Sam following them home. Thorn, Dusk and Luna quickly grabbed their suitcases and instruments from the apartment, before coming back down to wait for Gus. Their manager was set to pick them up at their apartment in less than 10 minutes, so they could embark on their tour.
The six girls gathered outside around the entryway to the apartment, looking over the tour schedule together. Gus had made quick work of calling everyone and scheduling all the venues for the girls, which they were incredibly thankful for.
"So first, we're going to Minneapolis, then Milwaukee the next day, followed by Detroit, then Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Columbia, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Hollywood, San Antonio, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston." Thorn read.
"How many days do we perform until we get a break?" Luna said, seeming exhausted from just the thought of it.
"We perform for three days, then we have a break for a day before performing two more nights in a row." Dusk answered.
"Sounds like a lot of traveling." Luna replied.
"I traveled from job to job with my dad a lot when I was younger. It's not as bad as you think." Sam said. "I kinda grew to like traveling after a while, honestly. It was fun to explore new places."
"I think that van is Gus. Isn't it?" Dusk pointed to a large blue van slowing down as it approached the apartments.
"It sure is." Bridgit said, grabbing her suitcase handle.
As the van came to a complete halt, Gus rolled down the window.
"Alright my groovy chicklets, the bus is all geared up and ready to go!" Gus excitedly announced.
Thorn, Dusk and Luna loaded their instruments and suitcases in the back of the van.
"Wow, I can't believe it. It's finally here." Thorn gasped.
"Yeah." Luna said, seeming a little uncertain and nervous.
"Yeah!" Dusk exclaimed excitedly, as she hopped in the front seat next to Gus.
Thorn and Luna sat in the middle row of seats, while Bridgit, Nia and Sam all squeezed in together in the back seat.
"This is a really neat van, Gus!" Nia exclaimed. "What features does it have?"
"Thank you. This is the studio's tour van that we bought a number of years ago." Gus explained. "It doesn't particularly have any special features, other than I suppose its large size to accommodate so many people. Although, I'm not exactly a car person, so I wouldn't know how to describe the features even if it did have any."
"Can it pop a wheelie?" Sam inquired, looking eager to hear Gus's response.
"No, it can't do a 'pop a wheelie'." Gus's tone got a bit sarcastic. "The main feature of this tour van is that it's a van for touring. Happy?"
"Not really." Sam responded in a pouty voice.
"We've got a long trip ahead of us, girls." Gus said, as he drove the van away from the apartments. "It's going to take us 20 hours to get to Minneapolis, so we'll need to take turns driving."
"20 hours?" Dusk exclaimed. "Damn."
"Any ideas to keep us entertained?" Bridgit inquired.
"We could count the number of cows we see from now until we get to Minneapolis." Luna suggested.
"For 20 hours? No thanks." Dusk laughed.
"Does anyone have any concerns about the concert they want to discuss?" Gus asked.
There was a brief pause for a moment, where no one said anything.
"I guess I'm just still worried about being shy." Luna finally spoke up. "It feels like it's going to take a lot out of me to perform every night."
"That's a very valid concern." Gus acknowledged. "A lot of people in your place feel that way before touring. However, many people end up feeling that the joy of sharing their music with the world is so rewarding that they can handle being pushed out of their comfort zone for a little while."
"So I shouldn't be worried, because I'll get used to it?" Luna inquired.
"Well, I wouldn't say you getting used to it is something certain." Gus cautioned. "Everyone handles experiences differently, so you may find you hate touring. There's no way to know until you try. If you hate it, you'll just have to figure it out and reevaluate with your bandmates when you cross that road."
"Okay, thanks." Luna smiled. Thorn couldn't really tell if her friend was feeling any better or not, even though she verbally gave the sense that she was. In honesty, Thorn wasn't even sure of her own feelings. She was excited about the tour, but very nervous about all the pressure to perform in front of all of those people. Thorn had always dreamed of going on tour, so she wasn't sure why it felt so nerve-wracking now that it was actually happening. She supposed it would only be a matter of time until she found out if touring was really for her.
It had been sixteen hours in the car.
Thorn woke up to see the sun shining outside the van window. She'd been having a dream about being on tour that she only half-remembered. Instead of the dream of people shouting her name in happiness that she'd had so many times before they had any sort of chance at success, Thorn dreamt of people booing her. She didn't remember why exactly the people were booing her in the dream, but she remembered how much it hurt, because she had done as best she could, and it still wasn't good enough.
As Thorn woke up a bit from her groggy state, she realized they'd switched drivers, so that Gus could rest while Nia drove.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Bridgit chirped. "4 hours left."
4 hours still felt like so much driving remaining, but at least the trip was already 80% over. Thorn supposed she'd get used to it after a while on the road, but right now, it felt like so much time to be in the car.
"Would anyone like to stop to go to the bathroom?" Nia asked. "There's a gas station up ahead, so now would be a good time."
"Yeah, I think I'd like to." Thorn responded.
"And maybe we could get some breakfast, too." Dusk suggested. "I'm starved."
"Alright." Nia said, as she turned off on the exit ramp. "It's going to be good to stretch. My legs are so stiff."
"Mine too. My mind is feeling so fuzzy and unfocused, as well." Luna said. "I'm probably going to forget the words when we perform tonight."
"It's probably just because you're worrying." Sam commented. "You know there are Wicca rituals to help with that, right?"
"We could do one after stopping at the gas station. We've got the time." Bridgit suggested.
"In front of your dad?" Thorn whispered, expressing surprise. She wasn't sure how on board Gus was with them being Wiccans. Most people in Oakhaven weren't particularly accepting of Wiccans, particularly those who knew about the Sarah Ravencroft debacle from the previous year.
"Yeah, of course." Bridgit shrugged. "He doesn't care we're Wiccans just because he isn't one. Right, dad?"
"No." Gus chuckled. "Not at all."
Thorn felt like Gus's chuckles had a hint of nervousness or uncertainty, but that could have been just her imagination.
"Do you want to do one, Luna?" Bridgit asked.
"Sure." Luna shrugged. "Couldn't hurt, I guess, even if I'm not a Wiccan."
"It's not going to work." Dusk rolled her eyes.
"I think it could work regardless of if Luna's a Wiccan or not." Thorn replied. "Wicca rituals aren't real magic, they're just using your collective energy to help bring something into being."
"So, if we all used our collective energy to get a big, juicy hamburger at once, it would just appear?" Dusk replied sarcastically.
"You never know!" Sam giggled.
"Okay guys, we're here." Nia said, as the van pulled next to one of the gas pumps and stopped. "You can all go ahead inside. I'm going to fill up while we're here."
"Okay, I'm going to get some coffee and a muffin." Thorn informed.
"Do we have to get coffee at a gas station?" Dusk sighed. "We're going to be making mega-bucks from this tour. We don't need to drink shitty gas station coffee like we're bums off the street."
"She does have a point." Nia realized.
"There's a Starbucks across the street, if we want to stop there." Bridgit pointed out. "They've got great coffee."
"Sure, we can do that." Thorn agreed, as she held the door open for Gus and the other four girls.
"Yeah, let's definitely do that." Luna said. "I don't want to stay in this gas station any longer than we have to. This town seems super weird."
Thorn looked over to one of the aisles, where a news reporter, dressed in a fancy suit, stood. The man had a microphone in his hand. He looked to be reporting live, and was being followed by a cameraman.
"This is Bill Johnson for Channel 6 Action News, and I've just gotten word that a local man has started a fire at a gas station!" the reporter exclaimed, as he pulled out a packet of matches from his pocket. He took a match out, and struck it on the rough side of the packet until he saw a flame. "Ladies and gentlemen, that local man is me."
The cameraman sighed in response. "Bill, what have I told you about creating your own news on slow days?"
"I'm sorry." Bill hung his head in shame, as he blew out the match.
Thorn shuddered at the anchorman's abnormal antics. She hoped all cities she performed in weren't like this, but there was no way she could be sure. One thing was for sure, she was going to get to the bathroom as quickly as she possibly could so she could get out of this place.
"A small vanilla latte with soy milk, please." Luna concluded her order, as they went through the Starbucks drive thru.
"Okay, so we've got three vanilla lattes - one of them with soy milk, one mocha, one black coffee, a caramel frappuccino and a raspberry white mocha. Did I get everything?" the barista's voice came through the speaker attached to the drive-thru menu.
"Yep, that's everything." Nia confirmed.
"That'll be $20.78." the barista said. "Please pull ahead to the window."
"20 bucks?" Luna exclaimed. "That's pretty expensive for just coffee."
"We're big-time musicians now." Dusk boasted. "We're finally getting the coffee for breakfast that we deserve. We probably would have just gone to a gas station and gotten it from a machine before, but now we can afford real quality drinks."
"More expensive doesn't necessarily mean quality." Thorn challenged.
"Whatever. You get what I mean. We can afford a fancy treat for breakfast and we should be proud of that." Dusk replied.
Thorn still didn't agree with Dusk's sentiment. She personally thought the touring money should be spent on important things, rather than frivolously blowing it on foolish things like a round of coffee and breakfast for them all. Sadly, that seemed to be the lifestyle Dusk was embracing though. To sum things up, it seemed that Thorn and Luna considered fame as something a little extra that supplemented their already rich lives, whereas Dusk viewed it as an accomplishment that gave her bragging rights. She only hoped Dusk would soon see past the initial excitement that being famous gave her, so she could see that fame wasn't just an excuse to be a narcissist.
Nia drove up to the window, as the woman repeated the total. "$20.78, please."
"Here you go." Nia said, handing her a twenty dollar bill, three quarters and three pennies.
"Alright, here's the coffee." the barista began handing Nia the drinks one by one. "Have a nice day!"
"You too." Nia said, as she pulled over into a parking spot to distribute the food and drinks. "Would anyone be open to driving the last leg of the trip? I've been driving for a long time now."
"I can." Thorn offered.
She didn't really want to drive, but she thought it was the kind thing to do to relieve Nia of driving, given she'd already been driving for nearly eight hours.
"Thanks, Thorn. I really appreciate it." Nia said, as she opened the driver's door and switched spots with the black-haired Hex Girl.
"Hey, Luna, did you still want to do that ritual?" Bridgit inquired.
"Sure." Luna said, as she gobbled down the last few bites of her chocolate muffin.
"Great!" Nia said. Given she was now sitting next to Luna, she began demonstrating the ritual for Luna. "Just follow along with what I do. Place both of your hands palms-down on the car seat."
Luna did as she was instructed. "Okay."
"Now, close your eyes." Nia said, as she shut hers as well. "Imagine the energy rising up from the Earth into your veins. Let the Earth give you energy to be able to overcome your shyness, and perform in front of all those people excited to hear your music. Can you feel the energy?"
"I can feel the heated seat." Luna joked.
"This van has heated seats?" Sam exclaimed. "Damn, why didn't you tell us that, Gus?"
"Good, that joke you just made tells me you're loosening up." Nia observed. "Now, in seriousness, can you feel the energy?"
"Yeah…I guess I am loosening up." Luna's facial expression formed into a smile, her eyes still closed. "Yes, I can feel the energy coming up into me."
"Great!" Nia exclaimed. "Now, just keep focusing on that feeling. How does visualizing that energy make you feel?"
"I feel…empowered." Luna smiled.
"That's wonderful!" Nia responded. "Now, just keep visualizing the energy coming into your body for however long you want, and when you feel like you've been replenished, you can open your eyes."
Luna kept imagining the current flowing up into her body, as the burst of Earthly energy made her feel a bit more confident in herself about the concert. After a few moments, she opened her eyes.
"Okay, now what?" Luna inquired.
"Nothing. That was all." Nia replied.
"Wait…that was it?" Luna looked confused. "Why are people scared of that? Is it real magic I'm pulling from the Earth or something?"
"It is whatever you want it to be." Bridgit laughed. "Technically speaking, it's just a visualization process that helps you feel empowered. It's not a physical force in the same way you see magic represented in television and movies. It's more of a spiritual and Earthly force. Through tapping into your spiritual aura, you're able to create an emotional experience for yourself that grounds you and fills you up."
"That's so cool!" Luna exclaimed. "How often can you do rituals?"
"There's no limit or anything." Nia chuckled. "You can do it multiple times a day if you really want."
"Typically we try to do it once every few days, or whenever we're feeling drained." Sam explained.
"I'd love to do that again sometime. That was wicked cool. I feel a lot calmer now." Luna replied.
Thorn was happy to see that the ritual calmed her friend down. She hadn't done any rituals since the healing one that Bridgit, Nia and Sam had done with her a month and a half ago, but it was definitely something she wanted to get more into. Touring would surely be stressful, so it would likely be a helpful self-care routine to help keep her from getting too overwhelmed.
Thorn drove down the highway through the snowy countryside. They had arrived in Minnesota about a half hour ago. Thorn wasn't used to getting snow this early in Massachusetts. There was at least three inches of snow on the ground already. Thankfully, the roads remained relatively dry, so driving wasn't treacherous.
"Just a few minutes left!" Thorn replied, as she saw a sign reading 'Exit 233A from Highway I-94 W to Saint Paul.' Turning on her signal, she took the exit and promptly saw another sign telling her she was a few miles away from their destination.
"Where are we performing again?" Dusk inquired.
"The Xcel Energy Center." Thorn answered. "It's just a few miles away. It just opened a couple months ago too, apparently."
"Xcel Energy Center?" Dusk exclaimed in surprise. "Does that mean we're going to have to work around power cords and circuits and stuff when we're performing?"
"No." Gus laughed. "Xcel Energy is just an electric company that sponsors the venue. It's the big new place for concerts here in Minneapolis."
"Does anyone want something to eat?" Sam interrupted. "I'm getting hungry."
"Yes, I think it'd be a good idea if we got something to eat before the concert at 7." Gus suggested. "It's about 2 now, so we'll still have plenty of time to set up."
"I'd be in the mood for some pizza." Dusk suggested.
"I could go for pizza too." Luna agreed.
"Know of any good pizza places around here, Gus?" Thorn questioned.
"There's Papa Louie's and Punch Pizza over in Highland Park." Gus informed. "I think Punch Pizza is much better, personally."
"Well, that's where we're going then!" Thorn exclaimed, as Gus began instructing her on how to get there.
Because there was no on-street parking, Thorn had to drive the van into a parking garage. In Oakhaven, people always parked on the street, so this was a bit of a mental adjustment for her. The only time she'd ever been in a parking garage was when they performed at the Larcom Theater in Salem, which was not exactly an experience she wanted to remember.
Punch Pizza was a decent-sized restaurant, with large windows making up most of the wall by the door. The parts of the wall that weren't windows were made of brick, in the shape of two pillars. There was a large outdoor seating area, though of course it was closed for the winter. A large sign with "PUNCH" in all capital letters adorned the green siding. Just as the seven of them approached the door to Punch Pizza, another man bustled ahead of them. He seemed to be in a hurry. As he opened the door, Thorn prepared to follow him. Surely he would hold the door open for them. People always did that as a social nicety in Oakhaven, especially when there were large groups of people.
"Thanks mist-" Thorn began, just as the door nearly slammed in her face. The man didn't even bother to take notice of the fact that they were right behind him.
"Rude." Luna replied.
"Yeah, who does that guy think he is?" Bridgit defended.
"It's unfortunately quite normal in big cities like this. People are usually so caught up in themselves that they don't bother with social pleasantries like holding the door open for others. That's more of a small town phenomenon, since everyone usually knows everyone. Occasionally it will happen in a big city like this, but I wouldn't ever expect it." Gus informed, as he held the door open for the other six.
Upon walking into Punch Pizza, Thorn was overwhelmed with the number of people in the restaurant. Despite the fact that they were eating there mid-day, nearly every booth was packed with people.
A girl about their age wearing a blue waitress uniform approached them.
"Hello, I'm Briana and I'll be your server today." the waitress said. "We don't have any booths remaining, so we'll have to give you a table. Is that alright?"
"Yes, that's fine." Gus replied.
"How many of you are there?" the waitress asked.
"Seven." Sam answered.
"Okay. Right this way." the waitress ushered, as the seven of them followed. Thorn was shocked to see nearly every booth and table in the place filled. She was also surprised to see how packed in the tables and booths were. There was barely enough space for people to walk, but it was clear this restaurant was set up to serve a very large amount of people.
"This is so much different than it is in Oakhaven." Thorn whispered. Jack never had any trouble getting people in, and there was always plenty of space to sit. The waitress finally brought them back to the very back corner of the restaurant, nearly up against the left wall. She took an extra chair from one of the few empty tables, so there would be enough seats for everyone.
"Now, do you all know what you'd like to drink?" the waitress asked.
"I'll just have water." Thorn replied.
"Same." Luna and Bridgit answered.
"I'll have a lemonade." Sam said.
"I'll take some Mountain Dew." Nia ordered.
"Mountain Dew for me too." Dusk answered.
"I'll have a lemonade as well." Gus stated.
"Would we like a few minutes to look at the menu?" the waitress inquired.
"Do we all just want to share one pizza?" Gus suggested, to which everyone nodded.
"Is anyone opposed to the deluxe?" Bridgit offered. "Cheese, pepperoni, veggies and sausage?"
"Sounds good to me." Thorn agreed.
"I'm not a fan of olives, but I can take them off." Luna stated.
"Okay, I guess we know what we want then. One large deluxe pizza, please." Gus ordered.
"Sounds good. I'll be back with the drinks soon." Briana informed.
Once Briana had left to go get their drinks, Luna was the first to speak. "I can't get over how different everything is here."
"And it's so freaking cold!" Sam exclaimed.
"The people seem kinda mean here." Thorn sighed, before she was interrupted by Bridgit.
"Oh my god, is that guy proposing?" Bridgit exclaimed. She pointed to a man with a ring in his palm, handing it to the woman he was sitting next to.
"Carla, will you -" the man started, before his significant other interrupted him.
"Yes, Scott, yes?" the woman looked like she was getting very emotional and beginning to tear up.
"Will you hold my class ring for me?" the man finished. "I'm sick of always accidentally dropping it in the toilet whenever I go to the bathroom."
"Scott!" the woman scolded.
"I'll take that as a yes!" Scott exclaimed, handing his ring to the woman. "By the way, I accidentally lost our promise ring in the lake when I was feeding bread to some ducks. From now on, the lake represents our commitment to each other."
"You're not talking about that old swamp by your parents' house, are you?" Carla rolled her eyes.
"Yes, my love. All it means is whenever we get swamped with life, our love will rise up through the murky waters!" Scott declared.
"That's so mean!" Thorn whispered.
"Big city living is quite different from small town life." Gus informed. "People are often much less friendly, and the customs are a tad different. That can be a benefit of travel, though. You are often exposed to different ways of living and gain more knowledge about the world."
Thorn supposed he was right. Even though the new customs felt a bit strange at first, Thorn knew that it wouldn't be forever and she'd be home again in a month. Even though she was a bit nervous about performing in front of so many people, she was really looking forward to traveling to all these new places.
When the girls arrived at the Xcel Energy Center, they were surprised with how large the place was. Even at the Larcom Theater in Salem, the venue hadn't been quite this big. The girls had been there about an hour and had already set up all their instruments, done their makeup and changed into their outfits. Luna donned a black sleeveless dress, complete with lots of makeup and of course, the girls' fake fangs, which they wore every concert. Dusk wore a green dress with a small slit down the back. Thorn was wearing a black-and-red dress which was somewhat low cut, but allowed for lots of flexibility and movement as she performed on stage.
"I don't know if I can handle this." Luna shuddered. "Thousands of people sounds like so many."
"I thought the ritual we did this morning helped calm you down." Nia pointed out.
"It did…at first." Luna shuddered. "Now I'm worried again, though."
"Don't be. You'll do great!" Bridgit comforted.
"Yeah, you're gonna rock this concert! Literally and figuratively I suppose, since you play rock music." Sam smirked.
"The curtain's going up in 10 minutes, girls!" a female employee with dyed green hair informed. She was wearing a black shirt and khaki pants.
"10 minutes? I've gotta get my instrument set up." Dusk scrambled.
"Me too." Luna scurried over to grab her keyboard.
"Now, just to do a quick refresher on the set list, we decided we're starting with "Hex Girl" and ending with "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air," right?" Thorn double-checked.
"Yep." Dusk nodded.
"It's only a couple minutes until curtain up, girls. We're going to leave you be, but we'll be in the audience cheering you on the whole time!" Gus assured.
"You'll do incredible!" Bridgit assured.
"Break a leg!" Sam said.
"You're gonna be awesome!" Nia waved, as the girls and Gus left the backstage area.
"One minute until curtain up!" the green-haired female called.
"Alright, are we all ready?" Thorn said, taking a deep breath.
"Hell yeah!" Dusk exclaimed.
"I think so." Luna shuddered nervously.
Within 30 seconds, the curtain started to rise. When the curtain was midway up, Thorn saw a sea of thousands of faces, looking at them with excitement and anticipation. People were everywhere, packed in both the balcony and the main level. At first, Thorn felt a wave of overwhelmedness wash over her body. She knew she couldn't let herself be perilized with fear, but the thought of thousands of people expecting her to entertain them was almost too much for her.
Thorn had been trying to ensure the audience was seeing her true self whenever she performed lately. She had gotten into the bad habit of creating dissonance between her true self - Sally - and her stage persona - Thorn. She had been trying to be better about making sure she was being authentically herself on stage, ever since their song had started charting on radio. However, being vulnerable and showing her true self in front of all these people was far too difficult. She didn't want to separate Sally and Thorn again, but she knew she had to go into full-on Thorn mode to not break into tears.
Sally closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When her eyes opened again, there was only Thorn.
"Are you guys ready to rock out tonight?" Thorn shouted at the audience, which was met by excited screams.
She knew she couldn't let the audience down, so she made sure Sally remained hidden as she hit the first note on her guitar.
Author's note:
Although it was a very minor detail of the chapter, I put a ton of time and work into creating the girls' tour schedule. I wanted the order of the places the girls traveled to make logistical sense, so their trip would be as time and cost efficient as possible. For example, it wouldn't make sense for the girls to go from Massachusetts to Texas to Minneapolis to Nashville, since that would mean they would be traveling halfway across the country for each show. I actually looked up directions and calculated the amount of driving time to each of the girls' 19 shows individually (i.e. the quickest route from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, then the quickest route from Milwaukee to Detroit, etc.) to ensure they were taking the most efficient route across the country. I also wanted to make sure that the time schedule all lined up for their travels, as it wouldn't make sense for them to perform back-to-back nights if they have to travel over 12 hours in one day.
All of the details about places in Minneapolis were real, with the exception of Papa Louie's, which is a reference to the pizza place in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode "The Hand of Horror." Otherwise, exit 233A is the actual exit number you would take to get to Minneapolis, and I-94 is the highway that you would take to get to Minneapolis. Punch Pizza in Highland Park is a real pizza place that opened in 1996. The Xcel Energy Center is still the main venue in Minneapolis for big concerts. I wasn't aware of when it opened, but apparently it opened in 2000, which ironically perfectly lines up with when this fanfic is set haha.
I had to be very careful with the Starbucks scene. The original version of the scene included the girls also buying breakfast, but apparently, Starbucks did not start serving breakfast until 2003, so I had to take it out. It's crazy how much stuff that I wouldn't have even thought of was different in 2000 compared to how it is now.
Speaking of 2000, the album that is mentioned to be in the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 200, No Strings Attached by *NSYNC is the best performing album of the year 2000 in real-life.
Channel 6 Action News is a reference to The Simpsons "Lisa on Ice," in which a news station attempts to boost their ratings by overdramatizing everything.
I'll attach the girls tour schedule that I created to the bottom of this author's note, as well as the amount of time it would take the girls to travel from each city. Remember that in the author's note for chapter 2, I mentioned that for the purposes of this fanfic, Oakhaven is set in the real-life city Wales, MA (because there is a place named Oakhaven Campgrounds one mile outside of the city). The distance from Oakhaven to Minneapolis was calculated by using Wales, MA as the starting destination. Each of the venues I've chosen are popular real-life places for concerts in each city. This also required a lot of research, since the most popular venues for concerts now weren't necessarily open in 2000, so I had to do a bit of historical digging to make sure each of the places I picked were actually open during the time period of this fanfic. I seriously spent hours figuring all the location, directions, and venue stuff out, so I hope you appreciate it at least a little haha.
The Hex Girls Tour Schedule
Starting in Oakhaven, MA
Day 1: Minneapolis, MN (20 hours) - Xcel Energy Center
Day 2: Milwaukee, WI (5 hours) - Turner Hall
Day 3: Detroit, MI (6 hours) - Saint Andrew's Hall
(Day 4: Break)
Day 5: Indianapolis, IN (5 hours) - Old National Centre
Day 6: Chicago, IL (3 hours) - House of Blues
Day 7: Cincinnati, OH (5 hours) - 20th Century Theater
(Day 8: Break)
Day 9: Nashville, TN (4 hours) - Rocketown
Day 10: Charlotte, NC (6 hours) - McGlohon Theater at Spirit Square
(Day 11: Break)
Day 12: Atlanta, GA (4 hours) - The Tabernacle
Day 13: Jacksonville, FL (6 hours) - Jack Rabbits
(Day 14: Driving/Break)
Day 15: Columbia, MO (15 hours) - Rose Music Hall
Day 16: Denver, CO (10 hours) - Bluebird Theater
(Day 17: Driving/Break)
Day 18: Seattle (20 hours) - Moore Theatre
Day 19: Portland, OR (3 hours) - Crystal Ballroom
(Day 20: Driving/Break)
Day 21: Hollywood, CA (15 hours) - Roxy Theatre
(Day 22: Driving/Break)
Day 23: San Antonio, TX (20 hours) - San Antonio Municipal Auditorium
(Day 24: Driving/Break)
Day 25: Philadelphia, PA (27 hours) - The Fillmore
Day 26: New York City, NY (3 hours) - Irving Plaza
(Day 27: Break)
Day 28: Boston, MA (4 hours) - Paradise Rock Club