Tracy and Link were keeping there heads down hoping no one would notice them. The seats which were used for the audience for the Miss Hairspray pageant were now filling up with reporters and there was a huge podium where Mr. Cannon was obviously going to make his "speech". Link and Tracy couldn't hold hands because they didn't want to cause any suspicion but that was all that Link was longing to do. The studio seemed dark and cold, there was none of the usual music playing and no chitter chatter or high pitched squealing from teenagers, just the noisy talking of the reporters as they were taking their seats. There were flashes from cameras everywhere and Link's eyes were starting to feel sore. Then disaster struck, all the white councillors from the Corny Collin's show were coming towards them. Tracy and Link looked at each other worriedly and stood still. Luckily enough none of them noticed Link, though Brad and Fender had even nudged and pushed Link as they walked by him laughing. Brad and Fender were so shallow, if only they knew it was Link, he would love to see their faces. Then all of a sudden Amber stopped dead and stared at the two of them and let everyone else walk on.
"Link?" she mouthed at him and he gave her his trademark wink to show it was him.
"Tracy?" she mouthed at her and Tracy nodded and smiled.
Amber stared at the two of them dumb struck, she couldn't believe what they looked like.
"What are you doing here? You could get arrested!" she whispered.
Link stared hard into her eyes, had Amber really changed? He couldn't tell did she have an alternative motive for being nice to him or had she actually changed. He couldn't read Amber, he never could. She always had these constant mood swings but she never ever seemed to be in a good mood. The last couple of months before they had spilt up had been agonising. He lied to her, lied to himself that he actually did like her. It was complete selfishness but on the other hand Amber did take complete advantage of his popularity but that's not to say that he didn't take advantage of her mother's position and what she could do for his career. Tracy was different, she hardly ever said a bad word about anyone and he didn't need to lie to himself, he was in love with her.
"We are here to reveal Mr. Can……" Tracy abruptly finished her sentence when she saw that Mr. Cannon was heading straight for them.
"Who are these things!" he yelled at Amber and looked at them like they were scum. He eyed them up suspiciously but turned and glared at Amber. Tracy nudged Link hard in the ribs to get him to speak up; he nearly jumped because she did it really hard.
"Emm we are here to do research on the history of the, eh studio em Sir." His voice went really high and squeaky when he said it. Mr. Cannon gave him a funny look and stomped off. Tracy and Amber burst into fits of laughter.
"What?" Link said innocently looking around to see what they were laughing at.
"I know you're supposed to be disguised and everything, but you really did go overboard with the whole geek thing" said Amber and the two girls started to laugh again. Link stared down at his feet, feeling completely embarrassed.
Tracy reached up and gave Link a peck on the cheek.
"Oh Linkie don't be like that," she sighed, "now come on we've got some researching to do." She said sweetly holding his hand and they walked down to the offices. Little did they know that Mr. Cannon had been keeping a close eye on them.
Edna paced up and down the room frantically and Wilbur stood up off the old sofa and put his arms around her.
"Wilbur, what are we going to do? For all we know our daughter could have been thrown into a wood and is now trying to fight off man-eating bears!" panicked Edna.
Wilbur chuckled at his wife's over reaction though he quickly stopped whenever she glared at him.
"Babe, everything is going to be alright, Tracy is a big girl now and Link is with her, I hope." He muttered the last two words under his breath. He trusted Link but after what happened the last time he was half expecting for him to turn up knocking at their door, looking for Tracy. Personally he did like the kid but this was their Tracy he was with and he didn't want to see her get hurt. He reassured Edna but doubts were seeping into his mind, he pushed them away. Tracy is a big girl he told himself but the scene of her when she was five years old kept coming back into his mind.
"Daddy! Daddy!" wailed Tracy as she ran into the house dripping wet. Her little pigtails were just about hanging in there but he noticed the hair bobbles had been pulled down. She ran up into her fathers arms and hugged him tightly and sobbed. Wilbur kissed her head and said gently,
"What happened honey?"
"These big boys," she sniffed, "They threw water at me and pulled my hair because they said I looked different, they called me fat and ugly." Wilbur held his little girl tightly in his arms. No child as sweet as Tracy deserved this sort of punishment but there was nothing he could do except be there for her. Edna had been away for a couple of days on a dancing trip. Tracy sobbed and Wilbur dried her small eyes. He felt a new sort of protection over her, he'd never let any boy treat her like this again.
Wilbur snapped back to reality when he heard the phone ring. He was about to pick it up when Edna pushed past him.
"TRACY!" yelled Edna down the phone without out even considering it was anyone else.
"No, Mrs Turnblad its Penny"
"Is Tracy there? Is she okay? Was there any bears?" she shouted and Wilbur chuckled again.
"Okay emm, Tracy isn't here but she told me to call you and say there's no need to worry and that she'll be home soon and there's no bears." said Penny calmly and Edna heard some laughing in the background when Penny mentioned the bears.
"Oh Mrs Turnblad I have to go but don't worry about Tracy she is fine" said Penny.
"But what about…" Edna stopped talking when she heard that the line was dead. She sighed loudly, "I think I'm going to make some pork." And she wandered to the kitchen. That conversation had settled her nerves, a little…
"Link, I'm not too sure about this." said Tracy worriedly as they crept into Mr Cannon's office.
"Don't worry Trace, I'm here so you'll be safe." said Link and the thought of Mr Cannon hitting Tracy replayed in his mind. The office was cold and the walls were painted grey and they looked very bare and there were only a couple of chairs, a table and a tall filing cabinet in the corner the only bright thing was a big glass vase and a small bunch of yellow flowers were sitting on his desk.. Not much of an office. He saw the grate lying on the ground which he had kicked down earlier from the vent. Link and Tracy searched through drawers in the table but they were empty. That hopefully meant he evidence they were looking for was in the tall grey cabinet. Link tried pulling the shelves of it open but they were all locked tight.
"Where's Seaweed when you need him." said Link hoping that he would appear but nothing of the sort happened. He looked at Tracy hoping that she might know what to do but she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes, looking as clueless as he felt.
"Wait a minute." said Tracy and she got onto her hands and feet and crawled to the back of the cabinet.
"Trace?" Link said curiously. Tracy stood up holding a small yellow folder. Link looked at her, she was staring straight back at him waiting to see what the folder held. She handed it to him and he opened it up and there was a letter at the very front of it. He began to read it.
Dear Mark,
Thing are going to have to change! I am fed up with this whole "integration" phase, it has got to end now. I know we discussed this all on the phone but I'd like to get it in writing for you so here's the plane.
Split up the dancers- I mean Negros on one side and whites on the other and I want the camera to focus mostly on the right race.
Get your daughter to split up Link and Tracy.
Get Tracy arrested- though if this doesn't work at first start a media frenzy that ought to get thing worked up a little.
Kill Tracy Turnblad- first of all…
Link froze up, he didn't even want to read the rest of it. He dropped the letter and the folder on the ground. Photo's of Tracy and him scattered across the ground and different files.
"Link you're scaring me, what's going on." she said starting to sound frightened. She picked up the letter, he couldn't even find the power inside himself to stop her. He watched her eyes scan across the writing on the page and then they stopped dead at that last sentence. She didn't move, just stood still staring at the page. Then one small tear fell onto the page. Link griped her tightly in his arms. He felt this new sort of protection for her overcome him. He was there to protect her. Her warm tears fell onto his arm.
"Tracy." He said quietly and she looked up into his eyes, her big brown eyes looked very watery. The warmth he usually saw in them was covered by fear.
"I swear to you, nothing will ever hurt you. I won't let it. If anything ever happened to you I don't think I could live with myself. She smiled at him weakly and she played with his little black curl that had fallen out of him wig. He leaned into kiss her when he heard the door slam shut.
"So I see you found the folder Larkin." said a cold sly voice.
Tracy and Link jumped back in fright. Link stood boldly in front of Tracy and tried to push her behind him but she stood beside him strongly and held his hand tightly.
"How thick do you think I am not to realise that you were the infamous Link Larkin and Tracy Turnblad." And he laughed sarcastically maybe even drunkenly. He felt Tracy's grip tighten round his hand. Then Mr Cannon dug deep into his pocket and he pulled out a small silver gun. Tracy yanked Link's arm back and he nearly fell on top of her. She was shaking but Link stood tall trying to push out the fear inside him. He needed to be brave. The door handle was pulled down and pushed open slowly. Link prayed, prayed that it was Seaweed, Penny, the police, anybody who could help them. Though to his complete disappointment Tammy walked in cowardly.
"Take the wigs and glasses off." said Mr Cannon pointing the gun at them. Link pulled the brown scruffy wig off and his hands were trembling. He looked into Tammy's eyes pleadingly but she stared at the ground trying not to make any eye contact with him. Mr Cannon lifted the gun up and aimed it right to the middle of Link's forehead but then put it down by his side.
"Actually I'd rather Larkin you suffered, also there's no point wasting your talent."
"NO!" yelled Link standing in front of her.
"Well if you are going to make it awkward Larkin, I might just have to kill you too, any last words?"
He waited for a moment for Link to speak and looked coldly at him.
"None, okay then goodbye."
Link shut his eyes not letting go of Tracy's hand. This was it. Link heard the trigger being pulled. Suddenly there was a huge bang and smash.
Hey all thanks for all the reveiws. I know I'ts been taking me ages to update recently but it's been really hard with school and all. I've already started chapter 9 so it should be up soon enough. Please please keep reveiwing xxx