Chapter 3

"Hearts of Shadows hold no mercy"

(Just like a pill—Pink)

I hurried to keep up with Natalie as she hurried down the streets, looking for our hotel. I was glad that we weren't staying with the rest of the cooks. Their one-star hotel was a run-down building with water stains on the walls, which seemed to choke you with every step you took. This didn't seem to mind most of the cooks. A nice old lady named Mrs. Matthews told me about her past experiences.

"We are used to worse. This is a great hotel compared to our usual accommodations," she told me, her German accent heavy against my American one.

"Uck," Natalie stated, staring at the hotel's walls, "This place is disgusting."

"Imagine if you had to sleep here," I reminded her.

"I don't even want to think about it," she replied, and we left the rat-infested hotel. (I was sure there were bound to have rats, even if we didn't see any.)

Now we were running up the street looking for the hotel that we were staying at.

"Ah. Here it is. This is MUCH better." Much seemed to be an understatement. This hotel looked like a palace

"Wow. I can't wait to see our room." We walked up to the counter to receive our key. They gave Natalie a key with the number 416 on it. They game me a key. I looked at it. 417. "We have our own rooms?"

"Yes, of course. You think that all of our stuff could fit in one room?"

"No. I suppose not."

We took the elevator to the forth floor. There was a large sitting area right outside of the elevator as we stepped out. It was beautiful. Lilies in vases on the table. Our rooms were at the end of the hallway, hers on the left, and mine of the right.

Natalie went straight into her room without saying a word, shutting the door behind her. I stared at the door for a minute before entering my room.

"Wow." This room was huge. The bathroom alone was the size of a normal hotel room. An extra large king sized bed. There were lilies on the table again, giving the room a nice perfume. I opened up my suitcase and pulled out a purple shirt and jeans to switch from the sweater and skirt I was wearing now. I was reapplying my make-up when there was a knock on my door. I answered the door. There was an employee from the main desk.

"Message for Natalie Snow?" he told me, seeming too overly excited for somebody who was forced to come up here to deliver a message.

"She's across the hall…"As the bellhop said his apologies, he walked across the hall. I kept the door open, hoping to hear what the message was, and why it was so important.

"Message for Natalie Snow?" the employee repeated.

"Yes?"

"This is a private, non-business message from Tom Kaulitz, requesting that you meet him in his hotel room at 2:00pm." I looked at my watch. Two o' clock. That was right now.

"Thank you," she said smiling. As the employee went away, I sprinted up to Natalie.

"So, then, when are we leaving?" I might as well use the curse of always being with her to my advantage.

"WE?" she asked, completely unbelieving.

"Miss Shraw said that I have to be with you all the time, remember?"

"Damn. Okay. Well come on." She started walking away, obviously mad that I was coming.

"So why do you think they're calling us for? Do they want something to eat already?" Natalie rolled her eyes. She walked up to the door, and went to open it. "Shouldn't we knock first or something?" She rolled her eyes again, and opened the door.

"Tom?" she called. I heard shifting, and a few minutes later, Tom poked his head around the corner. He smiled.

"Naddie's here," he called over his shoulder, before walking towards us. "Who's this?" Natalie groaned. I felt a sudden surge of resentment towards her. She whispered something into his ear, and he turned towards me. "So you're the new girl, eh?" I could only nod. He smiled at me. "So can you get me a Pepsi?" I nodded, and then remembered what Natalie had told me about paying attention to detail.

"How many ice cubes?" I asked, dead serious. He stared at me, and then broke into a laughing fit.

"Are you serious?" he managed to say though the continuous fits of laughter. I blushed and looked away.

"Just go and get the drink, Maggie," I heard Natalie say. I nodded and walked out the door. I walked into the hotel kitchen, and found the fridge. I opened the freezer part and grabbed some ice. I found a glass and a can of cola. After pouring the cola into the glass with the ice cubes, I walked back up to the room and knocked. I heard tom call me in. I opened the door and walked over to tom, placing the drink on the table beside him. He looked at it and then looked over at me.

"Too many ice cubes," he told me with a serious expression. I knew that he didn't really think that there were too many. I gave him a look, and turned and walked out the room. I heard the band that I thought was so great, laughing at me as I left; Natalie's laugh joining theirs.

I closed my hotel room door. Why? Why me? I lay on my bed and buried my face into my pillow, crying.

I lay there, forgetting time, until there was a sharp, quiet knock on my door. I wasn't crying. I hadn't been for a while. I rolled over and slowly walked to the door, opening it without thinking of who it might be. There stood a 19-year old boy with raven black hair, resting against the door frame. I stared at him with a look that obviously said that I didn't want him to be there. He looked back with caring eyes and an apologetic expression. I searched through my head to find something to say. I can up with nothing. I was just about to tell him to leave me alone, when he suddenly spoke.

"Can I come in?" Simple. To the point I was shocked. I automatically nodded without even thinking about it.

(Switch song to—Poet and the Pendulum—nightwish)

He came in and sat on my bed. I stood where I was, staring at him. When he realized that I wasn't moving, he spoke again.

"Listen, I'm sorry about tom and them. They shouldn't have done that. It was rude. I'm really sorry for that," he said. I snapped out of my shock.

"You were laughing, too," I quietly reminded him.

"Yes, I was, and I'm sorry. It was very rude of me. I felt so bad when you left with that hurt expression." I was again speechless; shocked once more by his words. God, how was he able to do that to me? That's when it happened. My worst enemy came back. The tears. I felt the first, loner tear fall down my face, before they started breaking out by the dozen; falling down my cheek. "Oh, no. Please don't cry." I heard him run over and suddenly felt his arms around me, hugging me. I didn't even try to shake him off. I just sat there on my knees, crying into his shoulder.

Once I finally stopped crying, he broke away, only a little, to look at my face.

"All better?" he asked sincerely. I wiped my eyes and nodded, smiling thankfully at him. He smiled at me. "Well, I should probably get back. I'm only supposed to be going to the bathroom." He smiled again at me. I laughed.

"Okay—thank you" I smiled at him.

"Any day." He smiled back before getting up and hurrying out the door.

I smiled and climbed into bed. That was a strange thing to happen, but what was stranger yet was that I didn't mind it at all. Maybe not ALL of the band were jerks. I shut the light off and went to sleep.

"Maggie? Maggie?? Maggie!" a voice called, gently shaking me awake. Finally, I gave in and opened my eyes. Bill was back. That's nice. Wait. BILL IS IN MY ROOM! AGAIN? I sat up quickly. I looked at him. He looked back with his chocolate brown eyes. Wow. His eyes were beautiful.

"What?"

"Oh—Maggie—um—well..."

"Well?"

"Well, I get really lonely in that huge room all by myself and I was wondering I could just, maybe, watch TV in here with you for a little while?" I stared at him. He had such an innocent face. I smiled.

"Ok, but only for a little while." I told him. His face lit up.

"Really? Thanks!" He climbed up beside me and turned the TV on. I didn't object when he settled on a German station. I'd be asleep soon anyways.

I was right. Within ten minutes I was asleep. I woke up around three or four in the morning to see the TV on and Bill asleep beside me. Normally, I would've objected to this, but I was too tired to complain. I rested my head back on my pillow, and was soon asleep again.