Kydania

Our entire time with Tokio Hotel was fantastic. Megan, Tom, Georg, Lydia, and I all played a game of Marco Polo that eventually turned into a water fight. Bill and Tilly decided Gustav needed to join and drenched him. Gustav eventually had his revenge by 'accidentally' hitting Bill in the face with a pin pong ball. Tom won the entire ping pong tournament and demanded he receive a kiss from the looser. Lydia was the looser but fooled Tom by giving him a kiss on the cheek. Bill mocked Tom the rest of the day.

Now, ten minutes till 10 p.m., the stage is set and the girls ready to go but we have one problem, the crowd is screaming for Tokio Hotel. Pissy crowds mean hard to please crowds.

"Optical Reality you're on in five." A guy with a headset yells. He looks like some alien that took a fashion memo from Jonny Cash.

I pray to God and hope that the sound technician remembers all our settings for our stage equipment. A band is only as good as it's back stage crew.

"Optical Reality you're on!" there's no time like show time.

As I walk on stage what if's and every possible scenario of failure runs through my head. The crowd hisses in annoyance that we aren't Tokio Hotel before their demands become louder, it's deafening. Dear God how can I make them calm down and be open minded to us?

I face the crowd with a devilish grin and repeat the German phrase I had Bill teach me while we waited for the tournament of ping pong to end, "Hello! We are Optical Reality! Are you ready for some music?"

Boo's echo throughout the stadium as tension begins to set in the air. Talk about a tough crowd. If I can't beat them then why not join them?

I face Lydia at her drum set to let her know just by looking at her that I am about to do something completely crazy, risky, and possibly life changing. She just quirks her head before giving me the smile that I need to know that I can do this because she believes in me. I turn and face the monster that the crowd has become. Be bold or be boring. I'm a rock star and there is no such thing as boring.

"With this kind of attitude I don't know if you are ready to see Tokio Hotel." The crowds is still a living monster but it stills waiting to strike, "The only way you get to see Tokio Hotel is if you prove to us," I gesture to me and the girls, "that you are ready to rock!"

Some of the spoken German may have been a bit broken and improper but I don't care because I got the point across.

"So are you ready to show me you're ready to rock?" the crowd goes wild writhing from the once unhappy monster into a crowd buzzed with the excitement of the coming entertainment.

Lydia's sticks click to the tempo of our first song. I close my eyes and feel the base pull the melody out of its confines and into my soul. Now it's my turn to let it out and do what I love; sing.

Jumping up and down running across the stage to ask each side of crowd to join me in some motion or lyrics. The feeling is incredible. I can seriously fly with this feeling inside. I don't want it to stop but before I know it Lydia lets the last symbol crash for our final song. I don't want to say good bye and I don't want to give Bill the crowd I had worked so hard to please.

"Thank you! Now are you ready for Tokio Hotel?" Screams louder than I expected erupted from the crowd, "I think you are too!"

Lydia and I trade places with the boys we had just spent most of our day with. Bill passes me and gives me his model smile.

"You did great!"

Lydia

All that keeps going through my mind is what just happened on stage. Kyda took a crowd of pissed off Tokio Hotel fans and made them listen and like us. She didn't give them a choice. Ballsy and bold; the move couldn't have been any riskier, but like all things ballsy and bold about Kydania it worked.

"Where's Kydania?" I ask one of the crew a member who is in our changing room.

"She was asked by Bill to meet him on stage for a surprise."

What could Bill want with her on stage? Was he going to call her out on telling his fans that they weren't ready for him and the others? It didn't seem like the Bill I met today but you never know in show business. Look at Donavan for example. The man tried to screw us out of every penny we earned all because Kydania is our manager. I can only begin to think of all the times I have caught her in the wee hours of the day finalizing and setting things up for us when she should have slept. Maybe this thing with Tokio Hotel's manager will help her.

Bringing myself to reality again I go out so I can be another onlooker from the side of the stage just to make sure Kyda will be okay, she is my best friend after all.

I see Kydania on the other side of the stage looking curiously at the lead singer who is awkwardly prancing about the stage. Bill cannot dance to save his life. He is saying something I don't quite get to the crowd with a very familiar smile I assume most of the girls here have stared at for hours on end from some photo they kept.

Suddenly Kydania walks out onto the stage giving Bill a very real but annoyed smile. She waves to the crowd and gives them a formal greeting.

Bill starts speaking again while he gestures here and there. The man doesn't seem to notice he talks with his hands a lot. Kydania closes her eyes and gives a brief smile and then looks at me realizing I'm on the side lines.

Kydania speaks very frankly and coolly to Bill with a coy smile spreading with mischief.

"Lydia, kom alstublieft hier en toon Billa hoe te dansen,"

I am only going to go out there because it is her, my crazy friend Kydania. If it were anyone else I would kill them or better yet leave them out to hang. I step up and walk over to her with a decent but not frightened pace. Now standing by her I tug her t-shirt to pull her close to ask what exactly I'm doing out here.

She whispers to me back, "Bill asked me to teach him to dance. I told the crowd the one to ask is you. I'll do all the talking and working the crowd. you just teach him to dance."

I look at her so she knows she so owes me for this.

"Lydia zegt dat zij het zal doen, maar zij is een beetje schrikt. Kunt u een geluid voor haar maken?"

Foreign words is all I hear but Tom, Georg, and Gustav begin to play a series of rythmes I can follow and move to. I look at Bill and gesture he takes after me.

After a few minutes Bill is starting to get it and the crowd is really excited and ready for more songs. That's when I notice it is taking everything in Kydania's power to smile as she keeps talking to the crowd about, what I assume, me and Bill dancing.

Something is wrong and all I can think is that Kydania and I need to get off this stage so I can figure it out. My best friend needs me.