~Author's Note!~
This month I've seen...Jurassic Park, Minions, Inside Out, and Pixels. And only spent 10 bucks altogether XD I think I'm beginning to like writing. :D I have finally found myself a hobbieee! I've been waiting so long for a story like this, but never saw one that really talked about everything that I wanted to see written...Whatever... NOW ON TO CHAPTER 2!
archer300- OMG your my first reviewer! Yaas thank you so much! I didn't know I had it in me! Thank you very much! It's all so new to me...writing! *woot woot*
smitty91- I edited all my random 1st/3rd person crap I pulled in the first chapter, thank you for letting me know about it! And thanks for your review! I really loved your words, they really helped brighten my day!
GREENPEACE1990 I lalaloooove Alvin and Brittany too! They are my FAVORITE couple in AATC! That's why I just had to center the story around them!I'm so glad you liked it and I hope you keep reading!
a.r.h.f.20 - Yaass thank you! OMG I love it too I keep reading it over and over again b/c I can't believe I wrote something like that! I'm glad you like it! It means so much to me like you don't even know!
~*Glamorous*~
Chapter 2
Times Have Changed
*^,^*
A sunlit glow cascaded its way through my pink satin curtains and into my bedroom allowing the light to reflect gold hues and blend together in the perfect mix of dawn. My 'Do Not Disturb' pink and white sleep mask had come off during the night which would usually cause me to have a fit, but the calming morning rays were enough to change my mind and give me a shocking, but satisfying change in behavior.
I let out a soft yawn, groaned, raised my hands up and stretched my tense muscles across my silk and cotton sheets and two fluffy pillows softly sighing as I felt a bone snap back into its place. I blinked twice and tried to get my eyes to adjust to the morning sun and rested my hands behind my head closing my eyes breathing in deeply.
I had never been a morning person, but ever since I got this new room, the sun always had of way of making a room just look a little better in the morning.
I don't know any other way to describe my new living arrangements, other than the fact that my room was huge. I had never imagined living in a place like this until now. The room was basically big enough to fit a small house, it was extremelyspacious. My ceiling was very high up and complete with a very elegant crystal chandelier . Light pinks, whites, and golds saturated the walls giving it a palace-type theme. A very tall porcelain window was seated on the left and right walls of my bed giving me two balconies and allowed me to see all of Los Angeles on one side and the beautiful clear lake on the other.
Granite glass flooring made the floor a bit cold in the morning, but gave my room just the right touch. Further down was my dream come true: A walk-in closet! Complete with all my best designer gowns, shirts, tanks, skirts, dresses, jewelry, bags, and shoes that money could buy. Then there was my own elegant white and pink master bathroom and a beautiful vanity across the way. An illuminating fireplace that stood in front of two armchairs and a couch.
Everything was remarkably priceless and the whole atmosphere of the room simply screamed elegance and pure luxury. I was living like a princess and I knew it. I wouldn't have had it any other way because I was definitely living it up.
But I knew Miss Miller would.
She never really went for flash flash pizazz kind of luxury that I went for, she was more old-fashioned. Both in lifestyle and in personality. She always told me there was really no point in having such an array of merchandise because it distracted people from who you really were.
Needless to say, I disagreed. I felt that there was no point in having exactly what you wanted out of life and maybe even a little something extra. I knew that I was going to get what I wanted, even if I had to fight for it.
But I never told her that.
Shortly after the banquet after when I announced that I was going to go solo, Miss Miller had been telling us beforehand that she hadn't been feeling well and that she was dealing with a lot of seizure-like symptoms, which is also why she couldn't attend. "No big deal", I thought, "This was probably just another one of her stories to find an excuse to stay at home and continue one of her weekend parties with her and her old lady friends." Miss Miller had never been fond of dinner parties anyway and said it herself that they were 'dreadfully boring'. I saw it as a way to be the center of attention with all of the business people there to see. Hoping they'd suggest I start to go out and do my own thing.
I had went back to the hotel in Manhattan, New York a few blocks away from where the label had hosted our dinner party that same night that I walked out. I had heard from Jeanette the that she and Eleanor were flying back to California that same night to check on Miss Miller. I thought it was dumb. If she said she didn't want to go, then she didn't want to. Besides, I had to stay out here and permanently terminate myself from 'The Chipettes' so everyone knew how serious I was.
The next day after that, I kept getting calls from Eleanor and Jeanette nonstop while I was on my way to the record label. "Now what do they want?!", I groaned rolling my eyes at the ceiling of my limo, "they were always so intimidated by me doing my own thing. Plus it was too late for me to schedule some flight now!"
I got out of the limo in skin tight black jeans, a black tank top with a leather black jacket over it with a silver necklace and my hair in a high ponytail that cascaded to the middle of my back. Sure I looked a little 'grown' for my age, but oh well, that's what sells. I ignored the exaggerated sound my black stiletto heels made and made my way up the elevators and checked into the the Record Label Company.
Upon entering the main doors, I looked around at my lavish surroundings. People from all over the world were here just trying to have a single shot of being signed and getting a glimpse of fame. When a lot of them didn't make it , they would just go back home where they had came from. Some of which included different countries. But, that wasn't my problem. They should know you can't make it if you're gonna be second rate. And who's fault was that?
A tall, handsome African American man dressed in a dark suit with gold attire looked up as I entered and approached me.
"Miss Miller, I presume?", he asked in a deep masculine voice. I don't think I've ever seen him before in all my times I've been at this record label.
"Yes, that's me.", I said confidently knowing that it would be my last time at this company.
"Right this way", he smiled at me and motioned me to follow him towards the next elevator across the room.
I checked my phone and pressed ignore on another call that vibrated through my jeans and strutted up the small fancy staircase following him towards the elevators, earning a few sideways glances from interested, onlooking older men. I casually smirked back at them and waited for the elevator doors to close while he pressed the highest number. We stepped out after hearing the Ding and followed the hallways passed some people who were sitting and waiting next in line to be called.
"Just right through those doors", he said smoothly and pointed to the elegant wooden double doors. "Thank you so much", I replied sweetly turning towards him. I strolled past the people seated and they gave me angry, jealous looks seeing as though they had been waiting all day to get a few words in with the producers and I just casually strolled in without having had to wait on anybody.
"Who cares?", I thought, " The producers heard about the event that occurred a couple of nights ago. They were waiting on me." I walked up, took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.
"You really need to think about what you're doing", one of the head directors of the label told me as soon as I stepped through the double doors.
Um talk about a rude welcome.
I mean I know this guy was the one who was making the company a lot of money off The Chipettes's success, but geez.
"Not everyone is cut out to be going solo", he continued tossing some documents on the glass table in front of me that I walked up to, "usually people who start off in a group don't end up lasting when they try to do things on their own."
I purposely ignored him and tried to focus my mind somewhere else and looked around. The office attire was breathtaking. Large marble floors with long glass tables and an wide open window with a view of all of Manhattan. The floors were printed in fine black and deep mahogany woods. Golden records were on the wall in plaques and if you listened closely, the speakers were playing some random song I never heard of. Probably some chick who must've just got signed .
"Good for her." I thought. But I couldn't think about that now. I didn't have time for any of it. All I could think about was getting my name out of that contract and on to the next one that the record company in LA sent here for me so I could officially start my new life without anything or anyone to hold me back.
'Come on, come on", I thought, "I need a pen!" My head was starting to spin. I looked around frantically for one and grabbed one out of the tiny fancy glass vase almost knocking it off the edge of the table in front of the man.
There was my phone again.
Buzzing and vibrating.
I reached down over my jet black skinny jeans and gave it a couple of sharp pats trying to silent it while trying to drown out the voice of the producer telling me that I was making the biggest mistakes of my life. I could've waited for my attorney to come and read over this contract but I was going to prove I didn't need anybody to do anything for me.
After this day, I was going to go places that The Chipettes could never possibly imagine.
I flipped over each page and made sure my name was getting written down on each available line, quickly scanned over the content satisfied with what I was about to do and wrote my name at the bottom of the last piece of paper.
"Excuse me", a woman who the also one of the heads of the department spoke firmly. I frowned and tried to avoid rolling my eyes. She had tanned skin and wore a beige and cream colored skirt with a matching blazer. Her long necklace went past her small breasts and she wore white glasses with her hair tied in a fancy bun. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she resembled Jeanette. I let out a small annoyed, exaggerated groan and looked up to where she was.
" I just wanted to wish you good luck", she stated simply with a small smile.
I gave her a fake smile and flipped my long ponytail around behind my shoulders. "Well", I said with fake kindness, "I guess it was just time for a change." I picked up all of the papers and made sure they were stacked together properly and handed them in front of the tall man in front of me.
He stood there with his arms folded next to the glass of water he had on his desk looked at me sternly and didn't say a word. I felt my insides grow hot with embarrassment and it felt like a whole hour went past.
After what seemed like forever of having every important contributor to the label watch us stare each other down, he cleared his throat before speaking. "I don't even know why you're even doing this", he said sharply, "Just what is so bad about being in a group? You want the costumes changed? Huh? More bodyguards? You want the limo painted pink? What do we have to do to make you feel more important?!"
Okay I was not expecting that.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when my phone started buzzing again as if on cue. I was trying to keep this whole "being nice" thing apart of my personality, but this dude's attitude really was starting to get me irritated. My invisible mask was slowly starting to come off. I took a deep breath and put on a fake smile still holding the papers in front of me.
"This isn't just what's best for me", I said with fake kindness, " it's what's best for everybody. I can't go around trying to make everyone happy when I am completely miserable. I've been in this group since I was eight years old and now I want out."
I must've came off too blunt.
"But why though?!", he said raising his voice leaning towards me, "do you really only think about yourself? What about the fans? What are they going to think?"
This isn't how my day was supposed to be going. If he didn't just take the papers already, I was going to scream. My phone just kept vibrating louder and louder and my heart was beating faster and I was losing my composure. I felt sweat drip down the back of my neck. My smile disappeared and my teeth were clenching together.
He let out an annoyed sigh and looked at me with pure disgust, "We're going to lose so much money over this.", and he snatched the papers out of my hand to send to LA shaking his head in disbelief. I was taken back. You could hear a pin drop with how silent the whole room became despite the music playing in the background.
I wasn't having this.
The table shook as I slammed my fists down on the table in rage and glared at the head of the company.
"ENOUGH!", I yelled and pointed directly at him, "I did not come all this way to have you make a fool out of me because you think I can't make decisions by myself!"
Everybody was looking at us now. Great.
First the dinner party and now this.
"Let me make something clear to you! This is my life! Mine! Nobody else gets to decide how I choose to run things! Just because you don't agree with whatever the hell I'm doing doesn't mean you have any right to disrespect me! If you have a problem with what I choose to do, then keep it to yourself!"
Without thinking, I grabbed the glass of water from the table and threw it at his face resulting in a look of anger and surprise from him as well as all who saw. Water ran down his face, neck, and shoulders in tiny droplets and on some of the papers as he tried to register all that was just said and done to him.
"You keep your stupid money you worthless son of a bi-", I stopped in mid sentence and growled looking furiously at my phone in my pocket as it started vibrating for the final time. I wasn't thinking straight. "I have to get out of here", I thought. I stormed out of the office and slammed the door whipped my phone out of its place and pressed it against my ear without looking at the caller ID.
"WHAT?!", I screamed into the phone earning angry looks from all of those who stood and sat nearby speaking to managers and producers trying to pitifully gain connections to the industry throughout the enormous hallway.
I heard a choked sob at first, then a silent cry in the background followed by somebody wailing. I stopped right in front of the elevator and froze. Nobody ever sounded like that on the phone when they called me.
A sniffing sound was heard and whoever had called was trying to catch their breath before responding.
"H-Hello?", I said nervously. The color was beginning to fade from my face. I tried to pull myself together after the stunt that was pulled in the office.
"Hello?!", I said a little louder this time again."What's going on?", I thought, " why wasn't anyone saying anything?!"
More sniffing sounds. "B-Britt-ney…", the voice said almost silently. I recognized it as Jeanette's voice.
"Jeanette!", I exclaimed, " What's wrong?! What's the matter? Are you okay?!"
"M-Miss...Miller", she tried to say. More crying was heard in the background. People crying hard. Like somebody just got shot along with sirens and horns, The amount of wind coming from the phone confirmed she was outside.
"Miss Miller what?!" I gasped and held my breath, " Miss Miller what?!", I said frantically. Tears welled up in my eyes as I tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Why wasn't she saying anything?
I took a deep breath and swallowed.
"Jeanette." I tried to say but my voice still shook, "look you need to tell me what's wron-"
"..ler...ied", I heard her say I spite of all the noise. She broke into a sob and started cough once. Then twice. I sighed in frustration. Maybe if I try to talk slower, she'll maybe understand. Plus, I don't want her to have to go through the trouble of giving the phone to Eleanor. Even at a time like this I knew I didn't want to hear anything from her.
"Umm..Jean?", I said taking another deep breath, "I'm gonna need you to say that again one more time." I nearly tripped over myself trying to get around the corner trying to find a quiet place to sit down away from watchful, nosy eyes. I had begun to sit down in a nearby seat that was next to another window and was used as waiting seats for those who are due for an audition to see if they could get signed.
She sounded like she was trying to take deep, shaky breath. "Brittany...Miss Miller died."
The phone went cold in my hand.
That was over two years ago. Things were different now. Completely different. I had never told Miss Miller anything about myself or my life, despite how much she pestered me about it...and now I will never be able to. She died the day before New Year's Eve. I did miss her. She was the only family me and sisters really had.
We should've seen it coming though, after all, when we first moved in with her she did remind us of all her pre-existing medical conditions, so we knew it was only a matter of time before we lost her. But in the end, I couldn't change the past.
With Miss Miller dying and no family elsewhere, me and my sisters had become orphans again and were looking to be adopted. The boys and Dave couldn't have even helped us out, because the state wouldn't let them and plus they weren't related to us. But neither was Miss Miller so what's up with that?
I mean whatever. The big problem was the fact that we were teenagers. We were thirteen at the time and we all knew this one very devastating fact: No one ever adopted teenagers. Nobody did. They wanted babies, toddlers, and kids.. They didn't want any bratty attitude teen. But to be honest, I couldn't blame them. There were three of us altogether and we for sure didn't want to be split up from each other. At least that's what I thought.
Even throughout that, there was another cold, hard fact being thrown at our faces...we were all famous. And there's no way we were gonna be thrown into just anyone's home, that doesn't ever happen. That's not even supposed to happen.
Plus, why would I even wanna be stuck in some random stranger's house who was only after our money?! That mess happened in the movies! Hell that was the plot to A Series of Unfortunate Events! And I was not gonna be next!
The state only had one choice and that was to emancipate us. It basically put all three of us into the system as legal adults. It was a lot of expectations to place on us at such a young age, but we weren't completely off the hook. Yeap, we had to have at least one person qualified by the state of California to look after us just to be on the safe side. So it wasn't all that bad. It gave me particularly the independency I so desperately wanted, no NEEDED in my life.
It sounded like a good getup for me, but as long as I had independence, I knew I wasn't the only one. With the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do in life, it eventually got to Eleanor's head in particularly, and she decided that she didn't want to live anywhere near me. At first she didn't want to, but eventually Jeanette told me everything Eleanor told her over the phone when she tried to convince her to stay with us.
"No! First she ditched us and then she wasn't even by Miller's side when she passed away! You can do whatever you want Jeanette, but do you think I wanna even deal with her after all she's done?!"
She didn't have to even say another word. If Eleanor didn't want to live with me, then whatever. I didn't freaking need her. The only thing was I hated was to throw Jeanette in the middle of all of it, but at the end of the day, I needed her to stay with me. I didn't want her living with Eleanor because God forbid if I was gonna have them start tagging up against me! I was afraid she might start plotting with her and that was not about to happen. If anyone was gonna have the upper hand, it was gonna be me and I was do whatever it took to make that possible.
So, after careful planning and a ton of persuasion, Jeanette finally agreed to just stay with me. Eleanor lived in an expensive spacious condo by herself and was constantly being checked on by the person who looked in after her. "I mean good for her", I thought, " I was gonna have the best of the best if my life depended on it."
After all of that was out of the way, the state moved us into our new mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Because the layout of the house was almost exactly the way I described my room.
It was freaking amazing.
Two grand staircases, another crystal chandelier to match the one in my room, a beautiful array of hallways, a music room, an elegant kitchen, a massive library (for Jeanette of course), an exotic living room with flatscreens and fancy couches and furniture. But, my favorite one of all had to be the large outdoor backyard with a luxurious patio and a beautiful garden right next to our crystal clear pool miles high up giving us only the best view over the city. It was my favorite place where I would go to relax or to write more music.
We lived in the mountains now and it was a wide open vast shapely one with hills and lush green meadows as far as you could see. The only other people who lived around here was the ones that could afford it. Which is not too many, just how I liked it.
Ever since my big decision 2 years ago, times had changed. I was doing everything I wanted to do. I mean I was happy to do it all, but it was still stressful! Right after I decided to do things my way, my life was never the same! At first my modeling agency wanted me posing for all of the latest issues of all of the teen magazines, but my movie deals from Warner Bros, Universal, and Sony Pictures were popping up right and left and when your publicity goes up, so does your fame, so I ended up being qualified for Vogue, Elle and Allure contracts.
I was living the dream and yeah it was everything a girl could want. I love what I do but it was sometimes waaaaaay too much to handle. This was only my second year solo and look at how famous I was already!
I had photo shoots to go to, press interviews to attend, concerts, tours, parties, interviews, movies, TV interviews, award ceremonies, rehearsals, fashion shows, you name it! Not to mention my new album coming out soon. There was no turning back, this is what I wanted.
But it's like nobody knew the price I had to pay and how much work I had to do!
I groaned and opened my eyes and let them drift around my surroundings. It was so much fun being me, but it still was a lot of work. Ugh, maybe I just need another one of those massages.
"Ohhh yeah…", I said out loud, " That's what I need." My stomach made an inward growl and I realized I needed to eat breakfast still.
Ugghh Great. I sat up straight and threw my stuffed bear in front of me toward the edge of the bed. It was a silly habit I picked up after Miss Miller died. Sleeping with stuffed animals.
Oh well, as long as nobody knew. Gosh, I know I was probably no DEFINITELY going to have the busiest day today. Oh what the hell, everyday is a busy day. I threw my hands over my face and groaned inwardly.
I inhaled a familiar scent that was coming out of my room from all the way downstairs making my mouth water and made me feel even hungrier pushing a hunger headache on. It smelled like french toast and blueberry muffins. "It was probably my private chef again". At least I hoped it was because I hated cooking. And begging Jeanette to cook was already a task.
I knew I didn't wanna be late for breakfast but I needed to soak up in the bath first so I hopped out of bed slightly shivering as my feet touched the floor.
Why the heck was the floor always so cold in the morning?!
I stretched again and patted the top of my head with both of my hands, fluffing out my wavy hair and made my way toward the master, I mean *ahem* palace bathroom.
At least that's what I like to call it.
I yawned again when I got in and grabbed a few towels, soaps, bubble baths, and lotions out of my lower bathroom cabinet.
Why the heck do I keep yawning? Gooosh my life!
I brought them near the bathroom and sat them on on of the stool nearby, turned on the water and poured the bubble bath in filling the bathroom with a sweet and yummy smell of hibiscus hawaiian flowers, lemon blossoms, and honey watching the water instantly morph into an array of pink and purple bubbles.
"Aweee...just like me and Jeanette.", I giggled.
Before I could start stripping off my gown, My phone buzzed. I instantly froze. I looked and saw that it was 9:08am.
"Uggghhhh who the heck could possibly want something this early from me?", I said and rolled my eyes, "Everyone knows not to call before 12:00 pm unless it's urgent!" But they do it anyway because apparently everything in my life is urgent.
From the stage costume design to who I want driving my limo. It's no wonder why I'm so stressed.
I walked over to the counter near the sink and picked my phone up.
'Missed call from Alvin'
"What the hell does he want?!", I said aloud. I hope it wasn't him trying to have me meet him somewhere because he should friggin' know I don't do dates. What if the media finds out about us hanging out with each other?! They'll never let me live it down!
I mean I wasn't embarrassed of him. He just ...Ughh...the tabloids always made up rumors and lies about us and everyone wanted us to start seeing each other officially!
I mean the guy was a rockstar! He was a worldwide phenomenon and I was the songbird supreme pop princess! It was only natural that we are a match for each other, and not even just according to the media.
If we're seen going on dates or going into the same places together all the time then that's when the gossip starts and the rumors begin! Then the tabloids and the tricky interview questions! Nope, not me! He was not gonna get me that easily.
But...I still wanted to see him.
Someplace by ourselves maybe...alone...where nobody was gonna bother us. No managers, no fans, no siblings, nothing to stop us. Nobody. We could be all alone cuddling...hugging...kissing.
"Ohhh that kiss." It was still fresh on my lips from the previous night. His warm, soft lips against mine while we made out hungry for each others taste. His hands rubbing up and down against me while we were pressed together tightly. My hands all over him...I wasn't about to give up that.
Maybe we could rent out some fancy restaurant and stay til after dark.
Find some private abandoned beach to relax out all day long.
Maybe even fly to some exotic island and just hide away from the world for a while.
We could if get away if we really wanted to, but who was I kidding? Breaks just didn't exist in my life!
I looked over at my bath and noticed the water was almost ready to overflow. " Shoot, I'll call him back later" I ran over with my phone in one hand, leaned over getting my gown slightly wet and turned the knob in its opposite direction, shutting it off and stared at the array of bubbles and the smoky steam emerging from it.
The water looked so relaxing. I sat my phone down on the nearby stool and begin to strip off my gown and my Chanel bracelet I had left on last night.
I looked over at my body in the mirror admiring that I had all my curves in the right places and then turned around and gently eased my way into the bath.
The water hit my skin and soaked me in its warm aroma and sensation of minerals creating an aura of peace and stress relief that I had built up for months.
" Augh, yesss", I sighed "….this is the kind of 'break' I needed." I let my head fall back and engulf my long wavy auburn hair and then raised it back up slowly loving the way the pink and purple bubbles smelled on me.
I rested my arms on the side of the tub and leaned back looking up at the ceiling.
"Maybe I could give Alvin a chance.", I said thinking, "But, I mean you can't get something for nothing.", I remarked boldly to myself, "You're gonna have to fight for me if you want all of me."
I guess whatever happens, happens. My life was full of too many surprises anyway. My life was just one big party and I had to be ready for all of it.
That is the friggin longest chapter ever….it is 12:37am right now...and I have work in the morning. *YAWWWWWWWWWN*
As I've said before, if you like what you see drop me a line (review)
Remember this is my first story eva! It means sooo much! They make me so happy in my crazy upside down life . I hope you all liked it!
~XoxTristina~
