Wednesday 5 July 2006, Dublin, Ireland
"After the incredible gymkhana that took place at the weekend, we packed up with the help of the whole city,enjoyed a few days, but returned home shortly afterwards, returning to Dublin to continue the summerholidays, but of course all this peace would be interrupted when Alan came to pick me up at home, until thenMum Bernadette returned to Scotland, as did the rest of everyone else, leaving only those who lived inDublin there, but I still didn't stop enjoying it, until my manager arrived, pushing us to start the tour ofEurope."
I even miss Dalystown, even though it's two days since we moved back here, I keep looking at the videos that Croix has posted and she's edited everything very well, I get a huge smile on my face, I'm sure this will draw a lot of attention to what's to come, even more so since I soon realise that Alan might be coming.
We soon hear someone coming into the house, while I'm in the living room watching Croix working on her PC, when we look up, instead of a visit from Aunt April, it's Alan's presence, just think of the demon and he appears.
"Hello girls, I've come to pick you up for the tour" he said and we even rolled our eyes a little.
"You didn't even say you were coming today" I tell him.
"I'm sorry for not calling you Chariot, but we have to leave, Sunday is the next show and it's going to be in Paris, France, the first of Shiny Chariot's European Tour, I've got a lot of deals for a lot of stages and the invitations are going to start being given out, so come on, publicise and let people know about the start of the Tour, here I have the venues, I know Croix can get the publicity papers ready" said my manager handing me a sheet of paper with a list of the Tour venues in Europe.
Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, Milan, Rome, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon and finally London, wow I'm going to see a lot of places, it's good that this list is so spread out, I think it's going to be a long trip, at least I'm going to see new places along the way, I've always wanted to travel more in Europe, apart from when I left home, now it's going to be somewhere new for good, that's going to be very interesting.
I passed the list to Croix and then went upstairs, I'm going to start getting the things to pack, I get to my room and I'm already starting to fill my suitcase, I'm looking forward to it, I'm going to start getting more recognised outside of Britain.
I put all my clothes in the suitcase and my documents, and then I close it and go downstairs. There I see that they're still talking and my mum is there too, and she gives me a hug.
"Good luck with this tour, girl, I'm going to Dalystown afterwards to fulfil my promise, but don't put yourself under pressure just because there are 12 different cities, I know you've been preparing for this moment, soon this tour of Europe will one day become a tour of the world, you can be sure" said my mother Laura as she stroked my head.
"Let's go by the house too, I'll pack my bag and then we'll get on the bus, I really hope you've found something less precarious Alan" said my girlfriend.
I'm just leaving the house after saying goodbye to my family and we've already seen that it's the same old Mercedes Benz bus, it doesn't look like he's listened to Croix and nor will he, I can already see that he's still with the opposite of all this with a brand new Mercedes Benz car, the same one we've seen him in before, at least he hasn't invented a Ferrari.
"Ugh, you haven't really changed, have you, that Mercedes of yours costs the same as a new bus and we're still riding around in that old tin can" said Croix.
"I've given it a good overhaul now, you can see that it's even got a distinctive new paint job, and inside you're going to be surprised, since the important thing is getting to your destination, I can assure you that I've even had it overhauled, I've had to spend a fair bit of money to get this thing up to scratch" said Alan, and well, I'll only know when I get in.
I make a point of going to Croix's house first, which is almost next door to mine, and there I help her get her clothes for this long journey. When I get inside, I wave to my aunt April who is probably at her computers working on a new game, it should be interesting, and soon my mum will show up to help her.
We go into my girlfriend's room, it's always a bit messy with a lot of things thrown around, but it still has its charm, it must be because of the last time we spent here yesterday, we picked up her things, clothes and equipment, all filling up the suitcases, which we finish with a kiss, a romantic couple's kiss.
"Now it's going to be the long-awaited tour of Europe, my love, soon we'll be able to stay together and enjoy every minute of this trip, we'll take photos in every place together, just like those clichéd couples, this is going to be a lot of fun" said Croix and I nodded.
"I think the best thing of all will be spending time with you, it certainly makes everything better" I say to her, holding her close.
"Soon I'll be 18 and that little shit Alan will take his hands off you, we'll be together and then I'll make sure everything is fair" said my Meridies.
We manage to get everything, with the suitcases in hand, which Croix has a lot more of, we go down the stairs, which she first passes by her mother and gives her a kiss on the forehead, as well as receiving a hug from her younger sister, how cute, these girls are funny, Croix's family is also sweet.
We leave her house and go to the bus, and when you look closely you can see that there have been some changes, like the lighthouse, which now doesn't seem to be as broken as it used to be, and when we open the door you can see the difference in the floorboards.
As soon as we walked through the door we could see that Alan had changed everything, the floor of this thing, which used to be made of exposed iron, now had a better finish, the beds, which used to be just thrown about and improvised, are also much better finished and positioned, there are sofas now and a television, who would have thought, more sockets, as we entered the bathroom we saw that there is a bathtub and space for a toilet too, finally more comfort, which my manager quickly patted on the shoulder.
"I told you I'd refurbished this thing, now you're entitled to a hotel on four wheels, you don't have to complain so much, now come on, we've got to start announcing that the Tour of Europe is about to start, I'll go to my car, you can enjoy it as much as you like, we've got to get to Paris by Sunday, in fact these are the dates of each of the concerts" Alan said, handing us another list.
He left, Croix picked up the list and read through it, while I had a good look around, finally there's space, even cupboards to store things, which I did, unloading my suitcases and putting on my clothes, listening to the bus start its engine and even then it was quieter, although the engine of this thing is in front of the driver. I made everything look nice, picked up Croix's clothes and carefully picked up her injections, which my girlfriend needs to take frequently so that her body continues to change.
"The days are very close, it's good that you can even take a week's rest before we go back to Luna Nova" Wow, what a difference, I'm impressed, sarcastically of course.
"Just one week, really? We're going to spend nearly two months working?" I say, getting fed up.
"Don't be like that, it'll be two months travelling around Europe, the presentations are well spread out, and now we have a very spacious bus, so there's plenty of room to enjoy, even the beds are double and look at that, there's even a curtain, who knows what Alan meant by that, but we have to enjoy it, don't let these thoughts get to us" Well, she's right, we'll enjoy it because time is valuable.
I'm going to throw myself into one of the poufs and well, at least I've got my SphereGame set up on the telly, I'm going to play for a while so as not to let my nerves take over, then I'm going to think about rehearsing, I'm going to give myself a good rest before I have to start rehearsing for real.
[...]
We've barely travelled and we've already had to stop on the way, what now, Alan's coming in, which makes me a bit hungry, ahhhh, I'd forgotten the most important thing now, how are we going to travel without having anything to eat.
"You two take this money and buy whatever you want, this will be the money for your food for the next two months, spend wisely, we're in a market nearby" said my manager handing me a lot of Euro notes, I counted everything and it came to 1200 Euros, look this is more than enough, the years I lived with my father abusing my money made me learn how to save a lot of money and how to get by in a month with 10 times less money than that, so this is more than enough.
He's soon on his way out and I'm very excited, we can even enjoy eating a lot of different things along the way in really good restaurants, it's not the kind of money that's going to run out quickly, which I quickly hand over to Croix.
"Honey, let's go to the supermarket,Alan gave me money to buy things, the bus shouldn't have any food or anything else to help us stay healthy in here" I say to her and she closes her laptop.
"Come on, love, I love spending time with you, let's do something for lunch together" said my girlfriend and I nodded.
We soon got off the bus and headed for the supermarket, I'm going to buy so many good, branded things now, there's no point in saving, this money is enough to eat well for half a year, I could manage very well on much less than that, living with my father, although I often had the help of people from outside who donated food, but it's still different.
We go into the supermarket hand in hand and wow, there's so much to pick up, we've already got our trolleys in hand, two of them very full, today we're going to fill this up with shopping, then we'll just buy more things when we go somewhere else that has a market, and I've still got my money saved.
[...]
We've already got all the shopping in place, everything organised, and Alan signals the driver to take the bus away with us, we're starting our long journey, I can't wait to get to Paris and enjoy everything, me and my girlfriend, I'm going to show her the Eiffel Tower, the place I lived for a while, and soon everyone who mocked me that day will swallow their words.
"Now we'll be able to enjoy a good journey together, this comfortable thing, at least one thing that bastard Alan did, now I won't complain too much about this bus, it even has air conditioning and it works very well, it's not so bad" said my girlfriend.
"You always complain a lot about Alan, don't you, Croix?" I say laughing.
"Ah you know what he's like, I'm just not going to say anything bad now because he must have a way of listening to me and I'd rather keep a low profile about what I think of him now and what I want for our future, I don't doubt that this guy must have a bug on us round here, if he does he'll be in big trouble" said my Croix and that's paranoia enough.
"What an exaggeration, love, it's not that big a deal, he's not that crazy, but how are the projects going, I just want to see how the banner for the presentations looks, I'm dying to know everything, I only know the places, but I don't know the dates" She then asks me to sit next to her and shows me the banner on her laptop.
Wow, it's the most beautiful thing ever, it was perfect, she put the stars of the European flag next to me and also a shape of the continent to signal that it's my Tour of Europe, it was really cool, now the dates are all lined up nicely.
Paris 09/07, Amsterdam 12/07, Berlin 16/07, Vienna 19/07, Zurich 23/07, Milan 26/07, Rome 30/07, Nice 02/08, Barcelona 06/08, Madrid 09/08, Lisbon 13/08 and finally London 20/08, so we'll only have one week off before I have to go to Luna Nova, but at least I can rest a lot more than when I had to perform every day on the Spring Tour, at least here the days are spread out more, but I don't doubt that Alan himself will make me work a lot.
"Wow, we're really not going to be in these places for long, it's good that at least between Lisbon and London there'll be at least a week's gap so I can rest, I'm sure the last show will have to be an epic closing, let alone the difficulty it's going to be next year, I can already imagine the nightmare if my success keeps climbing" I say impressed by everything.
"You can rest assured that I already know how we're going to deal with this" said my girlfriend, patting me on the shoulder.
I'm sure these midweek shows won't be as crowded as the weekend ones, but well, that might be bad for business, but less exhausting for when Alan gets me to sign everything and makes money off me, I can only imagine how much he's spent on all of this.
"According to my calculations, it wasn't a small amount of money from their mums, he managed to hire 12 seats to put on the performances, not to mention the price of setting up the stage, so it wasn't a small amount, I hope it all pays off, whether they like it or not, Shiny Chariot still makes a loss for the Cavendish" I even get a bit pensive, because the performances are always very ostentatious.
"Is that worrying?" I ask Croix.
"Well, the Cavendish fortune is very high, from what Mrs McLaren told me before you even came along is that they have at least 60 million pounds in cash, not to mention the relics and that it's very old money, that it's their plan to mess with this money and cause a big change in the family, that's why they're spending it all on you" I'm shocked, even this money in Francs is not much, let alone in Pounds.
"I didn't realise it was all that and how much do you think they spent?" I ask Croix.
"So far I think they've spent at least a sixth of that money, just to make these Tours possible, apart from the Dalystown festival, they have to be careful, Daryl could end up getting angry with a huge amount of money being spent, apart from Alan's hands only getting full, so they're making a long-term investment with you, they want to get rid of the rich people's life and leverage you to bring the witch revolution to light, I just hope this plan doesn't fail" Said my girlfriend.
I think about it, but well, now we have to do well, that way they won't be left behind, if I keep doing well like this I might even win more sponsorships around the world, that's what I have to do, at least that way Mum Bernadette won't go bankrupt, I'd feel very guilty if I was responsible for something like that.
[...]
been a very long journey, we've spent a whole day getting here, the bus is parked where the show is, and you can see that there's a stage like that, wow, look at the size of this thing, this is certainly going to be more crowded than I imagined, I'm even swallowing my saliva
Well at least after rehearsing a lot I think I'm going to carry on until Sunday, that's what I'm going to do, which soon I hear the door of the bus opening and who shows up is Alan, I wonder what he wants with me this time
"Look, we've only just got here and I've already got a job for you for the first few days, I've managed to attract the attention of the television, girl, so get things sorted here and you'll be appearing on national television, as you know French, take this here to answer the interview questions, the reporter will be here in an hour and get Croix out of there" said my manager handing over a sheet of paper with some lines ready.
"What do you mean? I've only just arrived, what do you mean television? Do you mean I'm going to have to say everything in an armed way?" My head is already full of things.
"Exactly, you're going to be on television tomorrow when you do an interview today, so rehearse these ready-made answers a lot, don't throw away your reputation, it's all in English, but I think you should know how to speak French, it's going to be very quick, less than ten minutes" he said and my head exploded.
"And why should I be left out? I'm one of the people who helped her the most" That's true, Croix helped me a lot.
"Because you don't add anything with that geeky appearance, unless you want to appear in a costume to represent, as well as being her girlfriend, it won't go down well to reveal to the public that Chariot is homosexual, so let's leave all that out, all for Chariot's reputation, you have to understand these things if you want to enter the market" I'm just being artificial, I keep asking myself if it's really worth it.
"Ugh, I get it, you don't have to keep reminding me that I'm not a hottie, I don't have to be one, I don't show up, but if it wasn't for me you'd be spending a lot more money than you're getting out of us, anyway, good luck Chariot, anything I'll be here"" Said my girlfriend who then kisses me and I kiss her back.
"Now go and rehearse your lines and put on your Shiny Chariot costume, I'll wait for the press to arrive, make this place presentable for the greatness to come" Alan said and I kept rolling my eyes as he left the bus.
And here we go, I start to go to the shower, think a bit, turn on the water and take off my clothes to take a shower, since I'm going to have to be Shiny Chariot now, I wash my body to look presentable, as well as looking at myself in the bathroom mirror of this thing, well Chariot you can do it, it'll be your first time on a television, I'm sure my father will see this and be shocked.
I get out of the shower, which was very quick, and go to my wardrobe in a towel, change into my Shiny Chariot outfit and take a deep breath, now with the costume on I look at the paper with the lines ready. It's all very ridiculous, really, I don't feel like a person, but like a product.
[...]
The press arrive, I can see them from the bus window, and they come through the door and I'm all smiles, I'm really exhausted tonight, I just want to rest, tomorrow I'll have to rehearse more before I perform, but come on.
At least there's a friendly reporter coming up to me, with lots of cameras I'm a bit weirded out, but I nod, like in Madagascar, just smile and nod, that's all, but I felt like exploding Alan didn't even ask me if I was comfortable.
"We had the honour here of simply having the illustrious Shiny Chariot here in Paris, this fever that has been causing children in England is also arriving here in France, can you tell us what you intend to do here and if there will be many shows?" She did it just the way it was on the paper, and I'm just remembering what it was.
"There are sure to be lots of shows for children and their parents too, so bring whoever you can here on Sunday, the performances are free for everyone who likes to enjoy the wonderful and enchanted world of magic" I'm really acting a lot talking like this, luckily my theatre classes help me to keep up my acting.
"That's marvellous, we're going to have the great and rising young Shiny Chariot, she's only sixteen and she's a real blast, our French pride, I hear you're from here too, can you tell us about it?" I wasn't expecting that, I'm going to have to fabricate a great story.
"I was born in Loperèc in the countryside, a very quiet little town, but I always moved with my father from town to town, he was the one who looked after me all these years, since I only had him as family, but even so he still supported me in my dreams and I've had many moments where I've shown my talent, I've taken theatre classes, I've been a street performer, until I managed to catch Alan's eye when I joined Luna Nova, it was a journey of a lot of effort and support from wonderful people" I want to throw up after what I've said, I can't believe I managed to improvise that, sorry about everything mums, but it would be worse to tell the truth.
"A great fighter as we can see, that's really impressive people, that's Shiny Chariot, and going back to the question that wasn't answered, what are your plans for the future, we've already seen that you have a very rich history, tell us more about what you intend to do?" I think not pretending to be me is one of them.
"We're going on a grand tour of Europe, as you can see from this banner, we're going to expand and expand and maybe in 2007 we'll start doing the Shiny Chariot World Tour, when I'm already defollowed again by Luna Nova, since this witch here is a very dedicated student, I'm going to perform here in France in Paris and Nice, stay tuned to the calendar and book your tickets as soon as possible, I guarantee that for my countrymen I'm going to do something special" And I swear I just want to get it over with.
"Very well, as you can see, this is Shiny Chariot, stay tuned to this fever that the girl has been enjoying, it was a pleasure to meet you Chariot Du Nord, I hope you do very well in your presentation, bye-bye" said the reporter as she got off the bus and that was like a weight off my shoulders, at the same time there was another one, I hate having to be forced to lie.
She's gone, I'm getting really tense, I keep shaking my leg with anxiety, tapping my finger against the table, I don't know what to do, all I see is just Alan outside smoking and I go straight outside the bus to see if Croix is there, but she's nowhere to be seen, where did she go? I just needed her now.
"Ah Croix left just now, I paid for a taxi for her to go to McDonald's, apparently I wanted to make you something to eat, well I can tell you that from what I heard the interview went as expected" he said as he continued to smoke and then walked to another part of the stage.
I was looking at it closely, that smoke, that stench, when on his floor one of the cigarettes falls out of the packet and stays in the middle of the bush, I use my magic and take it to myself, which makes me shudder, I always see people doing that, should I? Should I... Ugh, that thing smells disgusting, but... But... I go to the inside of the bus hiding the cigarette inside my chest and go to the kitchen where I get a lighter, I come out of the thing again, where I see a tree.
Chariot, don't do it! Chariot, don't do it! The voice in my head keeps saying it, but the tension in me is saying something else, they say it relieves tension, what do I do? I light the lighter, trembling a little I light this thing by setting it on fire at the tip, what I put near my mouth, when I put it in there comes a horrible taste inside, as if it were death and there comes a cough along with it, what a horrible business no.
What have I done? I shouldn't have put it in my mouth, I don't want to end up like Aunt Rosemary, but at the same time, the shaking has stopped a little, the taste is horrible, but the feeling, do I really have to swallow the smoke, I'll try.
This time it's less bad, but as soon as I swallow the smoke there's a sensation in my head along with the coughing, damn it I'm going to end up making a lot of noise, I have to do it more calmly, I look around from side to side, I feel like a criminal doing this.
I put it in my mouth once more and this time more gently, I felt the calm in my head, the shaking stopped for good, I don't feel strange anymore, now I just have to let it roll, the smoke went in again and I didn't cough, I did it lightly, gee, it tastes awful at first, but once you get used to it, it's something else.
I've finished smoking all that and I'm in disbelief, what have I done? I shouldn't have put it in my mouth, I throw the cigarette butt on the floor and step on it to put it out, I run to the bus, I hope I'm not smelling it, I
quickly pick up my clothes from before and run to the bathroom to change, at the same time I start brushing my teeth, I do it like nobody's business, but I still smell tobacco on my hand, I take mouthwash and put it in my mouth and spit it out, I've just made everything worse, because I did that.
"Chariot?" I hear Croix's voice coming from the bus, I smell my hand and it's all right, it doesn't stink any more, so I get out of my clothes and go to my girlfriend who's carrying a packet of McDonald's snacks, I'm not going to say anything to her.
"I hated that interview! It's all fake, it's all commercial, it's all so manufactured!" I said, crying as I went into Croix's arms and she began to cuddle me.
"Oh Chariot, I can only imagine what it must be like, soon you'll be able to tell the truth, I know you really want to, but look, I brought McDonald's for both of us, we're going to eat something different to celebrate our arrival here, it was a bit of a hassle to find one in the city, but I managed, the taxi driver almost wanted to give me the slip, but we soon found one nearby, He would have wanted to take me on a tour of the city, just to earn a little extra money, but I was clear with my answer" I told Meridies and she has no idea what happened now, I hope she never does, she was caressing me and I think I'm going to eat something, so it disguises the smell of cigarettes and mouthwash.
"I had to lie about my history with my father, erase my mums help, I hate it, I really want it to stop, Alan always does these things, he only cares about money and success, but not if we're OK, I can't stand it" Oh no the shaking has come back a bit, I really can't, but then my girlfriend holds my hand and it stops for a bit.
"We're going to get through this together, I know how hard it's been for you, but we can do it, know that I love you and I'll always be there for you" said Croix being so sweet to me, I really don't deserve a girlfriend like her.
I shouldn't have smoked, but I'd rather not talk about it, there's no point, I think what I really needed was her contact and not nicotine, what a big mistake I made, what if I become an addict? I don't want to become a smoker, I'd better not think about it or my head will get worse, it will get much worse.
"And so that was the beginning of my smoking journey, that wasn't the first or the last, as I would have liked itto have been, until then I still smoked very sporadically, well hidden, when I was very tense, that was on theTour, I smoked very little, but when I got further along I ended up giving in to tobacco completely, there wasno way, this whole Shiny Chariot thing really overloaded my teenage head, which makes everything worsewhen you have a manager like Alan."
See you, tour witches...