The Different Shade Of Grey

Chapter 17

"OKAY, I'M DONE! Take a look," Karisma spins the chair around, making me face the mirror. I open my eyes and my jaw has dropped. I gasp and walk towards the mirror. I LOOK AMAZING! The foundation she used is a bit paler than my actual skin tone, she made the smokey-eye on my eyes with a cat-eye, my lips are a dark red. My hair is big, curly and messy. I stroke my cheeks and smile, "Be my makeup artist at my wedding?" Karisma smiles back at me. I look at her an squeeze her in a friendly embrace.
"I have a feeling you like my work?" I can sense her stupid smug face. I roll my eyes and look at her, "Of course I do. Now where's the surprise you promised me?" I let go of her and take a step back. A few days back Karisma promised me a little surprise. Cost her like $200. Not much but she said it's worth it.
She pulls out a little box out of her sweatpants pocket and hands it to me. It's in a black cute little gift box. I open it and find a small box of colored contact lenses. She smiles as I give her a tight friendly embrace.
"I love it. Thank you," I smile as we let go of each other. Slip the contacts in and I'm ready to go. We walk out of the room Ross and I are currently sleeping in as wow the others with our costumes. I lick my fake plastic fangs and smirk at Ross as he walks closer to me with his cheesy smile. He lifts me in his arms and twirls around. He kisses my cheeks and whispers, "My girl looks so sexy." Butterflies explode into my stomach as he puts me gently on the ground. I always love it when he calls me that. Caressing my loving boyfriend's face, I reply, "Well you're as sexy as I am. Effortlessly slaying that half wolf/human costume. It's like you knew I was going to be this she-wolf." He laughs, holds and squeezes my hand.
Greg is Superman, Austin is Batman and the rest...are just too sexy to describe. Grabbing my backpack that contains my laptop and Halloween edition Dr Dre Beats, we're off to the Miami beach for the big music festival!

"BEBE, YOU'RE UP IN FIVE," the stage director says and walks away. My heart beats faster and my nerves are kicking in. I start to pace up and down and slowly memorize some of the song lyrics of the mashups I'm going to play. I always do that when I'm nervous before I'm about to entertain. Always calms me down. I feel a hand squeeze my shoulder and I turn to face the owner of the hand. It's just Ted. The one man I really needed to see before I go on stage.
"Calm down, Bebe. You've got this." He rubs and squeezes my shoulders to calm me down. "Just wondering how they'll react. That's all," then a question pops into my head, "Is mom and dad here?" Ted sighs and nods, "Don't let it ruin your current mood. Dad promised not to provoke you or anything. He did enough. All you gotta focus on is to entertain and have fun." Ted's right. Can't let what my dad said to me mess with my head. It was head fuck but right now, I just don't need him. The stage director taps on my shoulder and directs me on stage. The one hour of Bebe entertainment has come. I take a deep breath and step close to the center of the stage. The crowd is roaring and chanting my stage name. It's a welcoming feeling. I smile and wave at my loving fans. "Are you ready for the Queen?" I yell with a smile. The crowd agrees with big smiles on their faces. Putting the microphone down, I take my headsets from the turning table, connect my laptop and start off by playing the spooky beats of Vicetone's, Regenade. I sing along and dance wildly as each song from my mashup successfully pumps out of the large speakers. Everyone is dancing, smiling and having fun. This is what I love to do. Making people dance! The love my fan's give me is amazing and the way they react to the mashups is just so amazing. It's like they're giving me all their flaws and allowing me to make them forget about them. That's how I feel. It's truly amazing.

As the song, "Feels like Home" from The Him, comes to an end, I grab the microphone and say, "Not long ago I was in hospital because of the stupid things I've done. I never thought I'd be here and play this out to you. This has been such an amazing experience. Miami, this has been wonderful. One of my best gigs! Bebe thanks you!" I wave and everyone chants as I walk off stage. When I'm backstage, from the corner of my eye, I see my parents looking at me. My mother in awe and my father as distant as ever. Mom runs towards me and we hug each other. "I'm so proud of you! That was so amazing," she lets go of me and holds my face and strokes my cheeks with her thumbs, "Seeing you have that much fun is the best thing to ever witness." I blush and smile at the same time. Mom holds both of my hands and gives them a squeeze as she leaves, leaving me with dad. I'm dreading to even speak to him, so the best thing to do is to walk away. When I walk away, dad quickly stops me by pulling me by my wrist.
"Phoebe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said," I yank my wrist off his grasp and glare at him. "No dad, you meant every single word you said to me. See, this is why I'm such a reckless teen. My fans need me and all you do is pull me away from them. Did you not hear that? Thousands and thousands of voices chanting out my name. Wanting me to play my mashups for them. These people who are out there paying two hundred dollars just to come here, are fuck ups, just like I am. They need to loosen up and that's why I'm here. To make them feel free! As my father, you're supposed to support me the whole way but instead you're just discouraging me not to do what I love," I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and I look back into my father's dark eyes, "It's alright if you don't wanna support me. Support Ted way more than you support me. He is the perfect son and I'm the daughter who is doing something 'stupid'. Just so you know, I just earned myself a solid hundred grand. Being a DJ is also some sort of business." I walk away and leave him speechless. I see Ross looking at me with his earnest blue eyes and a lost expression on his face. He puts his arm around my waist and I do the same and we walk to my dressing room.