The Rock Rollercoaster

16. Home

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"Can I have another notepad?" I ask Charles, laying the last sheet of paper on top of its predecessor.

Charles nods and hands me yet another thick notepad. "How's it going?" He asks, rocking his chair slightly.

I shrug. "Well enough."

"And what part are you at now?"

I narrow my eyes. "The bit where its all my fault."

Charles clears his throat. "As your therapist, I have to disagree with you there. Obviously you're going to feel slightly guilty about what happened, but-"

"I don't mean about what happened. I'm not even there yet. I just mean that I'm at the bit where things were tough for me." I said, already scribbling away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dad.

My Dad.

Here. In New York.

This could not be good.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, hovering in the doorway, unwilling to let him in.

He scowled slightly. "Can I come in?"

I nodded. Turning back to David, I murmured, "Would you mind leaving? I need to talk with my Dad."

He nodded and said, "OK. But I'll see you tomorrow?" He looked so hopeful, and the fact that he wasn't giving up on me made me feel more appreciated that ever. So I nodded, and kissed him before he left with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" I asked my Dad again, as the door clicked closed after David.

He settled down on the sofa and said, "I saw this." He pulled a magazine from the huge suitcase he'd lugged into the apartment. He handed it to me.

The front page was taken up by a huge, glossy and glamorous photograph of me and Nate. Evidently from the photoshoot, the photographer had captured us when Nate had pulled us onto the floor, me straddling his waist. In the photo he was leaning up from the ground to whisper in my ear, so you couldn't see his face much. I had my eyes closed, and my hands were in his hair.

Overall, we looked like...well, we looked like rock and roll. Across the front of the photo were the words, "Is this the new face of rock and roll?"

I flipped through to the main article, and saw that there was another of our photos inside. This time, all four of us were on it, laughing in a line. It looked good. I read the introduction;

Take note of the faces in the photograph, because we can guarantee that you'll be seeing a lot of these four people, (from left, Chris, Freddie, Lyra and Nate). New band on the scene, Kick the Crown, already has a wide and diverse audience but have only just been signed to Aware Records. Their first single, 'Meet The Monsters' is set to be released in just a few months, and we've had the privilege of having a sneaky listen. All we can say is that this band is an explosion.

I glanced at Dad. "Well?" I said, not really knowing what to say.

"Well...why wasn't I aware of this?" He said, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"You were aware of it. I told you I was working on music and that I was in a band." I said, defiantly.

He scowled. "I didn't know you were, as it says later on in the article, 'on the brink of fame.'" He said, indicating the magazine. "What about the photo on the front?"