Written

Chapter 17

A car picks me up at five o'clock on the dot, as promised. I don't feel nervous anymore, but I suspect that I'm just becoming immune to the knots that are continually twisting in my stomach. Paul had told me that he was throwing me right into the thick of things for tomorrow night's show in Little Rock. Tonight I get to kind of shadow and train, though it's extremely unofficial.

I am excited and happy, no trace of anxious, bouncy Hayley remains. After days of mentally preparing myself, I am ready for this. I know that I can do it. Funny how easy it is to doubt yourself when you're removed from a situation, but when said situation is upon you, you are capable of doing things you'd never dreamed of.

I watch St. Louis slowly fly by past my window as we approach the arena. The driver, clearly a man of few (or no) words, silently hands me another folder similar to the one in Atlanta which held my backstage pass and ticket. I slide my hand into the envelope and pull out an official tour lanyard. Attached to it is a laminated backstage all access pass with my picture in the upper corner and my name stamped in bold letters across the top. I've never felt more important in my life.

When the car pulls up outside of the arena, gaggles of teenage girls crane their necks to see who gets out. They turn away almost immediately when they see that it is only me, I mean nothing to them. And I am glad for that.

Feeling like I'm in a movie, I flash my pass to two guards who open a back gate for me. Surprisingly, this arena is laid out exactly like the one in Atlanta, so I have little trouble locating Paul.

"Thank you for the flowers," I say to him.

"You're welcome, dear. We want you to know how lucky we feel to have you." I brush off his compliment awkwardly; I am still not sure what exactly they expect from me or why they all seem to think so highly of me. Paul leads me back into his "office" for this arena. It is cringe worthy, the idea of having to pack up and relocate your office every few days, if not every day.

"Okay, Hayley. I'm going to show you some important stuff right now. It's a lot to pile on at once, but don't let it overwhelm you. This won't have anything to do with you, you won't be dealing with this yet. But it's still important to show you." He spends the next thirty minutes going over extensive business paperwork, showing me income and revenue of the tour versus the payroll and outgoing expenses. It is complicated but I am interested and a little shocked. This tour is a multimillion dollar machine, if not billion.

"Hayley, what you'll be doing for a while is the...social part of my job, for lack of a better word. We've been getting really behind on the important stuff, the paperwork, the business aspect of this tour. I can't really do all of it at once, so your job is to relate with everyone, keep everyone on track and on schedule. Especially the boys. I see you've already built some sort of relationship with them, which will be good for all of you. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine," I tell him. "I would actually really like that, I think. I just don't really know how to keep people on schedule when I don't fully understand the schedule yet."

Paul laughs. "Don't worry about that. We're going to let you learn, you're going to understand it sooner than you think you will. Living and breathing a schedule is a very effective way of learning it. For instance, you will have a prime example of the night schedule this evening, because you will be helping me shut down." He sees my confused look and explains further. "Since tomorrow's show is in a different city, it's my- and now your- job to see the boys onto the bus safely and quickly. They do not linger, they do not meet fans, they barely have time to change before they have to be on that bus to the next city. Then you and I, we can either go back to the hotel and stay there for the night, or we can move to the next city too. For every tour stop you will be able to make your own choice. There will be cars to take you every night and cars to take you every morning, depending on what you choose. You do not have to clear it with anyone, so long as you get to the next stop. Preferably on time. Got it so far?"