Chapter 17- The Concert, things still going downhill

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~Pearl's POV~
She actually said that to me..
She really did.
I've been on this curb, not able to stand up.
I'm covered in my tears.
"At least I don't act like some twelve year old spoiled brat" Those words echo through my mind.
I told Marina to leave.. I wouldn't think that I would ever have to say that.
I'm so mad at her now. She broke my heart.
The thing is that we still have our concert tonight. We should go soon, if Marina is okay..

~Marina's POV~
I sit on my cold, broken, wood floor crying.
I'm such a horrible person. Pearl doesn't love me.
I regret everything I said.
I regret everything bad that I did to her.
She doesn't deserve me because I'm a horrible person.
I bang my head on the wall repetitively.
I deserve pain.
I cry even more.
The time is 4:36 PM. Our concert is soon.
I should remind Pearl..
I take out my phone from my pocket and dial her number.
She picks up.
"Marina? What do you want now?!" I hear her sniffle.
"Um I just wanted to say that we have to have our concert still. I'll meet you at the venue, okay?"
"Sure. Bye." Then she hangs up.
I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's clearly upset with me.
I sigh and stand up.
I see all my old photographs scattered across the floor.
I pick up one of them. This was the time when I first met the squid sisters.
I pick up another one. This.. This was when Pearl and I became best friends.
I feel more tears roll down my face.
I throw the photo on the ground and walk out the house.
I start heading to where we're going to perform. It's raining and cold as ice. The rain droplets pelt my face and soon I'm soaking wet.
Great. This is just amazing.
My girlfriend and I fought, now I'm soaking wet, and I have to perform with her.
It's gonna be so awkward. We'll just have to act like nothing's wrong.
Pearl's great at doing that. After all, she acted like she loved me.
I get way too distracted in my thoughts and I trip over a rock.
My body hits the wet ground.
Before I can lift myself up, a tall female inkling walks over to me.
She lends me her hand and I accept it.
She then lifts me up from the ground.
We both stare at each other.
The first thing I notice is her smile.
She's kind of pretty..
She has long, pink, tentacles and sky blue eyes.
"T-thanks for helping me.." I stutter and let go of her hand.
"You're welcome!" She exclaims.
"Where are you heading to?" She asks.
"Oh um I'm going to perform at a concert.."
"Really! I'm going to that concert! You must be Marina, right?"
"Yes! I am."
"Nice. I'm Melody."
"Cool, I'm Marina."
She laughed,"Um I think we already established that."
I mentally facepalmed myself. Really Marina? ,I think to myself, she just said she knew who you were a minute ago.
"Its alright, I do stuff like that all the time."

"Holy carp! The concert! I forgot! Look it was
nice to meet you and all but I got to go now." I explained.

She shrugs, "Hey why don't we walk together. We're going to the same place." As she says that, she blushes a bit and looks up at me.
I respond," Sure I don't see why not. But we have to hurry." I grab her wrist and we sprint towards the Concert venue in the pouring rain. People look toward us as I basically drag some random inkling down the street.
"I'm allergic to exercise! When are we going to be there?!" She exclaims.
Allergic to exercise.. That reminds me of Pearl..
"It's right there! Come on!"
We walk around the back of the venue. The security guard lets me in but keeps Melody out.
"Craig, she's with me." I exclaim.
" Oh sorry, I thought she was just a random fan trying to sneak in."
Well technically she is a random fan..
" Um alright I guess I'm coming too," She states and follows me backstage.
The backstage area is really dark with a few lights here and there. From across the room I spot my manager sweating nervously in the corner.My manager turns around and freaks out when she sees me.
"MARINA WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!? YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE 30 MINUTES AGO!! AND YOU'RE SOAKING WET!! YOU HAVE TO PERFORM IN TEN MINUTES!." Her gaze shifts from me to Melody, "And who is that, Marina!"
"My friend, I'm just getting her backstage passes so she will be gone soon."
"Backstage passes?! Really? I didn't even pay! Thank you!" Melody squeals.
I smile and give her a pass.
"There you go, now go to your seat! I need to start performing."
She runs out of the backstage area. Now it's time for me to get ready. People are rushing around the area trying to make sure everything is ready for the show. I dry myself off and start applying makeup.
"FIVE MINUTES UNTILL SHOWTIME!" somebody yells.
I need to start hurrying up with my makeup. As I start finishing up,I see Pearl walk over to me.
" Are you done yet? Or are you too busy trying to look pretty for your fans?" She sneered
" We don't have time for this", I reason, "we have to go on now."
" Fine," She says and starts walking onstage without me.
I catch up with her and watch her expression change from hatred to happiness.
I wave at all the fans with a fake smile on my face.
The crowd cheers.
I'm usually happy when it comes to concerts, but right now I feel like crying.
But then I see Melody in the crowd. She's standing right in the front row.
I smile and wave to her.
She waves back at me.
I hear Pearl groan.
I look back at her and she rolls her eyes at me.
I sigh and go behind my DJ set.
The crowd calms down and then we start with an introduction.
"Y'all know what time it is!" Pearl starts off.
"It's Off The Hook performing here for you guys tonight!" I yell.
Everyone cheers.
I start playing color pulse.
Screaming fills my ears and I feel like I'm going deaf.
I start singing the lyrics and the crowd joins in.
When the time is right, Pearl raps her verse. She walks across the stage but makes sure to keep far away from me. There is so much tension between Pearl and I. I can't seem to relax. When Pearl's finished her verse I start to sing and cringe at how strained my voice is. The song ends and the crowd cheers. Huh, now that I look around there are a lot less people than at our previous concerts. I don't have time to think about it before Acid Hues starts and I have to concentrate again. I'm sweating, I've never been this nervous before. Maybe because Pearl always used to encourage me before a show.. Pearl throws me some sideward glares during the song. When it's time to hit the high note my voice cracks in the middle of singing it.
Oh crap.
I quickly regain my normal voice and finish the song.
After Acid Hues is over Pearl whispers "Wow, you did such a shitty job. How do people still love you?"
I turn my head to her as tears form in my eyes.
What has gotten into her lately?!
Then I start playing Muck Warfare and sing. I can't help thinking about Pearl and her sudden change in behavior. Is this my fault? I have seen people saying mean things about her online but Pearl never said anything about them.. I assumed she didn't care. She always seemed to brush off the mean comments and didn't respond when our fans compared Pearl to me.Maybe it's my fault for not saying anything.. or asking her how she felt.Im so distracted by my thoughts that I completely messed up my lines. The crowd starts booing and throwing their glow sticks at me. I looked over to Melody, who had a concerned look on her face. Then, I looked over to Pearl , who walked over to me and starting saying something in a angry tone," LOOK WHAT YOUVE DONE NOW MARINA..."
I can't take it anymore.
I put up my middle finger to everyone and then turn around and shove it in Pearl's face.
Then I  run off stage.
I sit down on the couch backstage. Tears burst out and spill all over my face.
I just can't do this anymore..
I just want this to stop and go back to the way it used to be..
I take in a long breath before I start sobbing again. The rest of the staff left and Pearl probably did too.
After a couple minutes, I see a familiar face in the doorway.
It's Melody.
She runs over and hugs me. "Shh.. it's okay.Its okay."
I tremble and my face erupts with a new round of sobs. "It's... not okay..everything. Is.. horrible."
She ends  the hug and sits next to me. "What happened up there? If.. you don't mind me asking that is."
" No, it's okay, I don't mind you asking. The problem is that.." I look around to make sure Pearl isn't here, " Pearl and I got into a big fight..."I take a second to steady my breathing before I continue, " She said some really hurtful things and then my singing.. and the crowd..."
Melody hugs me again. " I think it would be  better for you if we left this place."
"Yeah," I agree. The last thing I want to see right now is Pearl, or my manager.. or the fans..
" Wait, how did you even get in here?" I question.
She looks back at me, "Remember ?" She asks, " You gave me backstage passes."
Oh right. I forgot about those.
We walk out of the dimly lit backstage area and out under the blinding street lamps.
"I know just what will make you feel better!" Melody beams, "A nice cold tub of ice cream!"
Oh wow, that sounds great. I could really use some ice cream right now.
" Um.. yeah that sounds perfect!" I squeal.
" Yeah," Melody starts, " whenever I feel down I have some ice cream. Even if that's not really healthy, it always helped me feel better." She says, scratching the back of her neck nervously. 
I nod in response and she starts walking. She takes my hand and eagerly shows me the way.A spring wind drifts by and I see fireflies coming out of hiding. They light up the ebony sky with endless twinkling lights.
" Ohh wow.." she gasps in amazement.
"Pretty," I murmur.
We continue walking to the ice cream shop.. or I  assume she's taking me to an ice cream shop.Instead, we make a turn and walk into a 24 hour convenience store.
She turns back to me, "So, Marina, what's your favorite ice cream flavor?"
"Mint chocolate chip."
" Oh that's a good flavor, personally, I like Mango but hardly any places have it. That's why I like to go to this store. They have all the flavors you could ever want! Plus, it's pretty good stuff."
I thought it was a little weird that she took me to a convenience store to get ice cream but it makes more sense now.
She leads me to the freezer section and opens the door of the fridge where all the ice cream is.
My mouth waters at the sight of it.
She grabs two huge tubs of ice cream. One mint chocolate chip, one mango.
"Is that enormous tub really necessary?" I question.
"Of course! I usually eat the whole thing."
"How do you not have diabetes?"
We both giggle and walk over to the checkout counter.
She places the tubs on the counter.
"Mmm yes, the creamy bois." The cashier whispers.
"Your total comes to 69 coins. Haha." The cashier laughs.
Melody sighs and hands the cashier her money.
"Goodbye. Have a good rest of your day!" The cashier hands the bag to Melody and we walk out of the store.
"That cashier really has a strange sense of humor.." Melody states.
"Yep." I agree.
"Now let's get home before the ice cream melts!" She exclaims and takes my hand.
Her feet are moving at high speeds on the hard, wet concrete.
She wipes a sweat off of her forehead and sighs.
"Here we are, my house." We walk up the driveway then inside her home.
I look around her ginormous house.
I suppose she's rich.
"How do you like it?" She looks at me.
"It's.. I'm speechless.."
She smiles and walks me into her oversized kitchen. This is the size of my apartment itself!
"Woah.. I love this house!" I squeal.
"Well I'm glad."
She takes the ice cream tubs and puts them on her kitchen table. She also has a huge dining table.
She places down two spoons.
"Have a seat and enjoy yourself." She pulls out a chair for me.
I blush and sit down. She sits in the chair across from me.
I open the lid and start digging in.
"This tastes like heaven. Thank you!" I exclaim.
"It's no problem."
I smile at her.
"So I suppose you're not a huge fan of Off The Hook since you didn't freak out over me or anything.."
"I love your music and everything, but I'm not one to go insane over a celebrity" I nod my head. "Understandable."
Just then, a young inkling bursts into the room.
He looks like he can be about hmm.. Fourteen years old.
" Melody! You're home early!"
He runs up and hugs her, almost knocking the ice cream on the ground.
"Hi Will," Melody chimes, " I'm sorry I had to go out tonight."
Will puffs his checks and turns his head, " I just wish you would have let me come."
I blush in embarrassment, thinking of what Will would have seen if he had come.
She sighs and he notices the ice cream.
He inhales," OMG YOU HAVE ICE CREAM GIMME GIMME GIMME!1!!!1!" He screeches.
" Ah my eardrums! My poor,poor eardrums." She cries.
I giggle and Will finally notices that I'm there.
Will does a double take and his jaw drops.
" Mel- is that , is that MARINA FROM OFF THE HOOK?! OMG THAT IS HER! SIGN MY FACE PLEASE!!"
Melody blushes in embarrassment, " Will! That's not how we treat our guests!"
She looks back at me, " Sorry Marina, he's just a bit hyper right now."
" Its alright. Will, do you actually want me to sign your face?"
His eyes sparkled in admiration," Y-yes please."
I always have a marker on me for emergencies.
I slowly take off the marker cap and autograph his forehead.
"There you go" I giggle.
"OH MY GOD I'M NEVER GOING TO WASH MY FACE EVER AGAIN!" He jumps up and down.
"Well, you do need to wash your face eventually.. Would you like an autograph on a piece of paper also?" I ask.
"Yes I would love that!"
I take out my notebook from my pocket and rip out a piece of paper.
I sign it and hand it to him.
"Thank you so much!" He exclaims.
"Anything else you would like?" I wonder.
"Hmm. Is it okay if you give me a hug..?" He blushes.
"Sure."
I put my arms around him.
I then pull out of the hug.
"EEEE MARINA I LOVE YOU!!" He squeals.
"Heh, I love you too!"
"Okay now where's my ice cream?" He asks.
"Here you go." Melody hands him a spoon and he automatically starts indulging in the mango ice cream. Oh right I need to continue eating my ice cream before it melts. Mm this is the ice cream of the gods. I keep eating and eating the delicious dessert. To my dismay, I go to reach for another spoonful and the tub is empty.
"Aww I'm out ice cream." I whimper.
Melody puts her hand on my shoulder, "Do you feel better now?"
I nod, " Yeah, thank you."
" Ice cream is the best treatment for sadness. Isn't that right Will?"
"Mmhm." He responds with his mouth full.
"Alright I should go now," I say while getting up. Halfway to the door, I realize that when I go home I'll have to deal with Pearl.
"You sure you're okay Marina?" Melody asks.
" If I go home, Pearl is gonna..." I shutter thinking about what's going to happen.
Melody's face changes from happy to concerned, "Oh no, things aren't so great between you two."
Suddenly, Melody perks up, " Hey, if you can't go back to your house, why don't you just stay here. We could have a sleepover!"
Oh a sleepover! Pearl and I used have sleepovers all the time... That was before we moved in together.
" Yeah.. I would like that, but I have nothing to wear."
" We're about the same size I think. You can borrow some of my clothes if you want. I don't mind."
" Oh, thank you!"
"WHAT?! SHE'S SLEEPING OVER?!" I hear screaming from the other room.
"Uh yes?" Melody questions.
"EEEEE SHE IS ACTUALLY SLEEPING HERE! IN MY HOME!!" Will screams and runs in circles.
"MARINA CAN YOU SLEEP WITH ME??"
Melody turns around and stares at me.
"Uhm.. Sure..?" I reply.
"Uh actually no. You're way too young to be sleeping with girls. We're going to sleep all together in the basement. How about that?" Melody orders.
"Fine." Will groans.
"Okay! Let's get started!" She leads us downstairs.
After walking down all of those steps, my jaw drops.
THIS BASEMENT IS HUGE!
There's a 70 inch TV standing in front of a leather couch.
The next section of the room is empty.
"Wow.. This is really nice!" I exclaim.
"Thank you. A lot of hard work went into affording all of this."
"I'm a celebrity and I can't afford half of this!" I laugh.
Melody sets some blankets down on her L shaped couch.
"We will be sleeping here tonight."
I nod my head.
Will runs over to the couch and sits down.
He pats the seat next to him.
I'm supposing he wants me to sit there, so I do.
I face the television and notice that there is every single Nintendo video game console in existence right in front of me.
Oh my god.
Melody takes a seat next to me.
"What do you guys want to do?" She asks.
"Truth or dare?" Will suggests.
"Sounds good to me." I say.
"Ok then. Marina, Truth or dare?" Melody asks.
"Truth?"
"Do you have any friends besides Pearl?" She asks.
"Yes. Callie and Marie. You guys are also my best friends!" I smile while talking.
"Okay Melody, Truth or dare?" I ask.
"I'm going to have to go with Truth."
"Hmm.. How did you become rich?"
"I actually got most of this from my parents before they moved away. But I have a job as a video game developer."
"That's really cool."
"Okay Will, Truth or dare?" I ask.
"Dare!" He exclaims.
"Hmm ok, I dare you to prank call Pearl!"
"Dare accepted!"
I hand him my phone with Pearl's number.
He calls it and she picks up.
"Hello? Is this Marina? What the fuck do you want?"
"Is your refrigerator running?" He starts laughing.
"Dude, I already know this one.. It's not going to work."
"IF IT IS, YOU BETTER GO CATCH IT!!" He starts cracking up.
"Very funny. Please leave me alone." Pearl hangs up.
"That didn't turn out that well.." Will says.
"What else did you expect?" I laugh.
"Okay Marina, Truth or dare?" Will asks me.
"Dare." I reply.
"I dare you to sing to me!" He squeals.
"Ok fine." I sigh.
I start singing Color Pulse to him.
He stares deeply into my eyes the whole time I sing to him.
I end off the song on a high note.
"So, did you like it?" I ask.
"YES YOUR VOICE IS SO BEAUTIFUL!" He screeches.
"Will, that's enough." Melody groans.
"I'm sorry.." He pouts.
"Okay, that's enough truth or dare. Do you guys want to play The Leggings Of Zelda?" Melody asks.
"Which one? I personally like The Leggings Of Zelda: A Link To The Pants." Will says.
"Me too! We should play that." I exclaim.
Melody goes to turn on the TV and the Wii.
She pops in the disc and we get into it immediately.
"Wait why is Lonk the hero again?" I ask.
Will takes a deep breath and then responds with, " Because he has the trishorts of courage, duh."
" Will, that's rude." Melody scoffed.
" No, it's okay, I haven't played this game in years. I can't remember much about it." I reply.
We played for hours until our eyes were strained.
"Ugh. I'm so tired!" Will throws the Wii remote across the room.
"Me too.." I yawn.
Melody is already asleep next to me.
I go to turn off the TV and the lights. Then I lay down on the couch in the middle of Will and Melody.
"Goodnight. I've had a fun time."
"I did too. I'm so glad you came over. Goodnight." He yawns and shuts his eyes.
I close my eyes.
I wonder if Pearl is alright..
I wonder if she's still mad at me.
I wonder if she still loves me.










Word count: 3,618. 2,618 more words than I usually write.
A/N:
Long and early chapter! Lucky you!
During the summer, I may change my writing schedule to every week and I will write more.
What do you guys think about Melody? I'm curious.
Anyways, thanks for reading.

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