The lights dimmed and the crowd went silent. A huge spotlight shot to where the performers usually come out. Soon, Ashton appeared and the crowd exploded with cheers. The spotlight followed Ash to his drums. He sat down and started playing a slot beat to greet the others as they came up to the stage: Luke, Calum, Michael and Joey. Then the lights flickred to life and the band did their routine speech to open the show. I felt extremely nervous, not because of the concert, but because we would soon uncover what Joey was trying so hard to hide. We waited for them to be well into the third song, making sure Joey had stopped glancing at us. Then, Julie rose from her seat and my eyes followed her to the first corner. Anticipation was boiling in my stomach and I fought to stay calm. Julie hadn't come back for 5 minutes, so I tried to get lost in the song to calm my nerves until she was. I checked the time.
"What could be keeping her for so long?" Jenna asked finally as we exchanged worried glances.
"Maybe it's just a really long story, she'll be back any second now." Sam assured us.
More time had passed and I was just about ready to go looking for Julie when she appeared, even paler than usual. She sat down, but needed to compose herself before saying anything and, when she did, her voice was weak and nervous "You won't believe this." she croaked.
"What?" we spat in chorus, impatient.
Julie let out a long breath "Where do I begin." her eyes roamed the stage and the space where we were sat. It was all I could do not to burst with questions.
"Okay," she sighed, ready to begin her story "So I called Mandy and apologised for how she couldn't reach us all day. I said that Joey overheard her talking and wouldn't leave us alone all until now. S-she said it was fine and told me what she found out." Julie paused to examine our reactions. We were staring back at her with the utmost expectation."She said she dug around a little and hit dead ends everywhere. Until... Last night she was at an old friend's birthday party. She stumbled into Nikki. Jessica, I think you remember Nikki."
At first, the name brought up absolutely no old memory. Then, in an flash, a video replayed in my head. A party, Mandy's party. Three tall, gorgeous girls; Monica, Megan and Nikki. As the rest of it came flooding back I felt my blood boiling with fury "Yes, I do remember." I said through gritted teeth.
Julie nodded "Well, Mandy said that, when she came across her, Nikki had had a little too much to drink. She spilled everything."
"But," Sam looked puzzled "What does Nikki have to do with Joey?"
"Not Nikki," Julie bit her lip, her eyes flickering to Jenna "Monica."
"WHAT?" Jen spat, shooting up from her chair so that it flew backwards with a screech "DON'T TELL ME SHE'S STILL OBSESSING OVER MICHAEL!" she yelled, her face red.
Julie sank into her chair, nodding "I'm affraid so. Mandy says that Monica got Joey to break up the band."
Dead silence. Julie kept a watchful eye on each of us, anticipating our next moves. Jenna's face was now red all over, you could practically see the steam fumming off her head. Sam seemed a bit confused, she wasn't at Mandy's party that night and probably felt a little behind in the story. I was in complete shock, unable to process the new information. Monica? How could it possibly be Monica? We haven't heard from her in a year, if she'd done this now, she must be obsessed.
What broke us out of our trance was the song ending and the beggining of Good girls. Jen plopped back onto her chair, breathing heavily, but conciderably calmer than she was a minute ago. I started fiddling with my fingers, going from shocked to nervous as the news finally settled in.
"So," I started, earning everyone's attention "What're we gonna do now?"
"Tell the guys, I guess." Julie shrugged "I mean, who do you think they'll believe? Their best friends or someone they just met?"
I nodded, but still had an awfully haunting feeling that this wasn't quite over yet. For the next remaining time left of the concert, we kept completely quiet. Here and there I glanced back at Jenna to see if she'd calmed down. But every single time, I just cought her glaring at Joey. Afraid I might have to hold her back the second the concert ended, I nudged her and gave her a look of warning. She shot her eyebrows up, but understood and retreated, scowling. Another wave of cheers and roars exploded from the heated crowd, announcing the end of the show. Wordlessly, the four of us rose from our seats and headed back to the dressing room. Shortly after came the band. I was anticipating any of us to burst out that Joey'd beed working for Monica, but it never came. Instead, the topic was lit well after, back in the hotel.
We'd settled down on the couch, feeling exhausted. To my surprise, it wasn't Jenna or Julie who brought it up, it was Sam. And completely unexpectedly. A movie popped up on TV. Joey'd just made a side comment, saying some actress was really pretty, when Samantha snapped "Prettier than Monica?"
Then it happened, in an instant, hitting like a ton of bricks. Joey pretended not to know what was going on, but, naturally, the rest of us flung to her side. The argument became heated when the guys started catching up on the story. Michael wasn't taking the truth any better than Jenna, and, frankly, neither was Luke.
"Everyone, stop!" Joey hollered "Don't I get a say here? It's not what you think!"
"Why should we trust you now?" Ashton barked.
"Because," Joey spat back "I'm not denying the fact that they're right! But that's not the whole story! I had no idea what Monica was planning to do at first!"
Everyone fell silent, listening carefully. And there it was, the feeling I've been having that there was more to Joey. I believed him when he said "I met her at a party one night. I remember her telling me I reminded her of Michael Clifford and then a lot of drinking, but the rest is a blur. The next thing I knew, she had my signature on a paper saying I'd get paid a certain amount if I weaseled into the band. I tried to get out of it a bunch if times, but she always found excuses. Well, I've had it! I'm glad you found out, because I can't do this anymore!"
His words hung in the silence. A heavy breath was drawn and Michael spoke, his voice very hoarse and low "Where is Monica right now?"
~~~~~~~
hey guys!
did anyone see that coming? i certainly didn't xD
love you xx
