Westwood School

Highway to Heaven

Magnolia:

Holy Shit.

Holy Fucking Shit, I whispered to myself as I stared in my reflection. My heart hammered in my chest at an unimaginable rate.

The night was finally here. The night we were releasing our album and having our first official (indoor to boost) concert on our tour. I was shaking in anticipation.

I took a deep, shaky breath. I was in my dressing room all by myself. I stared at my reflection. My blond hair was a vision of chaos as it tumbled down my back. It was pinned back prettily, with little baby's breath and other small flowers almost giving the illusion of a halo. My makeup made me look glowy and... Beautiful. I loved it.

My dress was honestly a stark contrast to what I normally wore. It was white and lacy, and very "cottagecore" with puffy sleeves, and came in under my bust and about my waist, somehow flattering and making me seem angelic at the same time.

I looked at the clock on the wall and my breath hitched. It was time. I picked up my acoustic gibson guitar with images of doves in flight across the guitar.

Considering my middle name was Colombe, french for dove, it was perfect.

As I walked out of the room and started to make my way to the stage, I could hear the screams of the crowd. I didn't know what to do with myself and I began to lose my mind in anticipation.

Out of nowhere, I'm practically tackled by two screaming bodies. I pulled back to see two familiar faces.

"Ivy? India?" I asked, shock lacing my voice.

"Of course! Come on! You know we couldn't miss out on your big debut!" Ivy piped up.

India practically rolled her eyes, "Come on, you know the real reason, we heard you were looking for some groupies." India winked flirtatiously and lifted the hem of the dress to show her upper thigh.

I laughed, unknowingly releasing the bundle of nerves that had built up in me, "India, you look hotter than a whore on Sunday, do not tempt me," I said, flirting back teasingly.

Ivy sighed exasperatedly, 'Come on India, leave her alone, she can't miss her queue!"

The three of us parted after hugging each other, and I made my way to my position getting on stage. I would be the first person on stage for honestly a fat second, so I was climbing on stage by myself. I stood on the side of the stage, listening the the crowd's roar, waiting for a stage manager or someone to tell me to sneak across the dark stage.

Suddenly, I found myself walking quickly to my assigned position, and spreading out my skirt and sitting prettily, my guitar all tuned, plugged into the amp, and placed in my lap.

The lights slowly came up, in a spotlight around me, making the crowd cry out. I started to gently pick the iconic intro to "Stairway to Heaven".

The atmosphere around me seemed ethereal as I played and a flute joined in. I swear glitter was softly falling down, because the air around me was sparkling gently.

I began to sing, almost hesitantly-

"There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to Heaven."

I kept singing, my fingers playing the eerily familiar melody. I felt like I was in some Tolkien novel that Led Zeppelin loved to reference.

I could have sworn I also heard the crowd singing along to the iconic words.

"Ooh- it makes me wonder-" I sang out, my voice and passion rising. I kept singing the song- all I had to say was that it was beautiful but long as fuck.

Suddenly, the drum section started up, and the spotlight hit Matteo who was positioned behind me. I couldn't help but slip into a smile as the song continued on.

"Your stairway lies on the whispering wind-"

The part were the keys sort of instrument comes on, (honestly I have no clue, I just play guitar) lights came up for everyone but Rowen, showing their on stage.

Suddenly, the noise of a record player's scratch rang out, spotting the music promptly, I couldn't help but smile as I knew what was going on. I quickly and discreetly handed my guitar off to a stagehand.

The sound of an electric guitar played off stage.

Red lights and flames burst off the ground as Rowen seemed to almost prance out. He was dressed in black pants, a belt, a leather jacket, and a white shirt that was unbuttoned pretty lowly. He also had a wide brim hat on- almost sort of giving me Bob Dylan vibes.

"Livin' easy, lovin' free, Season ticket to a one way ride-" He sang, his voice emulating the perfect 70s rocker.

Highway to hell and stairway to heaven.

At that moment, I wanted to pounce on him so bad- he looked so hot.

He marched up to me playing his Fender electric guitar.

"I'm on the highway to hell," a flirtatious grin and teasing jester made the entire crowd scream in 2nd hand ecstasy.

I couldn't help but watch him in awe as he sang the song. Honestly- watching him was like watching a fantasy. He hit just the right spot- a mixture of my 2013 angsty boy band meets my 70s rock and roll heroes. Maybe he wasn't a cowboy but look- if the rolling stones can emulate southern blues and country, I have no reason to believe he can't as well.

The crowd was really rocking out to the sound, and I soon found myself dancing teasingly with Rowen. It was just us- back and forth and back and forth, trying to outdo the other.

I fucking loved it.

As the song came to it's crashing end, and the crowd roared its approval. I smiled brightly, and took the microphone in my hands.

"Howdy," *screams* "Well, thank you for coming to our very first stop on this long awaited tour, and when I say long awaited I mean, maybe 3 weeks," I spoke confidently, and chuckled a bit to myself when I cracked that joke. "Well, we're gonna play a couple songs off our newest and only album, but a couple of classics as well. I have come to the realization that I haven't remembered to say the theme of this tour, but I thought maybe now I should," I paused, feeling the anticipation in the crowd. Who knew I had this much confidence? Oh wait- no shit I did. "Welcome to the Rock N' Roll fantasy tour!"

howdy y'all! I keep saying howdy unironically and I'm not exactly sure what's goin on with that. Sorry if I misspelled everything in this chapter, I accidentally stabbed myself in the finger, so typing is not easy. 

annnnyway- COMMENT! VOTE! 

Also- happy Hanukka! What's your religion/what winter time holidays do you celebrate? love Y'all!!