Backstage by Mandy Bee (guided reading books TXT) 📕

latest number one hit ‘Can I?’ I am still not a fan of their music but its growing on me. When I walk out on stage everyone stops and looks at me.

“Well where do I have to stand?” I ask and look at Chris who is beaming from behind the drum cage.

“You’ll do it?” Justin asks looking like he has won the jackpot.

“Yes I’ll do it, but if I get sick on stage I’m telling everyone that you made dinner and gave me food poisoning!” Everyone dies laughing. This is going to be hard but I’ve got my brother, Justin and the band, maybe this is a family.

The crowd is screaming, I can’t understand anything they are saying, but they are screaming ear bleedingly loud. I’m standing by the stage, it’s almost time for me to come out. I’m watching Justin, he is singing and moving all over the stage. You can see he is in heaven when he is on stage, I can’t help but smile as I watch him. Then the song ends and my heart stops, this is it.

“Okay we have a surprise for everyone tonight!” Justin screams into the mic. “As most of you know John, my brother, is no longer with the band.” You can hear the pain in his voice, the crowd boo’s at the sound of John’s name. “But we are lucky to have Peter as our fill in, lets give Peter a real Freak Street welcome!” The crowd get louder, oh shit we’re next. “But we have even better news for our fans, we have a new drummer who as been welcomed into our Freak Street family!” And once again the crowd screams, I see Chris get up and walk down the stage, I’m next. “When we welcomed Chris into our family we also welcomed his lovely sister Flower, and she is here with us tonight. Do you guys want to meet Flower?” The crowd roars, I was hoping for a no. I see Justin come towards me, he reaches out his hand and I take it, all I can do is nod my head. “Here is the beautiful Flower everyone.”

I go and stand by Chris who pulls me into a sweaty hug. Justin hands Chris the mic then comes and stand beside me. “I want to thank everyone for their warm welcome, I feel very blessed to have been asked to join Freak Street. I hope to make y’all proud!” I wince when the crowd screams again, its much louder on stage. Justin takes the mic back but doesn’t let us move.

“Chris you are now a brother in our band, and Miss Flower you are welcomed in as a very beloved friend.” He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles, for one small second I heard nothing, I felt nothing but his lips on my skin. Then something hits my leg. Someone had thrown a soda on stage and it hit me! I just about jumped into Justin arms. “Okay that was uncalled for!” Justin snaps and kicks the can to the side of the stage. I jerk my hand away and turn to smile at the crowd, I wave as I walk off stage. I did it! I was nice even when I should have run away crying! I’m so proud of myself! Now I want out of here!

I find my bodyguard, a beast of a man named Tom. He looks like a WWF wrestler, but is sweet as a button to me. He walks me back to the bus and tells me goodnight before letting me know that he will be outside if I need him, what a sweetheart. I change as fast as I can, my leg is still wet from the soda that was thrown at me. I guess a female fan didn’t like it when Justin kissed my hand. My heart leaps when I think about it. I just shake my head and remind myself that we are friends and only friends, well maybe good friends, oh I don’t know.

I take my new MacBook Pro back into the back room. Justin helped me transfer all my music earlier when he helped me set it up. He didn’t like that I didn’t have any of his music on my iPod. When he asked why I was honest, I told him that I never had been a fan of his music. I think this hurt him for a minute but he shrugged it off, then downloaded all of their albums to my computer. I can’t promise that I’ll ever listen to them, but who knows maybe one day. I hit play and repeat on one of my favorite country playlist, then I start to pull out all of the cross stitching stuff I got from Hobby Lobby. I want to make a thank you gift for Justin’s mom, and I have the perfect pattern, one I hope she will love.

A little while later I hear the guys getting on the bus, all this laughter is new but so nice to hear. Maybe it was John that made everyone so tense. It’s like this is a new band, a happy band. I hear Chris calling my name and now it is my turn to laugh. I turn off my music and yell to him that I’m in the back room.

“Hey, you did great tonight!” He walks over and gives me a hug. “You working on a new project?” He looks at the screen then at the fabric in my hand.

“Yeah, it’s a thank you gift for Justin’s mom. I hope she likes it.”

“Whatever you make her, she will love.” Justin says walking past Chris and sitting down beside me, sitting very close beside me.

“I’m dead tired, I’ll see you in the morning. Please don’t stay up too late working on that.” Chris says while leaning over my computer and kissing my forehead.

“Okay, goodnight.” I say as he walks out and shuts the door. This shocks me, he left me