chapter one

 


It had been a long plane ride for Joey Gossa, but she was so excited the hours flew by like minutes. At seven am Joey had boarded Canadian Airlines at the Vancouver airport and now, ten hours later she had finally arrived in Spain, where she'd be opening for O-Town at five of their concerts. It was her first time ever singing with real stars, and she was so nervous she could hear her own heart beating. Clutching her small, gold locket she whipsered

"Please, dear Lord, please let me just sing well in front of O-town, please don't let me screw up" Then slowly she exited the plane and made her way to baggage claims. There, Rick McKay, the guy who invited her to be part of the concerts met her and drove her to her hotel room, which was about half an hour from the stage she'd be preforming at in two weeks time. The whole way she silently went over each song, every dance move millions and millions times over.

"I'll see you at nine am tommorow. Out here." Rick told Joey. "Be ready for your practice, and don't eat too much cause you're going to be doing tons of dancing." He sounded harsh, but then, with a soft smiled, he told her "Don't worry, I'm not as mean as I sound. It's Dave you need to look out for. Have a good night"

Joey thanked Rick and then made her way up to her room. It was small, but luxorious. At sixteen, it was her fist time ever away from home, but she wasn't at all home sick. She was glad to get away from the cold, harsh November rain, and all the depression.

The next morning Joey was up at seven, ready at eight thirty and waiting outside the hotel for Rick by eight forty five. He came at nine o'clock exactly and drove her to the large stadium she'd be preforming at. It was humongous - Joey had never been in a place with so many rows and rows of seats in her life.

"Ashley, show Joey her changeroom !" Rick called over Ashley Angel. Joey felt her knees get weak as Ashley calmly shook her hand.

"Hi Joey" he smiled sweetly. "I'm Ashley. Come on, I'll show you your dressing room."

"I get my own dressing room ?" She croaked, struggling to find her voice.

"Sure, you're a star now." He joked, then led her to her dressing room, which wasn't too big, but large enough for Joey. "All your clothes and stuff are in that closet." he pointed to the the walk in closet at the back. I have to get ready for rehersal now, and, just a word of advice, Dave, the stage director is kind of mean, but just do your own thing and don't take too much of what he has to say to heart and you'll do fine."

"Oh, um, alright. Thanks." Joey watched Ashley leave, then explored her closet. The clothes in there were so expensive looking, all designer brand. Everything about the dressing room made her feel like a superstar. After a while of taking everything in, Joey decided to venture out of her room and check the place out. For a while she just stood at the doorway of her dressing room, admiring everything around her.

Erik Estrada checked his watch. Five to ten. He knew he'd probably get in some trouble for being late for rehersal, but he could handle it. Maybe Dave wouldn't even notice. As he entered backstage calmly as ever, he found to his dismay Dave, his red face with anger.

"Where the hell were you Estrada ? You're almost an hour late." He demanded an explanation.

"I was just signing some autographs man, I'm sorry." Erik apologized. He looked beyond Dave and saw a young girl standing at the doorway of her dressing room, looking around as if she was in a strange new place. With one glance, he was mesmerized. Dave continuted lecturing him, but Erik couldn't hear anything, he was in a daze.

"She's so beautiful." he whispered under his breath. "Absolutely amazing."


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