Chapter Nine

Parker Lowell

"Taylor what the heck is with you?" the older guy, Isaac or Ivan or something of the kind, asked me with an irritation in his voice to rival that of Gina's when I don't put the toilet seat down. Wasn't he supposed to be the nice one?

They were trying to warm-up for the ever-impending show(glancing at my watch without thinking I saw that it was but a mere five minutes away!) to get everyone in tune, and I wouldn't join in. They kept having to stop and now, needless to say, they were beginning to get pissed.

I looked up at him and shrank away a little.

As soon as I had realized who I was with and why I was with them, my voice had run off screaming and I hadn't been able to locate it since. So, all I could hope for was that they figured it out themselves. I didn't care anymore about how much trouble I could possibly get into, I just wanted to go home and go to sleep and forget that any of this had ever happened.

He shook his head and began to rub his temples. "I knew we should've made you eat that sandwich."

Needless to say, I had no idea what he was talking about. Ironically, I had eaten quite a bit that day. And now it all felt like it was going to come racing back up and out.

He looked at me for a long moment and gradually, his expression softened to a more sympathetic one. Sympathy was not what I wanted at that point.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a more gentle tone though it was easy to see that he was still covering up some of his original frustration. He studied my face and I purposely stared right into his, trying to make him see. Surely he would know the difference between his brother staring into his face and some complete stranger!

"Tay? Are you okay?" he repeated.

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!!

"Fine," I croaked without meaning to. Where was all this coming from?

"Guys, you'd better get ready, it's almost time for you to go on," a stagehand said, popping in and out of the room as quickly as lightning with a Darien Lake logo on it.

"Too late to do anything about it now," said Zac, the little one. I assumed that he was talking about my apparent state of health, but I've never really been sure.

"Ready?" Isaac said, still concerned.

I stared down at my attire, trying to get an answer out that would explain my situation. All it ended up doing was getting me to think about how horribly tight the stupid blue shirt I was wearing was(it was like a freaking corset!!) and how I could've fit two whole legs in just one of the legs of the black pants I was wearing. In the end, I just quietly nodded and got out of the chair I had taken refuge in during the whole "warm-up session."

"Let's go," Isaac said, pointing out the door.

I followed him, seeing no other alternative at that point. We lined ourselves up at the side of the stage and I found myself staring out into the crowd. There were lights on for the people under the shell. I thought that I could barely make out Beth and Kim sitting in the fifth row when suddenly the lights were turned off.

The roar of the crowd grew so loud that I had to cover my ears in protest. At first I thought it was our cue to get out on the stage but Zac, who was standing in front of me, didn't move.

Traveling spotlights started to illuminate the audience and one stationary one lit on a rotund man on stage who looked something like a security guard. He was wearing a t-shirt with a Darien Lake logo on it and a big fat, fake smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted into the microphone. My hands once again shot instinctively up to my ears. I felt like going out there and reminding him that he had a microphone and didn't need to yell. "Darien Lake is proud to present, courtesy of..." I stopped listening at that point. He sounded more like a ringmaster at a circus to me than some weird official from the park only there to announce the band. In fact, I barely heard it when he shouted into the mike: "And so, citizens of Buffalo, New York and all the surrounding cities, I now present Hanson!!"

Zac went ahead onto the stage and Isaac shoved me from behind, nearly causing me to trip and fall over a cord that was in my path. He made his way carelessly over to where they had set his guitar and started to greet the crowd.

I didn't hear any of what he said. I was too busy staring at the keyboards, cousin to the sinister piano.

Have I mentioned yet that I took piano lessons? Yeah, for about two minutes. I had the worst teacher in the world. She got so annoyed with me that she actually kicked me out and gave Gina back all her money after the very first lesson (I kid you not!). Gina tried to teach me herself, but as it ended up, I couldn't sit still long enough to actually learn how to play. I knew a few chords here and there, but none of the ones to the song that Isaac had already begun playing the intro to.

However, this was not the scary thing(well, not the scariest thing anyway). Have a few hundred come on's and sing like you have a million marbles in your mouth(my choir teacher would roll over in her grave if she were dead at the lack of diction) and you've got Instant Taylor Hanson. If anyone should be able to pull it off, it was me.

But the crowd.

Oh my God.

Holy shit.

There must've been millions of girls there in that crowd. That should've been a good thing, but it was probably the worst thing that could've happend to me. I couldn't even properly see all of them because of the lights in my eyes, but I saw enough.

I was lost. I had no idea what to do. Everyone was now staring at me, wondering what was wrong. The keyboards seemed to be taunting me. It was hot under the lights.

I thought that I was going to begin to cry but I guess I was more overwhelmed than I originally thought I was. Black spots began to dance before my eyes. Before I knew it, everything had gone black. The last thing I remember was being caught by some nearby back-up musician in my fall.

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Index
Chapter Eight
Chapter Ten