Chapter Four
“So this is Connecticut, eh? What a pretty place,” Aries commented. Wind nodded, looking around at the scenery. It was nice, a cutesy little place, she thought. They came to a stop.
“Yaaaaay,” Zac hollered enthusiastically. “Another FREAKING hotel!”
Wind looked at him for a minute with an odd, sad smile, then turned and picked up her backpack. She was going to hate hotels…after this summer, she’d never willingly stay in one again. She missed her bed. Wind sighed and followed Isaac out.
Wind looked at the people filing into the venue. Most of them had really, really big signs, some of them gross, some of them cute, and some of them just plain airheaded. She looked at the ticket she had crushed into her palm and sighed raggedly. Damnit, Sarah…Sarah had taken Wind’s front row ticket beside her and given to some friend of hers, so now she was stuck with the ticket belonging to the girl in her place. A few girls hoisting signs on their shoulders came down the aisle and slid in beside her. A few grinned at her, and she looked down to read their signs. The one girl went right on down to the end of the row and obviously wasn’t with them, and her sign read “Come on, Taylor, I’ll play Soldier with you…” Wind winced at the gross thought. Sick…disgusting…anyway. The girl beside her, who looked older than her, had a sign that said “Zac…Get Naked!” which made her grin a little at the thought of how she’d slept on his lap for half of the morning before they got there.
“Hey,” Wind offered. “You look kind of familiar…aren’t you Manda?”
The girl looked up quickly.
“Yeah…how did you know that?”
Another girl with long dark hair started giggling.
“They’re out to kill you, Manders…they know your name…next thing you know Hanson’s going to invite you backstage and kill US!”
Wind knew that comment sounded familiar as well but shrugged it off.
“Oh, my friend showed me a picture…she knows you…I dunno.”
Manda scratched her head in thought.
“Oh, you’re Wind! Yeah, I know you…aren’t you like…supposedly touring with Hanson or whatever?” The tone of disbelief totally deflated Wind. She didn’t know that many people knew.
“Did you see me on Entertainment Tonight or something? Yeah….” She picked up the backstage pass hanging around her neck between two fingers and held it up. “’Course, the girl who I thought was my best friend gave my front row seat to one of her other friends…”
Manda’s brow crinkled.
“Oh…I’m sorry…yeah, we all saw you on ET a few nights ago…thought it was pretty cool when you snapped at the reporter chick.”
Wind nodded and looked back at the stage. She could see Sarah finding her seat at the front, wearing…what else? Cutoff denim shorts and a tank top, with her hair back in a cute braid. Of bloody course. Wind sighed and looked around more at the seats behind and around her.
There were tons of people filling the place up very quickly, and she noticed a set of girls, one with blond hair, looking for their chairs higher up in the venue. She waved to her absently, knowing her from the internet. Erin waved back, the two grinned at each other and made a motion about Zac, then went back to their seats.
“You can’t go back there, girly,” a security guard snapped at Wind as she tried to get backstage so she could get going with the band.
“But I have a pass,” she snapped right back, a stupid thing to do, but she was in a bad mood. The guard sneered at her.
“You’ve got a pass, huh? What is it, one of those MOE passes? We don’t let those in.”
Wind looked up sharply.
“It’s a real, registered, backstage pass, man. I’m with the band, go get one of them and ask. I’m Wind Harper.”
The man looked at her with searching eyes. He’d been told the names of the three girls he had to let backstage, he remembered a girl named Wind or Storm or whatever.
“No, Wind Harper already came this way, she came in with Sarah Bowman and Aries Lincoln. Sorry, chick.”
Wind growled.
“That wasn’t Wind! I’m Wind; that was Sarah’s friend who took my front row ticket. She didn’t have a backstage pass!”
He stared intently, wondering whether or not to listen to her. Three girls had already come in, and this was a fourth. There were only supposed to be three coming back. He didn’t realize how loud his voice was becoming, but everyone else around the two had grown silent listening to the yelling match going on between the burly bearded man who never uncrossed his arms, and the petite girl with huge eyes and a surprisingly bold and tired voice. Anyone anywhere in the venue could hear the two yelling at each other.
Zac looked up when the giggling group of girls came backstage. There was Sarah, Aries, and some other girl.
“Sarah, where the hell is Wind? And who is that?” His voice was surprisingly harsh and upset, and Sarah wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“Um…well…uh…this is Laura.”
Zac’s eyes got huge.
“You told the security guard that was Wind, didn’t you? Oh, Jesus CHRIST, Sarah, what the hell were you thinking? She won’t be able to get back here now, and how the hell are we supposed to get to the next stop without her? Damnit SARAH! You are so brain dead!”
Zac stormed out the door, hoping the guard still had Wind at the entrance. Sarah looked at Laura and Aries, totally humiliated. She stuck her head out the curtains and yelled after him,
“Well…come on…Laura drove ten hours to see you…can’t you at least give her your autograph?”
No response proved to be its own answer.
“HEY! You! Let her back here!”
The security guard quit yelling at Wind and turned around to see the smallest Hanson, his hair a mess from running, and his face bright red. He opened his mouth to say something, but Zac shoved his hand in his face.
“No. Don’t even say it, it’s not your fault, it’s Sarah’s. I’ll just give you a pat on the back for doing your job, and make sure if you ever see this girl again you understand her name is Wind and not that air headed twit who you did let backstage.”
The guard looked embarrassed, and Wind looked ready to bawl her eyes out, but he let her back behind the barrier.
“I’m sorry, miss,” the guard started, but Wind shook her head and followed Zac back to the stage. He put his hand on her back between her shoulder blades, gently shoving her in the direction they had to go, and let out a sigh of relief. Sarah was so going to get it later.
"Ronnie, is everything you're going to eat today either chocolate or strawberry?"
- Kats
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Chapter Five