Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Let’s go kick some ass!”
The announcer calls out and introduces us, and Scarlett grabs my hand, squeezing it, before running up and out onto the stage. The crowd goes crazy, the roar clear even for me, and I stand by Isaac, waiting for us to be called out. When he gives me a nod, I suck in a breath and walk out onto the stage, going to my piano. I glance out at the crowd and the blinding lights, and my heart pounds. This is amazing.
I’ll never get over this feeling.
Scarlett is saying something into the microphone, and then she raises a hand and looks back at her shoulder to me and nods. I know the playlist back to front, and the music is amped up loud enough that I can hear basic tones. Still, Scarlett always makes sure I know it’s time to start. I watch Isaac start playing his guitar, then I glance over at Elias on the drums, and then I close my eyes, and I start playing.
I can hear the somewhat distorted sound of Scarlett’s voice as she starts singing, and a smile breaks free on my lips as I play along with her, eyes closed, hearing the music in my head. I close my eyes mostly to stop distraction. I find if I open my eyes and look around too much, I’ll get distracted and caught off guard, and I’ll end up forgetting my keys. So, I play the song in my head and on the piano.
When it’s done, I open my eyes and watch the crowd going wild, cheering and waving their hands and phones around. Scarlett is calling out to them, arms in the air, laughing and flicking her hair back. It’s perfect. The whole moment is perfect. We play a few more songs and the time comes for me to go and sing with Scarlett. She turns and calls me over, and I hesitantly leave my spot at my keyboard and walk over, standing next to her.
She turns to me so I can read her lips as she says, “This is my best girl, Amalie. She plays the incredible piano you hear in the background, but she’s also an amazing singer. In fact, she’s so good, we’re going to be releasing a few songs as a duet on my next album.”
The crowd throw their hands up and cheer, and my smile gets massive.
“We’re going to sing a song for you, so sit back, and enjoy.”
She turns to me so I can see her and then she starts singing. My heart is racing, my palms are sweating and my stomach is turning, but I hold her eyes, just like we practiced. I take a deep breath, and then I sing. It’s soft at first, my nerves getting the better of me, but slowly I open up, and my singing gets louder, my voice growing more confident with every passing second.
Scarlett smiles huge, and then we’re walking along the stage, singing, touching hands with the crowd, who are all going absolutely wild. I see more than one disappointed face in the crowd when I hold their eyes, and I know it’s because of the article released about me. Scarlett warned me I might see a little of it, but she told me not to worry, it’s part of the industry and something I’ll have a fair bit of.
So, I smile big at the frowning people, and keep singing.
We’re mid-way through the song when a tiny flash of a red light passes me. It’s so fast, I almost think I imagined it. With the lights blasting down over the stage, and over Scarlett and me, it would be so easy to miss. But I pay attention to these things, more attention than most people because of my hearing, and it was odd.
I glance around, still singing, and see it flash past us again. My gut coils, and a horrible feeling washes over me. A warning. Alarm bells sing in my body, and tell me one thing—get off the stage. Now. And take Scarlett. The red light flickers past again, and is so easily missed in the sea of flashing lights, but I keep my eyes on it and move closer to Scarlett. When it aims at her, blending perfectly with her red, sparkly dress, I act quickly.
Nobody would ever see it.
It’s such a well-thought-out plan.
All the lights on the stage, and the crowd, and Scarlett’s dress, it’s like it was made to happen just like this.
I’ve seen enough movies to know it isn’t a good thing.
I don’t think, I move quickly.
I lunge at Scarlett and we both slam onto the ground so hard I know I’ve probably winded her.
For a moment, the crowd stops screaming, the band stops playing, and all that can be heard through the mostly quiet night is the sound of a gunshot. It hits the drums directly behind Scarlett, bouncing off and smashing into a light. Everyone starts screaming, people start moving around frantically, and I stay on top of Scarlett for a moment, my entire body frozen with panic. I’m so afraid. A shot could come any second and end me.