324 Autographs, 247 Gigs, and 152 Photos Later...

‘Oh my gosh! Laura! You look so amazing!’ I shrieked piercingly, catching sight of my cousin on the street corner. She was wearing a mid-thigh length orange sun-dress, and a pair of black pumps, with the most violently purple tights you have ever seen.

‘Chloe,’ Laura called back, running towards me and enveloping me in a tight hug.

‘It’s been too long,’ I sighed as we broke apart, ‘I missed you so much!’

‘Me too,’ she laughed, running her fingers through her dark curls.

‘So how’s life?’ I asked after a minute, ‘what’s been going on?’

‘Not a lot,’ she sighed, ‘you know, graduating, working, getting ready to travel the world. It’s you who’s got the interesting life right now. Tell me more.’

I giggled, and obliged, filling her in on all the details of my world record hunt, from the very first conversation in my bedroom, to sneaking backstage after the Mcfly gig, pretending I’d got lost trying to find the toilets and getting my next 4 autographs.

While we were talking we walked along the road, looking for the venue of tonight’s autograph hunt-O2 Academy Islington, where Joe Brooks would be playing later. Finally we found it, after walking around a shopping centre, almost going in the wrong door, and then climbing a ridiculously steep set of stairs.

‘So what’s next?’ Laura asked as we joined the back of the queue, which wasn’t particularly long.

‘I’m going to America in a few days,’ I replied, smiling nervously, ‘I have my ticket booked, so this is my last concert in England.’

‘That’s sad,’ she laughed, ‘I’m gonna miss you.’

‘Me too,’ I sighed, ‘me too.’

‘You know,’ she mused, looking thoughtful, ‘you should try and get some publicity for what you’re trying to do, try getting some free tickets and stuff.’

‘That’s SO cool,’ I laughed, ‘but how would I do that.’

‘I have a friend who works in radio,’ she said, ‘I could call her if you want, set up an interview for you.’

‘You could do that?’ I asked, incredulous.

‘Yeah,’ she said, smiling widely, ‘Lillie’s cool. She’d most definitely make room for you, she’d think what you’re doing is super-cool. She live in America, but your going there next week aren't you?'

‘YES!!' I giggled, 'You’re SO awesome,’ I smiled. I was going to say more, but just at that moment, the line began to move forwards, and I smoothed down my long checked shirt, which I was wearing with leggings, converse and black eyeliner.

********

'OK', Laura said,
we better get our tickets ready, I reached for the envelope inside my bag
and brought out one ticket..
'WHATT!' we screamed, in panic mode. We were nearing the front of the line.
'It's OK, you can go, my cousin whispered, with her head down, 'you need it for the world record.
'Nonsense', I replied, we'll find it. I really needed the autograph, but Joe Brooks was Laura's favourite singer in the WORLD! I wouldn't go in without her.
'OK, go back, and see if we've dropped it somewhere, if all else fails, we start crying, gottit.
Laura ran back searching the floor but only finding old receipts for tescos. 'OK, give me your bag.
She searched in the depths of my bag, to no avail.
She pulled out the one ticket for the envelope, and shook the remaining ticket in desperation.
'Wait a minute, she said slowly' and unfolded the ticket, to show the lost ticket.
We squealed in relief.

We were a few metres away from the door when a camera crew came out of it, towards us, a man walking beside them, asking if anyone wanted to speak to the camera about Joe Brooks. Me and Laura screamed our lungs out, and the men stopped in front of us, turning the camera around and beginning to focus it.

‘So,’ said the man, who was wearing a grey suit with the collar undone, and the tie loose, ‘tell us about Joe Brooks.’

‘Well,’ I started, ‘Joe Brooks is awesome.’

‘Very,’ Laura cut in, ‘he’s incredibly, unbelievably awesome.
'We have been through so much angst, in loosing our ticket, and getting here almost late and and..’ she said squealing and dancing in excitement.

‘And,’ I continued, ‘I need his autograph for my world record attempt.’

‘Wait,’ said the man, his eyes almost popping in excitement, ‘did you say world record attempt?’

‘Yeah,’ I said, smiling at the camera, ‘I need to collect 324 autographs from famous people all over the world, singers, actors, presenters, anyone, to break a world record, and I just ADORE Joe’s music, I want him to be one of them. It’s a gap year project.’

‘That’s incredible,’ said the man, his eager eyes glinting with the prospect of a scoop, ‘really, really incredible.’ He looked at us again, before adding, ‘thank you girls, we need to get going now if we’re going to catch the rest of the line.’

‘Thank you too,’ we called after them, as they moved on down the line.

We proudly handed both of our tickets over to the ticket man, and rushed to the front of the stage. We decided on buying posters later.

A girl shyly came on first, and introduced herself as 'Rachel Furner'. We we're standing right next to the speakers, so her amazing voice bounced round the room very loudly.
She was amazing.

My favourite song of hers was probably 'sticks and stones', as it was about a false friendship, which I had gone through a rough patch of, before finding my real friends.

She made me laugh, when she turned around to drink her water, because she didn't like people watching her.

We were soon singing along, and were sad when she eventually came to her last song.

The scene asthetic were the next support band. One of the singers was, slightly out of tune.. okay quite a lot, but the guy carrying the guitar, was so cute, and amazing at singing.

There was much anticipation as we waited for Joe Brooks, and he was amazing as usual. We through on a pink scarf, for him to wear, but I really just wanted to meet him!

We wandered round to where he was going to come out, hoping to catch him, but it wasn't until 15 minutes later that he finished, and came out smelling fresh. He went to stand in front of the merchandise, and we got first in line to meet him. Laura and I were squealing in anticipation at this point.
Laura bought some badges and a poster, and I bought the poster, and gave him my book to sign.

'Hi there' he smiled, as he posed with us for a picture.

I could get used to this.