Fake It

“Um... Never mind,” I mumbled looking down.

“Oh! I know, Nathan’s playboy image. Those are made up, the company background checked him. We don’t accept just anyone. We want someone who is serious about this business,” Dylan stated nonchalantly.

Background checked him? I thought. Isn’t that.. Illegal?

I turned to look at Nathan, and a look of slight surprise. I guess he was thinking the same as me.

“Anyways... Here is the song, and the melody is in this CD. Please try to at least memorize the lyrics for tomorrow, we’ll practice with you both just singing. Then when we finally record, we can work on the music video. Alright?” Dylan asked, stood up and walked away, not even waiting for us to reply.

“Alright, that’s all for today. I’ll see you all tomorrow!” I faintly heard Dylan shout.

“Um, sure Dylan, I’ll make sure I memorized the whole song by tomorrow, no biggie,” I muttered to myself annoyed at the way he had just left, disappointed at the fact that I had planned to just go home and sleep. I let out an exasperated sigh.

“Calm down, Alanna. Don’t need to be so excited about this,” I heard Nathan’s monotone voice say. My heard sped up and flushed. I don’t know if he was trying to tease me, or was annoyed at my attitude towards this. Causing me to be more nervous.

“Well, I have to go. See you tomorrow,” He said, standing up and leaving the room.

“Uh, um... S-see you,” I replied, regretting it instantly. I sounded completely pathetic. I jumped off of the stool and walked out the room as well.

I felt a sudden pressure against my shoulders, pushing me back. When I looked to see where it came from, I noticed that it was the beautiful green-eyed girl.

“Don’t expect me to follow any of your orders, got it?” She sneered at me.

“I.. I’m sorry, I still don’t know what you were and are talking about,” I shook my head.

“Alanna!” I heard Dylan shout. I saw him running towards the girl and me.

“By the way, I forgot to tell you. But this is Ariane, and you guys are now part of a the group Carpe Diem, along with two other girls, Billy and Jenna. You’ll meet them tomorrow, maybe? I don’t know, this is such a rush. If you have any questions, ask your mom, she has all the paper work and stuff. Alright you both, see you tomorrow,” He rushed his words out and ran out the entrance were I came in from.

“Wait! What?” I shouted out, but it was too late. “I’m so.. Confused..”

“Yeah, well.. Now you know. Mark my words, your 15 minutes of fame are going to be over before they can even start with Carpe Diem,” Ariane hissed, leaving me there filled up with questions that I hoped would be answered.

When I went to look for Mom, I finally found her, sitting in a chair reading some papers and a confused expression.

“Mom, what is this about.. Carpe Diem?”

“Oh, Alanna... You’re in a girl group, what else is there to it?” She muttered, not even looking at me.

“But... The other girls don’t seem to like me very much, and I don’t know why, or if they even have a reason to not like me?” I quickly said, not being able to phrase it differently.

“They’re just upset because you were chosen as the leader of the group because of your vocal range is wider than theirs. It really doesn’t matter whether they like you or not, as long as you keep up your appearances to the audience, everything is fine,”

“What do you mean, appearances? Like, acting all friendly when we’re in public?”

“Not only public, but interviews, other artists, and our family. Can’t trust anyone too much,”

“Oh.. Ah... Um, alright,” I closed my eyes, trying to take in all the information being dumped on me. “I’m gonna go, and I’ll wait in the car for you with Ahmir.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” She said, not bothering to say goodbye.

As I walked towards the exit, I noticed that Ahmir wasn’t there and I panicked. I grabbed my iPhone and called him. I looked at the screen, waiting for his face to appear. After a few never-ending seconds, his munching face appeared.

“Ahmir, where are you?” I whispered scared, looking back into the building, making sure Mom wasn’t coming.

“Miss, I came back after an hour and Mrs Giordani and you were still inside, I waited for a couple more minutes and you still didn’t come out. So I went out to get a hot dog,” He happily showed me the half eaten hot dog.

“Well, we’re done and you need to get here now. Mom will come in a couple of minutes and you and I know how much she loathes waiting,”

“Goodness, I’ll be there in five,” He affirmed and I saw him start to run when the call ended and his face disappeared.

“Shit,” I hissed, petrified, looking back at the door. Crossing my fingers, hoping she wouldn’t come just yet.

After a few minutes, I finally saw our car, with Ahmir, looking as petrified as me.
The car accelerated, and it parks abruptly in front of me.

“Oh jeez, thank God,” I whispered, and quickly got into the car, hoping I didn’t get a tan.

“Hello,” I greeted Ahmir.

“Hello, miss. I’m really sorry,” Ahmir said sadly.

“Oh no, I’m just glad you’re here. You and I both hate it when we have to listen to Mom rant for hours to no end,” I chuckled.

“I bought an extra hot dog , miss. Do you want it?” Ahmir asked.

“Um...” I replied debating it in my head.

“Ye-” I turn to the side, and Mom was coming down the stairs. Looking as elegant and flawless as always, with a frown on her sharp features.

“Uh, no, thank you,” I smiled, making sure he saw it through the review mirror.

As she got into the car, she let out an exasperated sigh.

“I can’t believe this. It’s Nathan for Pete’s sake. He’s such a playboy and could ruin your image. If I knew it had been him, I wouldn’t have signed anything,” She babbled on.

I, however, knew that she would’ve signed them without a second thought. Because it was Quercus & Co. She’d always wanted me to have connections with them. That wasn’t quite the surprise.

“Ahmir, please take us home. Alanna needs to start learning the song, until she knows it by heart,” She ordered.

“Yes, Mrs Giordani,” Ahmir replied.

He started the car, and we drove home in deep silence as Mom texted away on her smart phone.

As we arrived home, Mom gave me the orders to go up to my room, and practice until dinner time. I agreed and went to my room, took a hot shower. Making sure all of my make up was off, and all the hairstyling products were completely out of my hair. After I finished, I put on a oversized hoodie with a pair of cotton shorts and over-the-knee socks. I put on the CD Dylan gave me, and try matched the lyrics to the rhythm, slowly memorizing them.

I uttered a sigh as I prepared my self mentally for a long night. Disliking the fact that my relaxing, perfect night was farther than I had originally planned.