Unbound

Charlie sat motionless on the small stool in front of a miniature vanity. On every side of her, pageant girls were bustling around the backstage area searching for various things such as lipstick, cover-up and hairspray. To anyone, the noise would have been deafening with all of the shouting and excited chatter but to Charlie it was nothing more than a gentle hum. She looked at herself in the vanity mirror and suppressed the urge to cry. She was not allowed to cry. Her makeup was absolutely flawless as were the perfectly styled ringlets that framed her face. She wanted so much to pull her hair into a ponytail and wipe off all of the makeup but resisted. Instead she just sat there staring at her reflection with utter disgust.

“Hey Charlie?” Jo’s timid voice asked from behind her.

“Oh, hey.” Charlie said, turning around on the stool to face her.

“Do you think you could zip the back of this dress for me?” Jo asked.

“Sure.” Charlie said as she slid off the stool and started zipping the back of the sky blue evening gown Jo was wearing.

“Thanks.” Jo said turning back around. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah I’m fine.” Charlie said dully. “How are you?”

“My feet hurt, I have a throbbing headache and I still have hairspray on my ass from the bathing suit competition.” Jo said. “Other than that I’m doing just fine.”

Charlie let out a small laugh and Jo smiled, pleased she made Charlie at least a little happier than she looked.

“Oh! I forgot.” She exclaimed. “How was your date last night?”

“Jo…it’s not going to work out.” Charlie said turning back to the mirror to pretend to fix a piece of her hair.

“Why not?” Jo asked and Charlie saw her put her hands on her hips in the reflection of he mirror. “I thought you said you liked this guy. Hell, I like him and I haven’t even met him.”

“It just won’t.” Charlie said smiling sadly. “I’m going back to New York after this pageant and my mom said-”

“Wait, hang on.” Jo interrupted. “You’re not seeing this guy again because of what your mom will think?”

“No.” Lie. “I’m not seeing him again because I don’t want to see him.” Another lie.

“Hey Jo.” A blonde haired girl with a deep purple gown said passing them.

“Oh, hi Dawn.” Jo said, momentarily distracted from what she and Charlie were discussing.

“You’re on the twelve floor too right?” Dawn asked as she checked her appearance in the vanity mirror next to Charlie.

“Yeah, Charlie’s on that floor too.” Jo answered.

“Did you guys here that guy earlier then?” Dawn asked looking excited for a chance to gossip.

“Guy?” Charlie and Jo asked looking confused.

“Yeah, some guy was out in the middle of the hallway shouting down this poor woman about her daughter.” Dawn started. “Apparently she was refusing to let him see her and threatened to have him thrown out of the hotel if he went anywhere near her.”

“Did this guy have a name?” Jo asked.

“Not that I heard, I was just leaving my room when I saw them shouting at each other.” Dawn answered.

“What did he look like?” Jo asked.

“Well he was rather cute.” Dawn giggled. “If you like guys in tight jeans. He had really dark, kind of shaggy hair and-”

Dawn didn’t get a chance to finish as Charlie dropped the canister of hairspray she was holding making a loud clattering sound as it sprawled across the floor.

“Gerard.” Charlie whispered.

Jo looked at the shocked expression on Charlie’s face and smiled. “Apparently, someone still wants to see you Charlie.”

“That was your mom he was yelling at?” Dawn asked Charlie, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.

“What was he yelling at her about?” Jo asked. “Tell me everything you heard.”

“Well I came out of my room down the hall and heard him say something like ‘I know what you’re doing’ and ‘you’re killing her’ or something like that…” Dawn rambled. “And that’s when she threatened him and slammed the door in his face.”

“He…he said that?” Charlie asked shakily.

“More like screamed it.” Dawn said. “That man’s got a hell of a set of lungs.”

Charlie sat back down on the stool and played nervously with the hem of the robe she was wearing that covered the midnight blue evening gown she was wearing. He had come after her? She had run away and he still came after her? But why?

“Charlie?” Jo’s voice called, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh, yeah? What?” Charlie asked.

“Come on, we’re on.” Jo said.

“Coming.” Charlie said, jumping up from her stool and sliding off her robe.

“Frank!” Gerard shouted, running into his hotel room. “Frank come on we gotta go right now!”

“Whoa someone’s excited.” Mikey laughed as Gerard rushed past him.

“Did you talk to her?” Frank asked from the couch he was sitting on.

“Didn’t get the chance.” Gerard said. “And her mom said if I get in a hundred foot radius of Charlie, she’s gonna have security throw me out of this hotel.”

“So you’re going after her anyways?” Frank asked. “Badass!”

“Can we walk and talk please?” Gerard asked impatiently. “Her mom just went down to the theatre five minutes ago.”

“Jeeze, you think she won’t still be there by the time we get down there?” Frank asked, getting up from the couch to follow Gerard and the rest of the guys out of the hotel room.

“Hey, he’s going after his woman Frank.” Bob said. “Leave the guy alone.”

“Wait…how are you gonna talk to her if she’s onstage?” Mikey asked as they all crowded on the elevator.

“I’m still working on that.” Gerard said.

Truth be told, Gerard had no idea what he was doing. How was he going to talk to her? By the time they had all gotten down to the theatre he still hadn’t figured out what he was doing.

“Which one is she?” Ray asked as they managed to find some seats.

“New York.” Gerard said scanning the crowded stage for a glimpse of her. “Do you see her?”

“Um…oh! There!” Ray said pointing to the left side of the stage. All of the girls were standing in a line and she was positioned in between a girl with ‘Miss Texas’ on her sash and another with ‘Miss Alabama.’

“I have in my hand,” The loud announcer at the front of the stage, said confidently into his microphone. “the top five finalists. In no particular order, here the are! Miss California, Miss Kansas, Miss Rhode Island, Miss New York, and Miss Georgia!”

The audience burst into applause and forty-five pageant girls left the stage leaving the five finalists to congratulate each other in the center of the stage. Gerard had his eyes fixed on Charlie’s frail form as she hugged Miss Kansas then stepped back to a spot on the stage where a spotlight was pointing. The other four girls did the same and stood under the other remaining spotlighted areas on the stage. All eyes in the room turned to the announcer.

“Alright ladies, I’m going to ask you each a series of questions alright?” The announcer said holding up some note cards. Charlie and the other four girls nodded and the announcer began. “This first question will go to Miss Georgia. Okay, what bothers you most about what is happening in your country today?”

Charlie looked at the girl to her left as she started her answer.

“Well…” Miss Georgia began. “I’m really not happy at all about the starving children in Africa. We need to help them.”

The announcer looked uneasily form his note cards and then to the judges. “Um…okay then. The next question goes to Miss Kansas.” He said flipping to a new card and moving down the line to Jo. “Alright, Miss Kansas, what do you believe is the biggest challenge facing young people these days?”

“That would probably have to be pressure.” Jo said.

“Pressure from…?” The announcer asked.

“Well, everything.” Jo said. “Pressure from peers, from their teachers in school, pressure from parents.”

Charlie couldn’t help but notice Jo’s eyes flicker over in her direction when she said this.

“Good answer.” The announcer nodded before moving on to the next girl, Miss Rhode Island. “Miss Rhode Island, you have the next question. Which celebrity would you invite to a dinner party, and why?”

“Oh that’s an easy one!” She said smiling widely. “I’d invite Orlando Bloom because he’s super cute!”

The announcer laughed then flipped the question card as he moved onto Miss California. “Okay, Miss California, what famous person does your personality most parallel?”

“Hmm…” Miss California, Sierra, to Charlie, said as she thought. “I’d have to say Angelina Jolie. She’s a really hard working woman and a great mother. I also think I am a very hard working person.”

“The last question I have here, is for Miss New York.” The announcer said flipping to his last question card and stepping next to Charlie.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably on the high heels she was wearing and looked at the announcer.

“If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?”

Charlie bit her lip. She knew the answer to that question. It was one of the questions that her mother had taught her the answer to. She was supposed to smile innocently and say ‘World peace.’ It was the same question her mother had when she competed for Miss USA. Of course she won with this answer.

“Miss New York?” The announcer asked, bringing her attention back to the question he had asked.

“Oh…um…” Charlie trailed off as she looked out at the audience. One particular face stood out. Sitting in the front row, was her mother, glaring at her.

“Say it.” Lisa hissed quietly through gritted teeth.

Charlie sighed and finally spoke. “World peace.”

There was a chorus of ‘Awws’ from the audience and the announcer smiled. “We’re gonna take a break for a few minutes wile the judges make their final decision.” The announcer said into the camera that was positioned on him. “But when we get back, we’ll find out who is this year’s Miss United States!”