7. I will paint on the wall, you paint on me

As soon as we got back, we went to the Dean and delivered the painting supplies that we bought on our way out of the mall. I actually picked some pretty interesting stuff that would really make our paintings pop up from those old walls. After that, I went to my last class, which was Thomas free. The two classes I skipped were with him, so I hadn't seen him all day.

After school, I went to paint with others, and they actually enjoyed the stuff we got at the mall. One used glitter to make a snow sparkle, another placed small gems, instead of painting them and  made it look crazy realistic. Some electric colors that I bought made Daphne's northern lights look just amazing. I was glad about my purchase, and it gained me some respect from others in the project.

My first idea was mostly in black, gray and white (no surprise there), a girl sitting on the ground somewhere in the school. Many crows above her head, attacking. She had her hands up, protecting herself from them. My imagination was that those blackbirds are the many problems, and the mean students that a student must endure during their time in school. I doubted that someone would get it, but I didn't actually care. I pushed myself to finish it today, so tomorrow I could paint the idea I sketched last night.

When I finally got home, I went to take the quickest shower ever because I had no time left to prepare for the show at Cherry on top. At least my clothes were picked for me. I dried my hair and put on the white skirt, and the black top with rhinestones. Sitting on the corner of my bed, I pushed my legs into the brown boots that Tina had picked. I was happy to wear them because they were cool and had no thin high heels. One thing according to my taste. As soon as my second foot was zipped, I heard Tina's heels coming my way, followed by a knock on the door.

"Ready or not, here I come!" She giggled and a moment later her tall, skinny figure was inside my room. "So, this is the painter's cave, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and went to get my mascara, while my step-sister was looking around like she was some kind of tourist.

"It's funny that you live in this house, and you have no clue what my room looks like." I smiled, remembering how protective she was over her stuff, and that I never went to her room...or anyone else, for that matter.

"Let's not act like we don't know what you think." She bit out, and when her eyes stopped on me, she walked towards me. "Let me see this."

She grabbed my mascara and started inspecting it, looking like she could make a chemical analysis by staring at it. I checked the time and noticed Thomas's thing was about to start in ten minutes.

"We are late already. What more do you want to do to me?" I raised my hands in wonder, annoyed.

"A lot. But, for now, some real makeup and I will touch your hair a little. It will only take a sec." She said and dragged me out in the corridor towards her room.

"Yeah, I am the painter here, but you sure can paint on me." I rolled my eyes.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the parking lot of Cherry on top. The music from inside was loud, and I was surprised to hear a female voice singing.

"Are we at the wrong place? There seems to be a girl singer." I turned to look at Tina, while she was fixing her tight purple dress, pulling it down.

"No, silly. This should be the opening band." She gave me a how-do-you-not-know-this look, and rushed me to climb the stairs towards the door.

A man with dark skin, suit, and cute, curly hair was standing there, smoking a cigar. We tried to ignore him, but he stopped us, catching me by the arm.

"We are packed!" He pointed, releasing a big puff of smoke to pass near my ear.

"I know we are late, but we were invited," I said, feeling the pain of dressing up for nothing.

"Yes, and we have a friend inside already," Tina mentioned Linda.

"Yeah, by whom?" the man asked, ignoring the Barbie.

"By me!" I heard Thomas's voice answering the question.

"Okay then… see you around." The man fast relaxed and showed me his back, as he was leaning again on the railings.

"I must say, I thought that you would never come. Your friend came, she is at our table… also wondering if you would come or not." Thomas said, his thoughtful eyes fixed on my legs.

"Let's go inside then." Tina pushed me, her hand on my back.

I just smiled, while I was passing him, rushed by my step-sister. His eyes were glued to my body, traveling up and down. I liked how his jaw was wiping the floor. Maybe Tina could dress me up again. A strange tingling was shared by every cell I had, and I felt overwhelmed. I pulled away from Tina.

"I will come and join you guys in a minute. I need to go to the bathroom real quick." I yelled in her ear, fighting the loud music, and she just shrugged her shoulders.

When I reached the sink, I felt the need to put my face under the water, but Tina's hard work on my look would have gone to waste, so I just stared at my changed face. Many colors were mixed in my eye shades, my lips were in light pink lipstick, and my hair was so different. I preferred black and white, but I already confessed to her that this must be some kind of art.

I had one boyfriend in my life. He liked to make out a lot, but we never did anything more than grabbing and kissing like wild animals. He moved out of town five months ago, when his family left the house at the end of our street that they rented for the last four years. It wasn't love, but I sure as hell knew enough now to say that I had a crush on the famous boy. I knew what my outfit must have done to him. I felt his eyes undressing me, and I was playing with fire because you see, I knew I was about to burn. He was not the boy for me, and I was falling for his deep blue eyes, cocky attitude, and cheap pickup lines.

When I regained control over my hormones, I finally went outside. The air was heavy, and it smelled like cigars, sweat, a mix of perfumes and alcohol. Laser lights were cutting the walks revealingly, as the overused disco ball was spinning above everyone's heads. In the middle of the giant salon was a small stage, and fans were gathered around it, trying to reach the band members like invading zombies. In their hands were blue and green disco sticks. All walls had small glowing tables with big leather sofas.

I searched for my people and I saw a table with a circle of red rope around it near the far wall. It's where the musicians rested, I guessed, and I was right. Linda's small body had climbed on a chair and was waving at me. I smiled and slowly made my way through the crowd.

"They are so cool, aren't they?" Linda yelled to me while dancing, still up on that chair.

"Aren't you going down?" I asked her, taking in my surroundings.

My voice got lost in the applause and whistling that followed when the song was over. I looked up and on the stage were three girls, covered in tattoos, even their fingers, and necks. The one that appeared to be the singer had blue hair, and a piercing on her nose. One had her hair dyed in gray, holding a guitar and also had a piercing on her nose. The third one was with red hair tied in two short ponytails, many freckles and surprisingly, no piercings… that I could see.

On our table were a few cool looking people who seemed to be involved with the stage somehow, but no free chairs. I leaned on the table, feeling uncomfortable, and somehow exposed. One girl was near me, questioning my look or something. I didn't like her at all. She was glancing my way while talking with a curly blond boy, sitting on a chair, leaning over his guitar. Yeah, I was inside the red rope.

"Who are they?" I asked my best friend, and pointed to the stage.

"The most amazing band ever lived!" she said cheerfully, climbing down from the chair. "They are called Tattooed Souls."

"Yeah, I can see that!" I laughed and she joined me.

The girl band said their goodbyes with the fans and came in the red rope circle, passing near me like I was part of the furniture. Nope, I didn't like them too.

Thomas's voice echoed around and my head snapped in his direction. He was on the stage, waving his free hand to invite someone from our table. Guess who? The girl, who was leaning on the wall, got her guitar and lifted it behind her neck when ‘Jane’ was called on the microphone. She went up the stage, followed by the boy with the guitar, named ‘Josh.’

Once there, they formed Victory run, and it was what the crowd was chanting.

"Let's see what this is all about." Tina said, coming to stand next to me, and Linda did the same on my other side, twisting her hands in front of her chest.

"Yeah, I doubt that they will be any better than what we just saw." My best friend sarcastically commented, and turned to smile at the tattooed girls.

"I heard that they are looking for a new drummer." I heard from a girl on the other side of the rope.

"You have been waiting for this, right?" Thomas was yelling at the zombies. "Here's the thing--I was waiting for this too!"

I did not know what he was talking about. Probably his selfish need to be adored was revealed to his fans. He grabbed a guitar and hung it around his torso. It was no secret that he was hot, but now when I had the chance to stare at him and not look like a starstruck idiot, I actually enjoyed the rock vision he had.

Dressed all in black, his tight jeans were ripped at the knees. Large leather sneakers were complimenting his thin leather jacket. Under it was the only, not black thing he wore -- a dark blue T-shirt, and I was amazed to recognize my palm on it.

He did not throw that away?! Does this mean something to him? No, can't be. He is just a womanizer, he doesn't care for me, not really.

His long bony fingers strummed the strings of his guitar and many girl voices started to yell.

"What is up with them?" I rolled my eyes, turning to Linda. He didn't do that much.

Thomas leaned in to the microphone and said, "This is for someone very special." Then he turned his piercing eyes to me and added. "I love your smile. Let's see if you can show it to me."

I felt like I was hit by a lightning. I became the center of attention, as a bright light washed my frozen features and I felt the jealous stares and gasps around me. He started singing the song that I listened to last night, and was watching me with waiting eyes.

What was I supposed to do? Oh, yeah! Smile!

I replaced my deeply confused, embarrassed expression with a slightly angry one, but eventually, a wide shy smile was given to the famous boy, so he could continue with whatever he had to do and leave me to hide back in the shadows.