Lynne

Chapter 3

  I had torn my entire room apart looking for my binder of songs. It was almost four in the morning, and in less than twelve hours I was going to have to sing in a recording booth in front of one of the world's' most successful men.
And I couldn't find my damn binder anywhere.
I had gotten home around two-thirty from work. The bars usually didn't close till late, and I took the night shifts on weekends. I didn't tell any of my coworkers about Erik or the Vocals, though they were all keen on asking me about the concert. I was the youngest worker there, and the only one that was still underaged. Most of the people who worked there were too old for me to really have any similarities with, but I tried to be friendly to them. I don't think they ever wanted to hang out with the little kid, either. Hell, I really shouldn't even be working there. But I was just a waitress, not a bartender, so being only seventeen wasn't a huge deal. Especially because my Mom and the owner were good friends.
On the other hand, it sucked. The other workers always felt like they could just push me around because I was young and gullible. So I always ended working nights and holidays when no one else wanted to work.
I usually got home around midnight, sometimes a bit after. My parents were long asleep by the time I got home every night. Including tonight.
I considered waking them up to ask if they knew where my binder was, but I decided against it. They worked all day, too. They needed their sleep.
My room was small to begin with, but I had turned my closet, my dresser, and everywhere else I stored things inside out to find my binder. And it was nowhere to be seen. The floor was completely covered with crap.
"Fuck," I muttered to myself, quietly. My parents were in the next room, and apartment walls were paper thin.
My room was nothing special, even when it was clean. I just had a tiny twin bed with my dresser at it's foot, and a desk across the room. My few clothes hung in my small closet next to it. It was small, but I knew where everything was. At least, I thought I knew.

I figured that my binder was going to be in my bottom desk drawer, where I kept all my stuff I was embarrassed about. Like my journals, or my old Vocal posters. But it wasn't there.
It hadn't been all that long since I had seen the songs I'd wrote, but the binder had a CD with every song that had the music on it. My Dad had helped me record all the music, back when my dream was to become like the Vocals.
Now, I wasn't just becoming like them. I was becoming one of them.
I froze at the thought. I sat in the middle of my room on my knees with piles of my belongings around me. I put my head in my hands in despair. What was I going to do now?
I jumped up when I heard the handle to my door turn, and my Mom's head peeked through the door. She opened the door all the way, and widened her eyes.
I waved. "Hey Mom."
She was in her pajamas with her hair falling in sloppy curls around her tired face. "Rin," she started, her voice calm. "What in the hell are you doing tearing your room apart at four in the morning?"
I took a deep breath. "It's a long story."
Mom looked disdainfully at the mess, and sighed. She took a step in, trying her best not crush anything, and made her way across my room. She sat on my bed, and folded her hands in her lap. "Well, I've got time."
I hadn't even thought about telling my parents about what happened, and I picked my words carefully. "Um... I don't really know where to start."
She shrugged.
"Well... Ia and I got scammed out of our tickets-" she nodded. She already knew about that, and she had not been happy. Money wasn't exactly happy to come by in our family. "-so I was at the café on my laptop looking for more. And then...then this guy came up to me and sat at my table with me. Turns out he was the actual Len Kagamine."
Mom laughed. "Really?"
I nodded. "Really. And he just gave me two tickets, and with two backstage passes."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "He just....gave them to you?"
"Uh. Huh. Trust me, I was just as surprised as you are. It was so random." I paused for a second, looking at the ground. "Anyways, long story short, Ia and I went to the concert, and went backstage afterwards. Then, I was sitting outside singing a song on my phone, and their manager came out, saying he wanted me to come to the recording studio tomorrow-" I looked at the clock. "-er, today, and sing one of my songs for him."
Mom stared at me in disbelief. "No way."
I pulled his card out of my pocket, handing it to her. She looked it over, her eyes moving quickly back and forth along the lines. Her head snapped back up to me. She smiled, and jumped up. "Oh my god, Rin!"
I jumped up with her. "I know!" I yelled, suddenly excited. "I can't believe it!"
Mom stared at the card, breathing heavily. She looked back at me, tears of happiness forming in her eyes, and opened her arms. I flung myself into them, and wrapped her up in a bear hug.
"I'm so happy for you," she whispered as she petted my hair softly. "But that doesn't explain why your room looks like a tornado went through it."
I giggled. "I was trying to find my song binder."
Mom pulled back from the hug. "Oh," she said matter-of-factly. "That's all you had to say. Your Dad and I stole it because we thought you were gonna throw it away."
I shook my head, relieved. "I wouldn't throw it away."
Mom's eyes sparkled. "I'll go get it," she said, starting for the door. "But I really do gotta get back to bed."
"Yeah, go ahead Mom. I just need to see what song I'm gonna do."
She looked at me for a second, her face proud. It warmed my heart. "Okay," she responded, disappearing out the door.
A few seconds later, she reappeared with my familiar white binder in her arms. "Here," she said, handing it to me. I accepted it gratefully. "Night," she waved. "I love you, my little superstar."
I blushed. "Mooooom." I hugged the binder the my chest. "I love you too."
She blew me a kiss, and shut the door.

I stood outside the recording studio trembling. My binder was clutched to my chest, and I was still unsure of my song choice. I didn't really have much of a choice at this point, however, as it was the only song that I had practiced since Mom gave my binder back. I had played the disc on my laptop, and luckily it sounded just as good as I remembered, but I was still hesitant.