Valerie Tyler.
Upon hearing her name, many would instantly think of glamour and stardom, not hardships and sorrow. However, Valerie has had, in the opinion of many, far more than her share of hardships and sorrow in her ascent to the acclaimed pres...
Song of the chapter- 'Take On Me', Pentatonix (cover)
'Talking away, I don't know what I'm to say, I'll say it anyway.'
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"Whoa, whoa, what?" Josh exclaims when her words seem to sink in, trying to get her to unhand his collar as I begin to back away slowly but surely.
"I said, we're singing together! Focus, boy, we can't be having you absolutely jack off! This is anyway going to be my show, so you did a good job by not registering the two of your names together," she flashes me an evil smirk, her words hitting me at the same time as the wall behind me.
He didn't even put our names on there?! Wait, I wrote our names, didn't I? My mind desperately tries to recall what happened until the scene finally plays back in my mind, and he did go to write our names. I have this incredible urge to scream, cry, slap him, slap her and throw up all at once. The latest urge, however seems to win as my stomach begins to churn and I can feel bile rising to the back of my throat. I rush to reach the nearest wash basin just in time for all the half-digested remnants of my prior delicious lunch to emerge out of my buccal cavity.
After vomiting so much that I feel like even the lining of my stomach has come out, I rinse my mouth and step back, feeling slightly dizzy and an odd sort of mixture of both relief and unease. Perhaps something I ate didn't really agree with me?
I wipe the water off my lips with my shirt and look up to see Josh, Generica and another guy watching me, their faces oozing concern, disgust and confusion respectively. Josh steps forward as if to say something when he's roughly pulled back. He becomes indignant as he turns to snap at Generica who just shushes him as she tightens her hold on the back of his shirt while he desperately tries to pry her hands off him.
Nonchalantly looking past me like it's way below her dignity to even spare me a glance, she quips, "Come on, it's not worth it, Jackson. It's not like puking is going to make any difference to her. She's anyway got far too many pounds to spare."
Her snarky statement seems to be the last straw as Josh firmly gets away from her grip and looks her in the eye while spitting venomously, "First off, she is not fat. You've got absolutely no right to say absolutely awful things about anyone like that. Secondly, shut your damn face or stuff it with something for behaving like an haughty entitled brat! Touch me against my will again and all hell will break loose! Lastly, it's Joshua!"
The other guy awkwardly clears his throat and looks to what appears to be a cameraman having appeared inside the room out of seemingly nowhere, his camera focused on Josh and now Generica's face to capture her reaction.
"How long have you been here?" I ask him on impulse.
He smiles warmly at me and softly answers, probably so as to not interrupt with the audio he's capturing, "Long enough."
He gently sets the camera on the ground after (hopefully) turning it off and addresses her, "Jessica, no offense, but we just got plenty of juicy stuff now against you."
"But he was the one who made me do all of that!" she squeals as he picks up his camera and switches it on, her gladly repeating her words with even more dramatic intonation for the camera.
"Lies!" Josh and I scream at once, his voice somewhat nervous and mine weak.
The camera quickly turns to me and must be taking in my disgruntled expression as I tell her in a low voice, my arms quivering, "Please, we know how much you've annoyed us and come in our way these past days and look at you now, trying to mess up our performance by creating all of this endless drama bullcrap just so we won't have any time to rehearse properly! I'm sure Josh put down our names and we're performing today, hook or crook. Unless you made sure to delete it from the record, in which case you better run for your life!"
"Right, I'm so scared of an overweight puddly teddy bear!" she feign terror by forming an o with her lips painted a rather gaudy shade of hot pink and slamming her palms onto her cheeks.
My face reddens as I snap, my voice echoing through the silent room, "You aren't the first and won't be the last one to insult me for the way I appear in your distorted vision of the world but that doesn't mean it hurts any less!"
"Aww, did I hurt the poor little girl's feelings?" she beams, flashing her perfect teeth to us.
"I don't think you understand how someone else feels because of words that you carelessly toss around. Fortunately, I know better than to fall for your bait right now else you would be hearing much more. C'mon, Josh, let's go!" I begin to pull him along when a stagehand comes over and tells Josh and Generica they're up first.
Upon seeing me, she informs me that I'm set to perform last as Josh screeches, "No, no, Valerie and I are singing together."
"No, sir, look at this," she hands over a book to him, his eyes widening to the size of saucers when he looks into it.
Peering over his slumped shoulder, I gasp when I see the set list. Josh and Generica are first, and then I'm at the very end, my name next to a Cormac Kingsley. Josh begins to explain that it's all wrong when another stage hand affirms the book to be the truth as Josh had apparently sent word through Jessica for switching his name up.
"Val, I swear, I never did any of this, she's just--"
I cut off Josh's nervous and constant rambling, "Manipulating us and getting what she wants. I know, but it isn't like we've got much of a choice."
An unfamiliar voice suddenly cuts in,"Say, I know this is probably one of the most stupid decisions I've ever taken but I could switch with Joshua."
- - - - - - -
This came out pretty fast! So I'm nearing the end of phase one of this series, so I'm plenty excited! Also, I started a YouTube channel recently and the channel right now has three tutorials and a lesson (they may sound boring but they're not (even if I do say so!)) and the link will be in my message board so give that a go!
Also, Ptx, Vol. IV is amazing because we also get to listen to some of Mitch's lower range, which is incredible! I especially love the way it's come out in 'Take On Me'!
Question time!
Why do you think she threw up? Why is' Generica' so obsessed with these two? Did she manipulate her way into being paired to perform with Josh because she thinks he's weaker so she can sound better or because she thinks he's better between Erie and him so she wants to eliminate him first by making him seem bad? Who's the voice at the end? Who's Cormac (not McLaggen lol)? Anything and everything else?!
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter ASAP!
