Tour Bus Troublemaker// c.p.

•17•

I smile to myself as the lights dim. I'm standing on stage in front of 14,000 people and begin to sing.

The spotlight shines down on me and I grinned widely at the crowd as I start the chorus. The audience sings along and I get the same feeling of pride and adrenaline I always do on stage. But I had something very special planned. In honor of our very special guest.

I finish the song and take a deep breath.

"You may know this next one," I remark with a smirk. The crowd falls silent as my bass player strums the first notes of a song they all knew.

"You been runnin' round, runnin' round, runnin' round throwin' that dirt all on his name," I sing and the crowd goes crazy.

"Cause you knew that he needed an excuse to call you up," I change the lyrics a little to fit my situation, but the fans still love it.

"You been goin' round, goin' round, goin' round every party in L.A., cause you knew that he'd, knew that he'd, knew that he'd be at one."

"Wearin' a dress that's karma, to make him regret," I sing while the crowd screams in glory.

"You got him thinkin' 'bout you all the time," I hit the high note.

"And now he's callin' you up, what you expect? But you're not foolin' anyone tonight.." I pause for drama and the audience hollers loudly.

"You just want attention, you don't want his heart," I sing.
"Maybe you just hate the thought of him with someone new. You just want attention, he knew from the start, you're just makin' sure he's never gettin' over you."

"You just want attention," I finish and the crowd roars. I smile widely, proud of what I'd done. I had no regrets...yet.

I finish my performance and strut off stage. I see Charlie standing, his jaw slack and an amazed look in his eyes. But he doesn't look the slightest bit mad.

"What the hell was that?" He questions, obviously not needing an answer.

I shrug.
"I did what needed to be done," I simply answer and brush past him. I find Lili, who looks angry. I immediately feel my heart drop in my chest when I see the disappointed look in her eyes.

"Kristen!" She remarks when I reach her.

"Hm?" I answer.

She shoots me a look and shakes her head in disbelief.
"Do you know what you've done?" She asks and I nod.

"Really? Because I don't think you do," she begins.
"You just put yourself in a whole mess of trouble, young lady. You've got a hurricane of bad press coming your way, I hope you realize that."

But what she didn't know was I knew that. I was prepared for bad press and social media blasts. It was worth it all.

"I know that, Lili, that's why I did it," I answer, staring her right in the eye.

"I'm not a scared newbie performer, anymore," I remark.
"I can handle myself."

She looks taken aback by my response, but I walk by her and outdoors to the bus. I take out my phone and start scrolling through social medias.

I already have nearly 500 posts that have me tagged on Instagram.

This was awesome @KristenLahey

Bella is shooooook @KristenLahey

I'm so fucking inspired and proud of @KristenLahey

Most were videos of my performance, others being pictures of me singing or on stage. As I'm scrolling through all of the messages, I receive a FaceTime call from, who else, Shawn.