Against the odds

Chapter 2

Melody's makeup that she does at the concert above

Luckily, I grew up in a part of Oregon which was very close to the main areas, one of which happened to be the greyhound bus station which was very convenient for my plan of escape.

I run all the way to the bus station and was extremely breathless when I got there. Walking up to the ticket desk I regain my breath.

"Hi can I have a one way ticket to Hollywood" I ask with a slightly nervous smile.

"Sure honey, that's $72" the woman says. We exchange money for ticket.

"Aren't you a little young? Where's your parents?" She interrogates me as she raises an eyebrow, before scanning the space behind me to confirm that I'm on my own.

"I'm 18" I fake reassure her, with a mega watt smile.

"Oh honey that's your bus!" she points to the bus that just pulled into the bay.

"Thank you, how long will it take?" I ask the woman.

"Around a day" she informs me.

____

The bus smells like sweat, food and broken dreams. Which is ironic, because this bus is making my dreams happen. I've been on the bus for 6 hours now, with absolutely nothing to do except sleep.

The bus pulls into a gas station that has a subway for dinner.

Me and a few others get off.

I make a beeline for the restroom first. Once I finish, I head into the subway and get a ham , cheese , lettuce and ranch sub with a blue Gatorade as a treat. I don't usually eat unhealthy food a lot because I watch my figure quite closely, but all this travel is draining me.

Once I finish eating, I quickly run into the store part and grab a monster energy, a box of Swedish fish and an AP magazine that was by the counter. I pay for the goodies before exiting and climbing back onto the greyhound bus.

After a long sleep I wake up to find that its 2 am and we aren't a million miles away. I crack open my monster and the candy . I finish both of them before placing the rubbish in the bag at my feet. Pulling out the magazine, I flick through it; too excited to process words properly until I get to the concerts page.

My heart begins racing as if I have done a line of cocaine. In the concerts page it said that Celebrity Scars were doing a show at the grand Olympic auditorium tonight. I swear this is all too much of a coincidence, it has to be destiny that I at least meet Wolfgang.

I have to go.

_____

The auditorium loomed before me. Fans of celebrity scars are absolutely everywhere. Girls in ripped black denim shorts, fishnets and varying types of black boots walk past me, some in platforms and some doc martens. Men in skin tight leather pants wander around with beers in their hands. Everywhere I look there's crazy hair colours, leather and denim. Absolute paradise. Fans eye me up suspiciously as they walk past. I suppose I do look quite out of place in my white summer dress, I look down and laugh at my appearance.

There was only one problem. A problem that (for some reason) I hadn't really considered. That was the small issue of not actually having a ticket to the concert.

SHIT.

My face falls as I realise I'm not going to be able to see Celebrity scars.

"Why the long face?" I hear someone ask behind me, I turn around to reveal a balding man in his late 50s. Honestly, I hate stereotyping people but he looked like someones crazy dad or uncle.

I shrug.

"Don't have a ticket" I sigh dejectedly.

Crazy uncle guy looks thoughtful for a second.

"How much money have you got on you?" He asks interested.

"$50" I lie. I didn't want this random guy to know I had over $200 on me.

"Okay, I usually sell them for $70 but since you only have $50 and look really upset I'll sell you it for $50" the balding man pulls a ticket for the concert from his back pocket.

I squeal and refrain from hugging him.

"Oh my god thank you so much" the man grins. Pulling the money from my pocket we exchange items and he wanders away.

Suddenly, I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's nauseating, I feel slightly dizzy. I know why. It's because I'm going to actually see him. Somehow, I force myself to walk toward the doors of the venue. There was no queue as it was well past opening time, the support band would probably have almost have finished their set.

Shakily, I walk to the man at the door who takes my ticket and scans it, before moving aside to let me inside. Once in, I make a beeline for the restrooms to inspect my appearance as it has dawned on me that I probably look like a religious hobo right now; but when I finally get in front of a mirror what I see freaks me out. Pretty much all of my make up has come off, my hair is knotty and I look dead.

And not in the good way either.

Panicking, I run into a cubicle and grab some tissue. Wetting it in the sink, I rub furiously at my face to remove the majority of the old make up. Satisfied, I take my make up bag out of the backpack on my back and apply my very pale, almost white foundation; I do smoky eye makeup with subtle winged eyeliner and finally I apply deep maroon coloured matte liquid lipstick.

Happy with my face, I reluctantly draw my attention to my hair. I grab my brush out of the bag whilst quickly managing to part my hair. Grabbing one side, I pull my brush through the unruly auburn knots, working my way up from the tips to the roots. I repeat this with the other side. Once brushed, my hair was naturally a bit wavy though I prefer it straight but I would have to cope with it as it is.

Packing my stuff away, I leave the rest room only to see the lobby of the venue was still absolutely packed with people. I rushed for nothing. Sighing, I walk to coat check and hand in my bag. Once done, I turn to the door which leads to standing. I hope I manage to get a good position.

Not many people were in there at all, though it was clear I wouldn't get a barrier spot which was fine since I didn't expect that anyway. I choose to stand right in the middle. I was a few lines of people back from the barrier in front of the stage. The support band was alright though they were nothing compared to Wolfgang's band.

"Thank you everyone!" the lead singer of the support band shouts as they walk off the stage.

Then, the room goes black.