the tour

Chapter 2

'There she is, just the girl we were looking for' my boss Rodney exclaims into a microphone as soon as Harry and I walk into the Arena 'She knows what to do'. I wave to Rodney who is standing on the stage and kicking the microphone cord to attempt to untangle it. I turn around to Harry, roll my eyes and hand him my bag, hat and sunglasses. 'You seem busy already' he says and grins at me, I reply with a verbal 'huff', pout and walk towards the stage.

Once I'm on stage, Rodney turns the mic off and directs me to a bed frame being suspended by chains. "Tom, explain what's going on to Kristina here" Rodney says as he walks to return the mic to its stand and leaves the stage with his hands behind his head. "Hi, I'm Tom" he says as he looks at me exasperated "Kristina. What's going on?" We fix the issue and it results in a suspended bed. "Brilliant! Now, K, you're about the size of Billie... Tom, hook her up to the right side of the bed and let's see how the acoustics are up there. Harry, you ready?" Rodney says nonchalantly. I look over at Tom wide-eyed not expecting to be doing this for work. As Tom is hooking me up, I ask "Who's Billie?" He looks at me like I'm from another planet. "Ahh... Billie Eilish" he says. Yeah, I was not expecting that either.

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"Ok babe, let her rip" Harry says from the sound booth. I'm now strapped to a bed, floating above the stage and suddenly very aware of everyone in the buildings eyes watching me. I take a deep breath. I've seen Billie perform this song but I've never sung it and I'm probably going to mince the words but here goes... I launch into the beginning of 'ocean eyes' and watch as Harry breaks into a smile and Rodney staring with his mouth open.

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"You amaze me every time you sing, K" Rodney says into a mic at the sound booth as I'm being lowered to the ground. "Now, it's piano time" he says.

As soon as I'm off the bed, I head towards the piano and take a seat. As if I could match Finneas O'Connell's talent but if I have to, I'm going to try my best. It's one of my favourites of Billie's. I start playing 'when the party's over' on piano, hum the lyrics to myself and thank my lucky stars I learnt this song when it was released. Next minute, my voice is filling the whole arena. I turn to look at Harry and he gives me the thumbs up and mouths for me to keep going. I sing the song properly. I need to give this performance some sort of justice. A spotlight appears on top of me and I jump in my seat.

It's a short song but when I finish I'm pretty proud of myself until I hear a slow clap start. The spotlight is turned off from me and I take a moment to adjust my vision so I can see. Then I see it, the all too familiar the black hair with bright green roots, the baggy matching tshirt and pants, and sunglasses. Billie Eilish was clapping and standing next to her was Finneas and the rest of her band. I turn bright red and stare at my feet. I can hear Rodney yelling something. I look up at him and they all turn to look at him except Billie who keeps her gaze focused on me for a few more seconds. Is she angry? Upset? Confused? She smiles. She eventually turns around when Rodney is shaking hands with her brother.

I slink off to the sides of the stage. I lean up against the closest wall to catch my breath. Did I imagine that or did Billie just hear me sing her song? And she smiled at me? Harry's bounding towards me and I snap out of my daze. He starts jumping around me holding me hands mouthing 'Oh my god'. I can't help but laugh at him. I think I'm even still blushing.