chapter 9

I did like her, with her beautiful light brown hair and big blue eyes as clear as the sky above me. She was tall and leggy, like a model, but a bit too short. That was okay, though. I personally was only 5’10, and any decent model would tower over me. I could envision me and her, walking down a crowded street, sipping lattes and just talking, while we posed for the dozens of cameras. We would make a good couple...

Whoa, stop thinking so far ahead, I told myself gently. I just wanted her to record a song for me, and on strictly business terms. At least that’s what I tried to tell myself.

I thought and thought about it, confusedly looking around the room, searching for some sort of clue, something that would lead me to the answer. Nothing gave me any leads though. I sighed. What did I expect? A newspaper or something lying around giving me the answers to all my problems?

I soon spotted a poster hanging around, a giant one, with an American Idol picture on it. “Do you think you can sing?” it screamed, a huge display of words splashed on the colorful paper.

That was it! I will have a contest. I could picture it now, a huge sign saying “DEX: THE SINGING CONTEST,” and that new picture of me displayed on the front. The prize would be a record deal with me. If that pretty girl, Eve, was serious about singing, she would definitely come.

I rubbed my hands together, a habbit I always did when I was excited about something.

“Penny!” I called, rather seductively. I always had to get a bit... persuasive around Penny to get her to do something.

I don’t even know how Penny got to be my manager. She started when I was seventeen, my previous manager recently died in a car accident. I never liked her from the beginning, but she was the daughter of the owner of the record company I usually dealed with. I couldn’t fire her, or else she would go crying to her daddy and they would cut off everything from me. Penny was really quite young, only 27.

Penny opened the doors to my room energetically, holding a stack of papers. She quickly laid them down on the settee, then crossed the room over to me.

“What is it, Dex?”

“Penny,” I grabbed her and gave her a nice long hug. She hugged me back, and as I pulled away, I knew she was so enchanted she would do anything for me. “Penny,” I repeated, “I have an idea,”

“What?” she asked, dazed, “Oh, that. What is it?”

“I think we should have a contest.” This was the point where it became all or nothing. I was sure Penny would think it was an atrocious idea, so I held her close as I talked. “If we have a singing contest, I think she would come, and all our problems would be solved,”

“I don’t know...” I could see her eyes becoming a bit more focused, a tad more alert. I had to do something!

I leaned in and kissed the top of her forehead. Her breathing became more relaxed, and she swayed a little.

“Could you set that up for me?” I asked. She nodded, hanging on to me. I gently propelled her out of the room, and she walked off, stumbling a little. Good work, buddy! I mentally high-fived myself. I knew I could always fall back on my charm when something didn’t work out.

I leaned on the settee, leafing through the papers she forgot to bring with her. They were filled with info on the girl, “Eve Valencia”. I looked at the pictures with interest. One was of her at school (from the school’s security cameras), one was from her house (facebook), and one was a headshot (I don’t know WHERE she got that).

At school, I could tell she dressed sloppily, but what amused me so much was that I could see a handsome guy staring at her, lovesick, forever frozen on the page. I laughed. Wouldn’t that guy be happy to know I saw THAT?! I chuckled. I made a mental note to check up on that guy later.

Her headshot was absolutely magnificent, striking me into silent amazement. At the concert she wore makeup, which really took away from her natural beauty. I felt that it made her look a bit more artificial. In the headshot, though, she looked dreamy, with her big blue eyes and a gorgeous expression on her face. She looked like a movie star.