He Lived In Her Heart
Chapter Two
The next morning, Chloe awoke to the sound of her own stereo, softly playing the tune to All I Have To Give. She’d put the song on repeat the night before, and had cried herself to sleep, her heart breaking and her stomach burning. The sunlight streamed through Chloe’s bedroom window, blinding her sensitive eyes as she opened them. Cursing silently, she threw off her covers and crawled out of her warm bed into the harsh reality of morning. Her throat was raw from throwing up last night, and she groaned in pain. Mornings were always like this, even on Sundays.
"But this one is worse," Chloe reminded herself aloud, remembering the events of the night before. Memories of Nick flooded back, as she flipped off her CD player and entered the bathroom to take a shower.
Not only had she ruined her chances of being a professional model, but she’d been reminded of a pain she’d tried so hard to forget over the past two years.
Chloe stared at her reflection in the mirror and leaned over to turn on the shower spray. The girl in the glass scowled at Chloe through crystal blue eyes, challenging her to even crack a smile. Chloe signed helplessly, pulling her nightdress over her head and stepping under the hot water. It was almost a relief to just stand still under the spray and forget all the hurt inside. In the distance, she heard the phone ring, and waited motionless for someone in the house to answer it. No one did, and the phone continued to ring insistently. Where is everyone? Chloe thought angrily, stepping quickly out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her 5’8 frame. Throwing open the door, she scurried into the den and managed to pick up the phone on the sixth ring. "Hello?" she barked into the receiver.
"A cheery morning to you too!" came Emily’s voice.
Chloe cringed, immediately regretting her tone. "Uh…umm…morning Emily," she fumbled. She wracked her brain, wondering what she could possibly have done wrong this time. Emily never called her, unless she was in trouble. But Emily seemed to take no noticed of Chloe’s curtness. "Good news!" she chirped, apparently forgetting her harsh words to her student the night before.
Chloe brightened a bit, still confused. She wasn’t in trouble after all. "What’s that?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to get her hopes up. She glanced down, where a small pool of water had formed at her feet. She wrapped her towel tighter around herself, beginning to shiver.
Emily laughed lightly, dragging out her response in suspense. "Do you have a lot of homework for next week?" she asked slowly.
"Umm…I don’t think so," Chloe replied slowly. "Why, what’s going on?"
"You’re going to LA, girl!" her 23-year old modeling coach exclaimed, excitement overtaking her voice.
Chloe nearly dropped the phone at the mention of her dream state. "Huh? What? Why?" she stuttered, her feet sliding dangerously on the wooden floor.
"A modeling scout just called me," Emily continued. "He said that he and his son were at the show last night, and his son pointed you out to him. He wants you to come down to LA next week for an audition!"
Chloe’s mouth went dry. She wanted to scream, but she held her breath.
"An audition for what?" she whispered finally.
There was a pause on the other end of the line, as Emily shouted to someone in the background. "Stop it! No, stop eating that brownie! Go get rid of it!"
"Emily?" Chloe closed her eyes, blocking out her coach’s words to the girl who must have been at the modeling studio with Emily right then.
"That’s the exciting part!" Emily replied a few seconds later, picking up exactly where she’d left off. "It’s for…" She paused again.
"What?! For what?" Chloe prodded, feeling a bit nervous.
"…for a music video!"
Chloe froze, and felt her hands begin to tremble. "A music…a music video?" she whispered, desperately trying to hold onto the slippery receiver. She felt weak, and knelt down obligingly on the floor. "A music video." Her head spun, as the words swam in her mind.
Emily was babbling on about the modeling scout’s reputation, but Chloe had drifted off. A music video, she thought slowly. "Which group?" she interrupted. Please, please, please let it be the Backstreet Boys.
Emily stopped. "It’s…umm," she said, fumbling in confusion. "I am not sure, some American boy group. The point is, it’s a music video, it’s publicity for you! The audition is a week from today, but you leave on Friday morning. You’ll have to miss school that day. And then you’ll stay in LA until the following Friday."
Chloe struggled to pay attention. All she could comprehend was Emily’s first statement. Some American boy group, she repeated in her mind. The Backstreet Boys are American.
"Oh," Emily added suddenly, as though a thought had just occurred to her. "And since you’re not 18 yet, you’ll need a chaperone." She paused suggestively.
Chloe felt her heart sink. She knew that Emily was hinting that she should take her, but Chloe didn’t want to. Her coach was only being nice to her now because she wanted to go to LA. Chloe knew from experience that as soon as Emily got what she wanted, she would revert right back to her mean, obnoxious attitude. Chloe cringed, wracking her brain for something to say. "Umm…" she muttered, her voice trailing off.
"You know how proud I am of you!" Emily babbled. "You’re my prize student. I’m only tough on you because I want you to do well! And it looks like something’s finally about to happen for you!"
Chloe sighed. "I’ll have to ask my dad," she broke in. "See what he says."
Emily took the hint, and huffed indignantly. "Sure, OK!" she chirped aloud. "I have to go. I have a girl in here for some ramp lessons right now. Remember what I said, though!"
"Uh huh," Chloe muttered, determined not to let Emily spoil her excitement. "Bye."
Hanging up the phone, Chloe danced into the bathroom, where she’d left the water running. It had turned cold, but she didn’t mind. Smiling, she turned off the stream, and wrapped her towel around her dripping hair. Absently, she began to hum the tune to Everybody, and soon, in her room, she’d begun to choreograph her own routine to the lyrics. Smiling, she jumped around the carpeted room, ever so often catching a glimpse of a Nick poster on her walls. It took her a moment to put reality to the fact that the video might actually be FOR the Backstreet Boys.
Chloe stopped in her tracks, and caught her reflection in the mirror on her wall. The girl’s eyes were wide with realization, and her mouth had dropped open. She might have feared the loss of her vocal cords had she not screamed right then and there. Gasping for breath and shaking with excitement, Chloe lunged for the phone next to her bed, and punched in her friend Shanna’s number.
"Wassup, talk to me," came Shanna’s signature greeting.
"SHAN!" Chloe screamed into the phone.
"WHAT?" Shanna screamed back, mocking her. "Hey Chloe!"
Chloe whimpered loudly, unable to form sentences.Shanna laughed. "What’s going on, girl?" she demanded. "You get so excited over the silliest things!"
"I’m going to LA to be in a music video with the Backstreet Boys!"
Chloe couldn’t help exaggerating, she wanted to get Shanna back for her teasing tone. There was no response from Shanna. Finally she laughed. "Sure, you are," she said, blowing this off as a lie. "Have fun, Clo, talk to you later."
"No, no, no!" Chloe shouted, desperate to keep Shanna on the line. "I’m serious!"
Shanna scoffed. "I believe you," she lied, laughing lightly.
"Shanna!" Chloe whined. "Emily just called me about the show last night! She said that a modeling scout and his son saw me last night and want me to come down to LA to audition for a video shoot with a boy group!" She stopped, gasping for breath.
Shanna didn’t respond for a second. "You WHAT?" she asked finally, almost grabbing hold of this concept. "Clo, you’ve got to be joking."
Chloe shook her head, even though Shanna couldn’t have seen her anyway.
"I’m so NOT joking!" A sudden thought hit her. "I need a chaperone, since I’m not 18 yet," she blurted out. "Shan, will you come with me? You’re 20, and I don’t wanna take Emily!"
Shanna nearly fell over. Choking on the sandwich she’d been eating, she managed to gasp, "You want ME to come with you?"
Chloe was growing more excited by the minute. "Yes!" she shrieked into the receiver. "Please?! This could be the Backstreet Boys we’re about to meet!"
"Oh, Clo, I wish I could hug you right now! Of course I’ll come!" Chloe felt a weight lifted off her shoulders, freed of the obligation to bring her obnoxious modeling coach. "Shan, we’re going to LA!"
********************************************************************** Later That Day :
Chloe lunged sideways for the phone beside her, sending the papers on her lap flying every which way. "Hello?" she asked breathlessly. She’d been posted next to the phone all day long, waiting for a call from Emily, to tell her which group she would be doing the audition for. She’d managed to talk to her father, when he called from the TSE building, where he’d taken her brothers and sister and had been trading stocks all day long. Over the commotion of traders, Chloe had explained her fortune to him, and he’d hastily agreed to let her go to LA.
"Chloe, it’s me, Emily."
Chloe’s muscles tensed. "Hi!" she chirped, trying hard to sound relaxed.
"I’ve got some news for you," Emily said slowly, and Chloe could hear her shuffling through some papers.
"What news?" She held her breath and closed her eyes.
There was another pause. "I just got a call from Terry, the agent," Emily said. "He’s told me that the video audition will be at the LA Theme Studio on Saturday afternoon, for a video called ‘If I Don’t Have You.’ If I heard him correctly, the group is the Backstreet Boys."
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