Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 11:53:56 -0000 From: Tim Subject: Shining Star 6 Tada, here we have the 6th chapter! Yes, that's right folks. What to say, what to say. Hmmm. Oh yeah. Sher - thanks. Everyone else - thanks, even if you just read my story and don't write to me - thanks. But please, do write to me. I'm not threatening to pull the story or anything, it's just that I like getting e-mails from people who say that they like reading what I like writing. To make me happy - shiningstar@oceanfree.net . Go on, you know you want to! Yeah, this story is not true. I made it up! (Don't tell anyone) With the exception of the celebrities in the story (Who are only *based* on real life) the characters are made up. And I personally doubt that this is what pop-stars are doing in their spare time. And if you are too young, then I don't think that I can do anything, but I don't think that you should be reading this. Ok then, with this chapter we are back to the point of view of Fiachra. Back to where I should be. ------------------ It had been an incredible 2 weeks. Ryan's Family brought me to the places that I had only read about or seen on the TV. I had learnt more about the mystery that is the U.S.A., and most importantly, I had strengthened the friendship that, for the last 9 months had been conducted by phone and e-mail. I was sad to be leaving, but it was Saturday and I had school the following Monday. Jet lag was going to be interesting. I'd be even sleepier then I usually was on a Monday morning. Don't get me wrong - I was pretty good in school and everything, but I'm sure that you all know about Monday mornings. The flight home was uneventful, in that I don't even think that there was much turbulence. And, although I had enjoyed the last 2 weeks, I was looking forward to seeing my family at the airport. My mother and one of my sisters were waiting for me when I had gotten my bags and gone through customs. "Hi." I said tiredly. I can't sleep on flights, and to my detriment, it had a habit of catching up with me quickly. "Hi Honey, welcome back onto Irish soil." Replied my mother, who gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Hey Feekie." "Don't call me that!" I exclaimed. When she was young she hadn't been able to pronounce my name so she called me Feekie. Unfortunately she had stuck with it as she grew older. Now she called me it when she wanted to annoy me. "You know you love it." She said as she gave me a hug and ruffled my hair. "Anything special happen while you were over there?" "Nothing really." I said, giving her one of those 'I'll tell you later' looks. "How about at home." "Not really. Oh! The Southside Shopping Centre was opened!" "Can we go? It's late, and I'm tired." Said my mother, interrupting me while I was playing catch up with my sister. "Sure Mum." I picked up my bags and we headed for the car, which was not parked that far away (One of the advantages of having a small airport.) We drove home in silence. My mother was concentrating on driving, and I was drifting between sleep and wakefulness. When we got home I dragged my bags up the stairs and literally collapsed onto my bed. I had almost gotten asleep when the light from the upstairs hallway was shined in my eyes and my sister jumped onto the bed. "Well, what do you have to say for me?" "Leave me alone." I groaned. "I'm not going until you tell me." Little sisters can be such a pain sometimes. "You can be so immature. Please go, I'll tell you in the morning." "I *am* only 14. I'm allowed to be immature sometimes." Pouted Marie (My sister's name.) "Ok Ok. But if I tell you, you have to promise not to shout, or scream or anything, alright?" I relented. She was not going to leave until I told her, so why prolong the agony? " 'K, but what's so important that I have to promise?" I reflected upon her bedroom, with the walls covered in BSB and Nsync posters and shuddered. She was going to go insane. "Well, you know that I didn't get my flight from New York to Washington?" I asked her. "Yeah, you had to get a bus down. What about it?" "Well, I didn't tell Mum the whole truth. See, when I was leaving the hotel in a rush somebody bumped into me and when I got all my stuff back together they offered me a lift down to Washington on their private bus." "Are you mad? You just got in a bus with a stranger?" She was angry for me for being so stupid. I readied myself for what was to come. "No, that's not quite true. See, I already knew the people who were on the bus, kind of." "Who were they? Some CTYI people or what?" Marie was confused. "No. They were the Backstreet Boys." I quickly moved my hand to cover her mouth but it was already to late. She let out a scream that could wake the dead and jumped up off my bed. "Marie! Marie! Shut the fuck up! Mum and Dad are going to come upstairs any second!" She closed her mouth with a snap. "Are you joking with me?" She was shaking with excitement. "No! I swear. And would you please calm down?" It was funny (Now that she had stopped screaming) to see the state that she was in. I don't think that I've ever seen her shake so much. And over what? A few guys that she was probably never going to meet? Crazy shit. "What happened?" "What do you mean, what happened? Duh, we had an orgy. Apparently that's what the do to calm themselves down before a concert." I laughed at her open mouth. "I'm joking! Don't hurt me! We just talked. That's all! Now will you please leave my room? I want to go to sleep." On cue I yawned. "Alright, but this isn't over. I want ever detail tomorrow." Then she left me in peace, closing the door behind herself; blocking out the light and letting me go to sleep. The next day I woke up at 3 in the afternoon surprised that my mother had not tried to get me out of bed before then. She lived by the saying - "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." It gets annoying sometimes. After showering, dressing and performing all the usual tasks that you do in the morning I went downstairs into the kitchen. My mother was there making the Sunday dinner. I poured myself a bowl of cornflakes and grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge I sat down at the kitchen table and started eating away. "Anybody important ring for me?" I said with my mouth full. "Not really. Most people must have known that you were away. Helen has already called round, but I decided to let you get your sleep so I sent her away. Emm. There was someone else who rang looking for you, but your father dealt with that call so ask him. There are a couple of letters for you. I think I put them on your desk. That's about it really. Your sisters want to say hi, they're watching Independence Day *again* in the Den." "Right. Where's Dad?" I asked. Everybody knew that I was going away so I was curious as to who it was. "Study, sorting out the paperwork. He's really behind." After finishing the bowl of cereal I put it into the dishwasher and went searching for Dad. "Hey Dad." I greeted him. He looked up and grunted his return greeting to me. He really looked like Kevin, I thought. "Mum said that you took a call for me?" "Oh yes, that." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Some American, what was his name. Wanted your mobile number. I told him that over here we didn't just give out numbers like that. He said that it was important, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. So I brushed him off. What was his name." It didn't sound like anybody that I knew, but I wasn't sure. I didn't know that many American's that would have my phone number. On a hunch I asked him - "Was his name Nick?" "That could have been it. I'm not sure. I left a note somewhere. Last name started with a C. I do remember that." He pushed around the stacks of paper on the desk. "Carter?" I asked. "That was it! Nick Carter. I remember now. There was a lot of shouting in the background as well." Ah! There it is. He picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me. It only had on it the number that Nick had already given me. I knew because his number was a really easy one to remember. I did some quick calculations to figure out that it only about 10 in the morning in Florida. I decided to let the boy sleep in for a while longer. With that decision made I left my father to his paperwork and went into the Den to say hello to my older sisters. (Both of them.) "Hey Y'all." "Don't tell me that you've picked up that awful Americanism!" Said the oldest of my 3 sisters. "I'm just playing with you. I still speak like a Dubliner." "I don't know. I think that I hear a trace of an American accent in there." Said the other sister (Fiona). "You do not! I *know* that you're making that up!" "Kidding! Don't get into hysterics over it Fiachra!" "Fiachra! Helen's here." Shouted Marie from somewhere else in the house. Helen is one of my best friends. When I was 4 and she was 6 she moved in 2 doors up from our house. We had done everything together, we went to the same parks and parties, shared all the secrets that we had, loved each other like only a brother and sister could. But she had grown up since the early years, and now she was stunning. With long black hair and striking green eyes she was beautiful. She had an amazing body and exceptionally good looks. When I saw her for the first time as she entered the room I drew a breath and my sisters gave her looks of jealousy. I don't know why though, in my biased opinion they were very good looking. Our entire family had light blond hair and blue eyes, including myself. My parents had been told numerous times that we were all lovely looking children, but we had grown up since then, now we were told ourselves that we were good looking. Helen, seeing me, ran over and threw her arms around me, drawing me tight to herself. My sisters, knowing when to leave, left, dragging Marie along with them. "How was your trip? Meet any nice boys?" She joked. Helen was the first person that I had come out to; figuring that she would be the easiest. I was right. She told me that she already knew and that she would always be there for me, weather I needed help to beat someone up, or to have a cover-up relationship with. "You have no idea." I said, thinking back over the time that I had spent with Nick and the others. She pulled away and while still holding me by the shoulders asked - "What's that supposed to mean?" I could tell from the twinkle in her eye what she was implicating. "Nothing like that you dirty minded bitch! And I'll tell you later." Helen was a huge fan of the Backstreet Boys, almost as big a one as my little sister, and if I told her now, she would want to talk about the bus ride and only that. I wanted to spend some time talking to her before then. "Ok, then tell me about your trip." So I spent the next half an hour telling her about everything that Ryan and I had gotten up to while in Washington. I made sure to leave out the bit about the trip from New York to Washington though. A while later (I think that it was about 4 o'clock) the phone rang. I got up to answer it. "Hello?" "Hi, is Fiachra there please?" Asked Nick. "That's me. How are you? Did you try ringing while I was in Washington?" I was delighted to be talking to him again and it spared me the cost of ringing him later. "Yeah, I think I annoyed your Dad." "Not really." I lied. "What was so important?" Helen had already gotten bored listening in on my conversation. It usually took her a while longer to lose interest. "It's kind of complicated." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "You know that we're going on tour in Europe soon? Well, our supporting act pulled out at the last minute and we're in trouble." "Ok, what's this got to do with me?" I was confused; I didn't know why he was talking to me about this. I had never had any aspirations of being a pop star so what he was hinting at was passing over my head. "Well, we want you to come on tour with us." I sat down heavily, surprising Helen. Me? Come on tour? Support the Backstreet Boys at sell out gigs every night? "Are you serious? You're playing with me." "No joke, I swear. You'd have to be able to play from the middle of June, that's when Krystal is leaving the tour. Will you?" Shit! He was serious! "I get off school at the end of May, but I don't know. You saw how nervous I was with just you guys." I realized how this could be interpreted, so I looked over at Helen, who was sniggering quietly to herself. She must have started listening again. "But you got into it!" Nick argued. "You could do it!" "I'd still have to think about it. What do your record company have to say, and your Management?" Are you kidding? Of course I wanted this. I had never thought about it but it what an opportunity! "Well, Jive wasn't too happy at the start, but we were dealing with a prick, now they really want you! And management thinks that you're great. Jive wants you to sign a record deal." "Oh, wow. But I still don't know. When does your tour finish?" I was shocked by what I was being offered here, I really wanted it, but I didn't know my parents would have to say about it. "End of August, remember Dublin is one of our last concerts?" "Ok, I'm going to have to talk to my parents, but they're going to want to know more about what I would be getting myself into." I was thinking straight again, it helped. "Sure, I thought that you would. We have someone on a flight over to you right now. They should get in to Dublin in about. 2 hours. Will I tell them to go to your house?" Nick asked. What was I going to say to him but *yes!!!*. "Yes!" "Good, listen, Our flight is being called and Brian is going to start shouting in a second, so I better -" Nick was cut off and there was the sound of someone laughing in the background. "Hey Fiachra? Brian here, Nick would like *nothing* better then to talk to you but he has to get on a plane, and they won't keep it for us." "Sure, tell him that I said bye, and say hi to the others for me!" "Will do, bye Fiachra!" He hung up, leaving me with a dial tone ringing in my ear. "*What* the *fuck* was that all about Fiachra? And I want an answer!" Helen demanded. "I'll tell you now. But I need Mum and Dad to hear this as well." I got up and went into the dining room. "Dad we need to talk." Although he was caught up in his paperwork, he recognized how serious a tone I was using. But once I had gotten his attention I softened my tone. Besides, I wasn't feeling serious inside, it felt like butterflies were doing summersaults in my stomach. "But Mum need to hear this too. Will you come into the kitchen?" When Mum, Dad and Helen had seated themselves around the kitchen table I started explaining to them what had happened on the way to Washington and about the phone call that I had just received. Aside from a squeak from Helen when she heard that I was on a bus with BSB they were quiet the whole way though. I ended by telling them about the person who was coming to see us. "I don't know about this Fiachra. but we'll see what this person had to say before we make up our minds, alright?" Said Mum. She was trying to be careful, but I thought that she wanted this almost as much as I did. "I agree with your mother. We'll see." Said Dad. "You actually met the Backstreet Boys?! I don't *believe* that you didn't tell me. What were they like? Who was the nicest?" I cut Helen off. "That's why I didn't tell you! I didn't want you asking all these questions!" I exclaimed. The next three hours were spent in nerve biting tension, not helped by the fact that Helen, great friend, went and told my sisters what we had spoken about. "You're going to be a pop star Fiachra?" Asked my all innocent sister, Marie. "I don't think so Marie, it's just a small job that I'll be doing." I played it down. "That's right." Helen said, backing me up, or so I thought. "You know that your brother doesn't have the talent to make it." "Thanks Helen." "For what?" "For calming me down. I don't where I would be without you." I meant it. I never really appreciated how incredible a friend she was to me. -------------------------- The doorbell rang. Despite Helen's best efforts I was as nervous as hell and I jumped when the noise echoed through the house. I left my Mum to answer it, not thinking that I would have been able to turn the latch let alone greet someone. I could hear my mother in the hallway. "Come on through to the kitchen. I'm sure that Fiachra will be in in a moment." "If you don't mind, could we go somewhere more comfortable? It's been a long flight." Said Kevin. I acknowledged his voice but then did a double take. Kevin? They had sent Kevin? *How* had Nick managed that one? "Of course. Got through the door on the left into the Den. Make yourself comfortable. Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee?" "A cup of coffee would be great thanks." Kevin opened the door and Mum bustled off to the Kitchen. He was surprised to see me in here, but quickly grinned. "So this is where you've been hiding." I blushed, and looked at Helen whose jaw had dropped to the floor. She was trying to compose herself again. "What are you doing here? I mean, Nick said that *someone* was coming over, but he didn't say that that someone would be you!" I was pleased though. It would make things a lot easier, to be talking with someone that I already knew. "Oh! This is Helen, my best friend. I don't think that she was expecting to see you either." "Nice to meet you Helen." At that moment my parents entered the room, Mum with coffee and biscuits or everyone and my father with a legal pad and pencil. I don't think that I mentioned that me he was a solicitor. * Kevin, who hadn't sat down yet, waited until Mum had set down the tray and then formally introduced himself to her and Dad. Once that was done they all sat down. My parents on the other sofa and Kevin in the armchair. My father started talking first. "So, you want to take my son for the summer." It was a statement, not a question. I did my best, but Helen still choked over his words. "It's not going to be that simple. But yes, that is one part of it." "What else is he going to have to do?" Dad was determined to take the lead in the conversation. "Well, before he can come on tour there are a number of things that he is going to have to do. He's going to have to record studio versions of a number of his songs, if possible, make an albums worth." My mother interrupted him. "*His* songs?" "Didn't you know that he writes music? He's very good at it. There's one member of the group who wants to make another album of just Fiachra's work!" I hated that they were talking about me in the third person like I was not there. "Recording an album? You've got to remember that I've still got school, I can't take that much time off." "Actually, if you're a Solo Artist, it doesn't take that much time. What we'd want is for you to do a home version of 14 or 15 songs. Then we'd send them to a couple of producers, they would organize music and backing vocals, you'd have to come in to sing them. And if you manage it in a couple of tries then it should take no more then a weekend or two to record the whole thing. What takes the most time is going through music, seeing what suits your voice, and then picking the songs out. In fact, you could have the whole album ready in a month or so. Get it?" Now he was talking about me recording an album? Crazy. But what he was saying made sense, I guess. Dad took over the conversation again. "What else would you want him to do?" "He would need to do some promotion work, but if you want to keep him in full time education then it could be kept to a minimum." He paused. "Let me tell you something. When you were on the bus Fiachra, Brian recorded you singing. That tape has been played for some of the top people in the Jive Records. They want you Fiachra. They will go a *long* way to accommodate you. You could have nearly anything that you wanted." He paused again, this time to let what he was saying sink in. "So your saying that he could continue as normal until he was finished school?" Asked Mum, she was very eager to make this happen for me, but she wanted me to have an education as well. I agreed with her, there was nothing (except family and friends) that was more important to me then finishing school. "How long have you got left?" Kevin asked me. "Now 'til summer. And then back in September, with 2 weeks Christmas, a couple of midterms and Easter, until the middle of June next year." Kevin absorbed this information. "I don't think that there would be any problem with that. You'd have enough time free mid year to satisfy them." "What about Management?" Dad worked for a big law firm that had solicitors for most sections of the law. He had spent most of the afternoon calling a couple of friends that he had that dealt with entertainment. It seemed it was paying off. "We've also arranged that. He'd have an Irish manager who would be working for the same Management Company that we have. He'd be in charge of everything, but would have the resources of 'The Firm' behind him. Dad nodded. I was glad that someone understood what was being said. "There is one other thing. Jive records want Fiachra to get out a single quickly if he is going to come on tour with us." Then Kevin addressed me. "They want to use the song that Brian recorded, and you're going to be recording it with Britney Spears." --------------------- * In Ireland we don't have lawyers. We have solicitors and barristers. The solicitors do all the pre-court stuff, the do wills, oaths, all that kind of thing, and barristers are the ones who represent you in court. That's the end of that chapter then. What do you think of it? Do you have any suggestions that you think might be good? Then e-mail me! shiningstar@oceanfree.net . I love getting e-mail. It may well be what I live for (I'm not too sure about that though) whatever the reason, e-mail me. You may have noticed that the last two chapters were over 20 KB, I think that I'm getting better at this. Tim.