Placing my Louis Vitton bag knockoff (it was a freebie I got from some sponsor) on the plush reclining seat, I relaxed and stretched out my legs. First class was awesome! The seats are larger, more comfortable and you have more legroom. I looked around. There were privacy dividers, where I noticed where there was a workstation and TV. There was even a little button in my seat which if you pressed, Ace told me, it could be turned into a bed in seconds!
“This is so totally
amazing, Ace. Way better than how I used to travel!” I beamed.
“Huh? Oh yeah, it's great, but I'm used to it.” Ace barely looked
up. “I used to work for another celebrity, you see, but then she
got a new agent.” she shrugged her shoulders. “Fine with me. Your
way nicer anyway, and closer to my age, Kat.” I smiled and vaguely
flipped through a pile of magazines.
“So, is this like,
the most swanky and top-notch airline ever?” Ace shook her head.
“You may be surprised, but nowdays there are airlines who've done
it to the extreme, who've gone even further. Like, for example,”
Ace turned her laptop to face me and pointed to some pictures as she
spoke. “on newer aircraft such as the A380, they have unique
facilities such as the double suite on Singapore Airlines and the
onboard shower spa on Emirates. There are even, on some airlines,
flat screen TV's and self-serve beverage services.”
I was stunned. I
couldn't say anything. Probably only A-listers got such tremendous
luxuries. “Oh hey, by the way, we have our own lavatory reserved
for our exclusive use!” Ace winked. “Enjoy your flight.” And as
they say in French, it was absolument
fantastique!
When the plane finally
arrived in Hollywood, LA, my first destination, there wasn't as much
paparrazi there as there was back home in Australia. But,
once this tour is over, I thought,
that WILL happen next time- and
wherever I go. America's big, popular, wide-known. Has a way of
getting news across the globe.” I
was going to be staying at a deluxe suite, at Hollywood's most best
4.5 hotel, which was the 'W Hollywood Hotel'.
According to Ace, this
hotel offered basically everything, in complete luxury & sheer
beauty. Its located in the epicentre of Hollywood, has a
complimentary SWEAT centre open 24 hours, has a 6,000 square foot
Bliss Spa, has 12 floors & 305 suites, and a lap pool on this
rooftop oasis. “And
you know what else?” Ace grinned at me and folded her arms; it was
clear she was enjoying this.
“Drai's Hollywood at
this hotel, one of Hollywood's most raved about social venues, offers
a steakhouse menu AND a red-carpet service. Delphine Brasserie is an
interpretation of classic and modern French cuisine or you can enjoy
scrumptious snacks, quirky cocktails and DJ-spun tunes in the W
Living Room.” Wowzers!!
“Oh my goodness, what
more could there possibly be? Man, your a legend Ace, I know I'd
never fire you!” Ace cast her eyes downwards & gave a small
smile. I guess she liked working for
that A-lister. For her to be with a small celebrity now would be like
starting all over again. But after this tour, we'll see!
I thought as we passed through the reception desk & made our way
to my suite. As the glass elevator shot up, Ace yet again switched
into guidebook mode.
“As they say here,
you can 'step into the scene or kick back and relax, guests are
invited to take in a film on the big screen at the outdoor screening
area, Station Hollywood.' So I'm sure you'll definitely enjoy this
stay, especially an aussie like you!” Ace's laugh ended in a snort.
I almost choked on my Ice Tea when Ace swung open the suite door &
I saw what was behind there. “WHAT?!” My eyes drank in
everything, the whole suite, the stunning bathroom!
“I looked through all
the room types they had; the Wonderful room, Spectacular room,
Fabulous room, Marvellous suite, Cool Corner suite, Fantastic suite,
Wow suite and finally, the Extreme Wow suite, which is the best one
they had. And there's only one Extreme Wow suite in the hotel
anywyay. So, with you being some sort of celebrity, we of course
booked you the Extreme Wow suite, Kat.” Man, even their 'worst'
room (the Wonderful Room) was pretty good enough luxury standard! So
you could only imagine what I was getting, on a 7x bigger level.
Huge, wide glass
windows with silky curtains, displaying a magnificent view of
Hollywood. Big couch & lounge area with plush pillows, amazing
lamps hanging overhead, 2 flat-screen LCD TVs. A great eating &
kitchen area with a sparkling stone bench tops, stainless-steel
appliances, polished timber floors & creamy white chairs with
table, and expensive paintings on the walls. The bed was king-sized,
filled with leopard and zebra-print pillows & fluffy bed covers &
linen. And then the bathroom. Black stone granite, big
pearl-white jacuzzi & double glass shower, free bathrobes,
shampoos, soaps, products, magazines, everything!
Ok, enough describing,
I just wanted to go to sleep on that warm, comfortable King size
bed.....
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was back on business
the next morning. I had to get up early, despite what my tired body
told me. It would take some time to actually wake up, have a good
breakfast, and then get ready with my whole appearance. I had a brief
meeting with Ace and Derrick, before we traveled to my first
destination in my Blooming USA Tour 2013, Dodger Stadium (also known
as Chavez Ravine)
which is located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles. I'm not sure of
exactly how long it'll take. This time we're using the white limo,
not the black one. My show days were going to be here at the Dodger
Stadium for 3 days, then after that its to my next destination.
I took great delight in
having a satisfying, steaming hot breakfast of freshly made coffee,
French toast and croissants with drizzled honey. Then I had an even
better time having a shower in the special-feature double glass
shower, and using all the products they had on offer. It was exactly
8:02 when I finished the last touch of my makeup with a sweep of
blush on both cheeks, and I hurredly buckled up the straps on my
killer gold heels! They were new, I just got them before my flight. I
checked myself in the mirror with a look of uttermost approval- I was
drop-dead gorgeous. I grabbed my handbag and was outta there come to
five past eight.
Derrick, Ace and I
agreed to meet at a small corner cafe at the end of the street, so as
not to attract any attention. I just remembered to quickly slip on my
oversize sunglasses as I stepped out on the bustling pavement. Acting
natural, I briskly walked along, unfortunately attracting stares
despite my wimpy 'disguise' as a bus with my face plastered all over
it wizzed by. I felt something touch my back and I spun around; there
wasn't anyone directly behind me. Weird. The whole walk to that
stupid little cafe, it felt like someone was watching me; I felt that
somebody was following me.
But every time I tried to look around, they were
gone. I sure wish whoever was ghosting me would stop. But I had the
feeling that it wasn't someone playing a prank, or some persistent
fan or paparrazi in disguise, it was something more. Not good. Nor
did it get any better when I walked into that cafe! Did I get a
suprise!
I saw her. It was the
baulky nurse. Gloria....
What was she doing here? I watched her bustle around,
serving people their coffees. Gloria was a waitress here. But she was
annoyingly still wearing that same, stupid nametag 'Barbara'!
I slid into a seat.
“Good morning, Derrick & Ace. Sleep well?” They both smiled
at me. “Ah now, Kat, we're fine. What about you? We should be
asking how our young, budding singer is doing now!” I cringed, as
Derrick said it a bit to loudly, instantly attracting the attention
of Gloria.
I'm surprised when
Gloria comes over breezily to take our orders when Derrick & Ace
immediately stand up, embrace her and exclaim, “Well, my oh my,
fancy seeing you here! Not the place of a long time reunion, eh?”
'Barbara' just smiled, in what ways seemed forced. Her eyes widened
slightly when she saw me & shot daggers through me and cut me
with a knife. I'd been watching the whole thing closely; neither Ace
or Derrick had glanced once at her nametag, so obviously that meant
they knew her as a “Barbara”. And Gloria was obviously playing at
being her.
“Now, this here is
Kat McKenzie, and-” Derrick was cut short as Gloria interrupted,
“Yes, I've met- I mean heard've her before, so your introduction is
unnececary.” Her words had an icy edge to it. I think Derrick
noticed too because he shriveled up a bit, on the inside of course:
my agent has the pride at least. “I'm glad to to finally meet you,
as we haven't before Kat, have we?”
this was directed at me. She gave me a sharp look, daring me to deny
it and say otherwise. I dropped my eyes, looking downcast. “No, we
haven't. A pleasure to meet you too, Barbara.”
She stiffened as I emphasised 'Barbara'. Oh, how hard I tried to not
make my voice sound like steel!
What was she playing
at? First she was 'working' in the hospital as a nurse called Barbara
(which she wasn't) and now she was 'working' as a waitress in this
tiny cafe. Quite a big job change from nurse, don't you think? But
Derrick & Ace don't know this. In fact, they don't know anything
that has happened between me & Gloria, nor the whole hospital
incident. Obviously those security guards didn't succeed in the
“deeper look into the case” thing. She was still here, that
sneaky woman. I hated her: from the top of her slightly greying
brittle hair to the bottom of her Puma sneakers.
What middle-aged menace
of a woman wears Puma? Only “cheerfully cheesy Barbara”
obviously.
But looks are deceiving, I
thoguth as I remembered how firm her grip was & swift her
movements at the hospital. Yep,
I winced as I received her iron grip when I offered her my hand,
definitely deceiving.
But that wasn't the only 'deceiving'
thing about her. Derrick and Ace don't
know her real name, they think its Barbara. And they sure don't treat
her as a villain, but an... old friend? So Gloria has been using her
undercover name for a long time now, and probably playing the person
undercover she's meant to be. Some good actress. But then why WOULD
she need to go undercover?
Thoughts and suspicions
that came with the hospital incident that were associated with Gloria
immediately resurfaced, swirling in my head....
“Let
me take you over to the back. There's a great collection I'd like to
show you! Come,”
Gloria said a bit too forcefully for cheery Barbara & made a grab
for my arm. Derrick & Ace were getting sick of this little game,
and UNWANTED DISTRACTION. Hah! Oh no. I was NOT about to have a
moment alone with Gloria. Not how things are. Who knows what could
happen? I wanted to keep clear. “Um no thankyou Barbara, but
I've.... already seen it.” I lied, “I've already been here
before.” I smiled brightly. Applause for Kat for her quick thinking
& wit! Brownie point for me.
Gloria couldn't avoid
this one! Derrick and Ace looked at me in surprise. “You have?” I
momentarily faltered. “Oh yea, ta, been here a few times. Perfect
place for peace, family thing, and you know.” Ace nodded, bored.
Gloria glared; we both knew I was lying but she couldn't do anything
about it. I was the celebrity here, and she was meant to treat me
like one. “I do believe our orders are getting cold, by now?” I
added, with a polite voice & my most innocent expression. She
finally backed away.
Derrick blew out his
breath & sighed. “Well, well, wonders never cease! Now, before
we do have anymore unwanted distractions,
let’s get this meeting underway!”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After our meeting, we
piled into a waiting Mercedes- yay!-
with another lorry in tow. One of our crew were driving the lorry,
which had all our stuff in it, including all the instruments my band
needed & all the equipment (as well as a few snacks!) The rest of
the morning, up till around one, was spent driving to our
destination, Dodger Stadium. I was quite glad once we finally reached
it. Soon after, Ace checked us in a cute little motel & I'd
tossed my overnight bags on my bed. “You can have a little rest
now, if you want, Kat. I'm sure we ladies wouldn't mind a little nap,
would we? After that, we'll hit the Downtown LA shops!!” Grinning,
I crawled into bed and did just that.
Once I awoke from my
short nap, (and did I feel so much better after that!) Ace and I hit
the shops. I swapped my killer heels for something more walkable and
browsed in the stores. I looked in basically every shop, tried on
dozens and dozens of outfits and had fun window shopping in all the
extremely expensive stores. It was quite tiring, pushing through
torrents of people, loaded down with shopping bags.
So far I'd bought: a
shimmering silver dress that fit tightly over my figure, another pair
of killer leopard heels, diamonte faux fur boots, black suede leather
jacket, christian dior ankle boots and a cute polka-dot beret, a pair
of those faithful Uggs and about my fifth pair of Vans. I was working
on getting different colours & prints, you see. Opening my last
shopping bag, I scanned the items: ED Hardy Boots, maroon beanie and
a pair of hot ripped jeans, jewellry accessories from a popular store
on the corner (judging by the VERY long queue to the pay till)
multi-coloured feather earrings, Jimmy Choo sunglasses & a
studded gold belt from a stall in the mainstreet clothes department
and finally, a lacy jumper which was 60% off at
Valleygirl.....bargain! With all these new things, get ready to see a
kick-ass gorgeous mega-babe, with an ability to flip her long
honey-blonde hair like she had no care in the world.
But I did kind of spend
all the rest of my paycard, I admitted guiltily. Mum & Dad won't
be very happy about it; I was,
I guess, supposed to save up my money for that much-waited shopping
trip I would take- when the time eventually comes when I'll go to New
York. Tour or no tour. Concert or no concert. Doesn't matter. Unh! I
think I now do regret not enforcing any spend-control while I was
skittering on my crazy, all-out shopping spree.
Ace helped me stuff
everything back into my bags & gave a dramatic sigh, hiding a
bemused smile. Ace shook her head slighlty. Teenagers!
Always going to the maximum, always the spur of the moment! Hmm.
Perhaps she did not miss the celebrity she used to work for. Sure,
she had enjoyed the star's company and admired her. She got payed
well, was treated kindly, got invited to all the important dinners
and never
flew without first class, but
it wasn't such a close connection. Everything was always much
sophisticated and polite in a way, approprie'.
Kat, she instantly took to her.
Grunting with the
weight of just the one bag she was carrying, Ace pushed open the door
of the hotel lobby and fished out the card out of her pocket at the
same time.
“Oh thanks Ace! Here,
I can handle it from this point. You go on & go back for your
carrier bag with what you bought. Meet you at our suite!” With a
flash of a brilliant, but genuine, smile, Kat dashed to the lift
(nearly tripping an attendant on the way). Ace laughed and once more
pushed open the rotating glass doors of the hotel, and stepped out
into the sunshine. A cool, crisp breeze met her, ruffling her hair as
she strode down the cement pathway, nodding a greeting to the
occassional passerby. Her carrier bag, thankfully, was exactly
where'd she'd left it. Ace snatched the bag by the straps & slung
it over her shoulder. As she did, a piece of paper fluttered down to
the ground. Ace bent down and picked it up. Her heart lurched.
Kat bobbed her head
gratefully at Derrick as he gave her a cold glass of water; she
gulped it down & got another one. That went well! She was up to
her fourth performance night in America, and she was loving it! So
was the crowd! And she was getting more famous too. She quickly
flushed up her hair & applied some lipgloss, and hurried out to
talk to one of the hosts on a live TV show. Before she went out to
sing more!
Shortly after the TV
episode, she threw in a couple of words & smiles for another TV
News Channel, and hurried to the backstage area. “Kat! Kat! This is
your final performance, and may I say, you're doing GREAT! By the
way, all the Album CD's have been sold out, and your next performance
night is close to being sold out too! Oh and, there's about a whole
stadium of fans waiting for your appearance, in hope of an autograph
& picture! Good luck, my number one popstar!”
The neon lights spun
widly, and a huge cheer went up from the crowd as she strutted out &
whooped. She held up her hands, curving them into a heart shape, and
all the fans returned the heart, caling out her ame. “Kat! Kat
Kat!” She sauntered up to her microphone, curvng her hand around
it, aware of the TV cameras swinging around in front of her face &
above her head. Her last 2 songs. And she opened her mouth &
started singing the opening line.
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