"Pop
Life"
Chapter 86
"Hey mama," I say as I lean back against my bed on the bus.
"Hi sweetie."
"How did your doctor's appointment go?"
She laughs. "It went well. The doctor is pleased with how everything is going."
"What's so funny? Oh, you're supposed to find out if it's a girl or a boy, weren't you?"
"Well if he or she would have cooperated we would have found out. But no...she was too shy."
"Awww," I chuckle. "Wait a minute, she?"
"Yes, your father thinks it's a girl since she was shy around her daddy."
"Oh God," I laugh as I roll my eyes. "Well, I'm glad things are going well."
"Me too. So, how did last night's show go?"
I lean back on my pillow a little bit and study my nails. "It went well. Last night was sold out. I love those crowds, they're the craziest."
"Yeah, I loved them too. Oh, did you ask Tony about your Thanksgiving break? Grandma Spears wants us to be in Kentwood."
"Yep, I remembered. I have a show on Tuesday night and then the next show is Saturday."
"Good. Has he made arrangements yet?"
"Yeah, I think to Orlando though. I'll just have him change them."
"Okay. So do you have to do any after parties this time?"
"There are a couple scheduled."
Suddenly my eyes land on the teddy bear that a fan gave me.
"Oh, mama, a fan gave me the cutest teddy bear. He's got an "Ana" T-shirt on," I laugh.
"Oh how cute. You'll have to show me next time I see you."
"Yeah. This fan has been giving me a lot of cards and gifts and stuff lately."
"Really?" she asks, but her tone is different.
"Yeah. What, is something wrong?"
"No...do you know his or her name?"
"Uh, he or she only signs the card with the letter M. The last few cards they say how much they want to meet me at a meet and greet."
"Sounds nice."
"Yeah. Maybe I'll arrange for Tony to have me meet this fan. I think they've seen at least three of my shows."
"Three? What makes you think that?"
"Just things they've said in the cards. Made me believe that they were at certain shows."
"Honey, who gives you these cards and gifts and stuff? Do Tony or Andre?"
"I don't know, they're just usually in my dressing room or bus. I assume Andre does. He always checks everything right?"
"Right."
"How's Aunt Kristen doing?"
"She's good. She's getting bigger."
"I bet. What about you? Have you gotten bigger since the last time I saw you?"
"I'm huge."
I laugh. "Mama I'm sure you're not huge."
"She's beautiful," I hear daddy's voice in the background.
I laugh a little harder.
"Awww, daddy's sweet," I say.
"Yeah yeah," mama says. "Baby I have to go pick up your sister. We'll talk later."
"Okay. I love you, bye."
"I love you too."
When Britney hangs up she looks at her husband.
"What?" he asks, seeing the concern in her face.
"Do me a favor. Call Andre, make sure he's not around Adriana when you talk to him. She's been getting a lot of cards and gifts from one fan who won't sign their name. They just sign M."
"Don't you think Andre already knows about it?" Justin asks.
She shakes her head. "No, maybe not. I think it's better to just check it out."
"Okay," he says leaning in to give her a quick kiss. "Be careful. I love you."
"I love you too and I will."
She grabs her purse and heads out the door.
Justin picks up the phone and dials Andre's number.
"How is your tutoring going?" Tony asks me in the dressing room later that night.
"It's going well, I think. You'll have to ask Jenine to be for sure."
He sits down across from me and gives me a concerned look.
"Ana, why didn't you tell either Andre or I about the multiple fan letters you've been getting from M?"
I shrug. "I thought you knew. I mean I thought one of the two of you put them in the dressing room and stuff. Why?"
He shakes his head. "Probably nothing. We just need to be more aware of it, that's all."
"So you're saying you didn't know anything about them?"
He clasps his hands together and looks at them. "I remember the one gift you got at the beginning of the tour. I remember you talking about it. Other than that I haven't brought anything but fan letters from the shows to you. Maybe a crew member gets them from someone and just brings them back to your dressing room."
"What about my bus?" I ask.
"What about your bus?"
"Who brings them to my bus?"
I see something in his face but it quickly disappears.
"Hold on," he says. He picks his phone off of his belt clip and pages Andre to come to the dressing room.
"Tony, now you're scaring me."
Once Andre replies back that he's on his way Tony leans forward a little. "Don't be scared. This is why Andre is here. He'll take care of everything okay? Most likely it's just a very friendly fan."
The smile on his face reassures me a little. "Okay."
There's a knock on the door before Andre steps in.
"What's up?" he asks.
"Have a seat. Ana, tell Andre what you just told me."
I tell them both everything that I know. It's hard to read Andre's expressions...they remain the same no matter what I tell him.
"Gather up anything he's given you, that you still have. From now on, you don't get any gifts or cards without them coming through me first."
He must notice the look on my face because he softens the look on his face a little and says, "It's just precautionary. We just want to make sure you don't have to worry about anything but having a great show."
"Okay," I smile.
My cell phone rings so I stand up and walk over to the makeup table where it's laying.
"Hello?"
"Oh good, I got you before you went on."
"Hey," I smile when I hear Brad's voice.
"Hey. Guess what?"
"What?" I ask sitting down in the chair that's facing the mirror behind the makeup table.
"The radio station played our first single."
"What? How?"
"I don't know...somehow it leaked out."
"Oh man...I haven't even heard it yet," I say, pouting slightly.
"I know...that's what I wanted to tell you. I'm sending you a copy of the song."
"Really?"
"Yes," he laughs.
"Good. I can't wait to hear it. The first official single from Acoustic Harmonies."
"Yeah," he says almost shyly. "Good thing we finally came up with a name, huh?"
I laugh. "Yeah good thing. Nothing like waiting until the last minute either."
We talk a little more about my family and about his mom.
"You're going to be in St. Louis in a couple of weeks right?" he asks.
"Yeah, I think so. I'd have to get the schedule out to be for sure when. Why?"
"Well, my mom would like to know if she can get tickets to the show."
"Oh cool. Of course I'll get her tickets. Let me know how many."
"I know there will be at least two. One for me and one for her."
"You?" I ask excitedly.
"Yes," he laughs. "Of course. I'm not letting you around my mom without me being there too. She's not going to tell you stories about me without me being able to defend them."
I throw my head back and laugh. "Whatever."
I stop laughing when Tony points at his watch. I nod at him.
"I've got to go."
"Okay."
"I miss you," I say softly.
"I miss you too. I'm going to see what my schedule's like next week okay?"
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
After the show, Andre ushers me back to the bus. He, Tony and I climb onto the bus and Andre tells the bus driver to pull out. He says something into his radio and I grab a towel from a chair and wipe off my face.
"That was fun," I say.
Tony laughs at me. "I'm glad you're still having fun."
"Of course. The crowd gives me energy every night. I'm going to go change. I'll be back out and we'll go over what I'm going to do tomorrow, okay?"
Tony nods and I start to walk to the back of the bus but I stop when I notice a key chain from Denver with a note.
"Do you guys know what this is?" I ask.
Andre walks over to me and shakes his head.
"Mind if I?" he asks, holding the note.
"No," I shake my head. "Go ahead."
I don't even need for him to read it. It's from M, I can tell. The key chain only means he was here tonight...assuming it's a he.
Andre reads the card and then looks at me.
"It's from M, isn't it?"
He nods.
"But I thought you were checking everything now."
Suddenly there's a noise that came from the back of the bus. I scream and jump closer to Andre, who puts an arm around me. Tony stands up and stands behind me, touching my back.
"Stay here," Andre says.
I turn around and go into Tony's arms.
"I don't want it to be like this," I say.
"I know."
Andre comes back out of my room and says, "One of your pictures fell."
"Okay but back to this..." I say, pointing to the key chain.
"I'll find out," Andre says putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'll talk with everyone else tomorrow. Tomorrow things will be different, okay?"
I nod.
"Go change and I'll sit down with you and Tony to explain everything."
I quickly change and wash up and join Tony and Andre, who are in a deep conversation at the kitchen table. I grab a bottled water and sit down next to Tony.
"Okay...starting tomorrow, we're going to have more security here. I was going to step up security anyway since this is your solo tour so we'll just quicken the pace," Andre starts.
I nod.
"Someone will be guarding your bus at all times. I will remain with you like I am and there will be someone else who will go ahead of us to check things out."
"Like my dressing room?"
"Yeah, and hotels and other places. The crew will be alerted of the new security measures."
I sigh. Too many thoughts and feelings run through my mind. "Did my mama or daddy ever have to go through anything like this?"
"Every day, I'm sure."
For some reason, that makes me feel better because I know they survived it...that it didn't make them scared enough to quit.
We go over a few more things and I yawn again.
"I'm gonna go lay down. Thanks guys," I say as I stand up. "I really don't know what I'd do without either of you here."
Tony smiles at me and nods. "Good night."
As soon as I crawl onto my bed, I pick up my phone and dial my parents. I know it's late but I need to hear their voices.
"Hello?" a groggy voice answers.
"Daddy...I know it's late but I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Is everything okay?" he asks.
"Yeah. Well...security is getting tighter around here and just having Andre tell me everything kind of made me scared a little."
"You have a good team there. There's no need to worry."
"I know. I am realizing that more and more. Is mama asleep?"
"Yeah...do you want me to wake her?"
"No, that's okay. I'm assuming you know about the notes and gifts from that M person. I'm sure mama's told you."
"Yes, she told me," he whispers.
"Well, I got another note and a key chain from him tonight. He was here in Denver."
"Andre knows about this right?"
"Yeah, Andre opened up the card for me."
"Good. Sweetie, your mama and I had to deal with fans like that too. Most likely it's just someone who really likes you and has a lot of time on their hands."
I laugh. "Okay. I'll let you go back to bed. I love you."
"You feel a little better now?"
"Yes."
"Good. I love you too."
I hang up the phone and sink down under my covers.