Beware of Boys Read Free Page B

our people—then you could’ve entered through the private entrance. How many pluses do you have?”
    Charly’s eyebrows crinkled. “Pluses? Like math pluses and minuses?”
    He laughed, then shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve been in the industry too long, so I tend to speak industry lingo. Pluses? Yes, like plus-ones on guest lists. Like Charly plus-one, or Charly plus-two. You’ve heard of that? How many people do you have with you?”
    Now it was Charly’s turn to laugh. If she and Lola had gotten into the Garden free, then she could claim to have a plus-one, but since they’d paid, there wasn’t a freebie attached and she couldn’t consider it anything other than paid for. “I bought our tickets, but there are two of us, if that’s what you want to know.”
    He waved his hand as if disgusted. “Paid?” He raised his brows and pressed his lips together as if in thought, then relaxed. “Okay. Bring them up. Charly and her plus-one,” he said to security. “Charly, you don’t mind do you? RiRi invited you backstage, but if you’d prefer to watch from the front row, that’s cool too. You can just meet after the concert. Seems she’s a fan of your show.”
    Lola screamed, then ran toward the side of the stage with her hands waving in the air like she had been chosen to compete on American Idol . “I’m the plus-one. I’m the plus-one!” she yelled. “And I’m meeting RiRi.”
    Charly thanked the security guy, then followed the entourage of the tree-trunk-looking men who flanked her backstage. A slight smile parted her lips. To herself, she may have been just another girl, but she knew she had to digest that many didn’t see her that way anymore. And that was all right with her, at least for tonight. Being invited backstage by the princess of R & B/hip-hop was a perk she could learn to live with it.
    â€œHurry, Charly!” Lola urged, waiting for Charly. More security was protecting the stairs that led to the stage, and they wouldn’t let Lola up.
    Charly strutted, getting there as quickly as she could. She was barely five feet behind Lola, but it felt like more than fifty feet separated them. Finally, she made it. “All right, all right already,” she said, then turned to the giants clad in STAFF shirts. “Thank you. Next time I’ll have my people contact your people,” she said to them, then locked arms with Lola and climbed the stairs. “And start acting your age, Lola. You’re seventeen and acting elementary. It’s embarrassing.”
    The view from stage left was more amazing than Charly would’ve ever imagined. She took in the lights, production, music, and background dancers, and gained more appreciation for the work behind the concert scene, which, to her, wasn’t too different from the hard labor that she and the crew of The Extreme Dream Team put into their show. After they’d put in all the work, the show was presented in a neat package, but the audience would never know what went into creating the gift. And Charly was sure that RiRi labored just as hard because everything seemed effortless, which was a sign of diligent practice.
    â€œYou see her?” Lola asked, sniffling and pointing to RiRi, the songstress from the islands. She was stunning, and she sounded as good in person as she did on her tracks. “She just pointed and waved at you,” Lola said, acting like the true fan she was, while reaching into her small purse and taking out an allergy pill, which she popped into her mouth and swallowed dry.
    Charly elbowed Lola, then waved back. She grinned so hard her cheeks hurt. “Yes. Yes, I see her. But wait . . . do you see her head? Her hair’s messed up.” Charly jumped up and down, frantically waving her hands in the air to get RiRi’s attention. When RiRi looked at her, Charly pointed to her own hair,