The Shattered Image Series (I Was a Teen Idol) Read Free Page A

heart.
     
    “Smile and remember, you’ll be fine. They already love us,” said Mia. I nodded and the lift rose, taking us before the lights and the thousands of screaming fans. It hit me then, we had fans and we hadn’t even sung for them yet. People held up signs and the promotional pictures we took as Jazzy and Melody the month before. I could hear ‘Jazzy’ being called out to me from different places in the crowd. My smile grew wider, no longer faked and strained with nervousness. These people loved me, us. My nerves floated away on the wave of their cheers and all I wanted to do was perform to the best of my ability for them.
     
    We performed four songs back to back that day. At the end of the last song, the crowd was cheering to the point that I could hardly hear Mia speak to them and thank them for being there to celebrate our birthday. I could see young girls crying and reaching out to us, wishing that one of us would come down and simply touch their hands. A year before, I would have never even guessed that I would be on a stage for my birthday let alone performing for a crowd of people.
     
    We both acted surprised and thankful when a huge cake done in pinks and blues with music notes and sparkles was wheeled out on stage for us. Each half had thirteen candles for us both to blow out. As a present from the Record Label to us, the pop singer Brass Biggs came out to sing to us. He had been the current heartthrob of girls ten and up. I wasn’t much of a fan, but I acted like one for the crowd. Mia didn’t have to act, she loved him. Several posters of his had lined the walls of our small studio apartment that we had in the beginning. He serenaded us with one of his acoustic love songs. Mia cried, as did hundreds of girls in the audience. When the love song was over, it was my turn to say something to the audience.
     
    Half the crowd cheered as my mic was turned on. I was nervous, but I reminded myself not to let it show. “Thank you all so much for coming out here today! Our birthday has been extra special this year because we got to share it all with you and nothing could be a better birthday present. We hope that you liked our performance today and that you will stay with us as we reach for our dreams.” Someone else had written that speech, but I seemed to deliver it well. The crowd roared as we exited the stage.
     
    Mia took my hand when we got into the limo waiting for us. “See, I told you it would all be fine. They loved us and will continue to love us. We’re America’s sweetheart angels, after all.”

3.       Money
     
    I don’t think either of us were truly ready for the life that came with being an A list pop star. Before we even debuted there had been a lot of attention on us for being the girls that were adopted by the president of the record label. But even with all that attention, it was nothing compared to the attention we got once we became Jazzy and Melody; the pink and blue haired idols of girls and boys five to sixteen. 
     
    We couldn’t hardly go out even when we were dressed like ourselves, people still managed to recognize us and wanted either autographs or pictures from us. It all took some getting used to. One thing that didn’t take us long to get used to was all the money. We had become popular so fast that our merchandise was flying off the shelves. Our first album was sold-out within twenty-four hours. The record label was so proud and overjoyed at the revenue we were making them that they started to give us an allowance. It wasn’t your normal five dollars a week allowance either. They would give two thousand each, anytime we wanted to go and buy things.
     
    We got bonuses whenever we made a cameo appearance on a TV show or did some charity event. We had even made a few TV movies that did well among the fan base.
     
    I’ll admit, the money and fame went to both our heads pretty quickly. We became arrogant. There was no family or true friends around to ground