Girl Online: On Tour (13 page)

A couple of the journalists recognize me, and, because he knows it makes me nervous, Noah is careful not to reveal too much about our relationship.

The closest one of the interviewers gets to an interesting answer is when she asks a question about Leah Brown. “So, Noah,” a pretty brunette with a hugely popular German music blog asks, “what’s it like being in such close quarters with Leah Brown after last year’s . . . controversy?”

Noah smiles sweetly. “Leah and I are good friends, and I respect her musical talent. After all, I think she got her own back with ‘Bad Boy.’ ” He winks, applying his natural charm to the situation.

“And Penny doesn’t mind?” the blogger continues, undeterred.

Dean moves to interrupt, but Noah shrugs and answers, with a slight shake of his head to let Dean know to stand down. “Of course not. Penny has nothing to worry about.”

His words fill me with a warmth that spreads from my tiptoes to my forehead. I only hope that the blogger will print the statement as is, rather than twisting his words. Either way, the important thing is that he said them, and I heard. If only Blake were here—that would keep him quiet.

Dean claps his hands together. “OK, thanks, Ruby—that’s it for this interview. It’s showtime!” The room is already a hive of activity, but it seems to pick up tempo at Dean’s announcement.

My stomach clenches in a twist of nerves, but Noah is straight by my side and grabs my hand. He promised this time was going to be different, and already it feels like it is. “Do you have your new phone?” he asks.

“Yeah, hang on.” I dig it out of my pocket. He takes it from me and quickly dials a number. After a few rings, the screen lights up with the faces of two of my favourite people in the entire world: Sadie Lee and Bella.

“PRINCESS PENNY!” Bella bounces up and down on the screen, sitting so close her eyes bulge in the camera.

My jaw almost drops when I see her—I can’t believe how much she’s grown already. She looks more like a young lady than the bouncing four-year-old I saw at Christmas. “Bella! When did you get so big?” I say, unable to keep the astonishment from my voice. “Hi, Sadie Lee!” I can hear Sadie Lee’s warm laugh in the background as she gently pulls Bella away from the screen.

“Now, honey, Noah and Penny can see us much better when we’re sitting down nicely,” she says in her slow Southern drawl. Then she turns her twinkling brown eyes—the Flynn family trait—on me. “How is Berlin, my two shining stars?”

“I’m just about to hit the stage, G-ma!” says Noah.

“That’s great, Noah!” But then Sadie Lee’s eyes fill with concern. “Penny, I heard about what happened in Brighton. Are you being looked after now?”

My cheeks turn pink and I nod vigorously. Noah pulls me tight towards him with his free hand, the other one still holding the phone at arm’s length. “Penny’s going to sit just on the side of the stage and stream my set for you, so I’ll know all my favourite girls are watching.”

Sadie Lee laughs. “Why, Noah, I don’t think I’ve been called a girl for at least thirty years!”

He winks. “You know what I mean.” He looks up as Dean calls his name. He passes the phone to me, blows Sadie Lee and Bella a kiss, and kisses me on the cheek for real, then runs out to join the rest of his band.

I’m left holding the phone and, for a moment, I’m flustered. But then I stare straight into the friendly gazes of Sadie Lee and Bella and I remember that I have a job to do.

“Did you bring Princess Autumn with you?” asks Bella.

“Princess Autumn had to stay at my house, Bells—I didn’t want to bring her on tour in case she got lost!”

Bella nods sagely. “Oh, good. I don’t think she would like being on tour. It’s too busy for the princess.”

“I know what you mean,” I say with a bigger sigh than I intend.

Bella smiles and disappears off to find one of her toys to show me. Sadie Lee’s eyebrows have risen so high that I feel the need to explain: “I just don’t want to be a burden on Noah and Dean and everyone else . . .”

Sadie Lee slowly shakes her head. “Now you listen to me, honey. I know something very important that you might not realize: Noah needs you there as much as you need him. I promise you that. I’m glad you’re there looking after him—not the other way around.”

“But Dean—”

“Oh, don’t worry about him, darling. Dean is there to work for you
both
, and if he isn’t doing his job he’s going to have me to answer to.”

“Thanks, Sadie Lee.” I hear the roar of the crowd and I
leap to my feet. I feel a surge of excitement and am so excited to have the chance to press the reset button on my experience of Noah’s set. “Here we go, ladies!” I say to the screen.

I jog to the side of the stage, where Noah is waiting, jumping from foot to foot, pumping himself up. When he sees me, his face lights up with a huge smile, and I make sure the camera on the phone is pointed straight at him so Sadie Lee and Bella have a great view.

“OK, I’ve had my friend Jake place these boxes here so you can sit and see from the wings.” He lifts me up onto the boxes just as the lights dim, ready for his onstage appearance.

“Good luck,” I whisper in his ear, and he waves to Sadie Lee and Bella on the phone. Then, the confident, rock-god-tastic boy I know takes a deep breath and walks out onto the stage.

Chapter Eighteen

I’m grateful that I have the distraction of making sure Sadie Lee and Bella see the whole show, because any nerves I might have had completely disappear. I realize that I know all the words to every song in Noah’s set by heart, but it’s incredible to hear the audience joining in on the big choruses.

“Hey, guys,” he says to the crowd, after forty-five minutes of energetic performance. “This is my last song.” He’s forced to pause for a moment while the crowd boos and complains, but he just chuckles into the microphone. “Some of you might not know this, but this is my favourite song on the whole album. This song makes me the luckiest guy in the world. Because the girl who inspired it is sitting just over there.”

He turns and looks at me. He’s sweaty, red-faced, and his hair is wet and dishevelled, but he’s still incredibly gorgeous—and everyone else melts away as he locks eyes with me. It’s only when I hear chants of “Autumn Girl! Autumn Girl!” that I realize the crowd out there knows me too. It’s so bizarre.

“Now, she’s a little bit shy, so she’s going to stay out of sight for now, but, Penny, baby, this one is for you.”

He strums the first few chords of “Autumn Girl” and I’m taken straight back to the time I first heard it, on my bed, listening to the recording that he made me. I want to tell Sadie Lee how amazing this is, when I realize that in all the emotion I’ve let the phone drift down; Sadie Lee and Bella are now facing the black box I’m sitting on. Not a good view at all! I whip the phone back up so it’s pointing at Noah and whisper an apology to them both.

Noah finishes the song to thunderous applause, then he jogs offstage and straight into my arms. We head back to the dressing room arm in arm, the noise from the crowd following us like a wave of love and support.

“You were incredible!” I say. “The best. I’m so proud of you.”

“That was excellent!” He can’t wipe the grin off his face, and I know my expression mirrors his.

If only TheRealTruth could see us now, they’d know their threats were pointless. Maybe there is something to this rock-star life after all.

“G-ma, Bella, what did you think?”

On the screen, Sadie Lee is wiping tears from her cheeks. “Noah, I have no words. You light up that stage.”

“Thanks, G-ma. You’re the best.”

“You kids go have fun now. It’s going to take me at least another hour to get this one to calm down after that.” Bella is running around on the screen, singing Noah’s songs at the top of her lungs.

“Goodnight!” Noah and I both say in sync, waving to the phone. I go to turn it off, and the battery flashes red.

“Oh no, I need a charger . . .”

I scan the room, desperate for a glimpse of my lost cable. But, instead, the rest of Noah’s band literally bounces into the room, and even Blake has a huge smile on his face. He smiles at me and I smile back. Maybe I did misjudge him.

“That was
awesome
,” Blake says to me as he passes. “Are you coming back to the hotel with us, Penny?”

“No, man. I have something planned for us,” says Noah, interrupting. He drops off his guitar with one of the technicians and sheds his leather jacket, then begins rooting through his duffel bag.

“Oh, cool.” With a couple of bounding leaps, Blake jumps on Ryan’s back, one fist pumping in the air. I laugh, watching them.

“Where are we going?” I raise one eyebrow at Noah.

He tosses a red beanie my way, then pulls a grey beanie down over his own hair. “I thought it would go well with your hair.”

“If you insist,” I say, putting on the hat.

“Now these.” He passes me a pair of glasses. They’re just frames, really—they don’t even have any glass in them. Noah puts on a pair too, but they go a bit crooked.

I reach up and straighten them on his face. I smile. If this is meant to be some sort of disguise, it’s not going to work. “You still look gorgeous—you can’t hide that!” I say to him.

“We don’t need a total disguise, just something to throw people off a little. Besides, where we’re going, no one will expect it to be me, so I need to play to that.” He pulls at my hand, and I follow him.

“But where
are
we going?”

“Why, we’re going to watch the world’s hottest boy band, of course.”

My face drains of colour, and I stop moving. He turns round as my hand slips out of his. “Penny? What’s wrong?”

I swallow and close my eyes. I can’t believe he’s asking me this. “Do you mean out there?” I say, really hoping that’s not what he means.

“Well, sure. You didn’t get to see their show last time—you left before you could. They’re amazing. Plus”—he takes a step forward and gathers my hand up in his—“I’ll be there with you this time. The whole time.”

He must be able to read the dubious look on my face, because all of a sudden he gets down on one knee and says, “I swear to you, Penny Porter, I won’t leave your side for a single moment!”

“Stop that!” I shriek, convinced that someone is going to take a photo of him and think that he’s proposing—now that
would
be another scandal. “OK, I’ll go with you,” I say, and I can feel a blush rising up my neck, prickling the skin on my cheeks.

He grins and stands up. “Good. And, if you don’t enjoy it at any time, just tell me.”

“Oh, what about my camera?” I ask.

“Take it—you might capture something cool from the audience.” He gives my hand a squeeze and pulls me out through a side door, down a few hallways, and out into the crowd.

Chapter Nineteen