Center Stage - Chapter 9

I shook off the run-in with the paparazzi and made my way to the venue. In the end, if Warren thought it wasn’t a big deal, I wasn’t going to fret about it too much. I still had a job to do.

My game face lasted all of three steps into the venue as Larry, Dillon, and Marissa were practically waiting for me when I made it through into backstage, making a beeline for me.

“They fired Dakota,” Marissa blurted out.

“What?”

Could something with the paparazzi have backfired that fast?

“That’s not all,” Larry said. “They rearranged the whole lineup. It’s Vince, Dexter, then you, with no duets.”

“Wait, Vince? The same guy who was high as a kite and probably gave Dakota the drugs in the first place?”

“It’s bullshit, is what it is. How can someone who didn’t even make the finals get a solo spot? No offense,” Dillon said, directing the last statement to Larry.

“They didn’t give me a solo spot.”

“I swear,” Marissa said. “If I hadn’t signed that damn contract, I’d walk off this show right now.”

“This is ‘cause he signed with GLR, right? I mean, who else could get them to rearrange the schedule?”

“It has to be,” Marissa said. “They signed Vince, and now they’re pushing him up the ranks, giving him a spot he didn’t earn.”

“This is so messed up. Dakota made one mistake, and they’re just throwing her out. Meanwhile, Vince gets rewarded for being a total screw-up.”

“No kidding. But what can we do?” Marissa said.

“Nothing. I mean, we can complain to our management and the tour managers, but I’m not sure what good that will do. GLR is footing the bill, so they get to call the shots. I know the thing pissing y’all off is Vince getting to jump to the front of the line, and it should piss you off, I’m worried about Dakota. She was a big cheerleader for all of us on the show, and she’s being screwed here. I’m going to go talk to Dexter. He’s known her longer than any of us and see what he said.”

I think it just occurred to them that they had only been looking at this from how it affected them, and not from the standpoint of what it meant for Dakota. I didn’t know the business as well as some, but I had a strong suspicion being fired off your tour was bad, especially if you were having problems selling out shows beforehand.

“Yeah, good idea,” Marissa said. “Let us know what we can do.”

“I will. Let’s not freak out. All we can do is keep doing our jobs. This doesn’t change anything you had planned for how you wanted this tour to work out for you, so stick to your plan.”

I went hunting for Dexter and found him in his dressing room, which I noticed was a lot nicer than mine, although considering how long he’d been in the industry, that made sense.

“You got a minute?” I asked, knocking on the frame of the open door.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“It’s about Dakota,” I said, stepping in and closing the door behind me. “You’ve known her longer than any of us. I was hoping you might have her number so I could check on her.”

Dexter hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Yeah, I do. Hang on.” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts. “It’s terrible what they did to her. She didn’t deserve that.”

“No, she didn’t,” I agreed as he read off the number and I typed it into my own phone. “Thanks. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Good luck with that. She’s pissed, and I don’t blame her one bit.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” I pocketed my phone. “So, what’s the plan for tonight? You really gonna do a duet with Vince?”

Dexter scoffed. “Hell no. I told them I’m not doing anything with that plonker.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“I mean, he’s kept steered clear of me, but he’s been saying shit about Dakota, and it’s not like we didn’t notice how he was on the show, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“But what are we gonna do?” he said with a shrug. “Look, if you want to do the same thing we did last week, hit a duet and then hand off, I’m good with it.”

“Yeah, that works for me. I’ll let the stage manager know after I call Dakota.”

“Sure. And thanks, Charlie. Dakota, she’s been through it, but she don’t deserve none of this. It’s good to have someone looking out. I don’t know if you know it, but that doesn’t happen a lot in this business.”

“Maybe it should,” I said and excused myself.

I found a quiet part of a side hallway and made the call. Dakota picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

She sounded like hell.

“Dakota, hey. It’s Charlie.”

“Charlie? How did you get this number?”

“From Dexter. I hope that’s okay. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

There was a pause before she spoke again, and when she did, she sounded mad.

“How do you think I’m doing? They fired me, Charlie. Kicked me to the curb like yesterday’s trash.”

“I know. It’s not right, what they did to you. It’s not fair.”

“Damn right it’s not fair. But what can I do about it? They hold all the cards.”

“Is there anything I can do? Say something in an interview, talk about it, protest somehow?”

“No, don’t do that. That’s not how things are done, and it’ll only hurt you in the end. I did see your interview, and I appreciate you sticking up for me.”

I paused for a second. There was something I wanted to say, but I almost chickened out.

“Charlie? Still there?” She asked when I didn’t say anything.

“Yeah. So, my dad, he had substance problems. I know how hard it can be.”

“I don’t have a problem,” she snapped.

“I’m not saying you do. But if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here. When you hit bottom, call me.”

“I said I’m fine, Charlie.”

“Okay. Message received. I won’t bring it up again. But if you need anything from me about this bullshit with the show, let me know. You should be the one performing tonight, not Vince.”

I thought she might not say anything for a second, ‘cause I’d clearly pissed her off, but then she said, “Thanks, Charlie. I know you’re trying to help and I appreciate the call. Really.”

“Anytime. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Yeah. You too.”

The line went dead, and I stared at the phone for a long moment before pocketing it. I didn’t know if I’d helped or just made things worse, but I had to try. There were times I wondered, if someone had gotten help for dad, would things have turned out like they did. While there was no way to know the answer to that, I could at least try to help someone else in a similar situation.

Lost in thought, I nearly collided with Vince as I turned a corner.

“Whoa, watch it, jackass,” he said.

“Jackass?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“Whatever,” I said, walking around him.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Nelson, just because you’re getting replaced,” he called after me.

I should have just kept on walking and ignored him, but I couldn’t.

“Replace me? One of us is closing out the show tonight, and I don’t think I saw your name last on the sheet,” I said, turning on him.

“Give it time. First Dakota, then Dexter, then you.”

“Keep dreaming. You couldn’t even make it to the finals, and you’re out here thinking you’re hot shit.”

“Jealous? You had your chance, Charlie. But you blew it when you didn’t sign with them. Now they’re looking to the future, and that future is me.”

It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that maybe it wasn’t just whatever drug he gave her. Maybe he’d done something to it, on purpose. Of course, anything serious and the hospital would have picked it up, but still.

“So was that it? Was that why you gave her the drugs? Did you put something in them?”

“‘Gave her the drugs,’“ he repeated in a mocking tone. “You’re so fucking lame, Nelson. I didn’t do anything to her. If she can’t handle the pressure, maybe she shouldn’t have been here. Dakota’s old news. GLR knows it, and if you were smart, you’d realize it too. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a solo to prepare for.”

He brushed past me, leaving me seething in the hallway. Solo. What a joke. I watched his back retreat, and I felt bile rising up. I’d told everyone else to ignore it, Dexter had told me to ignore it, Dakota had said to do nothing, but looking at his smug face, I couldn’t let him get away with it. Warren would be pissed if he knew what I was about to do, but there was no way I was going to let that douche win.

Pulling out my phone, I called Emerson.

“Charlie, my man, this is a surprise! What’s up?” Emerson answered.

“Hey, Emerson. Listen, I’ve got some news for you.”

“Hold on a sec, Charlie.” Emerson’s tone turned serious. “I’ve heard that tone of voice before, and I know what you’re about to do. I’m betting something happened, and you need to be careful. We may be an entertainment show, but if you give me something good, I have to pursue it. It’s my job.”

I didn’t need a voice of reason. I needed an avenging angel.

“Nothing bad happened to me. But the show did something crappy to Dakota. I’m giving this to you on, whatever they call it, off the record.”

“Background.”

“Yeah, background. I know everyone would probably tell me to trust no one in this business, but you’re a good guy, Emerson. If you tell me you’ll keep my name out of it, I’ll trust you.”

“I will. What’s going on?”

“Dakota was fired today. Have whoever you guys have looking into things, look into why Dakota’s not performing this weekend and got replaced. They moved up a guy who didn’t even make the finals, but he did get a contract with GLR, into her spot. More importantly, people saw him with Dakota just before everything happened on Friday night last week.”

“Are you confirming Dakota was on drugs?”

“I’m not confirming anything, one way or another. All I can say is, the person with her, who definitely was on drugs, directly benefited from Dakota leaving the show.”

There was a pause on the line. “Those are some serious accusations, Charlie.”

“I know, and I can’t give you anything to back it up.”

“Alright. I’m not sure what I can do with something so vague, but we’ll do some digging. If I can’t get it, I have some friends I owe favors to at more serious outlets that would eat this up, and clear what I owe them. I’ll keep your name out of it.”

“Thanks, Emerson. I just don’t want to see Dakota get screwed over like this.”

“I get it. You’re a good kid, Charlie. But you be careful, alright? Don’t go making waves unless you’re sure you can swim.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

“No problem. I’ll see you on Sunday for the charity event.”

“See you then.”

I felt a knot in my stomach the moment I hung up. That might have been a mistake.

***

The next afternoon, I arrived at the stage, ready for the sound checks. I was actually early since mine was one of the last to be done, but Chef had always made a big point of being early to anything you were serious about doing right, since fifty percent of everything was mindset, and being there, in the environment, would put you in the right mindset.

While I wasn’t sure about the whole “you make your reality” thing, Chef had never steered me wrong, and now it had become just a habit. Someone was performing, so I made my way up to the stage, mostly just to see what was going on, and found a surprise waiting.

Vince was on stage with the season one winner of the show, Julie Jackson. I’d heard some of her music before and watched clips of her audition and final performance in preparation for the finals, but I’d never actually watched her perform before.

She also hadn’t been anywhere on the schedule.

“What’s going on?” I asked a line producer standing just off the wings, holding a clipboard and watching them.

“Sound check,” she said.

“I meant, why is Julie Jackson here?”

“Ohh, they brought her on early this morning. She’s taking Dakota’s place, fitting between Dexter and Vince. They also decided to have her and Vince do a duet, so they’re just working that out for the show tonight. We’re still on schedule though, and you’re up in about forty-five.”

The producer went back to watching the two of them, focusing on whatever her job was for that moment. We weren’t far into this yet, but they’d gotten used to my hanging around during sound check, watching people prepare, and stopped asking me if I needed anything. They now just waited for me to say something.

Julie being here was interesting, more so that they didn’t just put her in Dakota’s old spot, but kept Dexter send to last and put her after Vince. It wasn’t particularly hard to connect the dots. Julie had signed with GLR after her win, just like everyone else who won the show but me, and was still with them.

Vince had also signed with GLR and then bombed last night pretty hard. They were doing a lot to use this tour to launch Vince, from beginning him on the show to giving him his own section, so why not bring up a previous winner to back him up?

It was a lot of effort, though. Part of me wondered if there was some kind of connection between the tour and launching their newest artist. They would have set all this up and started paying for parts of the tour before the show was done, so there was no way they could have known I was going to turn down the contract. Is it possible the show itself was enough of a money loser that they couldn’t justify doing it without getting an artist set up to start generating money out of it? Considering how much the contract I saw screwed over performers, they did stand to make a lot of money if that person took off.

Although this seemed a bit much. There was something they covered in my economics class last semester, something about investing. Sunk fidelity cost, or something like that. They’d decided to make Vince their star and were throwing good money after bad to make it happen.

Truthfully, Vince hadn’t been completely awful the night before. He’d sung well enough, but the audience just wasn’t buying into him. They didn’t know him, and he made zero effort to connect, which just made them more bored. The only time they perked up was when Dexter snubbed Vince’s high five, strolling right past him to take his mark. Vince did not hide his annoyance and a camera was right on him. The crowd ate it up.

I wasn’t sure this was going to change much. It wasn’t so much that their styles mismatched, though. It was like their personalities mismatched. Neither seemed willing to compromise, to find a middle ground that’s really needed for a duet to work. It’s what sent Vince home during the show. He’d tried to make the duet all about him, and it hadn’t worked.

This was worse, because from where I was sitting, Julie was doing the same thing, amplifying the problem.

Julie’s runs overpowered the gritty-voiced rock thing Vince was trying, and he kept trying to one-up her with ad-libs that fell flat. It was like watching two divas trying to outshine each other on stage. The producer finally called a halt to it, putting everyone out of their misery.

“What are you looking at?” Vince practically spat at me as he walked past.

He knew the performance was bad, and it was winding him up. Thankfully, he didn’t try to make more out of it and stormed off somewhere backstage.

Julie, however, stopped when she got to me. “Charlie, right? I don’t think we’ve officially met.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking her hand and shaking it. “Good to meet you.”

“Of course it is,” she laughed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I mean, it’s not every day you get to meet Julie Jackson.”

I gave a weak smile. She was joking, but also, not really joking. I instantly got a bad vibe from her.

“I suppose not.”

“I watched you on the show. Really good stuff. I think they’re saying the second-best contestant in the history of the show. After me, of course.”

They were most definitely not saying that. She again gave a fake, high beam smile to indicate she was joking. And again, I got a strong impression she wasn’t really joking either.

“Thanks,” I said politely.

“Listen, I know this industry can be tough, especially when you’re just starting out. If you ever need any advice, I’d be happy to talk.”

“Thanks,” I said again.

It wasn’t that she didn’t have experience that could be valuable. Before being one of the few people to be in the same place I was, she’d been the only winner, so far, to really do something after her win. She hadn’t had any number one albums or massive tours, but from what I’d found in my research, she was selling okay on her tours and at least bumped into the charts with a new release. She’d never be a household name, but she had made a career out of it.

I also was nearly positive I couldn’t trust any advice she might give me.

“Hey, people helped me out when I was coming up, so I gotta pass it along, right?” She said, completely missing my tone and body language. “So, anyway, I don’t know if you heard, but they scheduled our stop in New York next week to coincide with New York Music Week. It’s a huge event and at the end of it, there’s this big party. Lots of important people will be there - Broadway performers, record execs, the whole shebang. If you really want to start making moves, that’s the place to do it. You’re coming, right?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. I’m not really a party person.”

“Don’t be like that. Besides, I’ve heard you’re looking for a label, and all the big labels will be there. Anyone who’s not there will be noticed. Skipping it will cause you trouble, or at least make it harder to get a label.”

I didn’t know if she was right, but from what I’d seen of the industry, it seemed possible.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Good. Besides, we’ll have fun,” she said, giving me a big smile before heading backstage.

I needed to call Warren and see what he thought, and see if he had thoughts about what was happening with Vince. It didn’t take a genius to see that GLR would love to replace me as the face of the tour and put someone on their label in my place. Of course, their choice of Vince was going to make that less likely, but they had a lot of control over this tour, and contracts only went so far.

No, I needed to talk to Warren.