Center Stage - Chapter 22

After leaving the signing, we couldn’t go straight back home. I’d originally had the USC press conference set for the fifteenth, but since we were in LA for this signing, I’d convinced them to move everything up so we could do it at one time, and save flying back and forth across the country two more times.

I hadn’t counted on LA traffic though, and the trip to USC took almost forty-five minutes, making us a good ten minutes late for the press conference. As soon as we got there, I hopped out of the car and ran into the room, breezing past the person waiting to take us. It wasn’t hard to figure out which one it was, with the news vans parked nearby and a couple of reporters standing outside, smoking and killing time.

Inside, everyone was talking, I guess bored and waiting. I’d called ahead to let them know we were running late, but I was still glad to see they waited. I’d hate to think I delayed the whole event because of traffic.

Everyone kind of quieted down by the time I made my way up to the small stage.

“I’m so sorry we’re late,” I said as I got to the podium where several of the USC people were standing. “My last thing ran long and the traffic was a nightmare. Definitely not the kind we’re used to in Appalachia, let me tell you.”

That got a few chuckles from the reporters.

We’d talked through what was going to happen on the phone, at least, so I wasn’t that confused as it started. The USC PR lady was already in front of the microphones and I stood next to her so she could give the opening remarks before turning it over to me.

“Thank you all for coming out today. I’m Lisa Thompson, head of USC’s publicity department. I’m thrilled to officially announce that Charlie Nelson will be attending the University of Southern California this fall. Charlie is not only an immensely talented musician touring nationally, but he’s also a dedicated student who has overcome many challenges, exactly the kind of well-rounded young adult we want on our campuses. We believe he will be a wonderful addition to our Trojan family.”

She went on for another four or five minutes, singing my praises and expressing in a dozen ways how happy they were for me to be coming to USC. I was only half listening. Maybe other singers like this kind of thing, but I found it kind of embarrassing and felt like I wanted to bury my head in the sand every time I had to sit through one.

“...with that, we’ll open the floor for questions,” Lisa finished, finally stepping back from the podium.

A few hands shot up as I stepped up to the podium and adjusted the microphone. I pointed to a middle-aged man in a suit.

“Charlie, there are rumors that you’re in town to sign with ARC Records. Can you confirm or deny these reports?”

“Actually, for once the rumors are true. I just came from signing the deal with them. I’m really excited to be working with ARC.”

So far the reporters had been quiet, not overly excited. I guess they showed up because there was a chance of news, but if it was just the announcement, I’d show up somewhere deep on a news website and that was about it. Confirming a signing, though, was actual news. It wasn’t until after I said something that it occurred to me I might have just jumped ARC’s own press announcement, and hoped I didn’t screw up anything there.

“Can you give us any details about the contract? What does this mean for your career?” Another reporter asked.

“ARC will be releasing more information about the specifics soon. Right now, I’m here to talk about my decision to attend USC.”

“Will they be producing a new record for you?” A younger reporter asked.

“Presumably, but again, you’ll have to speak to ARC, who will be releasing more information. Any questions about my attending USC?”

Several hands went down, I guess realizing I wasn’t going to answer about the deal. A few stayed up though.

“Yes,” I said, pointing to a lady.

“What do you plan to study?”

“I’m looking at a degree in music composition with a minor in marketing.”

“Why bother with college at all?” The first reporter asked without being called on. “You just signed a major record deal, your music from The Stage tour is still selling well, and your original album just broke into the top 100 streams on both major platforms. Isn’t this a step backwards?”

“There are a couple reasons, actually. Partly, it’s a promise I made to my mom before she passed. She always wanted me to get a degree. But more than that, I believe in always striving to be better. I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished so far in my career, but I know I can do more. USC has an incredible program, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to study here. At the same time, I’m not naïve. I know the music industry is unpredictable. Having a solid education to fall back on just seems smart.”

They weren’t done with the questions about my deal though and tried a few more questions about my touring plans and upcoming album.

“ARC will have more information on that in the coming weeks,” I kept saying to everyone.

A reporter in the back raised her hand. “Charlie, what happened with Alina Petrova? She’s now telling everyone you two never dated. Is it because you two had a falling out?”

“No, she’s telling people that because it’s the truth. We were never together, just friends.”

A much younger guy that I thought might be a student reporter from the USC newspaper raised his hand. “Do you plan to get involved with any music programs or clubs on campus?”

“Definitely. I love playing with new people and learning something every time, so being here is a great opportunity for me not only to meet other people who love music and do what I can to help these clubs grow and spread that love, but maybe even help me in my own career.”

“Any plans for acting or other entertainment ventures beyond music?” another reporter asked.

“Music is my primary focus, but if the right opportunity comes along and feels authentic, I’m open to it.”

“Word is you’re dating one of the US Olympians. Care to comment?” Another reporter asked, surprising me.

Kat and I had been together in public and she’d gotten her picture taken, and everyone in our personal lives knew we were dating, but I didn’t go out of my way to mention her in interviews or public spaces because I didn’t want to add to her anxiety by having a bunch of strangers hound her because of something I might do. With the Alina thing, no one had even questioned I’d had a girlfriend and the times I’d said that, without saying Kat’s name or identifying her, it had been straight ignored. It made me wonder how much they were actually digging into my life to find stuff.

After what she went through with the whole Alina thing, though, I wasn’t going to deny it in front of cameras.

“Yes, that’s true. I’m dating someone on the US swimming team and she will be competing in this summer’s Olympics. I’ll definitely be there to support her and couldn’t be more proud of her.”

“Can you give us a name?” the reporter pressed.

“I’d rather not share any more details about my personal life right now,” I said firmly. “Today is about my future at USC.”

The reporters didn’t look satisfied, but I didn’t want to put her that much out there if I didn’t have to. Not that it was going to be hard to figure out. When we got out of here I needed to call her and give her a heads up.

I guess sensing that they weren’t going to stay on topic, Lisa leaned in and said. “We have time for one more question.”

A young woman in the front row raised her hand. “Charlie, as an incoming student and public figure, do you feel a responsibility to be a role model for your peers?”

“Absolutely. I know I’m in a unique position, and I don’t take that lightly. I hope that by pursuing my education while continuing my music career, I can inspire others to follow their dreams and never stop learning.”

Lisa put her hand on my shoulder, I guess signaling that I was done.

Before stepping away, I said, “I just want to say again how excited I am for this opportunity. USC is an incredible school and I feel honored to be joining such a talented and diverse community. I look forward to not only continuing my music career, but also expanding my knowledge and skills. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

With that, I stepped back, making room for Lisa.

“We are thrilled to welcome Charlie to the Trojan family. His talent, dedication, and passion for learning embody the spirit of USC. We have no doubt he will make valuable contributions to our campus community and we eagerly anticipate his arrival in the fall.”

She turned to me, extending her hand. “Charlie, welcome to USC.”

I shook her hand and a few reporters took pictures. With that, we wrapped up. Lisa and the school staff had a few more nice things to say, and then it was off to the airport and back to my normal life.

Well, usual. My girlfriend was training for the Olympics and my best friend was being held against her will in the hospital, so I’m not sure how normal it really was.

***

To say the news of the deal and the advance had gone over well would have been an understatement. Lyla and Seth freaked out, and even Tabitha cracked a smile. This wasn’t quite “quit all your jobs and live forever” money, but it was serious money that would change all of their lives. It was also, as Hal intended it, a big vote of support and a sign they thought we were going to be big.

Which would be “live forever” money.

Not everything was perfect, of course. Hanna was still not home, and it was tearing me up. I was so worried about her and how she was doing in the hospital. I’d asked Mrs. Phillips to speak to her, but Hanna hadn’t wanted to, and her mom thought it best to just not push her. I backed off, but it hurt a little. I understood. She was sad, embarrassed, scared. All the things that would make someone want to cut themselves off from their friends.

But it still hurt.

Then Monday night, some of the specifics of my deal had become public, including how much the advance was. The way it read, I was going to walk home with over a million dollars, which was very far from the truth. I appreciated Hal making it public and knew he was doing it to try and help my career, but it was going to screw me at school. Considering how the reaction was when I was on TV, and everyone thought that meant I was famous, people were going to think I’d suddenly become rich.

I wasn’t wrong to be worried about that.

The very first thing Jake said as I sat down was, “Dude, you’re a millionaire now?”

“I’m really not.”

“I know people take a cut and everything, but it said you got like one-point-four million. Even after their cut, you’re still going to have like a million dollars.”

“No. It’s an advance, which means I won’t get paid again until that money is all paid out, which could take months or years, so this isn’t a single payday. It’s also not a million dollars. Not even close. Almost fifty percent gets spread out among agents, lawyers, and publicists, and then the rest gets split between the band. It’ll still be a lot of money, I know, and I’ll still be playing gigs at the Blue Ridge, which isn’t part of my contract, but I’m not a millionaire. I’m not a half of a millionaire.”

They were all quiet for a moment as I wound down. That might have been a little much.

“So, can I borrow a hundred grand?” Peyton joked, grinning.

“Yeah, I could use a new car,” Joseph chimed in.

“Guys, come on,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Leave him alone.”

I appreciated Lily’s support, but the others continued with their lighthearted requests.

“I mean, if you’re offering loans...” Thea said with a shy smile.

“You guys are killing me.”

“Maybe you can buy some new friends,” Jake said.

I dropped my head to the table and began banging it against the plywood. I knew they were being funny and just messing with me, but I’d already been getting it, a lot more seriously, in my morning classes, and I knew it was going to keep happening all day.

I wasn’t wrong and was just happy to be out of there when the door rang. I know people didn’t mean anything by it and were just messing with me, but it was still really bugging me because it just pushed me further away from everyone else. I was already feeling like an outsider, and it was just getting worse.

I kept the attitude on the way home, still grumpy as I pulled up to the house. I had homework to do and needed to shake my mood before practice. Which is why it took a second to register what was happening when I walked into the room.

Hanna and her mother were standing in the middle of the living room. Clearly something was wrong between them and I could feel the tension as soon as I walked through the door.

I also didn’t care. I was just so happy to see Hanna.

I dropped my bag and ran at her, wrapping my arms around her and lifting her off the ground. “Hanna! I’m so glad you’re okay.”

She gave an uncomfortable little lafhg and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me back. When I sat her down and stepped back, I saw her eyes were red and puffy.

“Or … are you okay?”

Mrs. Phillips crossed her arms and gave Hanna a loot. “Why don’t you tell him.”

Hanna looked like she was going to cry again, and her voice hitched as she said, “I … I got expelled.”

“What?” I stared at her in shock. “How?”

“The school classified me as a risk. I think Cross told them I was, I don’t know, stalking him or something. That I was unbalanced and a threat to him, myself … everyone.”

“He’s a predator, and he’s getting away with it,” Mrs. Phillips said, furious.

“Don’t call him that.”

I couldn’t believe she was still defending him. He’d gotten her institutionalized, which would follow her around for a long time. And then got her expelled. And still she defended him.

Mrs. Phillips clearly couldn’t believe it either, because she yelled, “He’s never going to leave his wife for you, Hanna. If you think you were anything but a piece of ass to him, then you’re more of an idiot child than I thought you were.”

“That’s not fair,” I said, getting between them.

Maybe she wasn’t completely wrong, but it certainly wasn’t helpful. Hanna crumpled, tears streaming down her face. Her mom glared at her and stormed out, slamming her bedroom door behind her, the sound making hanna jump.

I pulled her into my arms again, rubbing her back as she cried. “Shh, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

“How? I’ve lost everything. My education, my future... all because he … he ...”

I tightened my arms around her. “You haven’t lost me. Or your mom. We’re here for you, no matter what.”

She just cried harder, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs. I held her, murmuring reassurances, promising her it would be okay. As I held her, and worried about her, I had an idea. There was a chance, maybe, I could actually help her. I didn’t say it outloud, not before I looked into it. The last thing I wanted to do is get her hopes up and then let her down.

“Hey. We’ll get through this. Let me talk to some people and see what I can do. And you’re mom will calm down, but you’ve got to give up on him, stop talking about him. You know that, right? That’s over. He made I clear.”

She nodded against my chest, her sobs slowly subsiding into hiccuping breaths, I hoped meant it and wasn’t just agreeing to keep anyone else from yelling at her. 

I just held her tighter.

***

Two days later, the ice still hadn’t thawed between Hanna and her mom. Hanna was almost a shell of herself, and I think the reality of the situation had finally set in. She barely ate, mumbled everything she said, and was a near non-entity. For her part, her mom was still pissed at her, and by proxy pissed at me because I’d convinced her to back down from her crusade against Cross.

The only good thing to happen out of all this is it seemed like Hanna had finally accepted that Cross never cared for her and only used her. She’d finally stopped talking about how she missed him and was, mostly, just focused on the destruction of her education.

But the tension at the house was affecting everyone, and I’d been off since she’d come home. I was almost looking forward to having to fly out tomorrow morning to record our long EP, as our producer at ARC had decided to market it. I thought maybe calling something a long extended play was a little redundant, but they knew more than I did about marketing music, so I just went with it.

But I wanted to try and help Hanna if I could, so I’d spent a lot of time when not working with the band to prepare for the recording session on the phone with Mr. Eaves, trying to come up with a solution. There wasn’t much he could help me with directly, because UNC hadn’t actually done anything wrong and Hanna had. Yes, what Cross had said about her was a lie, but sleeping with your professor is a huge no-no, and even if Cross had been held accountable, Hanna would have still been caught up in it and possibly been removed from school.

It was one of the many reasons we’d all been against the relationship.

Mr. Eaves hadn’t been unhelpful though, and he’d confirmed my other idea was viable, and gave me a way to actually attempt it. I’d mulled it over all night and was planning on calling UNC, hoping the tiny bit of notoriety I’d been getting would be enough to get me in the door. I also couldn’t mention it to Mrs. Phillips, Hanna, or Kat, who I knew would all try and talk me out of it.

I was so in my head that, in my third period class, I hadn’t even heard my teacher calling me until someone poked me in the back.

“Charlie, I said they want you in the front office.”

“Ohh, sorry,” I said, a little embarrassed, gathering up all my things.

I hated when they did this in the middle of class. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, watching me, wondering what I’d done. Worse, this time I was wondering the same thing. I’d missed a few days, but they’d all been approved and other than missing school for the remainder of the week, I had no big events planned. I was actually in school more now than I had been for the first half of the semester, so why Dr. Wallace would need to see me now, I didn’t know. I hadn’t done anything that would get me in trouble.

Or at least I didn’t think I had.

My worry became something more when Mrs. Morgan ushered me back to the principal’s office, where I found not only Dr. Wallace, but also Sheriff Gibbs and Mayor Mullins. I froze in the door, my mind shifting through all the possible reasons they would be here to see me … and most of them were not very good.

“It’s alright, Charlie,” Dr. Wallace said in almost a soothing tone, probably seeing the fear and worry on my face. “The Sheriff and Mayor just wanted a few minutes of your time.”

While I appreciated his trying to calm me down, the two of them, together, needing a minute of my time wasn’t particularly reassuring.

Creeping into the doorway, like they were going to jump at me any second, I said, “Okay.”

“I’ve spoken to your security, so I know you’re already aware of the increase of fans in town.”

“Yeah, it’s starting to get bad. We’ve pretty much stopped answering the door at this point.”

“The problem is, it’s not just your house,” Mayor Mullins said. “They’ve been in businesses all over town, bothering folks, asking questions.”

“Questions?”

“Directions to your house, if they know you, who your friends are. We’ve even had a few try to break into the school.”

“They what?” I asked.

How had I not heard about this until now?

“It’s true,” Dr. Wallace said. “They tried to get into the administrative office. We think they were after your personal information.”

“I … I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. I hate that this is happening as much as you do. I really didn’t mean to inconvenience anyone.”

“Son, we aren’t blaming you,” Mayor Mullins said, holding up a hand. “We know this isn’t your fault. But it is becoming an issue.”

“Not to mention the national press that’s started to show up,” Sheriff Gibbs added. “They’ve been bothering folks too. More than the regular people, honestly.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I said. “I mean, short of moving, I’m not sure how to stop it.”

“We’re not asking you to do that. We just wanted to let you know what’s happening because it’s becoming enough that you’re almost certainly going to start getting an earful. Maybe if you could discourage them, that would be helpful.”

“I can have my people put out stuff on social media, asking them not to come here, although that might make them do it more since it’ll put the idea in their head. I’ll ask my PR person if she has some ideas.”

“Good,” the sheriff said. “I want to make it clear, Charlie. I won’t let anything happen to you. My job is to protect and serve, and that’s what I intend to do. We aren’t saying this is your fault and not blaming you for it. I’m in touch with your security people, and we’ll let you know if there are any other problems, but I thought you should know about this one.”

“Thanks, sheriff. And I really am sorry.”

“The thing is, aside from the Blue Ridge, we’re not seeing the increased business we’d like,” Mullins said. “It’s making it hard to defuse some of the tensions building with the other residents. It’s easy for people to overlook things if they’re getting a benefit from it.”

“Yea,” I said.

I didn’t doubt he was right, but I also didn’t know what I could do about it.

“There are some things that can be done,” he said, answering my thoughts. “For starters, if you could talk to the media that’s in town, mention our local restaurants and activities, highlight Wellsville’s charm, that kind of thing. I figure one of the reasons people are coming here is they want to share some experiences with you, I guess to get a little closer to their favorite singer. So why not give them something, a way they can say ‘hey, Charlie Nelson likes this, so maybe I’ll like it.’ If these people coming to find you could spend a little money while they’re here, it would go a long way in convincing everyone it’s worth it. I know they’ve been bugging you for more interviews or whatever. Maybe you could take them on a tour of the town as they ask questions.”

“Uhh, yeah. Maybe,” I said, although I didn’t know how well I could actually do that. “I’ll talk to my publicist and see what she thinks is the best way to do it.”

It’s not like they asked me about things I liked to do in town or whatever, and just dropping it in seemed a bit … I don’t know. Weird. Before I did anything, I wanted to hear what Quinn would say. I was all for helping the town out, but not at the expense of my career.

Selfish, but it’s what Quinn kept telling me, and I didn’t want the lecture I would get if I did something dumb in front of cameras without at least consulting her first.

“Good. Good. There’s just one more thing. We have a parade set for Memorial Day, and I thought it would be great if you could be the marshal. Ride on a float, wave to people, maybe play a song here or there.”

I knew the mayor was using the situation for his own gain, which seemed about what I expected of him. I even suspected maybe it wasn’t as bad as he was claiming because Sheriff Gibbs had gotten suspiciously quiet and wasn’t really looking at me anymore. I knew how he felt about those kinds of lies.

Not that I was going to call Mullins out. I’m sure it had been a little difficult, and he had a point that using my position to help local businesses would go a long way to support the city that had supported me, coming out and seeing me play at the Blue Ridge, weekend after weekend.

I’d need to find a way to do it so it didn’t seem like I was obnoxiously shilling for the town. And sitting on a float wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

“I’ll have to check my schedule, but I think it should be okay. I’ll have my people call and coordinate and figure out how to handle the media around it.”

Dr. Wallace stood. “Well, I think that covers everything. Charlie, you’re free to head back to class.”

I thanked everyone and beat a hasty retreat before I could be signed up for anything else.