I’d like to dedicate this chapter to my parents, just ‘cos they’re good to me, and they appear in here too!! I recounted the whole story to them, B catching me singing in my hospital bed, getting me to sing for Donna, the other girls joining in while I was singing, and Donna wanting to sign us as a group. I even added in the part about meeting Claire as we came in, just to liven it up (not that it wasn’t an interesting story in the first place!!). "What?!?!" came the simultaneous response from my parents. "You want to join a pop band?" "Well, maybe not a pop band as such, but yes, I do dad" "Don’t worry Mr. and Mrs. Wightman, I had the same response from Nick’s parents, he was only thirteen when these boys first signed with Jive Records" "What about your schoolwork?" asked my mum "She’ll receive tuition from a private tutor" "But the school system is different in America" "Don’t worry, the tutor is aware of the differences, Lorraine will not miss out on any schooling, I’ll make sure of it. We can have work sent to us from the school so she won’t be behind, she’ll know exactly what she would if she was still there." "But she’s only sixteen!" "Well, as she’s under eighteen, I will have to be her legal guardian and take care of all her legal matters, with her and your consultation of course, but apart from that, I don’t see any problems with it" "I know it’s a lot to take in, but you know I’ve always wanted this, so at least take some time to think about it, this may be my only chance at doing this" Well, if I was going to make a last pleading statement, that was it. "We’ll have a talk upstairs about it, then we’ll come down and tell you our decision" "Okay dad, but please promise you’ll think about how important this is to me" "We will" My parents went out of the room, and I could just tell what the answer was going to be. I laid my head in my hands. "I just know they’re gonna say no!" "Oh, come on Rain, you don’t know that" "Oh, I do B, I know that tone of voice, their about to squash any dreams I’ve ever had to do anything like this, it was a waste of time to come here, I’m sorry guys" "Don’t be sorry Lorraine, they haven’t actually said no yet" "Oh, but they will Donna, they will…" ~~~~~~~ upstairs ~~~~~~~ "So, what do you think Tom?" "I’m not 100% sure about it, but she has always wanted to sing - we’ve heard her singing in her bedroom!" "I know, but what about school?" "Well, Donna said that she’d have a private tutor, she’ll finish her education, she’ll get to travel the world, experience so many more things than she would just sitting around on her bum like she does" "I’m still not sure, I mean, at her age, and I’m not sure if I trust those boys" "You don’t need to worry about the boys, I’ve met them before, and if I hadn’t trusted them then I wouldn’t have let Lorraine ‘hang out’ as she says with them after that concert the other night. Plus, we’ve already heard about Lauren, one of the girls downstairs, she’s one of Lorraine’s friends from the Internet, she’s not on her own, and besides, I think her and Brian are getting close, do we want to come in between their relationship?" "I suppose not, but I’m not so sure…" ~~~~~~~ downstairs ~~~~~~~ "Oh, what’s taking them so long?!" "Rain, don’t worry, it just shows that they’re thinking about it" I laid my head on B’s shoulder and he put his arms around me in a nice hug, but it didn’t help me feel any better. "They’re just thinking of a nice way to say "No" to me, normally they’d come right out and say it, but seeing as you guys are here, they have to be nice" I got up from B’s hug and started pacing around the room, well, hobbling, and being careful not to step on the three couples sitting on the floor. I was almost to the kitchen when my parents came downstairs. "Your mother and I have thought about this, and…although it seems like a good idea…" my dad started, but I’d heard enough. "I knew it, it was a waste of time coming here to talk to you" I hobbled as fast as I could into the kitchen and through the doors leading to the garden. I sat on the bench and started to cry. "I knew they’d say no, I just knew it" I thought to myself. I was there a couple of minutes before I felt someone wrap their arms around me. It was B. "We shouldn’t have said anything to them, I knew they’d say no! I should have just come home with my dad, Jo and May the other night, then none of this would have happened, the elevator, me singing in the hospital, you guys talking to Donna, you getting the wrong end of the stick about me and Nick, and now this" "Rain, if you’d gone home with them the other night, we’d never have gotten together" "That’s the only good thing that’s happened, well, except the concert, that was the coolest! But what’s going to happen now?" "Well, we’re going to go back inside, you didn’t let your dad finish what he was saying, that’s why I didn’t come out here sooner, we all listened to what he had to say" "What did he say?" "That there were a few thing he and your mom weren’t sure about, but once they were sorted out with Donna, they were agreeing to let you join the band" came a voice from the garage door. It was my dad. "Really?!" "Really" "Aaahhh!!!!!!" I screamed and hopped over to him and gave him a big hug. "But you have to promise to do your schoolwork, and do as your told" "Oh, I will !!!!!!!" I couldn’t believe it - I was almost officially in a band!!!!!! "Shall we go sign the papers now?" my dad said. "Just give me a pen and point me to the dotted line!!!!!" We went in and I sheepishly hobbled over to the girls, but I got over that when we started screaming and hugging each other - well, we were happy - what can I say?!!? A few minutes later we all had signed our names on the contracts - we were officially called WTHMG (all our surname’s initials - not a good name, but I had to think on the spot! It’s (Lorraine) Wightman, (Shay) Tester, (Brianna) Henderson, (Holly) Murphy and (Lauren) Godsey)!!! "You know, if I had two perfect legs, I’d jump around, dance and scream like a loony!" "Lorraine, you do that anyway!" "Dad!! I do not!" "Yes you do, I’ve seen you - I saw you when you found out you had front row tickets for their concert, now that’s what I call obsessed!!" "Dad!!!!!!" parents - they can be really embarrassing can’t they?! "Awwh, you were excited to see us?! "Yes, B, I was, ever so slightly" I said, trying to keep the little bit of dignity I had left - but it wasn’t working, everyone was laughing at me! "Well, if you’re all going to be like that, I’ll go and have a shower, I need to change out of these clothes (I hadn’t had time or the clothes to change while I was away - that’s really bad isn’t it!?)!!!! Nobody answered, they were still laughing, even my parents and Donna would you believe! So I went upstairs and had a quick shower and changed into a pair of dark blue trousers, you know that stretchy material that stretches around your thighs but is really loose around the bottoms of your legs? And I put on a little purple top, then I put my hair back in a high ponytail so I didn’t get wet hair all in my face. When I came back downstairs, everyone had been treated to some food and they were all happily munching away, it was so funny, imagine having 12 people in your living room all squished on chairs and the floor, trying to eat everything in sight - well Nick was anyway - it was very funny, I just had to get a photo! "Hey!" the guys said, I don’t think they like being disturbed from their food! "Sorry, I couldn’t resist! You all looked so…pig-like, it was so funny!" "Well, oink, oink to you!" "Awwh, you’d look so cute as a pig B!! Where’s my plate?" "Not half eaten on a plate behind me, that’s for sure" B said, edging backwards slightly. "B" "Okay, here it is" He produced a plate from behind him, and gave it to me (it wasn’t really half eaten). I settled down next to B and ate my food rather quickly (Well, I hadn’t eaten much for the past three or so days!). "Oh, I promised Joanna I’d phone her as soon as I got in - I gotta go call her!" "Okay, but try not to be on long" "Alright, but I’ve got to phone Lisa aswell!" "Okay, just try not to scream too much" "Dad…" With that I left the room and headed straight to the phone and dialed Jo’s number.