Page 14 of The Spotlight Effect

Of course we’re in banishment. I know I won’t stay in this room for long. Waiting is boring, and I do not need watching but Charlie can be problematic in a very funny way, sometimes. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I announce, just so Scarlett doesn’t think I’m up to something.

I’m not actually going to the bathroom but I’m not up to anything either.

I exit the room and just start to walk around for a while.

“Gray,what are you doing out here?” I hear Austin ask from me behind me. I spot my dad beside him but choose to ignore him.

I turn around on my heel while saying, “Ya know, just casually strolling the halls,” and shoving my hands in my sweatpants pockets.

“You could have worn something better than that,” my dad says. I hate when my dad comes to sound checks or rehearsals in general; all he ever does is disapprove. Or tell me to do better.

“What’s wrong with this?” I ask, looking down at my beige sweatpants, Fast and Furious oversized T-shirt, and beige and white Jordan 4 Retros.

“Well…ya know Oliver, it’s important for them to be themselves and dress how they would any other time,” Austin says while looking between me and my dad.

Hmph,dad sounds. “Dame, don't encourage him, and get rid of some of those rings, Grayson,” Dad says, calling Austin by his stage name from when he was in his rock bandViolenceand known as Dame Ryker. His real name is Austin Ryker.

“Come on, Dame, I want to see the stage set up for tonight,” my dad tells him and begins to walk away.

“Gray, can you hand these out to the guests for me?” Austin asks, holding out a handful of VIP tags. I quickly walk up to him and take the tags. He gives me a tight smile before going after my dad, who's still walking away while typing on his phone.

I turn around and start walking toward the ‘to stage’ sign, where Tati will probably be bringing the guests around too soon. I take a seat in the chair that normally the security guard would sit in and wait. It doesn’t take long before I hear someonetalking, “And this way is where you all will come after the concert and wait for the bands.”

“Along with that–Gray?” Tati cuts her sentence off.

“Yeah?” I reply, holding my head up.

“What are you doing?” Kenan asks.

“Austin gave me these to hand out,” I answer, holding up their VIP badges.

“After we left the room and you started to walk around, he put you to work,” Raven says, knowing exactly what happened.

“I got bored.” I shrug. Raven rolls her eyes.

I move from looking at Raven and turn so I can fully see the guests. Tati starts naming them off but I’m looking ather. That one picture has been stuck in my head. It’s been driving me crazy, but now I sit in front of her speechless.

She’s here, in front of me. I can’t form anything to say. This is the same Alexia I did the welcome basket for. Now I really hope I did a good job, even though I didn’t care when I did it yesterday.

I feel someone hit the back of my head and I look to find Raven beside me. “Hand them the passes and stop looking stupid,” she says as I realize that I was probably staring way longer than Tati was talking. I stand up, and I start with the older woman, who I think may be the mom, and then Aaliyah, who is the winner. The only reason I know that is because she’s wearing the winner sash Scarlett thought was necessary.

Mental eye roll.

I move on to the blonde girl next to her, who just smiles at me the whole time, and finally, Alexia.

“Here ya go,” I say, just above a whisper. She’s even prettier up close. She has thick, arched brows, plump lips, black curly hair and golden-brown eyes. Her face is narrow, but her hair makes it look fuller.

“Thank you,” she says, and I nod, moving away a bit, so it doesn’t seem weird I’m still standing here.

“Okay, guys, I’ll show you to your seats and we can watch the band do a sound check,” Tati says and as they walk away, I totally ignore the blonde girl waving and smiling at me because I’m busy watching Alexia and her perfect curly hair walk away.

“So that’s why you are all spaced out,” Kenan says from beside me, but I’m looking into the empty space of the hall where Alexia once was.

“What do you mean?” I ask, still spaced out.

“He means you are staring at Alexia. I take it you’ve seen Charlie's post and now you’re infatuated,” Raven says.

“Infatuated is a strong word. I’m just… I don’t know, she interests me,” I try to explain. There’s no way to explain what I feel.

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