Page 4 of Starstruck

I lied about drooling over the guy, who had started a new songentirely during the course of whatever that interaction was, but the more I looked at him, the more I seemed to understand why the girls who were eerily close to falling over the barricadeweredrooling after him.

He’d removed his white overshirt in the time I wasn’t payingattention to him, only leaving a black tank top and his deep blue jeans, but if anything, his absence of clothing and the spotlights only made the sweat that coated his skin glisten under the light. Like a dark angel, brooding over the stage.

And if I wasn’t on the floor right now, I would have been one ofthose people.

The pain that bloomed in the center of my back had me calling out inagony. Something had hit me. Hard. And now I was on the floor; the shoes of the people around me were all I could see.

“Oh my Christ, Goldie!” I heard Cora call from above me.

“What the hell happened?” I recognised Daisy’s voice, or it couldhave been Rory’s. I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that one second I was letting my eyes go hazy as I traced the tattoos of the guy on stage, and the next I was on the floor.

That's when the pain in my knees hit me too, and I couldn’t holdback the groan that was clawing its way out of my throat. A sob escaped as I struggled to stand, but the stabbing pain in my back and the relentless throbbing in my knees were all I could focus on.

“Woah, woah, stop the song. What’s going on over there?”

Somehow I was able to clear my head of enough space to recognisewhose voice that was, but I couldn’t find the energy to question what it meant that my spine tingled at the sound of it.

I barely lifted my head enough as I got to my feet, but for thesecond I did, I noticed eyes on me. So many eyes, and too much attention for someone who was trying to escape it. And some of that attention was coming from the guy on stage.

But I couldn’t focus on that right now; I had to find out what hadhappened and why my knees felt… wet.

I let my head fall forward, slow enough that the pain in my backdidn’t worsen, where I caught a glimpse of my bloody knees, cuts darting through both of them and staining my dress a deep crimson.

“We need first aid!” It was Daisy who shouted that, and before Iknew it the people in front of me cleared a space, as my friends sat me down on the filthy floor. But I didn’t care, if I was stood for much longer I’d probably pass out.

“What’s going on down there? Can we turn the lights on?” Thesinger, Tristan, called from above us, the worry in his voice rattling through the mic in his hands.

I barely lifted my eyes enough to see him, but I did, and I heldhis stare for a few seconds before my friends shouted up to him.

“It was those assholes.” Rory pointed at the guys, who looked likethey were trying to hide. But once the arena lights came on it was impossible not to spot them. “They pushed her!”

So that’s what happened.

It made sense; they seemed like the type to retaliate whentheir egos got bruised. Although I wished that retaliation would have been another insult instead of assaulting me.

“The fuck we did!” One of the guys called.

Silence hung over the room; only the murmurs of people asking whatwas going on filled the silence. I felt the need to call up to the artist and tell him to carry on, that I wasn’t worth delaying his time slot, but before I could, he beat me to it.

“Oi, dickheads.” He called, as a few laughs sounded from the crowdat the insult. “What the fuck gives you the right to assault someone during a concert?” The guys said nothing. “Huh? What the fuck's the matt'a with ya?”

As the girls crouch beside me, their hands trembling slightly asthey dab at my cuts with water from the bottles we’d brought, the cold sting mixed with the soft brush of fabric against my skin. My eyes don’t leave them until a sudden wave of boos erupts from the crowd, their collective anger rippling toward the VIP area.

Tristan’s laugh booms through the mic. “Yeah, that’s right, boo'em.” He sets his eyes on the pair, throwing his arms out to his sides. “See, everyone in here thinks that you’re both twats.”

The crowd erupted in a laugh, and if I weren’t in pain and feltlightheaded, I would have laughed too. He was bruising their egos with every dig he called at them.

“Can someone get 'em out of 'ere, please?”

The next thing I know, three security guards are barging throughthe roped-off area and begin escorting the guys out of here. I felt a sigh of relief roll through me as I watched them leave, the pressure in my chest lessening.

Just as they left, a first aid lady came to my rescue, reassuring methat I’d be fine as she began bandaging my knees. When she finished, she gave me a smile and called something to the guys on stage, and as I got to my feet, the lights in the arena went out again, and a round of applause rippled from the crowd.

“Are you sure you want to stay?” Rory asked me for the eighthtime, the worried look that took over her face still not leaving.

“Yeah, I promise, I’m fine.” I smiled at her, then at Cora and Daisy.“I don’t want this to ruin our night.”

Their faces softened into smiles, a quick nod of acknowledgementbefore their attention flicked back to the stage. I followed their lead, but then my gaze drifted upward.

---