Page 30 of Hard Rock Love

“That’s a great idea,” Everly said enthusiastically, then lowered her voice to murmur to me. “I’ve been saying you need to get out of the house more.”

Aside from Seth, I’d never tutored anyone. I was sure working with children would be much different from working with him.

I didn’t know if the children would be harder to manage, or easier.

“What would I be doing exactly?” I asked Cerise.

She told me about the role, explaining how I’d be helping the kids with their homework, mostly preteens who were learning how to do their first book reports and such.

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I said.

“They’re great kids,” Cerise replied. “And it really does feel good to help out and give back.”

It would be nice to have something aside from school to distract me from everything going on in my life.

“Okay then,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

“Awesome!” Cerise replied. “I’ll let them know.”

“Excuse me, ladies, we’ll be ready for the interview in about five minutes,” a man said as he popped his head over the clothes racks. “We need you in a new outfit and sitting over there. There will be cameras taking candid shots, so look your best.”

Flustered and rushed for time, Cerise and Everly took the clothes they had in their hands and went behind privacy screens to change.

“What kind of questions do you think they’ll ask?” Everly called out to Cerise.

“Probably the usual,” she replied. “Who are your influences, where do you get your inspiration, what’s it like being on tour, how do you deal with sexist dickwads, if you could meet any dead person who would it be. That sort of thing.”

“That already sounds like a lot,” Everly said. From her hushed voice, I could tell she was feeling overwhelmed.

“Follow my lead and you’ll do fine,” Cerise said. “If they ask a question you don’t want to answer, just give them a cocky smirk or a mysterious smile.”

“I can do that,” Everly replied.

“I hope they don’t ask who’s headlining the tour.” Cerise’s voice trembled, and I wondered if maybe she wasn’t always so self-assured as I’d assumed. “It hasn’t been finalized yet. I don’t know if they’re going to pick Cherry Lips. There’s so much competition.”

“They’d be crazy not to choose you guys,” Everly assured her.

The two of them stepped out from behind the screens. Those skinny jeans hugged Everly’s figure like they’d been made for her, and her tight, black mesh top matched her dramatic makeup. Cerise wore a short pleated leather skirt, combat boots, and an artfully ripped up band t-shirt cropped at the waist, showing off her toned torso.

They were the two most effortlessly cool girls I’d ever seen in my life, looking like they were ready to take the world by storm.

I tried not to feel disheartened as I looked at my reflection in the makeup chair mirrors, but it was hard, especially when I was standing right next to those two.

“Okay, interview time,” the guy said as he came back around. “Follow me, please.”

Everly looked to me with one last nervous smile. I gave her an encouraging nod and a thumbs up, forcing a smile of my own, before she turned her back and made her way to the interview.

It was nice that my sister had invited me to come with her for this. I appreciated her trying to involve me in her life, especially after ditching me so many times when I was younger.

But after seeing her walk away from me to go off and live her glamorous life, yet again, I couldn’t help but feel the exact same things I’d felt so many times growing up.

Wistful. Envious. Self-conscious.

Inferior.

I knew it was immature. I knew those feelings weren’t logical.

But knowing that didn’t stop me from feeling them.