CHAPTER FOUR, the purple stamp

Màu nền
Font chữ
Font size
Chiều cao dòng

Soon the intermission was over and it was time for the rest of the show. Stella was back on stage, standing next to the flapper girl while Caleb stood on the middle of the stage.

He smiles at the crowd. "I see that you're all enjoying the show?"

"Yeah!" The crowd shouted in response.

"So many delicious sights, so many tantalizing sounds. But...Your eyes still hunger for more." Caleb smirks. "Something sweet."

"Yeah!" The crowd even clapped as they responded.

"Something...Savory." Caleb continues to speak, moving towards the right side of the stage, stepping up onto the grand piano. He outstretches his arms. "How many newcomers do we have in the club tonight?"

Stella looks out at the crowd, seeing that there were a few raised hands, including Alex, Luke, and Reggie and she smiled at them. Caleb turns to his house band. "Ladies...Let's show our guests how we do dessert."

The band started playing swing music, smiling at the crowd and flapper girls and dancers went out onto the dance floor. Caleb laid down on his side on the piano, singing, "Shoo bada papa roo bada bada."

Stella moves out onto the dance floor, singing, and dancing along with the dancers. "Hey, um bum bum bum baram, hey!"

Caleb then sits up on the piano, his legs dangling off the side as he snaps his finger along to the beat. "Shoo bada papa roo bada bada."

"Hey, um bum bum bum baram, hey!" Stella sang along with the dancers and flapper girls. Caleb got off the piano, singing as he makes his way back to the middle of the stage.

"Arum bum."

"Hey!"

"Arum bum."

"Hey!" Stella and the others shouts. Stella moves back to standing besides Caleb as the flapper girl does the same.

"Shoo bi doo bap bap." Caleb sings and in response Stella, the dancers and the flapper girls shouts 'hey' again.

"Bap bap."

"Hey!"

Caleb turns around, leaning backwards to look at the crowd as Stella and the flapper girl holds both of his hands. "Watch me make a move, watch me make a move. Yeah."

"What you gonna do? What you gonna do?"

"I say watch me make a move, watch me make a move, oh." Caleb stood up, moving along to the beat.

"What you gonna do? What you gonna do?"

Singing, Caleb then twirls Stella and the flapper girl around. "I say, watch me make a move, watch me make a move, yeah."

"What you gonna do? What you gonna do?"

"Watch me make a move, best you ever knew. Hey, yeah."

Stella poofs onto the dance floor in front of the table the boys were sitting at while another flapper girl took her place besides Caleb and the other flapper girl that was up on stage.

Pointing at Willie with a smirk on her face, she gestures him over to her. He grinned and after patting Alex on the shoulder he ran onto the dance floor and stood beside her. The two fist bump each other and then do the same dance the dancers and the flapper girls do while they sing.

"Life is good on the other side of Hollywood. Life is good on the other side of Hollywood." Stella jumps up along with everyone else when it gets to that part of the song. "So welcome to the brotherhood where you won't be misunderstood. Life is good on the other side of Hollywood."

Luke looks over to his left when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He was surprised, but happy to see Stella standing besides him. She then grabs his hand, pulling him to the dance floor while Alex and Reggie were also pulled onto the dance floor.

"What-What are you doing?" He stammered out a question, looking at her with wide eyes. She giggled at how nervous he was.

"Just follow my lead." She grinned at him and started dancing. 

Glancing to her left, she noticed a flapper girl was now dancing with Reggie and it looks like he was having fun. She noticed that Alex was dancing with two men towards the middle of the stage and it looked like he was having fun as well. Luke was confused at first the dance first, but he was quick to get the hang of it. Stella had to admit she was surprised at how good he was at dancing and it made her wonder if he had danced before.

"Is this your first time dancing?" She asked him, looking at him with a small smile. 

He looks at her with a embarrassed smile while they danced. "Is it that obvious?"

Stella laughs at that and he smiled at her. He thought like it was the most angelic sound he has ever heard. Stella nods, looking at him with a small smile. "Just a little. But you're not that bad."

"Life is good on the other side of Hollywood. Life is good on the other side of Hollywood. So welcome to the brotherhood where you won't be misunderstood. Life is good on the other side of Hollywood. Of Hollywood. Of Hollywood."

At the end of the song Stella dipped Luke just as the flapper girl dipped Reggie. "Woah!" Luke and Reggie exclaimed at the same time as they were dipped by the girls. The two boys share a look of surprise, but it was obvious both of them were happy. 

"Ain't it something?" Caleb smirked at the crowd.

Luke and Reggie were brought back onto their feet and even though she didn't want to let go of Luke, she did and began clapping along with everyone when the song ended. Luke clapped along, still in a dazed at what just happened, but he honestly enjoyed it. Stella glanced at the clock as it strikes twelve.

"The haunting hour is upon us." Caleb grinned and everyone said 'ooh' at the same time.

The band continues playing again and Luke was brought out of his daze when Stella grabbed his hand, pulling him back close to her to dance again which made him smile. A giggle escaped her lips when he twirled her around and he grinned at her. The two continued dancing as if no one was in the room. 

Their fun was ruined when Luke looks over at the clock, his eyes widening when he saw what time it was. He stops dancing, glancing back at Stella . "Woah. H-How is it already twelve?"

Stella smiles at him. "Times flies when you're having fun."

Even though he was freaking out he sent her a small smile. "Y-Yeah. Look, I'm sorry. But me and my friends gotta leave." He apologized, missing the warmth of her hands as he let go of them.

A small frown was on her face, not wanting them to leave already since she wasn't sure if she would ever get to see them again. She watched him step back to where Reggie was dancing with the flapper girl behind them.

"Dude!" He got Reggie's attention which took a bit of effort since Reggie kept ignoring him. He eventually got his attention, but he had to pick him up and get him away from the flapper girl to do it. Pointing at the clock, Reggie's eyes widened when he saw how late it was.

"We were supposed to be at Julie's school at 9:00." Luke reminded him.

"Oh, shoot. That's right." Reggie nods. "Maybe we can still make it." He turns around, looking around the room for their blonde-haired friend.

"Where's Alex? Alex, we forgot..." He furrowed his eyebrows when he couldn't find his friend in the room.

Stella looks around the room for the blonde-haired boy. Tilting her head to the side and furrowing her eyebrows with confusion, she notices the familiar blonde on one of the aerial hoops.

"I found him." She replied, earning Luke's and Reggie's attention. They look in the direction she was looking at, eyes widening when they see Alex above them.

"I'm up here." Alex called out to them.

"And yeah, I know. We forgot Julie. This place is...One sec." He stammers, struggling to turn himself around to face them. Once he finally faces them, he says, "This place has some kind of time warp."

"Poof down here bro, we gotta get out of here." Luke told him.

Alex poofs down there and after saying a quick goodbye to Stella, the three boys ran towards the exit where she noticed that Caleb stopped them. She poofs over to near where they were at, wanting to make sure things would go okay, but made sure she was hidden.

"Gentlemen, what's the rush?" Caleb questions. "The party's just getting started, and you have an eternity, after all."

"You know that girl that can see us? We sort of bailed on her." Reggie responds. "There's this dance at her school, and her friend Flynn is like a super cool DJ, like-"

Alex interrupts him. "I don't think he has an eternity to hear the story."

"Basically we're late for a gig." Luke said, putting on his long denim jacket.

Caleb furrows his eyebrows. "But what about my offer?"

"It's very cool of you, Mr. Covington, but, like I said, we already have a-"

"A band of your own." Caleb interrupts Luke who nods. Caleb smiles. "I understand. Oh, boys. If you ever want to come back and fix that little problem with your friend, the Hollywood Ghost Club is always open."

Luke grins. "Yeah, man, we'd love to be back here."

"Ah! Music to my ears." Caleb shook each of their hands. Stella furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed some sort of purple stamp that eventually faded on their wrist.

The boys look at the stamps with confusion and Caleb informs them on what it is. "Oh, it's just a little club stamp."

"Cool." Reggie grinned.

Caleb smiles. "Until next time."

The boys said their goodbyes to Caleb and left just as Willie walked over to him. She was so glad that he didn't see her when he walked past her because she feared he might see her. She frowned when she saw the worried look on his face. "Uh, Caleb, you never said that you were gonna use the...stamp on them. You know what that'll do to them."

Caleb looks at him and this was the first time Stella ever saw a evil looking smile on his face. "Of course I do, William. But they're too powerful. I need them working for me. Now they'll have no option, but to accept my invitation. And Stella will be a big help with that. I noticed how well she got along with them and I think she'll be a great bait for my plan." 

Caleb pats him on the shoulder and walks down the steps. Stella's heartbeat increased at hearing what he said. She looks back at the scared expression that was on Willie's face which was similar to the scared expression that was now on her face.

There were just a few things she was confused about. What did he mean by stamp, why did he say he would be bait for his plan? The thought of those things made her sick to her stomach. She saw Caleb as a father figure and she never once thought he would do something as evil as this. She didn't know how to think of him now and she didn't know what to do. 

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen2U.Pro