‘You what?’ My brain short-circuits and I stare at her blankly. ‘What?But we’re not even in Canada? Are we? Where am I?’
‘Whole trip is included. Look,’ she says, holding out her phone. It’s a screen shot of Queen Ego’s Instagram story from over an hour ago:
Firecrest Festival <3 We had one of the greatest shows of our lives yesterday. We were blown away by your support. As a little thank you, we’ve set up a treasure hunt inside Firecrest to win FOUR VIP meet and greet tickets for any show at our upcoming Canada tour. Flights and hotel expenses included for all winners.
There will be 6 clues and 2 days to find them. Those who know Crest Fest well will possibly have an advantage, so team up if you can.
And with that… here’s the first clue:
Ask what you will, at this festival heaven – he will give his answer before eleven.
Blinding lights under green and blue, the next clue will be waiting for you.
You’ll have to hurry, and remember first,
All the numbers will be reversed.
Good luck!
I blink at the screen, expecting the words to vanish. ‘Oh my God?’
‘I know.’
‘Oh my God,’ I repeat uselessly.
‘You couldmeetthem, Nora. You could behold Aga’s face in all its beauteous glory.’
I stare at her and nod, trying to absorb this information. She grips my hands which brings me back to earth slightly. ‘Youwillmeet them. You have to win these tickets, Nora. No one in the world loves this band more than you do. This is your chance.’
In milliseconds, my mind goes from static to violentlypresent. An actual opportunity to meet my heroes is within my grasp. I would be able to look at them and have them look directly back at me. I would be able to tell them what their music means to me. How it had held me and rebuilt me. I could thank them in person. My face goes hot just imagining it.
But then a horrible scene of me face-to-face with my four heroes and struggling to put a sentence together appears in my brain. What if it went terribly, and the experience stained my view of them forever? What if I said something unforgivably weird? The idea of them rolling their eyes in exasperation as I walk away from them fills me with an awful and unshakable horror.
‘You know what they say though… that you should never meet your heroes? What if it’s true?’ I ask, my voice almost shaking.
She grins from ear to ear, her brown eyes alight.
‘Oh, fuck that. Let’s win them.’
13
Ichange into a fresh outfit for the day, consisting of a lilac knitted crop top with my usual denim shorts adorned with embroidered gold stars. I wrap my jacket around my waist for later, and the tiara has been proudly re-applied by Hen to the top of my frazzled hair.
Hennie is wearing sheer flared leggings and an enormous, cropped jumper covered in orange and yellow fringe. She looks, as she always does, eye-catching and fabulous. (And also, I can’t deny, very warm on this hot morning.)
My mind does not work in the way Hennie’s does when it comes to fashion – I wear clothes because I need to, whereas Hennie… shelovesclothes.
While I get up in the morning and throw on the first item I see, Hennie staring at her wardrobe is an entirely different thing. She’s calculating and navigating how to put together a perfect outfit for the day. I’ve always admired how she wears whatever she wants without care for others or how they might see her – it’s just for her.
‘It actually looks like your agreement might serve us well after all.’ Her words come out in a rush as we race down the widepath towards Elliot’s camp, which is slowly filling with the fresh-faced “morning people” of Firecrest.
‘I mean, it’s Elliot’s first time here too, so he won’t know much either. But Owen and Josh seem to know this place pretty well.’
‘Exactly! They’ll be strong allies in this. I’m sure we’ll get the tickets with all of our heads together.’
‘They may not be interested in this though, Hen. We’re at a music festival, they probably want to see live music rather than snoop around for clues with us?’
‘Oh, please. It seems fun.’ She grins. ‘And they love us.’
