The Electric Unsigned gig got off to a fairly shaky start. Rage looked great – Ellie had decorated the place really well. The entire ceiling was covered with fairy lights, which made the bar look even more magical than before. There was a projector in the corner, beaming up images of Electric magazine covers on to the back wall. There was a slight problem though, as one of the acts had pulled out at the last second.
‘What the hell are we going to do?’ said Ellie. ‘They were meant to be on in an hour; how are we going to get somebody to replace them in an hour?’
‘Can you not call somebody?’ said Michael. ‘Like one of your friends’ bands? Ask them to step in?’
‘This is meant to be the best of Dublin’s unsigned,’ said Tim. Ellie looked even more anxious now that her editor had joined the circle. ‘There are invited industry professionals here – we have a reputation to uphold.’
‘Yes, I understand that,’ said Ellie. ‘But we need to fill the slot.’
‘Can you find a solo artist?’ said Tim. ‘It would be the least hassle.’
‘Jacki’s a solo artist,’ said Dillon, smiling brightly and nudging me with his elbow.
‘Do you write your own stuff?’ asked Ellie.
‘Yeah,’ I said.
‘Cos each act tonight is doing one cover, but they also have to sing their own stuff.’
‘Hold on,’ said Tim. ‘I think I’ve seen you play before. Were you upstairs in Whelan’s last week?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I was.’
‘You’ve found your replacement, Ellie,’ said Tim. ‘You’re on at nine.’
I didn’t have time to feel nervous or excited, except about using a strange guitar. I had this thing about always using my own; I felt like I was jinxing my performance by using somebody else’s. But there was nothing I could do about it now, so I’d just have to get over it. I don’t think I’ve ever had somebody hug me as hard as Ellie did.
I wasn’t on for another hour though, and in the meantime I had to help out, taking money from people at the door, showing the bands to the dressing room, making sure there were bottles of water on stage – that sort of thing. Hazel waved at me from behind the bar. She was wearing a ripped black tank top instead of the orange Electric Unsigned T-shirts that the rest of the people working in Rage that night had to wear. I guess when you’re assistant manager you don’t have to look ridiculous.
It wouldn’t have been that bad if I hadn’t also been concentrating on the people in the corner. Libby’s boyfriend Rob was here, along with Andrew and a very drunk Calum. Every time I walked past them they tried to engage me in conversation.
‘So, psychic girl!’ said Calum. ‘Can you tell me something about my future?’
‘What do you want to know?’ I said with a sigh.
‘Um… when am I gonna get laid next?’ he said with a laugh, then turned round to Rob and gave him a high-five.
‘I can’t see that far into the future,’ I muttered, picking up the empty glasses behind them.
‘OOOH!’ said Rob and Andrew as I walked off.
I decided to distract myself from Calum’s ridiculous comments by seeing if I could pick up any vibes from people in the room who had known Kayla. Things were starting to slow down a bit as far as any new information on Kayla was concerned and I hadn’t really got any clues in a while. I decided it was probably best that I carry her necklace with me to really tune in to what was going on around me – there was no point having it if I just left it in my bag all the time. I entered the dressing room and looked in my bag for it, but to my horror, it wasn’t there.
‘Shit,’ I said. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’ I searched all round the dressing room, hoping it had just fallen out of my bag and that nobody had taken it. That would be terrible. How would I explain to Libby that I’d lost her sister’s necklace? I got down on my hands and knees and searched the floor, but there was no sign of it.
‘Looking for this?’ said Hazel, walking in and holding up the necklace and staring at me disapprovingly.
‘Oh, thank god, where was it?’
‘On the floor, in the bathrooms,’ she said.
‘Thanks so much, Hazel,’ I said, reaching out and taking it from her. ‘I’ll take better care of it from now on, I promise.’
‘OK,’ she said, her anger seeming to fade. ‘Andrew left his phone in the toilets too,’ she said. ‘What is it with you people? Will you give it to him? I have to go find Ellie.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ I said.
I looked at the phone in my hand and a thought suddenly occurred to me. Could I quickly check it? It did seem kind of bad to go through somebody’s phone, but I really wanted to know if he was hiding something, and I couldn’t pass this chance up.
I waited until Hazel left and quickly scrolled through his messages, mostly boring ones about rugby practice and ones with tons of kisses from some girl called Kate. If he was going to text something really private, he’d probably delete it afterwards anyway, so maybe this was a waste of time. I checked his email: nothing there either. He should really password-protect his phone, I thought. I was able to access everything. I decided to have a quick look through his photos: more rugby pictures, pictures of girls. Then, to my complete shock, I saw a picture of Kayla, wearing a jersey and boxer shorts and smiling seductively into the camera. I sent the picture to myself, deleted the sent message and then walked back out into the club and returned the phone to Andrew.
I swallowed down a strange sick feeling that had come over me. It must have been guilt from checking Andrew’s phone – it’s not something I ever would have done before. I was so different from the person I used to know.