I walk to the bus with a big smile.
"Jee, what a happiness this early in the morning," the busdriver says when I get in the bus. I give him an even bigger smile and walk on.
I arrive at the trainstation way too early. I have to wait more than ten minutes before the train arrives. I read the big board in the hall of the station. Thank goodness, the train isn't delayed. I'll make it in time from Utrecht, where I live, to Amsterdam, it's only half past seven.
Tanja told me that it's okay if I arrive early, because she'll also be there one hour early. Well, at least then I don't have to wait alone, than I would get really nervous.
At the train are mostly business people, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. I can't keep my attention to the newspaper.
In my mind I make all kinds of English sentences. What will I dare to ask them? Will Nick be that nice in real as I imagined him?
Once and a while I get a strange look from someone because I'm beaming with happiness and I can't sit still and I'm having secret amusements. It's so exciting!
Finally, we're almost in Amsterdam. Now let's hope I can find it. According to what Tanja told me, it's a little walk.
I know Amsterdam a little bit, sometimes I go out there, with a friend that lives close to it. But, in the evenings and nights everything looks different than in daylight.
I think it's here. Take a deep breath and ring the bell.
After telling my name they immediately let me in and bring me to the people from the Hitkrant.
"Hey Rachel. You're nice and early. I'm Tanja," a young woman, probably a couple of years older than I am, storms at me. "You're looking nice, even nicer than on the photo that you sent us. Do you want a drink, coffee, tea?" she keeps on talking.
"Thanks," I say, taken by surprise, "I would like some tea."
"Are you nervous? I am a little. I know I don't have to, but still I am. I shouldn't have told you. It's my task to make you feel comfortable, this isn't the right way," she goes on.
"Oh, that's okay. It would make it worse for me if I would be the only one that's nervous. Are they already here?" I ask while I'm trying to hold on to my tea with sweaty hands.
"Yes, they're already having breakfast. They've slept in this hotel, I believe they do that as long as they're performing here. I'm going to do the interview in twenty minutes. It's in the room over there," she points. "I'm going through the questions another time. Would you like to read them?"
Of course I like that, even if it's only to get through the last couple of minutes. When I'm reading a question to Nick, I'm starting to blush. Tanja sees it and reads what question did that to me.
"Oh," she grinns, "if Nick is single and looking for a girlfriend. It looks like you're having a little crush on Nick."
Trying not to blush anymore, I nod at her.
"I can imagine that," she tells me. "I think I also know the answer to that question, but everybody wants to read again that he's still single."
I nod and hope she's right. What if he does have a girlfriend. Well, what does it matter if he has, I don't stand a chance. What would he see in me. I'm just a fan they have to hang out with for a whole day. What would he have to do with a girl from the Netherlands? I don't have to read the rest of the questions of the interview anymore. I'll hear them in a couple of minutes. It's nice that I can watch during the interview, then I get a chance to look at them before I get introduced to them.
Someone goes to Tanja and says: "You can go to them. They're not finished with breakfast yet, but that's okay. Go for it!"
He turns over to me and says: "You can go with me, come on!"
Chapter 6
With wobbling knees I get up and walk with him. Secretly I feel my cheeks. Thank goodness, the blushing is over again. I can go really red!
The doors open. Yes, there they are! The five of them having breakfast. I straighten my back and walk behind the man into the room with a selfconfident look on my face.
Nobody can see that I'm nervous. I've found that out not too long ago because of a cousin of mine. I told her that I passed my driving exam the first time, and then she told me that she hadn't expected something else from someone like me, who's never nervous. I was really stunned, because I often get sick of all the nerves, I even threw up once, before I had to do an exam, I was that nervous. But obviously I can hide it very well.
Tanja introduces herself to the Boys and a chair is drawn up for her at the table. She starts with the interview, but I don't hear a word of it, my attention isn't really with her.
I stand aside, viewing the boys extensively. Luckily they're not looking in my direction yet. Nick really looks great! He's wearing black trousers and an off-white shirt. The interview seems to be going well. They're laughing, breads are stolen at all sides of the table, and they're teasing eachother, you can see that from the sometimes angry or indignant looks on their faces. Tanja's also laughing with them.
I hope it will be that pleasant when I'm with them. I'll listen to what they're all saying. Oh, now they've come to the questions about their wifes, girlfriends or love-life.
Brian's wife Leighanne is pregnant. I already knew that. Hey, she's come with them, that's nice. Kevin is married, AJ has a girlfriend, Howie is single. Nothing new up until now. Oh oh, she's turning to Nick now.
"Now about your life, Nick. Have you brought anyone of your family with you this time?"
"Actually, yes. Aaron is with us. He's my babybrother, but I'm sure everybody knows that already."
Maybe that's nice to break the ice, if he's also there today.
"Okay," Tanja goes on, "now the question you get asked everytime, but what your fans want to hear over and over again: do you have a girlfriend right now?" She's grinning while she's asking it.
Nick acts bored and gives a deep sigh. "No, no, no again. You would have already known that, if I had a girlfriend."
Howie throws a bread to Nick and says: "Hey, don't act bored. You like the feminine attention!"
Nick starts to grin. He looks so great. With a grin like that you've got to be a heartbreaker.
"Okay, now the final questions. About your meet-and-greet. I won't ask you if you like meet-and-greets, because you have to say yes to your fans. What do you normally do on a day when you've got a fan with you all day long?"
They shortly look at eachother and than Brian starts to talk: "It depends on what kind of person it is. It's usually a girl, but sometimes it's someone who hardly speaks English, or someone kind of hysterical. We once had a girl from Europe about 12 years old. She didn't speak much English, so she brought her mother. We went to the movie with her and she showed us some things in the city where she lived."
"And once it was a French girl," Kevin starts, "and she did speak English, but with a terrible accent, and she was so excited she kept talking, and we didn't understand a word of it. It was kind of embarrassing actually."
"Yes, so this time we asked for someone sho speaks English without a terrible accent and who isn't hysterical," Nick jokes.
"Hey, you can't say something like that in an interview," AJ calls at Nick.
"Don't worry, I will ignore it," Tanja smiles, "I would never write that, you would break many hearts."
"But we would like someone to normally speak with for a change," Howie adds.
"Well, maybe your wish will come true. The fan you're gonna be with today is 21 years old, it's a girl, what a surprise, she's a fourth year student at the University and she didn't seem hysterical to me. With this I would like to end this interview with you. Thank you very much, I really enjoyed it. Now I will introduce the girl to you, she's been waiting long enough."
With that words Tanja beckons me to come.
Chapter 7
I wipe my hands on my trousers again. Kaboink, kaboink, kaboink. My heart is beating very fast. With some difficulty I put a smile on my face and walk to the table.
"This is Rachel. Give her a day she won't forget, she deserved it."
She gives me an encouraging pat on my shoulder and now I'm alone with the Boys. I swallow my nerves and give them one by one a hand and introduce myself to them. Finally I meet Nick. His hands are really big! Okay, don't think Rachel, I say to myself. He gives me a beaming smile. I feel an itch in my stomach.
I let go of his hand and sit down, next to Nick, where Tanja was sitting. What do I have to say now? I don't dare to look at Nick at all.
The door of the diningroom opens and Aaron rushes in. "Finally, the interview is over. I'm starving, haven't even had breakfast yet. Hey, is that the fan that will follow you all day? Just kidding. Hi, I'm Aaron." Jee, what a tornado.
"I'm Rachel. Nice to meet you."
"You're looking fine, better than that last one. Yes, Kevin, I know I can't say anything like that. How old are you?" he asks me.
"I'm 21."
"Oh, that's too old for me I guess. Anything for you Nick?" Nick punches his little brother, but he doesn't say anything.
"Take one of that chairs and sit down. Have some breakfast and shut up for a while please. Rachel is not here to talk to you," Howie says reproaching to Aaron.
"Oh, it's okay. I've got a little brother myself, I know they can be a little, well, how do I say that?" I answer quickly.
"Annoying?" Nick says.
"Well, yes, something like that. My little brother is a bit older than Aaron, but I can get really tired of him, sometimes," I say to Nick with a little smile.
"I can hear she really likes you already," AJ teases Aaron. "But you helped to break the ice, so you did your good deed for today."
AJ's right in that, he did indeed break the ice a little.
"Tell us something about yourself to start with. What do you do at University for example?" Kevin starts.
"Well, I study Pharmacy. I mean, I'm going to be a pharmacist, although I think in America it's something else than it is in the Netherlands. I don't exactly know how the care system works in in America, but right here it's kind of exceptional. What exactly is a pharmacy in America?" I look questioning at the Boys.
"You can buy all kinds of things there, like asirins and plasters and diapers," Brian answers.
"And shampoo and toothpaste," AJ says.
"And condoms," Nick adds.
"And lots of candy," Aaron says with his mouth full.
"And of course you can get your medicins there. And you're spitting your bread all over me, Aaron," Brian makes a wry face.
"Okay, all of that, without the medicins, in the Netherlands that's a different shop. Ik don't know how to call it, but I work in a shop like that two evenings a week to pay for my study. In a dutch pharmacy you can get your medicins. In some large ones that are opened in the weekends and at night you can also buy diapers and things you can't go without. Well, I mean, you can d without diapers, but you can't when you've got a baby. They sell the things that you rally can't go without ghen you need them. Jee, it's difficult to say what I mean."
"We understand what you mean. When you've got a baby, you need diapers, when you've got contactlenses, you need the fluid for it, when you fall, you need plasters or something like that, and when you're partying, last but not least, you need condoms," Nick elucidates with again a fantastic grin on his face.
I feel another itch in my stomach. Why is he the one who has to talk about condoms?
"Exactly, that's what I mean. The thing it's all about is the medicins. We've got to learn everything about all kinds of drugs and how they work, so we can see if a drug can go together with the oter drugs the patient already takes. The doctors don't know that, that's our task. People almost always go to the same pharmacy, they're registered there and there they know exactly what kinds of drugs that particular patient gets. It's really important, and we've got to know really much about all drugs that are prescribed. We've got to study at university for six years. Almost all studies are four years, but ours is two years longer."
"Jee, that's really long. But it's also interesting," Howie says with an appreciative look.
"So you're a really intelligent girl," Nick says.
Another itch in my stomach, what a remark to get from him! "You won't hear me saying that, but I can't say I'm dumb."
"Oh, you're a bit modest. Hey Aaron, you should take an example of her," AJ teases Aaron again.
"Well, we've got a really nice fan here, she's pretty, intelligent, modest, speaking almost perfect English and not hysterically," Nick smiles.
Okay, don't blush, don't blush. Shit, I can feel I'm blushing. Noooo, terrible, I'm getting a red face. Why Nick again with a remark like that? He's really much nicer than I've ever dreamt of!
"Hey, you're blushing!" Aaron shouts.
Right now I can shoot Aaron.
"You'll always make me blush when you say things like that," I apologize to Nick.
"Remember that, Nick!" Howie can shut his mouth too, right now. "No need to ask who of us you like the most, isn't it?" Howie says again.
"If you keep on saying things like that, it definitely won't be you!" I throw Howie at his head.
"1-0 for Rachel." I loook at Kevin gratefully.
Please another subject now, I'm not going to say that I like Nick.
"Brian, I thought you said Leighanne is here," I quickly ask Brian.
"Yes, she stayed in bed a little bit longer. I'll go and see if she's ready to have breakfast," Brian says and walks away.
It wasn't my intention of getting him to go away�
"Hey Aaron, are you still eating? Are you trying to get taller than Nick or something?" Kevin laughs at Aaron.
"No, I'll first try to get taller than Rachel, because than I've got something I'm better at than she."
Howie starts to grin broadly. I think I'll have to say it myself, than it will be less bad.
"You haven't seen me standing yet, but I think you already are taller than me," I quickly say.
"That's exactly what I thought," Howie still grins.
"Are you sure? You didn't seem that small to me, " Nick says to me.
"Well, thanks, but you've really got to go fool somebody else. I'm really sure I'm smaller than all of you, including Aaron," I say to Nick while I'm trying to hide a smile. "And Aaron, you've got some other things I don't have. I can't sing, I can't eat that much, I don't have a brother that sings, well, I'm not a boy, and I can think of some other things, but I won't tell all of them. But you can stop eating now," I laugh at Aaron.
"And you don't have a brother that handsome," Aaron points at Nick.
Don't blush again, I have to make a joke out of it: "I can't judge if my brother is handsome, but I guess you might be right."
Still I'm blushing a little bit, I hope nobody will say something about it. Secretly I look at Nick. Hey, his face's also a little bit red. Doesn't he like it when someone says that he's handsome? Or is it possible that he likes me? That can't be true. I look again, Nick quickly looks the other way! Hmmm�
"Hey, don't you want to eat something? Or have you already had breakfast?" Kevin asks.
Fieuw, another subject.
"I've had breakfast, but I was awake at five this morning, so I'm starting to get a little bit hungry again," I say with a look at the raisinbreads that are lying on the table.
"Five this morning?" Nick says unbelievingly. "Where do you live that you had to get up that early?"
"Not too far from here, in Utrecht. It's only fourty minutes by train. But I woke up early because I was really nervous," I say with a shy look at Nick.
"Nervous for what? To see them?" Aaron calls with a grin, pointing at the other boys..
"I've learned some manners, but otherwise I would have thrown my bread at you!" I shout indignant.
"That disgusting bread you're eating? No, thanks," Aaron says with a disgusted look at my raisinbread.
"Don't you know this bread? It's with raisins, it's delicious, you should try it. You can also eat it with butter and sugar," I say and take another big bite.
Chapter 8
Brian and Leighanne walk into the diningroom. I get up and introduce myself. She looks really nice. Brian draws up a chair for her and beckons someone of the staff.
"Can we have breakfast for her?"
"En mag ik nog een kop thee, alsjeblieft?" I add quickly.
"Did we miss much?" Brian asks looking around.
"No, just that Rachel eats that disgusting brown breads," Aaron says with a disgusting look again.
I look at Brian and shrug my shoulders. "That I eat them, means that I think they're not disgusting. We've got a, well, what's the word, a saying here in Holland: what the farmer doesn't know, he doesn't eat."
"Ha, another point for Rachel," says Nick, laughing at Aaron.
"I thought you would have already finished breakfast before I got out of bed," Leighanne says, taking one of the raisinbreads.
"Well, Aaron is eating for hours, because he's talking too much," AJ says to Aaron, with his eyebrows lifted.
"Iew, you're als oeating that things. Are you sick?" Aaron calls at Leighanne.
"It's just bread with raisins, isn't it?" Leighanne asks me. I nod.
"Rachel didn't die of it, so I guess it's eatable," she says and takes a first bite. "It tastes good," she says and holds the bread before Brian.
"Not bad," Brian says after he has taken a bite.
"Are you all going to eat that?" calls Aaron surprised when Kevin and Nick also take a raisinbread.
"Just to tease you," Howie says when he also takes a bite.
"What do you eat when you're in Asia or something? Do you take your own bread with you?" I laugh to Aaron.
"No, but I don't eat things that look that disgusting," he answers.
"O come on, you're acting like a little boy," I sigh.
"I'm bigger than you," he calls challenging.
I put out my tongue at him. "Your length doesn't say anything about you. I know some little people who were briljant," I say, trying not to laugh.
"Like who?" Aaron says with a challenging look on his face.
"Like Einstein," I say, grinning broadly.
"3-0 for Rachel," says Nick and he sticks my arm into the air.
"Finally, we've found someone else who beats Aaron," Howie says while pretending to sigh deeply.
"Hey, if Nick and you work together against Aaron, I bet you two beat him that hard that he won't dare to speak the rest of the day," Leighanne says with an innocent look.
Ik look at Nick, he looks back. Another itch in my stomach. I quickly look away, Nick does the same. I see Leighanne looking at us and smile shyly to her.
"What are we going to do today," she changes the subject.
"I would like to go shopping," says Nick, the others nod yes. "You don't live here, but do you know Amsterdam?" Nick asks me.
"A friend of mine lives here, so I go out here sometimes, but I've never been shopping here," I answer.
"If your friend is as much fun as you are, she an come with us," Kevin says to me.
"Oh, she can't, she's digging somewhere else this week," I shake my head.
"Digging?" almost everybody says together.
I quickly ask myself if I used the right word.
"She's studying archeology at the university of Amsterdam," I say quickly.
"Are all your friends studying at some kind of university?" Howie asks frowning.
"Yes, I think so. The friends I have at pharmacy are, of course. And the friends I have from high school also, because I've done gymnasium. Do you know that?" I explain.
"Yes, we do. That's for nerds," shouts Aaron.
"Thanks. If you don't shut up I'll put one of these raisinbreads in your mouth," I threaten at Aaron. "Only people who are jealous because they don't have brains say it's for nerds. It's fun to learn as much as you can. Everybody does that his own way, I did and do that by choosing a really difficult study," I lecture him.
Nick claps his hands. "You go girl! Keep on going and you don't need my help to let him shut up for the rest of the day," Nick grins at me.
Okay, don't start blushing again. Just comment on it.
"It's no fun when someone shuts up the whole day. It's happened before at home a couple of times some years ago," I say shaking my head.
"Were you also that quick with your answers a couple of years ago? I can't imaging that," Leighanne asks me.
"No, you're right. I absolutely wasn't. It happened when my brother, my sister and I still lived with my parents. My sister and I sometimes had really big fights. She's four years older than me. That absolutely wasn't funny. I know what it is when you don't dare to say anything for days. I would never do that to you. I know you really wouldn't like me anymore," I smile to Aaron.
"So you don't like your sister?" asks Nick seriously.
"Oh no, that's okay now. When she moved out, we didn't see eachother long enough to start big fights. I like her now, she's all right. I even helped her to paint their new house. But she can still be very annoying, but I just try to ignore that. I just don't say anything to her. I'll tell afterwards to my mother, or to my cousin. I've got a cousin, Lilian, who lives in Gouda, just like my sister and her boyfriend. That's also where I went to high school. My parents live ina small town a couple of kilometers from it. I've got a lot of cousins, but Lilian is the only one I've got real contact with. I often step by at their house at Friday afternoon. I can tell her almost everything. She's got three kids now, but she's still a lot of fun. Somehow she's always experienced something almost the same, when I tell her something that bothers me. Everybody should have an older an wiser cousin to talk to. Than nobody would have to go to a therapist," I say the last words with a grin.
"She's even wiser than you? Does your whole family have lots of brains? Are you family of Einstein or something?" Aaron calls out.
"Everybody has the same amount of brains, we just happen to use them. Don't worry, when you're big maybe you'll learn how to use yours. And yes, most of my family isn't dumb. I'm not sure of all of them, but my brother definitely is smarter than I am," I say with a serious look on my face.
"I don't think I want to meet more Dutch people, what I hear makes me think they're scary smart," Aaron says with a repelling look.
"Oh no, that's definitely not true. Just look at the dutch politics. That's a real mess. Have you heard of Pim Fortuyn?" I ask.
There is some careful nodding.
"He was a real racist, he had really scary plans. Then he got murdered, and lots of people voted for his group. It's the dumbest thing they could do. Thanks to that politicians our government is off duty for a while now. We're gonna have to vote soon again. I hope the people will be a bit smarter this time." Listen to me, I never talk about politics. Hmm, I got Aaron to be silent. That wasn't my purpose.
"Yes, we've heard about politics in Holland. In the USA it isn't that good, but in Holland it seems to be even worse," Kevin nods.
"Normally I'm not interested in plotics, but thes scandals are on tv almost every day. Just imagine this: on the day of the funeral of the husbank of our queen, the government fell!" I call out indignantly. "Our prime minister had to go to our queen a couple of hours after the funeral and resigned for the whole government. That's as insensitive as you can be!"
"Yes, that's terrible," Leighanne sighs.
Go to chapters 9 to 12
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