*“You got me head over heels but I gotta keep it real. You can be my bestie girl. You can be my bestie girl. You can be my bestie girl. You can be my bestie girl. Wanna put

you in my pocket and carry you around. Yeah.”* Jay sang, as he waved his right arm to the beat of the music, holding the mic in his other hand.

The audience screamed and waved their arms from left to right, swooning at Jay’s performance.

He felt his heartbeat pulsing, as a small trickle of sweat started to form at his hairline.

Performing gave him such a rush, and he was so thankful to be back on stage again.
He shook a few hands of the audience who were near the stage.

These few girls looked so ecstatic at the brief skinship they shared with him.

He just smiled, continuing on with his rap, as the screams seemed to grow louder.

The song drew to a close, and Jay neared the speaker system, removing his black button down, and revealed his black wife beater as the fans grew crazy.

He picked up a water bottle, and took a sip, wiping his forehead with a towel, and then brought the mic back up to his lips.

“What’s up LA? I got another track for you with Clara Chung and Dumbfounded, it’s called Clouds” He announced, as Clara and Dumbfounded went on stage.

Many people in the audience sang along, as Jay and Dumbfounded rapped, while Clara sang the song with her strong vocals.

After the song ended, they waved at the audience and exited the stage.

Jay went into his dressing room, changing into a clean blue wife beater and washed his face.

He then walked out of the room, and joined the rest of the other performers who were watching Far East Movement on the screen in the backstage lounge.

He took a seat on the carpet, and glanced up at the tv screen, as “Like a G6” played.

“Getting’ slizzard. Like a G6 like a like a G6. Feeling so fly like a G6” Cathy Nguyen and Jasmine Rafael sang along, laughing.

The other performers laughed at this, as they all moved slightly feeling the beat of the music.

After Far East Movement sang, the rest of the performers went out one last time, along with the hosts who thanked everyone for coming.

Then they all headed backstage again to get ready for the meet and greet.

Jay felt a little warm backstage, so he decided to go outside for some fresh air.

He pushed open the backstage door leading to the side of the performing arts building.

Glancing outside he saw a few people passing by, not really taking notice of him.

He stepped out onto the grass, and just took a few breathes of fresh air, liking the feel of the cool air, as the crickets chirped.

A few minutes later about five people approached him and started praising him for his performance, and just started chatting with him.

He smiled, thanking them. Feeling a nudge on his shoulder, he glanced to his left and saw a short girl, with her arms out in front of her, holding a plastic bag, extending it out to him.

Upon closer inspection he saw it was a candy shop bag with sour patch kids. He smiled, and took the gift from her.

“Thanks” He said to her. She just looked at him like a deer in headlights, still not saying anything, until she suddenly bowed to him.

A few people that were chatting with him earlier snickered. He just looked confused, and gave a nod.

The girl hurriedly walked off down the sidewalk, while he shrugged.

He went back to chatting with the small group a little bit longer, and then excused himself to go back inside for the meet and greet.

After another long hour of chatting with the fans who bought VIP tickets, signing copies of his single, and signing posters, Jay hopped into his manager’s van.

He sat down in the right passenger seat while Cha Cha, and the other Art of Movement members sat in the next two rows of the vehicle.

Their manager pulled out of the parking lot slowly, and moved onto the freeway, as he drove a little bit faster to flow with the speed of traffic.

They were heading back to Seattle, and had a late night flight. Glancing over both shoulders, the manager his right turn signal, and slowly changed to the right lane, getting ready to turn into LAX.

As he started to exit, going onto a one way street, he suddenly spotted a large truck, with it’s headlights flashing towards the van.

It had entered the wrong lane, and was seconds away from colliding with the van.

The manager and Jay’s eyes widened, along with other members.

The truck honked, trying to brake, as the manager did the same, but the two vehicles crashed into each other.

The impact of the crash shattered the windshield, spraying glass shards over the manager and Jay.

The van had been pushed to the side of the road, hitting a brick wall, as the impact stopped the van completely.

The large truck had tipped over on its side, as fumes spewed out of it.

Many other cars noticed this dangerous collision, and three cars stopped at the side, getting out to the check the passengers, while another called 911.

Within minutes the cops and the ambulance arrived, taking down the information of insurance and license plate numbers of both vehicles, along with the medics checking on the conditions of the passengers.

The driver of the large truck was killed upon impact. In the van, the manager was still breathing, with blood trickling down his forehead.

Jay had bloody scratches along his arms, and a gash across his hairline. One of the medics checked his pulse to see that he still had a heartbeat but was unconscious.

The other members were injured as well, suffering a few broken ribs, and fractures, as they were all hurriedly rushed to the hospital.

Jay was quickly wheeled on a gurney into the ICU, while the doctors tried to resuscitate him, and attached an IV to his arm. After he was breathing normally again, they sent him to an empty hospital room.

They placed nodes on him to keep track of his heart rate and other vital signs.

As Jay lay there, with a bandage wrapped around his head, he felt himself being lifted up, and over the hospital bed, with his body still lying there, as he drifted, traveling away

from the hospital and almost sixteen hours away from Los Angeles, into a bright room with frilly pillows, and a vanity filled with perfumes and lotions.

__________________________________________

Isabel Santos Copyright 2012.

All rights reserved.

*lyric credits go to  the english version of Jays' song "Bestie"