Broken || Little Mix ||

Chapter 24 -E

I feel myself getting shaken awake and immediately become aware of the kink in my neck. I fell asleep on Clarke after smoking two joints and downing three Vicodin's. A jolt of panic hits me as I quickly regain awareness that I'm supposed to perform at a big festival today.

"What time is it? The performance!" I shout, jumping off of Clarke. I look around the bus and find it empty apart from us and turn to face my laughing boyfriend.

"Chill babes. You have to be at the tent in thirty. Leigh texted me to tell me to have you up and ready to go by then. She figured you were sleeping since you weren't answering your phone," he explains.

I nod, rushing past him and into the bathroom. I check my makeup in the mirror and quickly grab my supplies, doing quick touch ups to Aaron and Asa's earlier work. My clothes are a bit crumpled but the joggers are meant to look that way anyways. After swigging mouthwash around to get rid of my cottonmouth I turn to Clarke.

"Let's go."

He pulls his cap on, a Little Mix hat that he stole from me earlier, and leads me out of the bus. At the exit to the lot, two security guards take the lead and escort us to the backstage areas and over to our tent that's meant to act as our dressing room.

"Poopy!" Jesy shouts as I duck my head inside.

She jumps off the couch and runs over, embracing me in her arms. The sudden need to support some of her weight throws me off balance. I give her a tight squeeze back, using it to hold myself up. Jesy gives me an odd look as she pulls away from me but I stare her down, almost daring her to say something.

"You feeling better babes?"

I turn and lock eyes with Perrie. She throws a wary glance Clarke's way before turning back to me. I let out a shaky breath and nod.

"A bit, yeah. Just want to get on stage."

"Yeah, I feel that." Perrie then turns to Clarke again. "Thank you for watching her." The words look as though they're painful for her to say.

He nods, putting his arm around me. "Always."

"You guys are so cute," Leigh coos.

I grab Clarke's hand and pull him over to the couch. Paul storms in with our vocal coach, Terry, and immediately makes eye contact with me.

"Are you sure you can go on?" he asks. "Sam wants to make sure you're absolutely positive. We can't have you breaking down or running off stage."

His words, while well intentioned, lights a fiery rage inside of me. I glare at him, suddenly overcome with blind determination. It might be slightly fueled by the false sense of confidence the drugs are giving me but I am filled with the need to go out there and give the best show of my life.

"Don't worry about it Paul. The more freaked out you get, the more freaked out I'll get."

Terry sits at the electrical keyboard and starts leading Pez, Leigh and I through vocal warmups. Jesy takes this time to eat something as she doesn't believe in warm ups. She swears they do nothing for her. For the rest of us, it's an essential part of our pre-show routine. While we do this, sound technicians come by to hook up our mic packs and make sure our ears are all sorted out the way we need them to be, assuring me that I won't have my usual problems with them.

I'm still having a hard time shaking off my high when we finish warm ups.

"Anyone have red bull?" I shout through the tent.

"Yeah but it's half drank. It's yours if you want it though," one of the dancers says.

He hands me the semi-warm can and without hesitation I down it. When I go to put it down, I realize most of the tent it staring at me.