Adopted (Book 1) *EDITING*

Chapter 18: Really Cool and Happy Birthday

Blaaaaa writers block.

I awoke to the feeling of being shook. I groan and rub my tired eyes. Then three voices sang out in harmony. "HAPPY BIRRRTTHHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIIIIRRTHDAY TO YOUU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SYDNEYYYYYYYYYY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU!" Sang Dallon, Brendon, and Kenny wiggling their hands and smiling. I giggle and rub my eyes again, throwing my blankets aside. I swung off the bed and hug them all. We swayed back and forth as we hugged. I have a feeling this is gonna be a fun day.

"How does it feel to be 16!" Kenny says ruffling my hair. I swat at his hand and fix my hair.

"I feel like an old woman." I say, putting my hand on my back. "Ahhhh my back!" I say in my old lady voice. We all giggle and walk to the sitting area. The clock on the wall read around 12:00 in the afternoon, we perform at 6 so we have time to chill. Dallon grabbed a mug from the counter and handed it to me before I sat down. I sweet smell arose from it.

"It's mango tea, your favorite." He said, I smile and thank him. My eyes scan the room as I sip my tea. Dallon, Kenny, and Brendon were all sitting now sipping their coffee. There was a comfortable silence along with the faint sound of people walking by outside and other bus doors occasionally opening or shutting. After a few minutes Kenny spoke up.

"I got you something." He said, smiling and reached into his coat. He pulled out a little box wrapped in blue paper. While you you and Brendon were gone, I made a trip out to buy you something special.." He handed me the box. I just look down at it.

"Wow, thanks Kenny." I say and rip the paper. It reviewed a small brown box. I pull off the top revealing its insides. There sitting in a white padded surface was a necklace. It had at thin silver chain and had two small silver letters hanging together, S and U. S for Sydney and U for Urie. My mouth drops open a little. "Kenny, it's so beautiful! Thank you." I say, getting up and hugging him before putting it around my neck.

"No problem." Be replied and sat back in his chair. Dallon then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small little box not wrapped, but tied with a red bow.

"I got you something too." He reached over and handed the box to me. I pulled the bow off and opened the top of the box. There, in a bag sat white guitar picks. Not just any white guitar picks, these ones were special. In the middle of one side, it read in black writing "Panic! At The Disco." I flipped one of the picks over. On the other side, it had a small feather. Underneath the feather, in my hand writing it said "Sydney Urie." I smile and get up to hug Dallon. I've always wanted my own guitar picks, I've always had to use Kennys and Dallons. "I'm glad you like them." He said, hugging me. I smile and sit back down, taking a sip of my tea. Brendon then speaks up.

"Your gonna have to wait until the show to get my present." He said smiling.

"Can I ask why?" I said setting down my mug. He just laughed, leaned back, and placing his hands behind his head.

"Oh you'll see my dear, you'll see." He said. "Now who's up for some brunch?" He said, sitting up and clapping his hands together. We all agreed to go get food. I got up and picked out some clothes. I picked out a pair of black knee ripped skinny jeans and a MCR shirt. I quickly got changed and applied some makeup. After slipping on my converse, we walked out of the bus and went searching for some food around the festival. We ended up finding a taco truck and we ate birthday tacos.

• 5 HOURS LATER •

There we are in our bus, one hour until showtime. We all are singing songs off of Pretty Odd. Brendon is sitting on the couch playing guitar, Dallon is in the bunk area folding some of his clothes, Kennys sitting next to Brendon drumming on his knees to the song, and me, I'm in the bunk area digging through my suitcase trying to find an outfit for tonight's show.

"If the world were ending would you kiss me or just leave me, just leave me!" We sang as we all did our separate things. I finally could suitable clothes. I pull out my white Green Day shirt with pink writing and my black torn up skinny jeans. I yelled out "changing!" as we all do so no one will look as one of us changes. Dallon turned away and I switched my clothes. After that I yelled out "Done!" and grabbed my makeup bag.

I applied my normal amount of eyeliner and mascara before slipping out and into the sitting area. I grabbed my converse and laced them up tight. Walking over to the wall to grab my leather jacket, we continued to sing. All of the sudden we got a knock on the door. We all stopped sing and Brendon stopped playing. I slipped on my jacket and opened the door. There stood a guy who clearly was part of the staff.

"God I can see why they call your bus the musical bus, I could hear you guys from three buses away." He said chuckling a bit. I smile a little. "Anyways, we need you guys backstage. Panics on in 15 minutes." He said. I thanked him and closed the door. I stuffed my picks in my pocket and we began our short walk to the backstage area.

The walk was pretty cool, I was clearly the youngest performer there which was pretty damn cool. I was turning faces and hearing whispers. For some reason I felt powerful in a strange way. For the one of the first times in my life, people were whispering good stuff about me. I smirked and kept walking. I sped up so that I was with my dad.

"So," he said, running his hand through his hair. "Are you excited for your present?" He looks over at me as we walk. We were almost to the gate.

"Is it really necessary to give it to me on stage, in front of about 10,000 people?" I say crossing my hands over my chest. He chuckles and walks in front of me through the gate.

"You'll see kid, You'll see." I sigh and walk behind him through the gate, Dallon and Kenny behind me. Someone sees us and directs us to the back stage area. When we get there we are greeted with the backstage crew. They were moving about, getting things ready. One pulled Brendon aside and started talking to him. Being the snoopy person I am, I tried to listen in.

"...9 song in...acoustic...birthday...the special gift." Damn it, I barely heard anything. Then the guy walked away, Brendon returned to us. Before I could say anything to him, a staff member walked over to us and hands us our earpieces. "4 minutes." She said smiling at me. We all took our earpieces and put them in. As we do every time before a concert, we group hugged. Our good lucks were muffled by each others body's. We made our way closer to the stage. "3 minutes! Instruments please!" Someone yelled. All of the sudden, I was wearing my guitar. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Let's do this. Before I even knew what was happening, someone shouted, "1 minute!" I hear the intro kick in and I see the screen on the stage light up with a video. The audience went wild. The guys and I are ready to run out, we watch the video until we see the numbers on the screen counting down and we could hear the audience screaming the numbers.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6!" Brendon leans down and kisses my forehead. We all began to walk to the small stairs leading to the stage. "5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" We jog up the stairs one by one. The crowd goes wild. We start out with the first song I picked, New Perspective. They went wild. I smile at them and play my little heart out. After the song, Brendon talked to the fans.

"Why hello Arizona! You look very sexy on this fine afternoon!" The audience cheered. He giggled. "So tonight, we are gonna do something a little different. You see," he walked over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "It is my beautiful daughters birthday!" He shouted. They all go wild. I giggle. "So why don't we sing her happy birthday!" He cleared his throat and backed away from me a little bit. "One two three." He said. "Happy birthday to youuuuu HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SYYYYYYDDDNEY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" He and the giant audience sang. He walks over to me and gives me a big kiss on the cheek. I giggle and grab my mic.

"Wow thanks guys!" I say giggling slightly. Brendon speaks up again.

"Tonight, since it is her birthday. I promised her that she could put a set list together for tonight. A promise is a promise so here are my daughters favorites songs." He screamed. I giggled and we started to play This is gospel, our second song. That means nine more songs until my birthday surprise.