The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 6 (Hailey's POV)

Ever since our confrontation with Fall Out Boy, Cheryl and I have been roaming around the venue, looking at band merch and killing time until the band gets away from the mob of fans.

"How are we going to know when to go to the bus?" I ask Cheryl, looking around for any signs of the guys. Unsuccessfully.

"I'm not su-"

"Hey everybody!" Everyone starts screaming as the bassist hops up on stage and yells into the microphone. "How's everyone doing?" More screams. "You all were a fucking great audience! We love you! But we have to get going now! Bye, guys!" I see Pete's eyes scanning the crowd until they land on us. He nods almost imperceptibly, but I see it, and know that's our signal.

"Come on," I murmur, grabbing Cheryl's arm, "we can't let anyone see us go onto the bus."

"Why?" Cheryl asks, running after me.

"If the media finds out, were screwed. They'll make up stories about us and ruin our lives."

"Oh. That makes sense," Cheryl says kind of sarcastically.

We sneak around the back of the stage, making sure nobody notices us, which gratefully no one did, until we run into a security guard. His name tag says "Marcus."

"I'm sorry, ladies, but you can't come back here."

We both take the VIP passes out of our pockets and show them to him. He looks unconvinced at first, but Pete runs around the back of the stage and taps Marcus on the back, saying, "Its okay, they're with me."

Nodding once, Marcus crosses his arms and moves out of our way, and I thank him.

"So, how did you like the show?" Pete asks conversationally, looking back at us and grinning.

Cheryl seems a little too nervous to speak, so to save her from saying something stupid, I answer, "It was awesome, dude. You guys were amazing."

"Really?" Pete asks.

"Totally," Cheryl chimes in, "and great bass skills."

"Thanks," he responds, smiling at Cheryl. I elbow her in the ribs, wiggling my eyebrows, and she half yelps, half screams, "OW, FUCK!" and slaps me back.

"You guys alright back there?" Pete asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, just peachy," Cheryl responds in a strained voice, glaring at me. Pete just snickers.

By then, we had already gotten to the bus, and Pete pulls out a key, unlocking and opening the door, revealing an active tornado before us. Empty soda cans and pizza boxes are thrown everywhere, blankets and clothes and couch cushions scattered in some pretty odd places, and a bunch of miscellaneous crap is laying all around.

"As you can see, were pretty clean," Pete explains, chuckling.

I hear a "Fuck you, Trohman!" and look towards the sound, seeing Andy and Joe playing what seems like a pretty intense game of Mario Kart. Judging by Andy's exclamation, he's losing.

"Where's Patrick at?" Pete asks.

"Bathroom- oh hell no, Andy! You're going down!" Joe screams.

"Down, in an earlier round! Sugar, were going down swinging!" Pete yells in a singsong tone, jumping around like an idiot and flapping his arms like a retarded bird.

I think were going to like it here.

Just then, Patrick emerges from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, the only clothing on his body being a towel wrapped around his waist. Well, shit. I'm not staring at him at all. Totally not.

He hasn't noticed us yet, and Pete would have saved me some humiliation if he hadn't shouted, "Oooooh, getting naked for Hailey, are we?"

I glare incredulously at Pete as Patrick looks up and sees Cheryl and I standing there, his face turning red in embarrassment.

"Uh, sorry, I'm gonna go put clothes on." Patrick runs back to the bunks, the towel gripped tightly in his left hand.

"But, Patrick! Let me see what you have under that towel!" Pete shrieks in a feminine tone, probably mocking my voice.

"Shut the fuck up, Pete!" Patrick screams.

"You know you love me!" Pete yells back.

"Oh, god, I'm gonna punch all of you in your dicks of you don't shut up!" I yell, while Cheryl is just sitting there laughing her ass off.

"That's my girl!" Patrick yells back, causing my face to heat up in embarrassment.

Patrick soon comes back out in a blue shirt and black skinny jeans, plopping down on the couch next to Pete. Pete tries to lay his head on Patrick's shoulder, but he shakes a pouting Pete off. I have to admit, it was pretty funny.

"Come on, Peterick is real!" Pete whines, puckering his lips and trying to kiss Patrick on his cheek.

"No, it isn't! Help! I don't want cooties!"

"I got this!" Cheryl screams, pushing me towards the couch. I try to resist, but that girl has quite a death grip. She shoves me onto Patrick's lap, creating a barrier in between Patrick and Pete. Before I can scoot off and sit in between the two guys, Cheryl jumps there first, smirking at me.

"Payback for earlier," she says, kicking her feet up on the coffee table with a smug expression on her face.

I glance at Patrick who grins sheepishly at me, his face ruby red. Since I can't go anywhere else I might as well make myself comfortable, so I let my head rest on Cheryl, my legs laying on Patrick's. Joe throws us all some controllers, and then we all play a sick game of Mario Kart together, cussing each other out and insulting each other, not really meaning it.

"You know what would be awesome?" Joe asks.

"What would, Joe the Hoe?" Pete responds, getting smacked in the back of the head by Patrick.

He glares at Pete for the nickname, continuing his explanation. "If Hailey and Cheryl came with us for the rest of the tour."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Patrick adds.

I look at Cheryl, both of us grinning at each other like idiots.

"You wanna?" Pete asks us.

"Were in," both of us say in unison.

All of them respond with "cool" and "awesome". We continue our video game until we feel the bus jerk and start to run through the city. I look out the window and watch our city get smaller and smaller. Cheryl and I high five, smiling at the thought of being on tour with Fall Out Boy. The upcoming month should seriously be fun.