The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 21 (Cheryl's POV)

It all started going downhill after the little girl in the Folie à Deux shirt went running up to Patrick. When the woman hugged Patrick, who looked like he wanted to jet. When the other woman looked at Hailey, giving her a twisted smile. When Hailey got this glint in her eyes and started walking vengefully towards the scene.

After it processed in my mind, I sprint forward, running after Hailey. No one has noticed her yet, but I can't find my voice to yell at them. Before I can get to her, Hailey's fingers wrap around the girl's neck, and I just realize that the girl who is fighting for air is the same girl who hit me with that frying pan.

For a scary moment, I realize Hailey isn't letting go. The expression on her face is pure hatred. I have never seen her look like that before.

Patrick runs over to Hailey, trying to pull her off of the choking girl. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost. Patrick isn't having any luck, not while Hailey is in this demonic revenge mode, so I run over and help, both of us shoving her off of the girl.

"Revenge isn't the answer!" Patrick yells scoldingly.

"The hell it isn't!" I retort, bringing a fist up and slamming it into the girls face, the blow hard enough to send her backwards a few steps.

"That's for using a frying pan against me, you stupid asshat!"

She stumbles back, cupping her now bleeding nose. She glares at me and Hailey, who looks confused.

"This isn't over," she growls, stalking off in the opposite direction.

All of us glance at each other, and the little girl with the Folie à deux shirt starts bursting out crying.

Guilt and regret passes over Hailey's face, and she crouches down to the little girl's level. Hailey tries to reach for her, but the girl shrinks away, trembling and sobbing quietly.

"I'm so sorry," Hailey mutters repeatedly, covering her face with her hands. Her behavior has really confused me lately. She turns into a completely different person when she's mad.

I sit beside Hailey, putting my arm around her. I'm not good at comforting people with words, so I just let her know I'm there. I look up and see who I'm assuming is the little girl's mother pick her up, glaring daggers at us, and smiling sweetly at Patrick.

"I'll talk to you soon," she purrs, walking off in the direction her psycho friend did, the little girl waving sadly at Patrick with tears running down her face.

I vaguely notice the guys scramble around us, Pete and Patrick arguing with a security guard while Joe and Andy run off to find the women, I'm guessing.

"It was her, I'm telling you, Marcus! The girl who hit Cheryl on the tour bus! I'm not crazy! I'm-"

"Whoa, Pete, calm down. Where did she go?"

He continues rambling on about what she looks like and where she went, and Marcus intently listens, then jogging off in the direction that Pete showed him.

Patrick runs over to us, and he takes Hailey away from me, pulling her into his lap and rocking her back and forth, while she sighs exasperatedly.

"Its alright now, she's gone. She's not gonna hurt any of us now. You're okay," Patrick soothes, stroking Hailey's hair gently.

"N-no, I d-don't understand what happened. I don't remember anything after seeing the little girl hug you and then after being shoved off of the woman. And Cheryl punched her, making the little girl cry. It hurt when she backed away from me and I don't even know what I did to make her scared of me." She pushes her body off of Patrick, looking up at our confused faces.

"What do you mean, you don't know what you did?" Patrick asks cautiously.

"I don't know!" She yells, growing frustrated. "I don't know. All I know is I felt anger surging through me, and it felt like I blacked out, and then I wake up being pushed away in the middle of a fight. What did I do to her? She deserved whatever I did."

"You choked her. It took both me and Cheryl to push you off of her. The first time, on the tour bus, you kept punching her over and over again, not stopping or faltering until I pulled you off of her," Patrick explains. Hailey looks genuinely shocked.

"Everybody, go home! You can all go home now!" Marcus screams at everybody still in the pit, trying to get all of them to leave before they get too curious. After he herds everybody out, he jogs over to us, looking at us apologetically.

"I'm sorry guys, but there's no sign of them. They're far gone, not anywhere from a mile radius around the building. When they dashed, they dashed. But we have an image of her, so if we ever see her, she will not get anywhere close to you guys."

"Thanks, Marcus," Patrick says, nodding at him.

After a couple minutes of silence, I pipe up, "So, what now?"

Hailey shrugs. "We act as normal. A crazed brat shouldn't change anything. We can all take care of ourselves since we know what were in for."

"Was she moreeeeee than you bargained for yet?" Joe chants, sprinting across the stage, Pete chasing after him and tackling him to the ground. Hailey cracks a smile and I chuckle.

"See? I made em smile!" Joe yells from under Pete's grip.

That chick better not screw this tour up for us.