“Natalie! We need some help over here!” Jason said into his walkie talkie from the other side of the arena.
“Hang on a second Jason, I’m showing some VIPs to the backstage area.”
There was no response and I apologized to the ecstatic fans while I led them through the currently empty mosh pit and up onto the stage.
“Natalie! I need help with my drums! The brothers are being mean to me!”
I jumped out of my skin as Arin screamed across the arena and a shiver ran down my spine as his childish ways brought back memories of when Jimmy would be having the same problem and be whining and complaining, they were so alike sometimes it was scary.
“Hang on kids, let me get someone else to show you around, Arin gets impatient.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at them a little while the fans and their bored parents laughed quietly and I stood on my tiptoes to try and find someone who could take over from me.
“Brian! Get over here!”
His head snapped up and he jogged over to me. I could hear the fan girls in the group trying to keep the screams in making me giggle a little.
“What do you need Sneakers?”
“Are you doing anything important right now?”
“Yeah, sound check. Why?”
“Uh, what about Zack?”
“He’s done but he’s disappeared somewhere.”
We both shuddered at the same time and I grimaced.
“Arin?”
“Not a good idea.”
“Johnny?”
“Doing sound check.”
“Matthew?”
I heard a sharp intake of breath from somewhere close behind me and I spun on my heel to see him standing right behind the group of fans.
“Really Natalie?”
“Yeah Shadz, really. Do me a favor, show these guys round, Arin needs my help.”
“But…”
“No buts. You owe me.”
“I owe you nothing.”
The venom was dripping from his voice and in truth it terrified me and I reached my hand up to lightly touch my cheek where the bruise was just now fading. Now I understood what Brian was saying the other night about him not caring about the fans anymore. This isn’t something they would want to hear and I felt bad that they had to see him like this.
“Matt, just show your fans around. I’ve got work to do.”
“How do you know that I don’t?” He called as I walked off.
“Because I know you!”
I jogged over to where Arin, Jason and Matt were standing around his drums.
“So, what’s the problem?”
“Jason and Matt set them up wrong.” Arin whined.
“Really boys you should know how to do this by now.”
“Hey, in our defense he never let us touch his drums… He set them up himself.” Jason muttered looking at the floor and we all fell silent.
“Natalie! Where did you take the VIPs?” Claire shrieked at me while I quickly fixed up the instrument.
“I left them with Matt. These boys needed help and I couldn’t bring them over here. He’s meant to be taking them to backstage for now.”
She sneered at me. She now knew as of three days ago what I was to the guys. She knew the whole story and she’d taken NO side, she still hated all of us but her paycheck was big enough that she didn’t care.
When I finally slid out from under the drums they were perfect for Arin.
“Thank you Natalie.”
“You’re welcome Arin, hey Brian’s waving at me, I’ll see you later.”
“Cool.”
“On my way Brian!” I called over to him.
As I made my way over I noticed Matt dumping the fans on some other roadie, a newbie that had only joined us last week.
“Brian this needs to be quick, Matt’s dumped the fans on the new guy.”
“Okay, um, I broke a guitar string.”
“Oh for God’s sake Brian!”
I groaned as I picked up my walkie talkie off my belt and told Jason to get a new pack of strings to Brian.
“Okay, he’s on his way. Sorry, emergency.”
“It’s cool Sneakers.”
I all but sprinted towards the group of fans, almost knocking over Larry and Johnny in the process. As I ran I managed to catch a snippet of their conversation.
“Was… was that Natalie?”
I smiled and made a mental note to go say hi in a bit but right now I was on a mission to save a bunch of VIP fans from being told how to set up equipment.
“Mike, that’s not what they’re here for. Work experience kids are joining us next week. Sorry guys, you’ll get to the backstage soon, it’s just a little bit chaotic round here today. Here, let me take you back there now.”
I picked up my walkie talkie again and made sure that Matt Berry had set up the backstage area like it was supposed to be. It was and so I led them through the maze of corridors until they got back there.
“Okay guys, so you’re finally in good hands now, sorry about the confusion. Shadows is just a bit stressed right now. This is Matt Berry, he’s gonna keep you guys company until the guys are done with sound check and you can ask him anything you want. Before I go, is there anything that you want to ask me?”
A lot of the kids put their hands up so I just started with the first one and went round until it was over.
“Yeah, so are you the only girl working with Avenged Sevenfold?”
“Not really, they’re tour/assistant manager, Claire is somewhere around here but in a way I am cause I’m around the most.”
“Is it true that Zacky Vengeance has a girlfriend?”
I looked up at Matt for help with this one. He shrugged.
“Um, that’s his private business, not something that I should be talking about. Next question.”
“Aren’t you Natalie Hunter? They’re old co-manager that was on their DVD?”
“Yeah, yeah I am.”
“Then why are you a roadie this time round?”
“Well, I left the guys for a while and when I saw them again, my old job had been filled. These guys are my family though so I took a roadie position just to be able to work with them. Anymore questions?”
They all shook their heads so I said goodbye and walked off towards where Larry and Johnny were. Not looking where I was going, I bumped into someone, falling on my ass.
“Watch out Natalie!” Matt spat at me.
I shook my head and carried on walking, not missing the glare he sent my way. What had happened to us? It was one little mistake that ruined everything we ever had. It’s funny actually, how three little words can change your life forever.
