Somewhere in Neverland (An All Time Low Fan Fic)

4) A Real Nowhere Land

Now Leaving Baltimore! Come back soon! The sign was still burned into my mind, a month later. I missed the beautiful city scene, the air that seemed a little less rustic in Maryland than here in Georgia. Because countless hours, sitting in a classroom, staring into space as a teacher droned on and on about equations, essays, or dead historians gave room to a girl's escape plots to big city fantasies.

We had left Baltimore with our end of Spring Break tears, and maybe a few fresh ones from the undesirable journey away from the lovely city. Noelle had kept her head glanced back long after the remorseful sign had bid it's goodbyes and I was mentally preparing for the months to come before summer.

Of course, along with the sign, Alex's parting words stuck into my brain with an iron fury. "Looks like you will get to see Sleeping after all." The smirk and the wink were practically all I could think about.

Of course, mine and Noelle's parents gave us the stern 'we'll think about it' whenever the subject of Warped Tour was brought forth. It was something of a stupid fantasy. For Noelle and me, it was that one concert you really wanted to go to, your favorite artist ever, and then multiplied by one thousand.

Warped Tour had been a daydream away for Noelle and me since we discovered our first band: Green Day. Okay, understatement. Mason had introduced the band, and forced us into liking them.

Okay, exaggeration. Mason didn't force anything. Noelle and I just always loved whatever phase Mason was going through. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Green Day, The Beatles. Even when Mason and a few of his friends had their own band, The Shenanigans, Noelle and I were right up there in front row: their number one fans.

A daydream away. Warped Tour. So yes, All Time Low's song was now stuck in my head, and related to my fantasies in any way I could possibly achieve. I was a little obsessed with the band, if I did say so myself. I hadn't realized how big they actually were, and they were big.

In the month that followed our sweetly sour Spring Break, Noelle and I had managed to familiarize ourselves with the band we'd hopefully being touring with. Understatement. We'd managed to get ourselves obsessed with yet another band.

After one of my few, lingering school days was passed through mindlessly, I led my own way out into the student parking lot and clambered into my white Jeep Wrangler, shooting up the stereo and sitting in the long line of awaiting cars to exit the school's grounds. Just as I was the first car waiting to pull out onto the busy street, a tiny horn chirped behind me and I glanced into my rearview. Noelle's tiny black Accord. I smirked and flipper my blinker to the opposite direction, leading myself and the black car behind me into the street leading towards the aquatic center.

I pulled into the parking lot as Noelle's little black car pulled along beside me. Our window's rolled down simultaneously, and Noelle peered at me with a grin that would even impress the Cheshire Cat.

"What's going on...?" I questioned with a grin. With Noelle, it could range anywhere from a new lip balm to a date with the star quarterback. She was just an excited person, when it really mattered.

"Mason got a call." She yelled through the window. "He's leaving the door before school lets out for Baltimore." I smiled, happy for Noelle's brother.

"That's so awesome!" I shouted back and downward, since the Accord was so much smaller than the Jeep.

"He's got three tickets, bitch." Noelle smirked, although it brightened through her cheeks and into her eyes. Noelle was glowing. And I was on the verge of screaming because AH! Mason had three tickets. And unless he was preparing the gain a lot of weight in the next two weeks, Noelle and I had permission to pack up and travel around the continental United States of America. This was a fucking dream come true.

I was beaming throughout swim practice, a stupid grin plastered to my face as I showered and washed away the chlorine. It was still plastered through dinner, and on through my parent and live in bastard's long speech of safety on our trip.

In bed, I scrolled through my Twitter, and decided to tweet something to the extent of my excitement. @MWilliams: So excited to be going to Warped this year. I expect to be introduced to Sleeping @AlexAllTimeLow

I laid back in my bed, still beaming. I wasn't sure if that stupid grin would ever disappear from me face. Of course, I know now that it probably will never return, but that will de discovered later in my story.

I was just drifting off to sleep when my phone dinged at the incoming Twitter alert. I glanced over, and felt my heart pound a little faster than it should have.

@AlexAllTimeLow: Of course! I can't wait to see you in a few weeks, beautiful!

I fell asleep with an even bigger grin. But here it was, my incoherent self missing this bigger picture. Because this was the beginning of something positively lovely, and an ending that was so dreadful it over shadowed every tiny bit of happy. Strike. One.