The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 63 (Patrick's POV)

Brendon is dead meat.

I can't believe he cut the strings of every single one of our guitars. I liked those guitars! Now I have to get all of them strung again. Thank God he didn't mess up my Stump-o-Matic.

When we started The Kids Aren't Alright, our instruments wouldn't play a thing. And then I realized the strings were cut. And then I remembered the scissors that were in Brendon's hand. On sudden impulse, I had grabbed the mic and screamed his name angrily, like that would make it better. The crowd just became silent and looked at us questioningly.

"Looks like Brendon Urie got us for prank week," Pete had said into the microphone. Then everyone laughed.

"Excuse us for a bit, while we get our original guitars tuned again," Joe said, and we tuned them and continued our show.

Now, I'm chasing Brendon's soon-to-be-meat-clobbered ass around backstage and through the halls. That man can run fast. This is when I wish I were taller.

"Please don't kill me!" Brendon screeches.

"Of course not, I'll torture you a little first!" I yell back, and Brendon makes a sharp left turn. I grin devilishly, because he doesn't know that this is a dead end.

I sprint as fast as I can, and he realizes he's cornered. He screams like a girl, trying to turn around, but he sees I'm a good ten feet away from him and he squeaks, wrapping his arms around himself and mumbling something.

"Please if there's a god up there please help me from this demon that has risen from the dead and is possessed and wants to kill me for an innocent prank I'm far too young to die so please help me-"

Before he can finish his pathetic prayer, I leap off the ground and tackle him. We crash to the floor, and he squirms underneath me. I pin his arms behind his head, and he looks at me with pure fear.

I almost laugh, but I keep up the pissed façade to scare him.

"Please, Patrick, it was just a prank, I didn't know it would make you so mad-"

"Of course it would make me mad! You know how much my guitars mean to me," I growl. For good measure, I tighten my grip around his wrists, and he winces.

"I'm sorry, I'll pay for the replacement strings, I swear," he pleads, and I begin to feel bad. I'm not as mad as I'm acting, I just wanted to shake him up a bit.

"You shouldn't have done it," I say quietly, looking angrily into his nervous eyes. Then I get off of him, helping him up.

"I know, I didn't do it to be mean. It was a prank."

"Good, because I'm not mad." I grin at him, but he doesn't realize what I said.

"I'm really sorry," he goes on, but then what I said registers in his mind. He looks at me questioningly. "Wait, what?"

"I'm not mad. I just chased you and tackled you for effect," I explain, laughing. Now it's his turn to be mad, and he smacks my arm.

"Patrick! You really scared me."

"I know." At this point I'm nearly doubled over laughing, and he just pouts.

I hear footsteps, and turn around. The guys, Cheryl, and Gracie are turning the corner, approaching us.

"What's going on here?" Andy asks. I'm still dying on the floor, so Brendon glares at me, then explains.

"Patrick made me think he was super pissed at me and chased me everywhere, then tackled me and scared the shit out of me by growling threats at me and looking at me with an expression in his eyes that almost made me pee myself. Then said he was joking."