A New Beginning (A Sidemen Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

     We hadn't moved from our spots in the kitchen. We were barely talking, and when we did, it was a question I didn't want to answer, but did anyways.  The front door opened an I froze. When it shut again and footsteps came our way, my stomach churned. Soon, JJ come into the doorway. He was quiet and looked worried, which was something that JJ just don't do. I've hung out with all of the guys a few times, at Nandos or helping with the behind the scenes on a video. I have also watched a lot of their videos, I've grown to enjoy them a lot. "Hey." He said, sitting down beside Simon. I gave him a weak smile. "What's going on? Why are we making an emergency trip to Texas?" He asked, looking at me. "Her dad got arrested." Vik started, looking at me reassuringly. "She needs to be there for his trial." Josh continued to explain. "What did he do? Did he join the KKK or something?" He asked, trying to make light of the situation. A small smile formed on my face. "I guess you'll just have to find out when we get to Texas." Simon said with a small smile. "I don't like surprises though." JJ complained, making a fake sad face. I forced another smile. My phone started ringing and everyone looked my way. "Hello?" I said as I answered it. "How's it going?" Devan's voice instantly calmed me down. "Great. I'm pretty sure that they're all in." I said, looking between the boys who either smiled or nodded. "Mom arranged for all of you to stay at a hotel in town. Unless you want to stay here." He said. "That's great. Be sure and tell her I said thank you a million times." I said, smiling to myself. "She also called your mom, Vanessa, she said that she would come too." He said. I heard faint drumming. He drummed on things when he got nervous. Like before a test at school, or when he knew he was going to get in trouble, or when I went home. "Are you nervous?" I asked him. "For you, yeah." He said with a small sigh. "I'll be fine." I said. By now, I had forgotten about everyone else in the room. "I know how you are about telling people, and telling a room full of people is going to be hard." He said, still drumming. "Please. I still have to tell the rest of the guys." I said, this time I looked up. They were all staring at me. "Well I wish you luck." He said in a kind voice. I sighed. "I'm gonna need it." I said with a small smile. "I've got to go. Mom is calling me. Bye. I love you." He said quickly, but I could hear the drumming stop and his desk chair that I always sat in squeak. "Love you too." I said and hung up. I put my phone on the counter and looked back up. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend." JJ said with a smirk. "He's not my boyfriend. He's my best friend." I said with a nod. "Oh, so he got friendzoned?" He asked with a small chuckle. "No. He doesn't like me. I don't like him. Not like that anyways. I grew up with him." I said with a smile, thinking about him. "So he was your brother when I wasn't." Josh said, looking at the counter. "Sorta. But it's not like you abandoned me, you never knew I existed." I said, reaching out to touch his hand. "I just wish I was there. I could've done something about it." He said, sniffling. Was he crying? "There's nothing you could've done about it. No one could've done anything about it." I said, patting his hand. He was silent for a moment and Vik rubbed his back comfortingly. "Why didn't mum take you with us?" He asked, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes. "I don't know. But it's not her fault. It's not anyone's fault." I said, pulling my hand away. He sighed and wiped his eyes. "I've never been so confused." JJ said, looking at us. "JJ, you just lied through your teeth. You can barely read." Simon said jokingly. "I'm trying to be serious and you're making it very hard." JJ said with a chuckle. "She'll tell you when everyone gets here." Simon said, pointing to me with his thumb. JJ nodded. The door opened again and I sighed. Ethan and Tobi soon came into sight. "Hey guys." Ethan said as he came in. I felt his eyes on me as I looked at him. He was staring at me. I gave him a smile. Him and Tobi sat down. "What's going on?" Tobi asked, stretching his back. "We've got to go to Texas." Simon said, nodding. "Obviously." Tobi said, rolling his eyes. "Mackenzie's dad killed a man." JJ said, completely serious. "A black man." He added. Tobi looked at me, then back at JJ. "He didn't kill anyone." I said, rolling my eyes. "But he did get arrested. Mackenzie has to go to his trial." Vik said, looking at everyone. "So we figured we could turn it into a vacation." Josh said. "I've always wanted to go to Texas." Ethan said. "Why?" I asked, smiling. "Because I want to eat their burgers or steak or ride a bull or do something like that." He said, smiling. "That's racist." I said, pointing at him. "What? Not it's not!" He protested, laughing. I rolled my eyes. The door opened again. Now, my nerves were exploding. Harry walked in, carrying a bag. "I brought some food." He announced, putting it on the counter. All of the guys reached into the bag at once, while I sat there, thinking about what to say. After everyone got their choice of snack, they all turned to me. "We're waiting." JJ said jokingly. Simon nudged him with his elbow. I just stared at Josh, who was right in front of me. I just shook my head no. I don't know why, but that's all I could bring myself to do. If I couldn't even talk about to these guys, how the hell could I tell an entire courtroom? "Everyone remember those bruises Mackenzie had on her face?" Josh asked, not taking his eyes away from mine. I heard a few 'yeahs', but I wasn't really paying attention. "Her..our dad did that to her. He got arrested for it, finally, but she needs to be there for evidence." He said, finally breaking our eye contact. I just looked down, not at anyone. The room was silent and I hated how I could feel everyone's eyes. There was a hand on my back before another one joined. I looked up at the hands, Ethan and Tobi. I smiled and looked back down. "I have a question." Harry said. I looked up at him hesitantly. "How are you suppose to have evidence?" He asked, not looking at me. I hadn't really thought of that, but now that I did, I didn't want to. I sighed before answering. "H-he used to record it sometimes. Not sure why. He's just a fucked up person." I said, looking back down. "When are we leaving?" Ethan asked from my left side. "I'm not sure. I'll have to call and ask." I said, looking up at him. "Where are we going to stay?" Tobi asked. "At a hotel. Well, you guys will. I will probably stay with my friend." I said, looking around at them. "You've already got all of this figure out?" Simon asked. I nodded. My phone began ringing again an everyone was silent. "Hello?" I said into the phone, even though I knew it was Devan. "More news." He said, chuckling. "Yes?" I said, looking at my lap.  "All of you can stay here because mom and dad are going out of town. They said it was okay. You can sleep in my room and the guest room, my parents' room, and the two couches are free. And there's always the floor." He said. I could tell by his voice that he was smiling. "When do we need to be there?" I asked. "This is where things go wrong. Possibly be here tomorrow? I know that it's in short notice, but you flew to London in a day." He said. I sighed and leaned my elbow on the counter. "Yeah, but now it's me plus seven YouTubers that need videos." I said, resting my head in my hands. "Tell be okay. Stop stressing." He said comfortingly. "You're right. We'll figure it out." I said, looking up at the guys. "While you do that, I've got to get back to cleaning. I love you." He said quickly. "I feel like we've said this too many times today, but I love you anyways." I said. "Bye." He said. Before I could respond, he hung up. He always did that. "What's up now?" Josh asked. "Well bad news and good news." I said. "Good news is y'all don't have to stay in a hotel. Bad news is we have to fly there tomorrow." I said, looking around at them. "That won't be a problem." Vik said, standing up. "Yeah. We always keep extra videos in hand just in case we have an emergency. It's not many, but it will be enough" Simon said, standing up as well. "How long are we staying?" JJ asked. "Probably a couple of days." I said, nodding. "We better go pack then. We can stay here to make travel in the morning easier." Harry said, walking to the door. "I've got the tickets." Vik said, walking away. "I've got Ethan." Tobi said, grabbing Ethan's arm. It was silent and everyone looked at them. "Ethan can't drive." Tobi said awkwardly. Ethan laughed, causing us all to. Within minutes, the house was silent again. It was just me and Josh in the kitchen. "I'm glad you told them." He said. "What choice did I have?" I asked sarcastically. "Well...good point. Why didn't you want to tell them in the first place?" He asked. "Well, for one, I don't like talking  about it. I didn't want it to seem like I wanted attention or pity." I said, looking back down. "They saw how hard it was for you to talk about it, they understand." He said, standing up. I nodded. "I'm going to go help Vik with the tickets then pack. You alright?" He said, taking a few steps towards the door. I nodded and smiled. I don't even know if I was telling the truth to be honest. If I wasn't, I'll be okay. I'm always okay.