The Unexpected

Ch8 - Planning

Chapter 8 - Planning

The next few days were some of the most hectic and amazing of my life yet. Once we officially agreed to being their opening act is was like we started a flood. I had never realized how much went into the running of a tour, especially one that stretched world-wide.

Over the course of the weekend we had various meetings, with Cathy, with One Directions management and with our lawyers. There were so many details that needed to be worked out and contracts signed that I felt like I was drowning in paperwork at times. For the next week we had to work on designing our half hour long set list to play for the opening of each show and then have more meetings to discuss it.

It was so overwhelming that at night I just laid in my bed staring at the roof running it through my head; the band my best friends and I had made would be touring America in a few short months. We weren’t allowed to discuss the tour details until they were announced, which meant nobody could know we were the opening act. I thought it was going to be so hard reigning in my excitement and not telling anyone at school, especially Kate and Brooke.

But, on Monday, it was easier than I thought keep my excitement at bay, I was exhausted from the weekend. I sat through all of my courses half asleep and being jealous of the fact that both Derek and Alex had days off work and were sleeping in.

I sat with Kate and Brooke at lunch and half listened to them talk about the upcoming biology test while I picked at my sandwich. I was counting down the hours until I could go home and sleep for a bit before going to Alex and Derek’s to work on the set list.

“Emily!” A harsh voice made me open my eyes suddenly; funny I didn’t realize they were closed.

“Hmmm?” I looked up at Kate and Brooke who were looking at me weirdly. I got the impression it wasn’t the first, or second for that matter, time they called my name.

“Are you alright?” Brooke asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” I stopped to yawn and stretched my arms, “I was at Derek and Alex’s all weekend and I didn’t get much sleep. We are working really hard on the album.” The half-truth tasted bitter coming out of my mouth, but I was surprised how truthful it sounded. I never thought myself to be a good liar.

“You should really concentrate on your studies for the next bit,” Kate said gently, “This is our last year and these exam marks are going to be looked at by Universities.” I yawned again before answering,

“Yeah I know.” I wanted to explain that I didn’t have time for studying when I had so much to get done and so many meetings to attend, but I busied myself in taking a bite of my sandwich. Brooke shrugged it off quickly, but Kate didn’t look convinced and shot me a concerned look.

In the next week a lot was finalized for the tour. We finally figured out our set list and a time line for the next few months. We were going to rehearse our list and try to get out our album before the tour which we would join right after my school ended. There were some papers that needed to be signed in person, so two weeks before the tour Derek and Alex were going to fly to London to work it out, while I stayed back and did my exams. I understood that I had to stay for my exams, but I was pretty bummed that I couldn’t go to London. A week before the tour we would all fly our and meet in Mexico, where the tour started, and run rehearsals until the first show.

The next two months were a blur of rehearsals, meetings and studying. I unintentionally fell asleep studying in Derek and Alex’s apartment more than once, but I still managed to keep my grades up. I found it increasingly difficult to keep the tour from everyone around me, but I managed until finally we were told they were announcing it. The night before they announced it, I didn’t sleep, announcing it seemed to make it real that we were actually going to do this. Only one month until we were starting.

I woke up and logged onto twitter. I knew that the boys were announcing our joining the tour on their twitter and websites so I decided to post it on our band account as well.

‘So excited to be supporting @onedirection on the American leg of their upcoming tour!’ I typed, trying to keep it simple. Almost immediately there were dozens of replies. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to read some before school.

‘Who even are you though?’ One read and I frowned before continuing.

‘Why would they choose a shitty band to open for them, where the hell are @5sos? #dissapointed’

‘The lead singer looks like a bitch #sorrynotsorry’ I got slightly more upset with each tweet and tried to find a positive one.

‘I’m so excited! I finally get to see you guys in concert! #bigfan’ I smiled and retweeted the girls tweet and followed her. I knew we were going to get hate for touring with the boys, I only hoped the support would outweigh it. Deciding that I had read enough twitter for the day, I got up and dressed for school.

By the time lunch rolled around at school I wished I hadn’t come. In each class I had people openly stare at me and whisper to their friends; didn’t they know that was rude? I hadn’t seen Brooke or Kate all day and all the looks were really getting to me. I was the first to arrive at our table and I was excited with finally being able to share the news with them. I did not expect the reactions I got.

“Hey, so I heard you’re going on tour with One Direction.” Brooke said sitting down across from me, an odd tone in her voice, “Thanks for telling me.”

Usually she’d be joking, but her tone was sarcastic and her eyes were hard. The expression from her threw me off so much that my explanation came out weak.

“Well, we signed a contract. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone until they announced it.”

“Yeah, I know they announced it, I’ve heard it from everyone at school.” Brooke replied icily, “I didn’t believe it at first because I thought, ‘No if something that important happened to one of my best friends then she would definitely tell me.’ Guess not.” Brooke blew a hair out of her face before abrubtly standing up and leaving.

I was too shocked to say anything so I watched her storm out of the cafeteria before looking incredulously at Kate, who had sat down just as Brooke was leaving.

“I’m sorry, but there was a contract and I didn’t think you guys would be upset and-“ Kate interrupted me mid-sentence, and I was kind of glad because I was going to either continue rambling forever or burst out in tears.

“I’m not mad at you Emily.” She smiled at me, “I’m kind of upset that I had to hear it from someone else, but I understand that it was in the contract. I don’t really think there was anything else you could do.”

I immediately got up and hugged her.

“Oh my god I was so scared, I don’t think I could deal with it if you both hated me.” I mumbled into her shoulder.

“Nobody hates you, Brooke’s just upset.” She replied and I had no clue how I got so lucky to have such an incredible friend. “You know this explains why you’ve been practically dead for the past two weeks! I was so worried about you!”

“Kate you worry so much, you are going to be that mom that bubble wraps their kids!” I joked and she pushed me in the shoulder.

We both sat down and ate our lunch, Brooke didn’t return and we didn’t bring it up.

As we were walking towards our next class something hit me; I wasn’t only blessed with the amazing opportunity to tour with my band, but also to have such amazing people surrounding and supporting me. How did I ever get so lucky? The epiphany I had kept the smile on my face for the rest of the day, the stares didn’t bother me because I realized I simply didn’t care what they thought; the ones whose opinions mattered were behind me 100%.

A/N: I’ll post the next chapter if this one gets 5 votes since clearly I can't get 10 and I really want to post the next chapter :)