ball boy • b.u

8; brendon

It was the day of the first semester's talent show. Spencer, Jon, Ryan and I signed up with our band. I was exceedingly nervous, which never happens. I could live on the stage, I love entertaining people. Watching the light shine in their irises as the corner of their mouths form a point and the tiny part of their eyes crinkles. I love it. I'm nervous though, because Cassidy is watching. She promised me she would come, and I don't know what to expect. Will she hate it? Oh, gosh I hope not. I'd be so embarrassed if she thought we sucked. I really like her. I don't need to practically make fun of myself doing this act.

We were getting ready behind stage, and I noticed all the weird people around us. Two kids had magician sets, both of them were okay but not the best I've seen. Last year was sick. A few people had piano solos, and others had just random things that I'm actually not quite sure what they were. I was nervously tapping my feet as I was sitting in an uncomfortable green fold-out chair. Ryan was tuning his guitar, Spencer was on his phone texting someone, most likely Dallon, he was sitting out in the crowd. Jon was staring off into space.

"Hey man, you okay?" I jumped, not noticing that Ryan had placed his hand on my shoulder and abandoned his task.

I nodded, "Yeah. Just nervous." I said.

"You? Nervous? What the fuck." Jon said, raising his hands in emphasis. Ryan rolled his eyes,

"Cassidy?" he asked. I nodded. He smiled. "Ohh, young love." he clutched over his heart jokingly and brushed his forehead with his hand. I laughed, I noticed my tapping had slowed to a bare minimum now.

"Dude. Dallon says the place is actually packed today." Spencer finally pipes in.

"Really? Sweet." Jon said, leaning back in his chair. I pulled out the lyric sheet from my back pocket, and quickly read over them again to refrain from any fuck ups. I began to hum the tune. I loved Ryan's lyrics. There's so much thought and care put into them, its not just a typical song you hear on the radio. Its meaningful and has a story behind it, instead of the exact same few lyrics repeated over and over. The MC was out on stage now, introducing the first act. We were going up fourth. My feet started to tap again and I stared at the curtain in front of me.

"I'm going to go watch the act." I announced before standing up and walking over to the open part in the curtains. I peered through and watched as a freshman did her gymnastics. She wasn't bad, it was actually quite mesmerizing. After the act ended and the MC came back out, I let my eyes wander to the crowd and I immediately spot Cassidy. She was already looking at me, which I didn't notice. She raised her hand and gave me a little wave and I returned one with a big stupid grin on my face. She smiled widely too, before giving me a thumbs up. The next act pushed past me and onto the stage. I figured I should probably start tuning my guitar, so I walked back over to my green chair and reached over for my guitar. I fiddled with the tuning pegs while listening to the current act singing. They had a nice voice but he certainly hasn't hit puberty yet. Or she. Or they, I'm not one to judge a book by the cover.

I'm an anxious mess by the time the MC announces "Panic! At The Disco" to come onto stage. We hesitantly make our way out and I gulp down a lump in my throat. I look to Ryan for reassurement and he nods encouragingly. I lower the mic stand a little to fit with my height.

"Hi," I said, looking around and feeling Cassidy's stare. She's smiling at least. "We're Panic! At The Disco and we're going to sing a song that our guitarist, Ryan, wrote called 'Camisado.' We hope you enjoy." I say and readjust my guitar pick in my fingers before I start to strum.

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Okay I normally don't like doing authors notes because I like leaving cliff hangers (haha whoops) but I'd like to say this: I hope you noticed that this chapter is a lot more bulky. I put more detail into it and more effort and I'm glad to say that I'm going to try to do that more. After reading some fan fictions recently I remembered how fucking important detail is and I got inspired. I will try my best to make the rest of the chapters like this, and I hope you enjoy. Adios mi amigos.