A blessing in disguise

Twenty One

The alarm rang at 6 in the morning. Even though were on tour, no one escapes reality. I rolled over and attempted to shut the alarm off. After a few tries I managed to knock the clock off the table and watch it unplug it's self from the socket. John was quick to cry from the obnoxious sound of the alarm. I went to get up and take care of him when a pair of arms pulled me back.

"No, you sleep in. I got this." Zach said in his sleepy voice.

I decided that arguing would be no use. I'm brainless in the morning anyways. Zach quickly got up and went over to John's crib. He took John out of the crib and let him run free. John ran screaming through the bunk area of the bus. I could hear a combination of groans of complaint and Zach's apologies. I turned over and went back to sleep.

I woke up several hours later to a quiet bus. I pulled a pair of jeans and a shirt from my bag. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth I explored the bus in search for someone. I discovered Stephanie, the boy's manager in the front lounge.

"Hi, how are you?" She asked in a generally delightful tone.

"Good I guess." I said making sure to add a shoulder shrug.

When sat in awkward silence for a couple of minutes before my questions got the better of me. "So where is everyone?"

Stephanie handed me a paper and explained it was the daily schedule.

Day 1:

7 a.m. - 8 a.m.: Manditory band meeting

8 a.m. - 10 a.m.: Load in/set up

10 a.m. - 11 a.m.: Interviews

11 a.m. - 4 p.m.: Free time

4 p.m. - 5 p.m.: VIP Sound check/Meet and greet

6 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Opening acts

8 p.m. - 9 :30 p.m.: Show time

10 p.m. - 10:55 p.m.: Meet and greet

11 p.m.: Bus call

"Is this how the schedule looks everyday?" I asked.

"For the most part, yeah." She said, quickly returning to her work.

I checked my phone to see that is was 11:30 a.m. Oh good, the boys had free time. I decided to venture out and see if I could find them. I stuck my phone in my pocket and headed for the bus door. I took a quick glance out the window and could see about 150 teenage girls already lined up. I rolled my eyes at the thought of overhearing what they're going to say when they see me come off the bus. Despite my better judgement, I pushed the door open and stepped outside. Looks were directly shot my way. I felt uncomfortable and started to speed walk past the girls to the front of the venue.

"Is that her?"

"Why is she on their bus?"

"I bet that's just a stupid band groupie. She's not even pretty, this is so unfair."

Those were just a few of the whispers that I heard. When I got to the front door I showed that guard my pass and ran down the nearest hallway. My eyes were foggy and I could barley see where I was going. I was trying to hold back the tears, but nothing helped. I leaned against a wall and slid down. I buried my face into my hands and let all of the tears out.

I was there for less then 30 seconds before someone came and sat down next to me.

"Grace, what's wrong?" It was Cameron. I was beyond glad it was him who came to comfort me. I know that I should find comfort in Zach, but I feel like those girls hate me because of him. Cameron has always been there for me. He's my stable support system.

"Just some fans out front making comments about me. I know that I shouldn't let it get to me, but for some reason it does." That slipped out of my mouth with a combination of tears and shortages of breath.

Cameron didn't say anything he just stood up and stormed down the hallway. I could hear him rustling through a drawer in the other room. A couple minutes later he stormed past me again, this time existing through the front door. Through the walls I could make out his voice, I assume he's using a megaphone.

"Can I have everyone's attention!.... Okay, I'm only going to say this once, so if you want pull out your cameras and upload this to youtube. I need the fans to understand something. Zach, Michael, and I are allowed to have whoever we want as company. If someone comes off our tour bus, don't call them names. Give them a smile and move of with your business. That girl that walked off the bus 10 minutes ago isn't a groupie or a whore. Her name is Grace and she is a very good friend of mine. I would just like to remind you to think before you speak. Thank you and be kind to each other."

The crowd was speechless. I was speechless. Cameron walked in with a smile on his face. I met his eyes and he grabbed my hand pulling me to my feet. "Thank you." I whispered to him. In response he put his arm over my shoulder and playfully messed up my hair.

"If anyone else messes with you, let your big brother Cameron take care of it."

I wanted to laugh at him, but my "big brother" is actually younger than the man who is the father of my child. What an odd thought.

Cameron and I walked down the hallway. He lead me out the backdoor. Outside we found Mikey, Zach, Dillon, Brent, and John in the parking lot. They were throwing around a football. I stood on the side and watched for a couple of minutes. Mikey caught the ball and handed it to John. As soon as John grabbed the football, Mikey hoisted him up on his shoulders and started running around claiming they "won". I was so focused on watching the boys that I didn't even notice Zach standing behind me.

"Cameron told me about the fans. I'm not gonna let this happen. I have something planned for later tonight." He whispered to me. I turned around to ask him to explain further, but he was already gone.

For the next couple of hours Zach avoided me. I wasn't sure what was going on. Cameron assured me that I have nothing to be worried about. At 6 I made my way to the side of the stage and sat down on a chair where I could see the stage perfectly. I was nervous that the crowd would see me, but Ricky assured me that if I can't see them, they can't see me. All of the opening acts were really good. I felt bad that I didn't know any of their songs, so to make up for it I sang and danced along to their covers.

As soon as the last song was sang by the opening acts, the lights dimmed and the team worked quickly to move all of the gear. In less then 10 minutes Allstar Weekend's stage was set up and the boys were ready to go on. I was disappointed because Zach existed backstage from the opposite side of me. I wanted to give him a kiss before he went on stage , instead I sat there and twiddled with my thumbs.

The intro started and the lights burst on. Brent, Dillon, Mikey, Cameron, and Zach ran on stage. I soon forgot about the non-existent kiss and got lost in the music. The concert was going great, Zach sang his heart out and the crowd sang back to him. Between the songs Cameron and Zach would share harmless trash talk. The last song on the night was teenage hearts.

"We were teenage hearts, forever young."

Zach paused and looked out into the crowd. I couldn't make out his expression.

"So, uh I have something to tell everyone." He got up and moved towards the front of the stage.

"The past few months there has been a lot of rumors going around. I'm going to clear all of those up right now." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Yes, I had a baby. No it wasn't planned, but it happened and I can't be happier. John come here." John ran out on stage, straight to Zach. Zach picked him up and placed him on his hips. "Wave to the crowd John." He did and the whole crowd cheered.

Woah. Did Zach just tell 2,000 people about John?