World Tour (HIATUS)

Chapter Ten

Meanwhile, James was laying in his bunk, listening to Aaron and Maddie talk. He could hear his best friend falling in love. A sudden snore made James jump slightly. He held his snickers in. James knew exactly who snored. Chad. Of course he could sleep through the talking and the guitar strumming. He could sleep through anything.

James felt his phone vibrate so he turned it on. He smiled when he saw a text from Cecily.

Cecily: Hey

Cecily: I can't sleep and you usually help me but you're not here

Cecily: Maybe you could Skype me? Idk right now

James: Hold on a second. I'll call you

Cecily didn't answer as he went to the app. He clicked on the call button and put his headphones in his phone. Cecily answered and James smiled when he saw her face. Cecily looked really tired so he said, "Are you okay?"

Cecily smiled at him and said, "Yeah. It's just that it seems like Pup took Chad's energy. He literally ran everywhere and I had to chase him multiple times."

Shane laughed and said, "I can see why you're exhausted."

"Yeah," she said with a tired laugh. "I just can't go to sleep now. Can you sing me something?"

"Of course," James answered. "What do you want to hear?"

"Be Still, My Soul," Cecily answered. 

James nodded and cleared his throat. "Be still my soul the Lord is on thy side," he started singing. As he was singing, he watched Cecily's eyes start to droop so he whispered, "Goodnight Cecily. I love you."

He watched as her head dropped onto her pillow and smiled. She was asleep. He ended the Skype call and set his phone in the little spot where it goes. Everything was quiet on the tour bus, which was probably good. They had a long day tomorrow filled with . . . driving. He didn't know why they had go all the way to the East Coast when they were at the West Coast. But he didn't make the rules. 
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Chad was the last one to wake up. When he stumbled to the tiny little area, everyone was already up and eating some type of fruit. "Nice to finally see you up," Bert said, grinning. 

"What time is it?" Chad asked them. 

"Well, the time changed a while ago but it's about eleven back at home," James told him. 

"Great!" Chad said, smiling. "I usually wake up around this time anyway."

"I literally wake up at seven on most days," Maddie told them. "I don't understand how you all sleep that late. Even if I go to bed late, I'll wake up then."

"Like you went to bed late last night?" Alexander asked her with a smirk. "I heard you and Aaron chatting it up in here last night."

"Me too," James said, nodding. 

"What did we miss?" Bert asked Chad, and Chad shook his head. 

"It was nothing," Aaron said quickly. "Just got some lyrics down for the single."

"It was more than that!" Alexander said, nodding. "You two talked about a lot of things last night. Especially about your messy breakup, Maddie."

"What?" Ellie asked them. "You told someone you just met about that? You haven't even told me the full story!"

"Well, we were having a moment," Maddie said, shrugging. "Aaron wants to tell you guys something anyway."

"We'll have to talk later," Ellie told Maddie and she nodded. 

Maddie nudged Aaron and he cleared his throat. "So I ranted a little bit to Maddie last night," Aaron said. "I want to sing more often. I want James and Bert to sing more often. We all know each other's instruments. We could switch around a little bit, you know? It's always Chad and Alex singing and I think it's no fair."

It was silent as everyone took in this information. Chad stood where he was, thinking. "So you're saying that we need to stop singing as often?" Chad asked to make sure he was correct.

"Yeah."

He nodded. "I've actually been thinking that as well. I just didn't know how to get to the subject. Thanks, Aaron."

"What do you guys think?" Aaron asked the other boys. 

"That sounds good," Alexander said, nodding. "It should start with our next single. Who wants to sing for that song?"

"Well, if it is with the girls I feel like all of us should sing, but Alex and Chad less than the others. Mostly Bert though," Aaron said. "With these lyrics Maddie and I came up with, it would suit his voice the best."

"Let's hear the lyrics," Chad said. 

"So we have like a little bit of the first verse and one line of the chorus and that's it but we still have something," Maddie said, pulling out her phone. "I recorded us saying lyrics and the guitar chords Aaron had made up."

She pressed play and Chad heard his best friend and Maddie on the recording. "How did we end up here?

It felt like yesterday

Was the beginning of the year

All my feelings, led astray

By you're . . ."

"That's a little bit of the first verse," Maddie informed them. "Here's the line for the chorus: Promise me a place in your house of memories."

"Ooh," Bert said, nodding. "I can definitely sing this."

"Chad and I will do backups," Alexander said, looking at his newly blonde best friend. 

"I'll do the drums," Aaron said, nodding. "And some back ups."

"I'll do back ups as well," James said, "and playing- wait. What instruments should we do for this song?"

"It should be piano driven," Maddie said, nodding. "I know how to play that instrument, so I could probably play it for us."

"You should take control for this song," Chad told her. "It's about your life, so you should make the calls for this song. Like about the instruments and things."

"Really?" Maddie asked, incredulous. 

"Yeah," Ellie told her. "You're an awesome songwriter."

"But I can't play any other instruments," she said. 

"That's where we come in," Aaron told her. "I'll play some chords and see if you like them or not."

"Since I'm doing most of the songwriting," Maddie said, "Ellie, you're singing with Bert."

"Fine," Ellie said, rolling her eyes. 

"Can James and I do the bridge?" Aaron asked.

"Oh yeah," James said, nodding. "We shall, bro."

"Let's get writing then!"