Battle of the Bands

MITCHEL’S POV

“Boys, are you even listening?” Our new manager snapped. I jumped and looked up from where I’d been staring at the table in front of me, zoning out.

“What?” I asked dumbly and Christian sniggered beside me.

“I said,” she repeated, clearly annoyed. “I have big news.”

“What is it?” Luke asked, we all sat up a little straighter in our chairs.

“You might remember I mentioned discussing a partnership with a friend of mine,” she said cryptically. We were all hanging on the edges of our seats. “Well, I booked us a tour!”

“What?” We all cheered and she smiled proudly. “That is brilliant Annie!”

“What’s the partnership though?” Brock asked once we’d all gotten over the surprise.

“Well, my friend Logan manages this group that have gotten a fair bit of publicity, and we thought it would be good to do a co-tour,” she explained. “Have you heard of them? They’re called Hippers or something.”

We all shook our heads and she shrugged, bustling about to gather up her stuff.

“We’re going to meet them tomorrow, okay?” she stopped in the doorway and looked back at us. “I’ll text you the address, and you’ll all be there at ten, no excuses.” Then she left. She was a great manager and all, but she was slightly insane.

“What the hell kind of name is Hippers?” Christian laughed as we went into the lounge room. “I hope they’re not like some nerdy barbershop quartet or something, imagine sharing a tour bus with four dorks.”

“Why, I share a house with them,” I said from an armchair across the room. I was hit by a couple of well thrown couch cushions.

“Who cares what they’re like, it’s a tour,” Tyrone grinned, lying on his back on the floor.

We spent the night the way we always did, watching movies and playing video games in the lounge, ordering pizzas and lying around eating until we were ready to puke. Eventually we dragged ourselves up to our rooms and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning to my alarm beside my bed, groaning and reaching out blindly to switch it off. I swung out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom, having a shower and changing into a pair of jeans and a shirt and fixing my hair from its bedhead mess.

Downstairs one of the boys slid a plate with a piece of toast across the bench to me and I chewed it gratefully. How you chew gratefully, I really do not know, but I think I pulled it off. We made our way out the door and into Brock’s car. It was 9:30 and a million hours too early to be up and outside of the house.

The address Annie had texted us was a house in a normal suburban street. Which didn’t stop us from driving around for fifteen minutes trying to find the place because we were totally lost. There was nothing that special or distinguishing about it, so I accept no blame. Annie’s car was out the front though, so we were ninety percent sure we were in the right place.

We jumped out of the car and went up the driveway, stopping in our tracks when the door opened and three girls came out. A little blonde was getting a piggy back from a tall brunette and a shorter brunette was walking beside them. They were laughing as they came out, not noticing we were there. Dorks or not, these guys had some hot sisters or friends or –

“Um can we help you?” The blonde asked, sliding down off her friend’s back to land on her feet, her hand on her hip. They were all staring at us expectantly.

“Uh yeah,” Brock spoke up awkwardly. “We’re looking for-”

“Boys!” A familiar voice shouted out and we turned around gratefully, happy to see Annie hurrying out of the house, a tall guy with a brown quiff right behind her. “Sorry, I’m here, this is Logan boys.”

He smiled warmly at us, then at the three confused looking girls. “What About Tonight, meet Hipster.”

“What!?”