Not Changed, Just Famous: The Band Perry Sister Story

Two Years Later...

I looked out the window at the scenary passing by so fast. One by one the trees flew by me, all the same, never ending. It was as if I was in a dream, a really really long one that showed no signs of stopping.

I tried to close my eyes and focus on getting some rest before we were at the next stop. I had only been getting a few hours of sleep these past couple days. With my first ever full length album released just a month ago, on a major record label they had been flying me to every corner of this country to make sure the album had as much promotion as possible. They wanted it to be huge... I want it to be huge. Not just for myself, but for my siblings too. I feel like I have a lot to prove to them. Luckily for me, the album has been received well so far. My first single has gone number 1 on country charts, and I'm so excited and happy about it. After all this hard work, something is paying off! And I mean, I know they said it would be hard, but I didn't think it would be this hard...

2 years ago after our vacation together, I feel like my life drastically changed. I flew out to see Kimberly, Reid, and Neil on tour a lot more often, and they were coming home more often too. We ended up bonding a lot, and now we are really close. Knowing I have my siblings on my side again is one of the greatest feelings. But it also comes with a lot of hardhshps too. About a year ago, all of our traveling became a little much for me to handle, and I ended up switching to online school. It was good because I could travel more and start focusing on music, but I also had to give up my adored hometown and friends. I've been really missing my normal life lately. The one I'm living now is full of adults and professionalism. It gets lonely at times, but it's also exciting. I'm excited to prove to the world that I'm not just Kimberly, Reid, and Neil's little sister anymore. I'm Caitlin Perry.

"Hey Caitlin, wake up. We are here." The sound of my tour manager's voice said to me. I've only been with her a month now, but it's been non stop work so we've gotten to know each other pretty well. She's been like my mom out here, when my real mom can't be here of course.

Usually Kimberly, Neil, Reid, or my parents have been with me on the road, but today it just didn't work out. Since I haven't been home in about a month and I've been working non stop, I'm flying back to Nashville in just a few days. And I couldn't be more excited. The plan is to fly home in a few days, and I'lll get about a 4 week vacation at home. Kimberly's wedding is exactly 3 1/2 weeks from now, and unfortuantly I haven't been as involved as I would like. Honestly, I've been so busy lately and I've only met JP like twice. I haven't seen everyone for about a month so going home again should be.. interesting. 

It's been hard being away from them. That's what comes with this job though. I told my family 2 years ago that I wanted to follow in my siblings foot steps and do this. Ever since that day, I've been working my butt off to get here, and I want to prove myself. I want to prove that I can do this all on my own. I can have a normal life, and still be sucessful. I can be famous and still be sane.. I can still be me.

As I gathered my stuff, I got out of the car and headed towards the building with my tour manager, Charolette- Char for short. We were headed to my FIFTH radio interview of the day and I was abosuluty exhuasted.

Suddenly, my phone started to ring. I checked the caller ID, and to my surprise it was my older sister, Kimberly!

Kimberly and I had an interesting relationship. As kids we were super close. I wanted to be just like her growing up. After her and the boys' career took off though, and I started not seeing them alot, I kind of pushed myself away from them, and I blamed her for a lot of it for some reason... I feel like that really hurt our relationship, even still today. I spent so much of time being so mad at them for leaving me. Because I was mad I would always do little stupid things at home too, like I would not play guitar or sing, just because it reminded me of them. Or when they would call home and ask to talk to me, I would refuse to answer just because I was so mad at them for leaving me behind. I think I was just so upset with them for leaving home to touring the world, and never looked back. This is when I got in the habit of blaming her for a lot of things, and even for stuff that's still hard for me to talk about today. I guess I have this obession with being independent. It's funny how the tables turned, though. Here I am, on tour doing my own thing, and Kimberly is calling me from back home. Weird. 

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, honey! It's Kimberly!"

"Hi!" I said genuinely happy to hear her voice.

"How's the radio tour going? Where are you guys right now?" She asked.

I looked around at the tall trees surrounding us and the gloomy, cloud- filled sky. It all seemed so unfamiliar and my brain was in a daze. And that's when it hit me that I actuallly had know idea where I was. I had traveled so much these past couple weeks I had lost track of where we were, "Honestly... I have no idea!" I laughed, "Um there are tons of trees. And it looks like it might rain maybe?"

I could hear Kimblerly laughing at me through the phone, "Got a case of tour amenisa already?" Kimberly joked.

"A little bit!" I laughed. Her jokes made me miss her company a lot, "Hey Kimberly.. I miss you guys a lot. I honestly can't wait to see y'all and Tennessee in a few days". The thought of going home sounded amazing.

"Aw honey, we miss you too! We all feel bad before we can't be there with you right now. But it's all going to be worth it in the end, I promise! Just think, the rolling Tennesee hills, and the warm summer sun, and the horses and the field.. they are all waiting for you to come home!"

Kimberly's words made me smile. She always knew how to cheer me up. Her description of home made me realize why I missed it so much. It was familiar and happy. And the fact that I would get to be with my entire family for a month sounded, well, perfect. "Thanks, Kimberly. You're absolutely right... Oh, and the sweet tea! Oh my gosh, I can't wait to have some!"

I looked up to see Char giving me a, "let's go we are going to be late!" look, that put me back into reality. I wansn't on 'vacation' yet.

"Hey I gotta go do one last interview right now, so I have to go," I sadly told her, "But give everyone a hug for me! I'll see y'all soon!"

"I will Caitlin. Love you!"

"Love you too."

I hung up and dragged myself into the radio building for one last interview. In 48 hours I would be home with my family. Kimberly would be getting married soon. My album would (hopefully) be continuing to climb the charts as the summer goes on, my relatioship with my siblings would only get better. And I, Caitlin Perry, would be having the best summer ever. At least that's what I hoped. 

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thank you all so much for reading! sorry this first chapter was kind of slow and boring, I just kind of had to put all the information out there hahaha. but they will get better and TBP will be in them more! thanks for reading! let me know what you think :)