The Federation

I smiled as I hopped down off of the bus, landing on the dark, cracked pavement formed into a parking lot that surrounded one side of the stadium where the first concert would be. Phoenix, although it neared the middle of fall, was still stifling hot, whereas even California had begun to cool down just a little bit. Looking around the desolate parking lot as the guys in my touring band filed off of the bus, I saw only Avenged Sevenfold’s bus and Evanescence’s bus, which meant CompleteAnnihilation had yet to arrive. Good, now I can prepare to meet the newbies.

I entered the concert hall through the front entrance. A cleaning crew mopped the cavernous floor of the place, which I found pretty useless since it would be trampled by thousands of dirty shoe soles that night at approximately seven o’clock. I guess even the local heathen gathering place has useless procedures to ebb away time.

Up on stage, I saw all the guys of Avenged Sevenfold running through their sound check. All of them, too absorbed in their own processes, failed to notice my arrival. As did Amy, who sat upon the edge of the stage with a packet of papers in her hands, clearly checking her lyrics. I took a deep breath, barely believing that I would attempt this stunt in stilettos. Throwing away my worries in the general rockstar way, I sprinted clumsily across the floor towards the stage.

Amy looked up moments before impact. A foot from her, I sprang from the floor, my torso slamming hard into hers. We skidded several feet backward along the stage. We even managed to take Matt out with us. Amy looked like she was recovering from a slight heart attack, and I just laughed as Matt grumbled a few choice swear words and climbed back to his feet, dusting himself off. I pressed a kiss to Amy’s nose, and she relaxed slightly.

“I missed you, Amy,” I sang happily, rolling off of her before extending a hand to help her up.

“Missed you too, Asher,” Amy answered slightly less enthusiastically.

“Girl on girl: just the way I like it,” Brian commented. Both Amy and I swiveled around to focus choice glares upon him. He quickly turned away in cowardice, shrinking beneath our gazes.

“Oh, Bri-Bri, I LURVE you!” I exclaimed, skipping happily over to him and throwing my arms around his neck. Slowly, as he realized that I wasn’t trying to murder him, he hugged me back. I greeted the other Avenged members, blatantly ignoring Jimmy just as much as he ignored me. Something told me this year would pass by unnaturally sluggishly.

“CompleteAnnihilation hasn’t arrived yet,” Amy explained as we seated ourselves on the edge of the stage. She pulled a random bag of Skittles out of her pocket, and I squealed in delight as she offered the bag to me. “Slacking newbies, they are.”

“Yoda, Amy is,” I mocked, causing Amy to snatch the Skittles away from me prematurely. I whined and pouted, and eventually she let me take my fill of the Skittles.

“Dumbasses, all singers are,” Zacky muttered in a carrying voice. Matt, Amy, and I all whipped our heads around to look reproachfully at him. “Say that out loud, did I?”

We spent several more minutes in conversation, all speaking backwards in Yoda-ian, before the newbies finally made their grand entrance.

“Newbies, arrived they have,” Amy muttered in my ear as they advanced cautiously down the aisle towards us. I guess the newbies felt suddenly small and insignificant compared to the veterans of rock by varying degrees. Finally, they got within speaking distance of the stage, and I hopped down off of the stage to be friendly and greet them.

“So, you guys must be CompleteAnnihilation,” I said cheerfully, trying not to sound like a kindergarten teacher on the first day of kindergarten. They nodded, and I took that as a sign that I sounded like they were equals instead of children. “Well, I’m Asher. That’s Amy, and those bimbos back there are Avenged Sevenfold.”

Everyone exchanged hellos, and then CompleteAnnihilation introduced themselves.

“I’m Joshua,” one said, stepping forward. His straight blond hair flowed down to his shoulders, and instead of looking greasy like most guys with long hair usually did, his hair actually looked quite soft and clean. I held back the urge to walk over and touch it. I couldn’t tell the color of his irises from a distance, but I knew they were some dark color, maybe brown or hazel. “I’m the lead singer.”

“I’m Mick,” another said. He had short black hair that fell in a tousled style. He was only slightly shorter than Joshua, who looked to be about six feet tall. “Lead guitarist, at your service.”

“Franklin, but everyone calls me Rex, because what kind of rockstar is named Franklin?” another one said. His dark red hair, the color of autumn leaves blooming with red, flopped down to his ears. He was slightly taller than Joshua. “And I play rhythm.”

“I’m Carter,” another one said. As my eyes focused on him, I couldn’t help but notice how undeniably sexy he was. His blond hair, the exact same shade as Joshua’s, was cut short and spiked with gel. His baby blue eyes—okay, I’m a sucker for blue eyes—peered out of a nicely defined face with perfect features. He was as tall as Joshua, and I strongly suspected that they might be brothers. “I’m the bassist.”

“And I’m Quinn, the drummer,” the fifth one announced. He had medium-length midnight black hair and dark green eyes. He seemed kind of quiet, but I couldn’t be sure quite yet.

“Welcome to the family,” I said amiably, and all five newbies smiled, probably relieved that no blood had been shed...at least, not yet.