My Words Are a Matter of Pride

The next day, Jake ushered the girls into a huge meeting room filled with people. Holly was the first to enter, then Avara, Harlee, Vanesse, Tadem and Travis. Holly sat down in a huge cushioned lounge chair, and Avara plopped down on her lap.

"Right," Pete called once Jake had shut the door behind himself. Everyone settled into a comfortable silence, and took their seats around the rectangular table. "We all know why we're here. I've hand picked each of you, bar Travis, Jake and the girls to become a crew member for Kill Barbie." Everyone in the room except for the four girls nodded. Instead, they stared dumbly around the room at everyone's faces.

"Excuse me Pete?" Harlee said quietly, raising her hand in the air uncertainly. Pete turned to look at Harlee, and then smiled.

"Yes?" She pointed at the huge plate of cookies on the table, while Tadem, Avara and Holly laughed.

"Can I uh, have a cookie?" A few people laughed while Pete and Jake rolled their eyes.

"Course," he replied, "now back to business. I want each and everyone of you to stand up and introduce yourselves. Tell the girls some stuff about you, Danny, you first." A tall and skinny blonde guy stood up and grinned at the girls.

"Hey there ladies, my name is Daniel Rivers, but everyone always calls me Danny. I'll be working your merch with Trav. I am twenty-five, was born on the 21st of March. I live in Houston Texas with my five year old daughter; Rose. I have two brothers and a sister; Corey, Ryan and Allyson, who all live with my dad in California." Danny did a half bow, and sat back down in his seat.

"Thanks Danny," Pete smiled. He then looked around the table at the others, and then smiled when his eyes landed on a small red headed girl. "Emmy, you're up next." The girl; Emmy, smiled and stood up.

"Hey guys, I'm Emily Carter, and I'll be Holly's guitar tech" she said. She was pretty loud for someone her size. "I live in Nashville, Tennessee with my boyfriend Andrew. I'm nineteen, and was born on the 12th of December. Uh, my mom passed away about four years ago of cancer. I'm pretty sad, but she wouldn't want me to dwell on the past. I have an older brother; Riley, who works here, and is a producer."

"Thanks Emmy, Ant..."

This time, a large, muscular brunette man stood up.

"I'm Anthony Dell, friends call me Ant. Light and sound. 26, born April 11th. I like to keep to myself." He was awkward, but holly could tell that he was just shy. She hoped that she'd get to know him properly someday. Before Pete could stand up, a black haired boy jumped up and grinned at us creepily. I just knew he and Travis would become great friends.

"Hey ladies and Travis, I'm Vincent, or Vinny john's, I'm 20. I'll be helping Ant out with the lights and shit. I'm an only child, and I still live with my parents in California!"

"Thanks Vinny, Corey?"

"Corey White, 22, Stage hand, I'm here mainly for my girl Benny. I lost my family to a car accident, so I live with her and uh, yeah... Robbie?"

"Hey there girls, Robbie, 22, stage hand, only child. Kenny?" Avara made faces at each other, giggled and went back to silently listening and watching what was going on in front of them.

"Good morning girls, my name is Arthur Edward Richardson, but I would much rather be called Kenny. I am a 65 year old bus driver from Kentucky, so I shall be driving your bus for you this summer. I'm a lonely old man, my wife passed just a few years ago, so I like to get out, and help the youth. Peter here is my grandson..." Everyone turned to look at Pete, who was blushing.

"Grandpa...!"

"I'll pass it on to young Maddi now." A short, pixie like blonde girl jumped up and grinned.

"Hey there kiddies, I'm Madison Core, and I am you're assistant manager! Called me whatever, Maddi's my main nickname. Uh, I'm from Texas. Oh, and I'm 28. Benny-boo, your up next sweetheart!" This was the last girl in the room. She had multi-coloured hair; red, brown and blonde.

"I'm Bennett Watts, I'm Corey's girlfriend. I'm 20. And I'm Tadem's drum tech." The last two men in the room stood up together.

"I'm Joe Wallace, or Jay, and this is Allan Moore, we'll be Avara and Harlee's guitar techs. I'm 23," Jay smiled.

"And I'm 29. We're both from Tempe, Arizona, and we're brothers." They then sat down, and Pete stood back up.

"Well girls, they are your crew. Any questions?" Harlee raised her hand slowly. "Yes Harlee?"

"Can I have another cookie Pete?" Jake slapped his hand to his forehead, and Pate rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Harlee grinned and grabbed another cookie from the plate on the table in front of her.

"Excuse me Pete," Tadem spoke up. Pete looked at her and nodded at her for her to continue. "I was just wondering how much everyone's getting payed. I don't want to sound like a stinge, O was just wondering."

"Of course Tadem," he smiled, "good question. I management will be payed $10.00 more than the rest of the crew. I haven't worked out the sums as of yet, but I'll be getting you an accountant in a few weeks to sort that all out for you."

After that, everyone chatted idly for a while, and slowly filtered out of the room.



Avara cringed as the screen of her phone lit up and showed that Shaun was calling her for the fourth time that day. She slid her phone away from her, not wanting to reject the call and have him thinking she was ignoring him, and groaned loudly.

"Prawn again?" Holly asked from beside her. Avara looked up at her reflection in the mirror in front of her and nodded. The four girls were currently getting their hair and make up down for the shooting of their new video, Picking Daisies. In front of Avara, her phone continued to ring. "Why don't you reject the call?"

"I don't want him to think I'm ignoring him," Avara replied.

"But you are."

"I don't want him to know that," Avara said, rolling her eyes. Holly rolled her own eyes and picked up Avara's phone, clicking the answer button and holding it to her ear.

"Avara can't play right now, can I take a message?"

"Holly, is she ignoring me?" Shaun asked on the other end.

"That would be a positive," Holly replied.

"Why?"

"She was at your in store at 78s the other day," Holly sighed. Avara hissed at her to shut up.

"Oh, that would explain it," he sighed.

"Is there a reason you were calling? A message you want me to pass on?" Holly asked.

"No, it doesn't matter. Thanks Holly." Dial tone.

"Your a hypocrite sometimes Holly," Avara mumbled. Holly glared at her before she was ushered out of her seat and in front of the camera, muttering something about looking like Taylor Swift in her white dress and curly hair.

Avara's phone started to vibrate again and she held her breath, before realizing it was only a text message. From Shaun.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should have talked to me about it instead of assuming the worst and ignoring me? You have no idea what that song means.

Avara felt sick. She didn't like her closest friends being angry with her, and she'd only just gotten out of a huge fight with Holly. She swiftly sent a reply back.

So what is it about?

No; you missed your chance. Have fun in LA with your hot shot music label. All the best.

Avara swallowed down tears, knowing that if she cried, her make up artist would tear her a new one. She got out of her chair and walked over to where the other girls were assembled and did her best to put on a happy face, knowing that in a few hours, when shooting was over, she would break down in Holly's arms because that's what best friends were for.

Eight hours later, that's exactly what she did.



The next day, the four girls were woken from their slumbers at an ungodly hour to get ready for an interview.

"I hate publicists," muttered Holly as she pulled on a pair of jeans that weren't hers. Harlee would have yelled at her for it, but she was too tired to realise. That, and the four of them had spread all their clothes around their hotel and couldn't tell whose was whose anymore.

"Because they're truth-bending slimeballs who bring out the worst in people?" Avara scowled, remembering back to an interview they had a few weeks previous that got her a lot of bad attention on twitter.

"Because they force us to wake up at four in the morning as if we don't need sleep," Holly corrected.

"Not because they're truth-bending slimeballs who bring out the worst in people?" Avara frowned, pulling a t-shirt over her head.

"I mean, why this early? Do they just interview band after band ALL freaking day?" Holly went on.

"Most likely," Tadem said, running a brush through her hair, "Pretty sure that's part of the job description of an interviewer. Holly couldn't think of a come back so she just poked her tongue out at Tadem and continued getting ready. Jake arrived at their door fifteen minutes later, followed by a characteristically bouncy Travis. Avara had grown very fond of Travis these last few months. At five in the morning - Holly had been exaggerating about the time - he was sporting a backwards baseball cap and carrying a video camera.

"I keep forgetting to bring this thing alone," he said as he sat down on the bed Avara and Holly had shared, examining the camera. "Jake yelled at me." He frowned.

"You did not!" Avara mock-glared at Jake. He too had made himself comfortable in the hotel room. They had become such a family since Warped Tour.

"How are we supposed to make a DVD without footage?" Jake replied as he dug through the brown paper bag he was holding and fished out a doughnut. "It doesn't help that he," he said, pointing to Travis with his doughnut-filled hand, "keeps forgetting about it."

"You have a shorter attention span than anyone I have ever met," Avara said to Travis, who had put away the video camera and was now looking at a magazine that he had gotten from god knows where.

"You obviously haven't met my friend Harlee Anchor," he replied, not looking up from the magazine, "Or Avara and Holly for that matter," he grinned.

"Come on," Jake said, jumping up suddenly, "Interview time."