My Words Are a Matter of Pride

"Your fans are so annoying," Holly whined to Bradie, the drummer of Short Stack. The two bands had just arrived back to the hotel after their first show and were planning on partying in Holly and Avara's room. Bradie had taken refuge on Holly's bed with her, Andy and Shaun were having an argument about something stupid, Tadem was showing Avara something on her iPod on Avara's bed, and Harlee was on Holly's laptop playing Holly's Farmville on Holly's facebook.

"Why is that Holly?" Bradie asked.

"A whole bunch of them mobbed me and Harls on the way out of the venue when we went to get Maccas," Holly told him.

"Mobbed as in beat you up and stole your money?" Shaun asked as he sat down on the edge of Avara's bed.

"No, mobbed as in attacked us almost sexually, asking if we'd ever touched you before. You know, hoping they could get your cooties from us, hey Harls." Holly looked over at Harlee to see her staring at the laptop screen with her tongue sticking out in concentration. "Get your own book face so you can get your own farmville," Holly told her. Harlee responded by flipping her off.

"So what did you do?" Bradie asked.

"I gave them Holly and ran to maccas," Harlee said, not looking up from the screen.

"SHE LEFT ME TO DIE!" Holly screamed, "But seriously, they're crazy." After a few minutes of silence, Holly spoke again. "FTSK, Paramore and All Time Low fly in tomorrow." Avara sat up.

"Fly into where exactly?" she asked.

"A tall building, hopefully," Tadem muttered. Holly ignored her.

"Adelaide," she told Avara. Avara blinked.

"As in Adelaide Adelaide?"

"Unless there's another Adelaide?" Shaun said.

"And where are we flying tomorrow night?" Avara pointed out to Holly.

"Adelaide." Avara sighed and laid back down next to Tadem. Shaun came over and laid down on her other side.

"What's wrong with everyone being in Adelaide at the same time?" He asked.

"How do three people fit on a hotel-sized single bed?" Tadem asked, knowing Avara didn't want to answer the question.

"Becuase Shaun is kind of lying on me," Avara said.

"Don't lie, you love it," he said.

"Get off me heffa," Avara said, attempting to push him off her, but somehow he just made himself heavier.

"He's a male. Use reverse-psycology," Tadem told Avara.

"Don't get off me?" Avara said unsurely.

"Ok," he smirked, rolling so he was lying diagonally across the bed, across both Avara and Tadem.

"Now look what you've done Avara," She laughed, rolling out from underneath Shaun, and then off the bed. She jumped up and shook her hair out of her face. "I'm going to bed, coming Harlee?"

"Yeah just a sec," Harlee said, pressing a few keys here and there on the laptop. After a few seconds, she shut it, set it on Holly's bedside table and walked out of the room with Tadem, saying goodnight to everyone before they shut the door.

"So, I think we should devise a plan..." Holly said smiling evily while she rubbed her hands together furiously. Avara raised her eyebrow and pushed Shaun a little more. "I think we, as in you Avara, and you two boofheads, obviously excluding the loser called Andy because he is an obvious loser, should pretend we're all lesbians..." Bradie cracked up laughing and almost fell out of the bed.

"And how do you suppose Shaun and I will be able to pretend we're lesbians?"

"Your girls," Avara said slowly, "it'll be harder on us because we're of the male variety..."

"Yeah that," Holly nodded, "And Avara could pretend she loves Shaun, and if Jonathan is still in love with her like I know he probably might be, then he'll ge jealous. And Bradie's my new BFF, so we'll pretend we're in love-" Bradie laughed and she hit him with her elbow, "- And Kyle can kiss my ass!"

"Okay," Shaun said happily, "I like to a give a guy some hurtles. Reckon they'll go for it?" Avara sat and pondered for a moment before she grinned at everyone.

"Blondie and churchy most definitly will."



Avara yawned at stretched her arms over her head as she walk toward the baggage claim at the Adelaide airport.

"I, am so sick of flying around in aeroplanes," she grumbled. Holly stumbled in behind her.

"Me too. I miss being in America when we could just drive around in a big bus," she said.

"HOLLY!" Someone screamed Holly's name, causing her and Avara to spin around, where they saw a small blob of red bobbing through the crowd in their direction.

"HAYLEY!" Holly screamed, running to embrace her old friend. The squealed and jumped like school girls, but Avara inwardly ground. If Paramore were here, All Time Low and Forever the Sickest Kids couldn't be far behind. She greeted Hayley and turned back to the baggage claim. The luggage hadn't even started to come out yet; they would be there for a while. Tadem and Harlee came out of the toilet, and Andy, Bradie and Shaun came from the small cafe'. Avara wanted to dissapear. As the three boys approached, Andy dropped the cup of coffee he was holding, making a large puddle on the floor.

"Oh, my god! It's Hayley Williams!" he said. Shaun smacked over the head.

"I just bought you that you fucking douche!"

"Hayley, this is Andy, Shaun and Bradie," Holly said, pointing at the boys respectively. Then she added, "We're touring with them." Tadem and Harlee had arrived adn they took turns greeting Hayley.

"Because there's a sign that says 'Baggage Claim' stupid." Holly and Avara both froze upon hearing that familiar voice that belonged to none other than Alex Gaskarth.

"Well I didn't see it," came another voice. Jack Barakat. Avara couldn't help the smile that broke over her face on hearing his voice.

"JACKY," she screamed, flinging her small body at him.

"VARAKINS! HOLLYPOLLY! HARLEESAUR! TADEMON!" He screamed, tackling each Kill Barbie girl. None of them looked at Alex. Following close behind Jack and Alex were Rian Dawson and Zack Merrick, followed by Josh and Zac Farro and Taylor York. Behind them came Austin Bello, Kyle Burns and Jeremy Davis, followed by Kent Garrison, Caleb Turman, Jonathan Cook and Marc Stewart. Avara squealed and ran behind Bradie, who looked at her as though worried she was on crack. Holly wasn't far behind.

"I think introductions are needed," Jack grinned.

"Nope. No introductions," Avara said.

"Hi, I'm Shaun Diviney, Avara's lesbian lover," Shaun grinned and put his arm around Avara's shoulders, pulling her infront of Bradie. "This is Bradie, Holly's lesbian lover, and Andy. Just Andy."

"Holly! I didn't know you were a girl!" Kent laughed. Holly laughed a little in response, but Avara could tell it was forced. He'd abandoned her just as much as the rest of them, though they hadn't be as close.

"Gotta pee," Holly said, grabbing a hold of Avara's arm.

"Get our shizz," Avara told Shaun, patting him on the head with her un-restrained hand. Shaun laughed.

"Sure honey." Holly dragged Avara to the toilets and sighed in releif that no one apart from Hayley, Tadem, Harlee and themselves were girls.

"What do we do?" Holly asked Avara.

"My plan is to sneak out of the airport where they won't see me and hope our paths don't cross again," Avara told her. Holly tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully.

"I want to hurt Kyle. Physically."

"This isn't warped tour Holly," Avara reminded her, "You'll get arrested." Holly grabbed Avara's arm again and yanked her out of the toilets and back to where everyone else was. "Holly, you will get arrested." Holly ignored her. She walked right up to Kyle, and kicked him in the shins.

"That's for breaking my heart you dickhead!" She yelled, before she grabbed Hayley and Bradie and walked away. Avara laughed and grabbed Jack and Shaun.

"No one pulls me away," Andy said sadly. Tadem and Harlee looked at each other, before they grabbed an arm each, and dragged him backwards from the building.

Turns out, all five bands are staying in the same hotel, same floor, right next door to one another. Holly and Avara weren't happy to hear Jonathan and Caleb were right next to their room. A knock at the door bought Holly out of her thoughts.

"Who is it?" She called.

"It's Marc and Kent," she heard Marc call. With a sigh, she opened the door and stared them both down. "We just wanted to talk to you." Holly sighed and yawned to show she wasn't very interested.

"Go on," she said.

"Can we come in and sit down instead of standing in the hallway?" Kent asked.

"I guess," Holly said, standing aside and letting them both in, "talk."

"We wanted to talk to you guys, but Kyle wouldn't let us," Kent blurted. Holly crawled onto her bed and stared at them both. "He got a girlfriend shortly after the tour ended, and he didn't want you to know because he didn't want to hurt you." Holly wiped her eyes incase she was crying and didn't know it.

"He didn't physically restrain you both, you still had a choice!" Marc nodded sadly and Kent sat down on Avara's bed.

"Where's Avara?" Kent asked. Holly shrugged.

"She said she wanted to get as far away from Jonathan and Caleb as possible," she explained, "So either in Andy and Shaun's room, or with Tadem and Harlee. She wanted to see Jack, but him and Alex are sharing a room. And you know how she feels about Alex." The two boys nodded and Marc sat down next to Kent.

"We really are sorry Holly."

"Yeah, well," Holly sat, looking at the floor, "What's done is done, and I've taken physical revenge on Mr Burns, now I can get over it. Maybe."

Meanwhile in Tadem and Harlee's room, Avara was lying in Tadem's bed when someone attempted to burst into the room. Which resulted in a bump of the door that shook the windows, followed by a string of swear words that roughly translated to 'ow'. Harlee got up and opened the door, letting Shaun in, followed by Kyle.

"You didn't tell me some douchebag hit you!" Shaun said, pointing at Avara. She pulled the blankets on Tadem's bed over her head.

"It wasn't just 'some douchebag', Harlee said as she sat back down on her bed, "It was Alex Gaskarth, lead singer of All Time Low," she said, as though it was a privelage to be abused by someone famous.

Tadem pulled the blankets away from Avara's face as she said, "What did you tell him for Kyle?"

"He asked," Kyle shrugged.

"Get out!" Avara told Kyle, "We aren't friends." Kyle's mouth dropped open and he went to say something, but thought better of it and stormed out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him. Avara looked to Shaun as if to say 'What did you have to ask him for?'

"I wanted to know what he," he started, jabbing a thumb towards the door, "did to my girl Holly. Which included him telling me what Alex did to my girl Avara." He walked over to Tadem's bet, sat on Avara's legs and then wrapped his arms around her. "Want me to beat him up?"

"Which one?" She asked.

"Alex."

"Didn't Kyle tell you. Holly already did that for me."

"Yeah, I heard. And even though Holly is incredibly kick ass, it doesn't give me the satisfaction of doing it myself."

"Save your limited strength for kicking Jonathan's butt," Harlee said. It took a while for him to realise that the first part was an insult.

"Why would I kick Jonathan's butt? Which one is Jonathan?" He asked after glaring at Harlee.

"The one Avara is in here hiding from," Tadem told him. Avara told Tadem to 'shush' and hid back underneath the blankets.

After storming out of Tadem and Harlee's hotel room, Kyle tried to find Holly's room. He remembered hearing Caleb complain about having to stay next to Avara's room, so he decided to try there.



"Kent, lets go, she won't talk to us anymore, you know how she is," Marc said, quietly standing up and motioning at the door. Holly growled and threw a pillow at him. "We love you Holly, but we gotta go anyway." Holly shrugged and turned around in the blankets.

"Bye Holly," she heard Kent whisper. The door opened, then the door closed, then a few moments later, it opened once more.

"I thought you were both leaving, Im trying to sleep here," Holly exclaimed, grabbing a pillow, and putting it over her face.

"Holly, it's me." Holly froze. "Im really sorry for not talking to you," he offered. She felt the matress sink at the end of the bed and knew he'd sat down. "Your not going to say anything?" Holly sat up and stared at him intensly.

"I thought you and I had something special Kyle," she whispered, "I guess I was wrong. Really wrong." Kyle opened his mouth to say something, but Holly cut him off. "Kent and Marc told me about Mindy," she spat the girls name out harshly.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," he muttered.

"Bullshit Kyle," she snapped, pushing the covers away from her, and getting out of the bed, "you knew I really liked you, you knew it, and you chose to cut yourself off from me, and get your self a girlfriend."

"Well you seem to have moved on too!" He said defensively. Holly frowned, not knowing what the hell he was talking about. Finally she realised he was actually talking about Bradie.

"If your talking about Bradie, your wrong," she said, "Bradie and I had something before we went to America, thats over though, and even though I still love Bradie, it's only because he's one of my best friends." Again, Kyle opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "And Bradie would never, ever cut himself off from me, ever!"

"Im sorry, but I just didn't feel the same..." Holly rushed at Kyle and pushed him up against the wall roughly. "What are you doing?" He asked her. Holly watched him and then she got on her tip-toes, and pressed her lips to his. He didn't stop her.

After five minutes of them both kissing each other, Holly stepped back and tried to look strong, despite the fact she was crying silently.

"You tell me that you didn't feel anything," she whispered. Kyle didn't say anything. "For fuck sake Kyle!" She screamed at him, and ran from the room. Holly ran down the hallway, and pounded on Bradie's door. She heard him padding over to the door, and then the door opened and he stared out at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked as soon as her saw she was crying. Holly locked her jaw, and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Bradie slowly wrapped his arms around her, and took her inside his hotel room, and over to his bed. "Talk to me Holly." Holly hiccuped, and crawled under the blankets with Bradie.

"Kyle came to see me," she said, "I kissed him and he didn't say anything back Bradie, he hates me, im hideous." Bradie shook his head and hugged her tighter.

"Holly Burming you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!" He told her, "he's crazy for not loving you back." Holly looked up at Bradie through her eyelashes.

"Really?"

"Of course!" He told her, "I never stopped liking you. Shaun and Andy tease me about it all the time, but it's true." Holly smiled and snuggled even more into Bradie's side and closed her eyes.

"Your my favourite Bradie," she whispered before falling into a light sleep.