Wanna Live It Up Just Because

The band walked into the room designated for them to eat with the speakers. There were already two people in the room, backs to the band. Arpeggio assumed they were the speakers. No one else would be in the room besides them.

"Hi," Neon said, gaining the unknown people's attention.

The two stood from their chairs and turned around. Arpeggio recognized both the instant they stood. They were popular figures that meant more to her than they should have. To Arpeggio, they resembled a sort of strength that she hoped she contained.

Arpeggio rested her head against Lestat's shoulder again. The two wanted to meet the band; Arpeggio was never actually considered part of the band by fans. No one ever knew who she was. It wasn't likely that the two people would.

The woman with blonde hair and a Monroe piercing spoke first, "Hi. I'm Renee Yohe."

"I'm Pete Wentz," the man with the obnoxiously perfect smile said.

"Hi, I'm—," Neon was cutoff.

"We know who you are. We wouldn't have called a meeting with you guys if we didn't know who you were," Renee stated.

"Oh, well, this is my sister—,"

"Arpeggio Lowry, the drummer. We know," Renee cut Neon off again.

Arpeggio looked up at the sound of her name, shocked. She understood that Neon felt the need to introduce her. Neon had to on most occasions; it had become reflex for her to introduce the young girl.

"You do?" Neon asked.

Renee and Pete nodded in confirmation.

"May I ask how?"

Arpeggio wanted to know the same thing.

"We saw the interview for this music festival," Renee answered.

"You know," Pete said to Arpeggio, "You're an awfully hard person to look up. It took me two hours to find one fan site devoted to you. And you only have one other interview."

"You're basically nonexistent to RxN fans," Renee added.

"I know," Arpeggio whispered.

They looked her up after watching the interview? Why did they do that? Arpeggio couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that someone outside of the people she knew had interest in finding out about her. Pete Wentz spent two hours looking her up; Renee Yohe knew her name. She felt giddy with excitement.

And nervous that other people would look her up. If more people knew who she was, she would be forced to do more interviews, photo shoots, and everything she should be doing as a member of a band with growing popularity. She would have to wear disguises to leave the house; people would treat her differently at school. She didn't want that. She just wanted to play her drums.

"Well, we should eat. The organization was kind enough to provide us with food, no use letting it go bad," Renee said.

"This is all diabetic friendly right?" Neon asked.

"Yes it is. We made sure of it," Pete answered.

"Awesome. Let's eat."

The band members and speakers took their seats around the table. Arpeggio was forced to remove herself from Lestat's back in order for the two of them to sit down. She had been comfortable on his back and really didn't want to move. It should have shocked her that Lestat had been capable of holding her for so long. He was like Super Man. But he often held her if she needed it; he grew a resistance to her weight.

Arpeggio let her eyes wander the table of food. There were a lot of options; she didn't know what she wanted. Neon would probably choose for her.

Each person filled their plates with food. Neon took hold of Arpeggio's after putting food on her own.

"Anything specific you want?" Neon asked her younger sibling.

Arpeggio shook her head. Neon thought for a moment before picking some of Arpeggio's favorite foods and putting them on her plate. Renee had been watching the interaction between the siblings with interest.

"You treat her like your child," Renee stated.

"I can't help it. I've been taking care of her for awhile now," Neon responded.

"Understandable."

Arpeggio removed her hood from her head, forgetting about the hickey on her neck. Pete's eyes focused on it.

"What happened to your neck?" he asked.

Dorian giggled at the mentioning of the hickey. Arpeggio glared at him.

"She and her boyfriend had fun on the couch last night," Neon answered.

"You brought her boyfriend with you?" asked Renee.

"No, he's in one of the bands that are here to perform."

"Which one?"

"All Time Low. It's Jack Barakat."

"Oh, they're from the same area as you. Okay, that makes sense. I bet they make a cute couple."

"They do," Neon smiled.

Arpeggio bit her lip in an attempt to keep from smiling. Neon's approval made her happy. She just wanted her older sibling to be proud of her.

"So, I'm guessing there's a purpose to this meeting. Grim didn't inform us of much besides time and place," Lestat said, taking a bite of his food.

"Right. The organization wanted to have three speakers per stage. Each stage has three except for your's," Renee started.

"Obviously, Renee and I are going to speak but we couldn't find another person not in the performing bands willing to do it," Pete continued.

"What does that have to do with us?" asked Dante.

"We looked through each band's profile that the organization had. Yours stood out to us," Pete answered.

"So you want one of us to speak?"

Pete and Renee glanced at each other and looked back at the band. They were clearly nervous about asking. Why, Arpeggio couldn't figure out. They had no reason to be nervous.

"We wanted Arpeggio to speak," Renee answered.

Arpeggio's eyes widened. They wanted her to be a speaker. She could barely speak to small groups of unknown people. A crowd larger than five people was out of the question.

Arpeggio looked around their group. Each seemed to be thinking it over. But none had asked the question playing in Arpeggio's mind.

"Why?" Arpeggio asked.

"Your profile was different than the others. You didn't really exhibit the normal signs of suicide before you tried. Your form of attempt was different to say the least. I mean, who thinks about drinking ammonia and bleach. Plus, you're diabetic. Do you know how many diabetics look up to you because of what you've accomplished? Once your story is publicized like this, anyone with a disease or disorder will see there is hope for a future. That they don't need to kill themselves because they're different or people think they’re weird," Renee answered.

"You're kind of a role model now. The more hits there are on your interview, the more people who will know about you, and the more people that will look up to you. You don't seem like the type of person who wants fame but this could help a lot of people," Pete added.

Arpeggio let the information sink in. She didn't know if she wanted to do this. She didn't have long to prepare a speech; she didn't know what she was supposed to say. She didn't know if she could do it and live up to any expectations.

"I think you should do it," Neon said.

"I do too," Lestat leaned back in his chair.

"Agreed," Dante said.

"If you don't do this, I'm going to release my inner InuYasha on you," Jazz said, finishing the last of her cupcake.

"I don’t know what Jazz just said but I second that," Dorian said.

RxN wanted her to do it too?

"So will you do it?" Renee asked.

Arpeggio bit her lip again. She had so many doubts about how it would turn out. There were two skilled speakers on the same stage; she couldn't compare to them.

But everyone seemed to have faith in her.

"Sure."