Kids in Love

Anie was curled up in her bunk, sick. Lizz was manning the booth for the second time this week. When Anie had found out she was going to get so sick, she had made sure to teach the girl how to manage the board. She was working on helping her train her ear, and for the moment sat in on the sound checks to help out. Today, though, she couldn't even sit up.

Lizz was above her. “Anie, sound check went great. Holli helped me out.” She stroked the girls hair, and immediately regretted it. It came out easily in her hand. Anie looked like she was about to cry. “Yaya...I'm so sorry for this.” She sighed and looked down.

A few tears rolled down Anie's eyes. “Lizz...I have to get a wig. We're gonna just have to say we made a girls day to go out and get our hair done or something.” Ever since the diagnosis, she had been doing her best to hide it from the rest of the band. Her treatments, however, were beginning to wear away at her.

Lizz sighed. “Anie...You need to tell them. You can't hide this forever.” The girls were the ones that were able to know and keep it a secret. Anie idn't worry about them. They wouldn't take her job away from her for being sic. The boys, on the other hand, would treat her like a precious glass sculpture.

Anie glared weakly at Lizz. “It will get better. I know it. The bone treatments started off bad. And then they got better. It's the same thing here. Eventually I will be able to handle them better.” She saw her friend's eyes look sad. She gulped. “Won't I?”

The weakness and vulnerability in Anie's voice made her want to cry. She sat down next to the bunk, and bit her lip as she blinked back tears. “Anie...that only flies with the bone treatments. But, chemotherapy is toxic. You don't get to build up an immunity to that.”

Lizz felt like the worst person in the world as Anie started to cry. She took a deep breath. “It's time for the show....I'll talk to you later.” She felt like the worst friend in the world for not sticking by her friend to comfort her. She felt like she should've lied to the girl, told her that everything would be okay. But, she knew that she couldn't in good conscience do that.

After the show, the bus was a madhouse. The afterparty had shifted to the Mayday bus, since last night's mess hadn't been cleaned off of the ATL bus. This seemed perfectly normal and acceptable to everyone else. But with Anie so sick from the day's treatment, it was really horrible timing.

She was curled up in her bunk around a bucket. She was shivering and shaking, feeling like the whole world had dropped twenty degrees. The boys were loud, and her head was pounding. She wanted to shut the world off. She was about to cry.

Holli was next to her, fuming. She couldn't believe the boys were doing this. It wasn't like they didn't know she was sick. True, they didn't know the extent. But they had to know that if Anie wasn't doing her job, she was in deep shit.

“Anie, come join the party!” A slurring Rian said as he entered the bunks. If looks could kill, the world would very quickly be short a popular drummer at the hands of Holli. One wrong word, and she would pounce.

“Rian, I can't. I don't feel good.” Anie had the curtain closed on the bunk so that she couldn't be seen. It would be bad if anyone paid too much attention to the state she was in right now. She had her reasons for keeping her secret, and while it wasn't good she would protect it at all costs.

“What the fuck Anie? Why are you so goddamned lazy all of a sudden!?” Even though he was drunk, the words stung. Anie's breath hitched in her throat. Rian didn't stop though. “You can't even be bothered to get out of bed to do your fucking job anymore. Just because you're fucking the singer doesn't mean you can be a lazy little-”

Holli had been ready to pounce at one wrong word. Rian had just said several. She grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the wall, holding him and pinning him there. “She has cancer you punk ass little bitch!” She screamed, slamming his head into the wall. Her eyes widened. She hadn't meant for that to come out.

The bus went deathly silent. Derek walked back into the bunk and opened the curtain, looking at a mortified looking Anie. He ran a hand through her hair, and watched it come out in his fingers. “Yaya...” He said softly, sounding on the verge of tears. “What's wrong with you?”