Insain Times

You could say that Mylee was a normal teenager. Obsessed with bands such as Panic! At the Disco, yet living just down the road from iconic band Green Day. Put concerts ahead of dreaded school assignments; put playing the guitar ahead of homework. But what you couldn’t say, however, is that any other teenager could morph into the physical identity of whatever or whoever they wanted.

As aforementioned, Mylee lived close to Green Day – something that other fans were quite jealous of.

But not once did she ever believe that they would in fact move away, and that someone else would move in.

It was an ordinary morning, just like any other as fair-haired Mylee arose from her cosy bed. She could hear a commotion from just outside her bedroom window, something that wasn’t all too common on her quiet street. Perplexed, the fourteen-year-old sleepily stumbled over to where she could get a clear view of what was going on.

Her bright eyes flicked to the familiar beige house located across and then down the street. She immediately wondered why there were several large moving vans located just outside of Billie Joe Armstrong’s gates, with various members of crew scurrying in and out of his house like ants transporting gravel. Except in this case, the gravel had been replaced – with what appeared to be Billie’s, and a stranger’s furniture.

Mylee peered closer, her forehead now touching the cool glass. She could quickly work out what was going on: Billie Joe Armstrong was moving out, and someone else was moving in.

She then realised what effect the situation would have on her. All her life she had lived so close to one of the world’s biggest rock superstars, yet she had never even dared to make contact. It had always been assumed by the teenager that he would simply always be there, what with the rockstar’s well known love for the area that he lived in.

There was no time to dwell on this horrible thought, however. Her eyebrows folded in concentration. With a tiny gasp she saw Billie emerge from his house and shake a strange man’s hand by the front gate.

And with a high pitched scream of ‘OH MY GOD!’, Mylee soon saw whose hand was firmly wrapped around Billie’s.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” Mylee shrieked, jumping up and down on the spot while trying to keep her eyes fixed on the unbelieveable scene unfolding in front of her. She could have recognised that face, those clothes, that hair anywhere! And yet he was standing there, across the road and down the street, shaking Billie Joe Armstrong’s hand, preparing to move into his new house.

“RYAN ROSS IS MOVING INTO MY STREET!” Mylee could hardly contain her excitement. It was as if the event of Ryan Ross moving into her neighbourhood had sent massive doses of adrenaline to every bit of her body, electrifying her senses and driving her... well, insain.

She took a moment to stop and think. She couldn’t let her favourite rockstar move into her neighbourhood without meeting him. Maybe Ryan would want someone to show him around… surely, California was a lot different from Vegas.

Within minutes Mylee had changed into her best outfit, brushed her light brown locks to perfection and even drawn thin black lines around her eyes. Her parents were not yet awake as she grabbed the keys from the kitchen table and trotted out the front door.

She forced her steps to slow down as she made her way to what was now Ryan’s house. It was like the events of a dream, seeing that single man only metres away from her bedroom window. How did it all happen so quickly? was the thought now spinning within her mind. She thought back to the days when she’d make her plans to go to Vegas and meet Panic!, or when she’d pretend Ryan was her husband while her schoolfriends took the other band members.

All too soon she found herself just by Ryan’s front gate. Ryan’s front gate. She chuckled to herself, momentarily losing thought of what she had set out to do.

Shaking her head, Mylee looked around to see that Billie’s family and moving crew had now left, leaving Ryan’s crew and his furniture outside. She took one final look at herself, making sure her clothes were absolutely perfect and her hair sat right, before taking a deep breath and trudging up his driveway.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Mylee muttered to herself while the butterflies began to flutter in the pit of her stomach. What was she going to say to him? Would he like her? Would he invite her inside?

She raised a shaking hand and knocked on the door, nervously looking around while moving crew carried large items of furniture through other doors leading into the house. Her mind continued to chug away at a million thoughts a second... Ryan Ross was going to live here...

Within moments the world seemed to freeze as he answered the door.

Mylee’s entire body seemed to melt as she peered into those violently perfect Ryan Ross eyes right before her. But she was quickly brought back down to earth just by the sarcastic look etched upon his seemingly perfect features. He leant against the doorframe, crossing his slender arms across his chest and giving her a snide look up and down.

“Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow while remaining delicately poised.

Mylee began to stutter, unable to fully comprehend both the fact that Ryan Ross was standing in front of her, and that he looked down upon her with such disdain. “I – I –“

“If you’re just another fan, it’d be quite lovely if you left me alone for now.” His voice was dangerously smooth and slid over the words like a skater would do over ice. Mylee could tell just by his tone of voice that she was anything but wanted.

“But I wanted to – “

“Bye-bye!” Ryan said sweetly, giving a sarcastic little wave before slamming the door in her face.

The bastard! Mylee thought indignantly, too shocked for the tears to set in. For so long she’d wanted to meet her idol, and here she was, offering to even show him around, and he had slammed the door in her face. Just like that.

Well, he wasn’t going to get away that easily.

Mylee walked back down the driveway, her mind once again spinning around faster than the speed of light. She knew what she had to do… yet, how to get it to fool him just so they could talk for a while…

She froze in her tracks. “That’s it!” she cried, grinning madly as the most perfect thought came to mind. Glancing behind her, the fourteen-year-old quickly ran away from the rockstar’s driveway, ensuring that she was well out of eyesight of the movers. She knew exactly what to do now…

Thinking hard and tightly squeezing her eyes, Mylee directed every single brain cell on the image of what she wanted. She could feel her legs growing, her shoulders and chest broadening and her hair shortening within seconds, her entire body reshaping and reforming to meet her new whim. Her clothes became just a little too tight as she continued to change, until all of a sudden the bizarre process had finished.

She looked down at her feet and legs, giving a calm smile. “Not too bad, not too bad,” she mused, looking down at her now Brendon Urie-like body. She ran her slightly more masculine hands through her shorter, darker hair, marvelling at the soft touch.

Another thought crossed her mind. She couldn’t just rock up at Ryan Ross’ house, dressed in the exact same clothes worn by the previous visitor, yet physically appearing as Brendon Urie.

She threw aside her jacket into a nearby bush, rolled up her t-shirt sleeves and made, with difficulty, a few small rips in the thighs and knees of her jeans. With a relieved sigh the Brendon-Urie-Mylee picked up a walk back to Ryan’s house, feverishly glancing around to ensure that no one had seen the transformation.

Once again Mylee found herself at Ryan’s door, knocking just as nervously as she had appearing physically as herself. Once again he answered, but this time, the look on his face was remarkably different to that he wore as he saw Mylee in his presence.

“Brendon!” the guitarist exclaimed, his face breaking in a wide smile. “You made it all the way from Vegas to see my new house?”

“I – I – “ Mylee stuttered just as she had the previous visit, hoping desperately that Brendon Urie acted just as she did upon seeing Ryan Ross in front of him.

Yet within seconds, miliseconds, hours – she wasn’t even quite sure - : Ryan’s soft, tender lips had crashed upon hers.