Second Chance

Huntington Beach, California.

That was where I found myself exactly a month after the Auckland concert that the guys had played, and not a day would go by when I wasn't still surprised by it myself. I still wasn't sure how it had happened. One day I was walking the chilly streets of New Zealand with Johnny, who swore up and down that Matt was making a lot of progress with Zacky back at the hotel - and the next I was being told that my staying with them was going to be prolonged for an indefinite amount of time.

So much for going back to school.

And so after three shows in various parts of South America towards the end of May, I found myself on a plane heading towards sunny California. The United States of America. I couldn't believe it. I'd been there for two weeks already and I still couldn't believe it. Somehow even more unbelieveable was the fact that in less than two weeks I would be in Europe while the guys toured in support of one of their favourite bands.

They were all so excited about it that Brian didn't even remember to be mean to me whenever we were forced to be in contact.

I had been staying in Zacky's house, if you could call it that. Perhaps it was the fact that I had lived in the same crappy little house my entire life, but I could see his as nothing less than a mansion. The layout, the decor, even the sheer size of the place boggled my mind. I found myself almost afraid to wander any further than the rooms I had been shown initially - the kitchen, the entrance hall, Zacky's room and the spare room that had become my place to sleep.

Roaming any further would surely result in getting lost.

The same applied to when I stepped foot outside of the house. On my own, I ventured no further than the pavement that passed by the front of the building. Zacky had given me a small tour of the neighbourhood, but even after having lived in the inner parts of Sydney my entire life I felt like he was showing me an entire city that I needed to remember - and it simply wasn't possible. I had been to Matt's house several times, but always by car. No way would I be able to find my way back there on foot.

Once upon a time, being stuck indoors all hours of the day would have driven me mad. But Zacky's house just so happened to be as entertaining as they could possibly come.

Even if the house itself hadn't been all that interesting, its owner made sure that I was always kept entertained. We watched movie after movie in his living room, almost like a theatre in itself; the wide screen television and surround sound system that he owned were beyond anything I had thought you could keep in your own house, and yet here they were. Coupled with his apparently ever-lasting supply of popcorn and soda, it seemed that we were set for life.

Occasionally we were joined by any one of his friends. For the most part it was Matt, and I knew that he was both keeping an eye on the situation and still trying to talk some sense into Zacky. Each and every day I woke up wondering if it would be the day he finally realised what the hell he was doing and sent me back home, but that day had yet to arrive. I wasn't about to start getting comfortable, though. I knew it could only be a matter of time.

Brian apparently knew this too, and it kept him half way civil.

I was more than just a little surprised when it came time for them to leave for Europe and I still hadn't been sent home. On the contrary, they stuck with their plan of taking me with them again.

"I'm just going to get in your way."

It was the tenth time that I had said it in the past thirty minutes, and it earned me the same response from Zacky as it had the previous nine times: he chuckled and shook his head, all the while continuing to finish up the last of his packing.

"We're gonna have a bunch of people on tour with us," he told me pointedly. "One more really isn't going to make much of a difference."

"Those people are all there to help you. I don't have a purpose in this at all!"

"Sure you do." He tossed his tiny, highly expensive looking digital camera to me. I caught it with the tips of my fingers, holding my breath until I managed to maintain a better hold on it. "You can play photographer. Gotta keep the updates coming for the fans." He watched me closely as I rolled my eyes. "What? Don't you want to see Europe?"

It was one of the stupidest questions I had ever heard. Who doesn't want to see Europe?

"I just don't want to go getting in the way."

"You're not. So just keep quiet and accept that."

It was difficult to keep from rolling my eyes again.