Watch You Take The Fall

I woke up that Wednesday with a thump. I still wasn’t used to sleeping in a bunk and had rolled right onto the floor in my sleep. I shook my head, trying to get the pain out of it and gave up. I hauled myself back up into my bunk, stepping lightly on the corners of other people’s to reach my top level bed. I lay down and pulled the sheets back up to my chin and shut my eyes tightly, willing sleep to return. Realising that it wouldn’t the way I was going about it, I turned over and kicked the blankets to the bottom, pulling up the sheet at the same time. Sighing, I flattened it back down again and lay back. I screwed my eyes back up and plugged in my iPod but I still couldn’t sleep. Sleep had never come easy to me, I’d tried everything the doctors said but nothing worked. After a while, I grew used to it. Crossing my legs, I sat up again. A sudden urge to look at some old shots I’d taken hit me so I threw myself out of my bunk again (intentionally this time) and wandered through to the back lounge where spare bags were kept. After searching around for a while, I found my bulky camera bag. Smiling to myself, I wandered through to the kitchen in search of food and a sofa. Placing my camera bag on the sofa, I pulled my hand through my hair, wincing as it caught on the hairspray that I hadn’t had a chance to wash out yet. I pouted as I looked through the cupboards, there didn’t seem to be anything to eat, well, anything I wanted anyway. Figuring I’d just grab something if we stopped later, I sat down on the sofa and pulled my bag into my lap. I grinned as I reached into it and pulled out my favourite camera.
“Awh” I muttered to myself as I flipped through photos of the last show I’d done with Bring Me The Horizon. They’d told me that they could see how much I wanted to be down in the crowd and had sent me off, letting their supporting band’s tour manager take care of my job. I spent about half my time in the middle of the tightly packed crowd and the rest of it in the photo pit in front of the stage. I’d managed to get some pretty good shots out of that evening, but if I’d have known it was my last show with them for a while, I’d have spent my time backstage in the middle of it all. That was one of the things I missed the most about touring with them, being backstage and in the crowd was completely different from being with All Time Low and some other bands they’d dragged me to. At the concerts I was used to being at, the crowd was always riotous and rowdy, but there was always a sense of unity within that. You got the real impression that people were there for the music and the music only. Sure, you got the annoying girls that were all “OMG OLI FUCKING SYKES OMG MARRY ME OMG I LOVE YOU” that then fainted as soon as they saw the walls of death and mosh pits but the majority were there for the music. At All Time Low’s concerts, you got a mixture of both. There were insane amount of those annoying fan girls but there were clearly a lot of people there for the music and the band as a whole. Even from just being on tour with them for a week and a bit, I’d seen a lot of people overwhelmed as they reached the band at meet and greets when they got the chance to finally tell Rian, Jack, Zack and Alex how much the band and the music meant to them. Some of them had truly inspirational stories and it was really touching to see how it affected both the band and the fans.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as Zack stumbled into the front lounge.
“Sierra? What are you doing up? You hate mornings as much as Alex does.”
“Well Zachary, I may or may not have fallen out of my bed. Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps.” I grinned up at him as Asking Alexandria’s “I Was Once Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps, A Cowboy King” popped into my head.
“You fell out of bed?” He blinked at me “Wow, I haven’t done that since the first night when we first got a bus.” He said, scrunching his nose up.
` “Well you’re forgetting that this is actually my first tour in a bus and it’s only the second week so shush your fucking mouth Zack.” I said lightly, making sure he knew I was joking.
“Not gonna lie, that hurt Sierra” I rolled my eyes, and directed my attention back to my camera that was resting in my lap. Picking it up again, I looked through the viewfinder and snapped a picture of the quickly moving scenery outside. Looking back at the picture, I fiddled with the settings, changing the exposure and pushing the flash down. I raised it again and took another picture, this time of the bemused looking Zack sitting on the sofa opposite me.
“Got a problem Zack?” I raised an eyebrow and turned my camera off again.
“I just didn’t know you were into photography, that’s all. Hey, isn’t this it?” I was confused for a minute until I realised we were parked at today’s venue.
“Yeah this is it.”
“What time do we go on today?” Zack asked, more to himself, before glancing at the whiteboard on the side of the cupboard that had the set times and stages on.
“It’s 2.30 I think?”
“Yep, 2.30.” He confirmed
“Ew, it’s only 9.30 now. What the fuck are you doing up anyway?”
“I knew we’d be getting here soon and I wanted to go for a run before it got too hot.” I muttered an understanding sound before yawning. I really REALLY fucking hated mornings. It didn’t help that I knew I had to be up in half an hour to help Matt and the rest of the crew. I knew Jack was planning on dragging me around today to meet more bands and his friends so there was really no point going back to bed. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep and some shit-head on this bus would no doubt wake me up anyway.
I pushed myself up off the sofa and gathered up my stuff.
“I better go put my stuff away and start waking everyone up.” It wasn’t so bad waking the crew up, they were more used to the early mornings anyway, the band was a completely different story.
*flashback*
Matt had given me the job of waking up Jack and Alex, Rian and Zack were already up (Zack had been out for a run and Rian was probably still wired from the stupid amount of coffee he drank the day before.) Anyway, I opened the curtain to Alex’s bunk, expecting to just find him and Kate, instead finding Alex and Jack spooning. I poked Jack in the cheek, seeing as he was closer to me, that got no reaction. I frowned a little and started poking him more. He only squirmed, burrowing closer into Alex and the pillow. Sighing a little, I walked back into the front lounge.
“Problems?” Smirked Matt.
“Not for long.” I replied, holding up the air horn I’d been looking for. Matt’s eyes widened as I took a quick head count of who was already up, I didn’t want to wake everyone up this way, Jack and Alex were the ones that deserved it. Smiling as I saw that mostly everyone was up, I skipped back into the bunk area, smirking when I heard Rian mutter something about me fitting in well with them already.
“I really didn’t want to do this.” I whispered to myself, holding the obnoxious object out in front of me. I squeezed down on the top, making it emit a horrible noise. Ah well, if I was going to do this, I was doing this properly.
“WAKE THE FUCK UP, DICK FUCKS.” I yelled as they screamed girlishly and leapt out of the bunk. Alex wrestled me to the ground and grabbed it off me.
“Jesus Christ, Sie! I didn’t expect this from you!” He shouted as Jack ran to the front and grabbed something from the fridge. My eyes widened as I saw him return with a couple of bottles of water and some squirty cream we’d bought last time we’d stopped. Shit. I started struggling with Alex, trying to break free from his grip. I was not going through this, this early in the morning. At this point we were surrounded by everyone, seeing as they were all awake now. Most of them were laughing and yelling, the rest of them were cheering for either me or Jack and Alex. I narrowed my eyes at Vinny who was egging Jack on. Unfortunately, that just gave Jack the perfect opportunity to dump all 3 bottles of water over my head. I shut my eyes and squirmed, it was really fucking cold! Then the little bastard decided to lift my shirt up and sprayed the entire can of cream down my top.
“Hey Sie?” I turned back around and smiled at Zack.
“Yeah?”
“Later today do you want to go take some pictures with me? There’s a beach near here that I think people are hitting tonight seeing as we have a day off tomorrow. We could get some shots of the bonfire? Buzznet might want to use them.
“That would be good, it’s been too long since I’ve made time for it.” I smiled softly back at him before going back to my bunk and pushing all of my camera gear into it. I decided I’d get changed before having to wake everyone up. I took my usual routine of dressing and doing all my makeup and hair into the bathroom and started waking the crew.
*
I was walking back to the bus after their set when it happened. One minute, I was skipping ahead of the others, ignoring their yells for me to slow down, the next minute I was flat out on the floor, a heavy weight on my back. I blinked, lifting my head from the dusty ground it had just slammed against before shoving whatever it was off.
“Max you tit, why did you rugby tackle me?” I yelled, slapping the person in question around the face a couple of times.
“Because I missed you Sie Sie.” He whined. I rolled my eyes before taking the hand Grieco was offering me to get up. They’d caught up now, which was weird seeing as they’d been ages behind me when I was taken down. I didn’t think I was on the floor for that long anyway
“What are you doing here then, O hedgehog my love?” I’d been friends with the lads from You Me At Six for about as long as BMTH had been friends with them. We’d been introduced and they instantly became some of my closest friends.
“We’re joining Warped, as of today.” Max said, I could hear the pride in his voice. “Can I take you back to our bus now?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really that kind of girl Maxy.” I winked, ruffling his hair.
“I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. All I meant was I want you to see the rest of ‘em.”
“I know what you meant, but hey, are you going to the bonfire tonight?”
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Well I won’t go back with you now but I’ll catch up with the rest of them there, alright?”
Max thought for a second before nodding and pulling me close to him for a hug.
“Don’t be a stranger Sie ‘ight?” I nodded against his chest and pulled away.
“As long as you don’t tell them I’m here yet, okay? I want to surprise them.” I replied, a smile forming on my face. I watched as he walked away, before carrying on my skipping. After a minute, though, I realised I wasn’t actually moving anywhere. I looked around before realising I was still holding onto Grieco’s hand.
“What?” I questioned, seeing the odd look on everyone’s faces. I shook it off, let go of Grieco and set off skipping again, heading for the bus.
*
It was about half 5 and people were crowded on our bus, preparing for the bonfire. Kate was all over Alex like a fucking leach and people were going out of their way to ignore them.
“Hey guys?” I piped up from my corner. “Will people be swimming or what?” A couple of people nodded before carrying on with what they were doing. I rolled my eyes and pushed my camera bag off my lap. I headed for the bathroom to get ready. I wasn’t passing up an opportunity to swim, so I needed to change. I locked the door before wiping all the makeup from my face. I frowned into the mirror, less than happy with my appearance. I brushed the product from my hair and quickly pulled it into a fishtail plait on the left side of my head, my fringe still lying on my forehead. My 4mm tunnel in my right ear was clearly visible and I smiled. I always wanted to go bigger but never did. I turned away from the mirror and stripped off my clothes before pulling on my Hurley bikini and boardshorts, leaving my converse on. I yanked a t shirt on over my barely clothed top half and gathered up all of my crap, leaving the bathroom. I threw it in my bunk, grabbed my camera gear and joined everyone in the front. I was ready for the bonfire, no doubt about it.
*
It had gotten dark about two hours ago and Zack and I hadn’t stopped taking pictures basically the entire evening. So far we’d only been taking pictures of the band in hopes that Buzznet would want to use them. Apparently All Time Low and crew were supposed to give them videos and pictures from their tour but they’d been falling behind recently. Now I wanted to go and get some shots of the actual beach and landscape. I turned to Zack who had said the same thing a few minutes ago and we walked away from the loud group gathered around the bonfire. A few people from bands were in the sea, yelling and splashing. I made a note to join them later. After a while, we’d climbed up a large sand dune and were sat at the top, swapping the lenses and filters on our cameras.
“How did you get into photography, Zack?” I’d seen some shots he’d done tonight, and he was fucking fabulous.
“I needed to take an extra class in high school to pick up extra credit. Photography was the only thing that fit the rest of my timetable and after a while, I got really into it.” He shrugged before returning the question. I scrunched my nose up and concentrated on my camera while I answered. I hated talking about this.
“My parents were both photographers. I grew up around it, and Pat got really into it. I was surrounded by it and I got really stuck into it. I never did the same sort of photography as my parents, me and Pat both stick to live shots of concerts, people, you know capturing the moment sort of thing? My parents were both really into landscape, and giving where we lived, they had a lot of opportunity for it.” I said, wishing I hadn’t started this conversation. Suprisingly though, Zack seemed to know not to push it and instead stayed quiet, snapping a few pictures. I followed his lead and lost myself behind the viewfinder. It was peaceful, the only noises were the sounds of the cameras, the laughs of our friends drifting across and the waves breaking against the sand. I knew, though, that soon it had to end. I was right. Just then Max came running up to us.
“Sorry to interrupt Sie, Zack, but someone let it slip that you’re here and the guys want to see you.” He panted out. I shrugged and stood up, wiping the sand off my arse.
“You coming?” I asked Zack. He nodded and stood up
“Do you want me to take your gear so you can swim?” He asked. I grinned at him and nodded, handing over my camera bag. I thanked him and ran after Max. I’d taken my Converse off ages ago, so the warm sand was trickling through my toes with every step I took. I reached the shoreline and turned so my back was to the sea and I was facing Max.
“You coming in mate?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. He grinned and shook his head. Before I had time to question what was going on with him, I felt someone kick my legs out from behind me, and people grab my arms and legs. I screamed and started kicking as well as I could. That attracted the attention of the people sat around the bonfire who began laughing at me. I kept yelling as best I could, between laughs. I stole a look at who had grabbed me and saw that it was the rest of You Me At Six. Josh had my left arm, Matt had my right, Chris had grabbed my right leg and Dan was holding onto my left leg. Just as I opened my mouth to carry on yelling, I felt myself being swung and eventually let go, sending me flying into the salty water. I sank like a stone, my hair billowing up around my face. Gasping, I surfaced, the water burning my lungs. I pushed the hair from my face as Matt yelled
“That’s not for coming to see us, you bitch.” I knew he was joking but I still tackled him around the waist and took him down. This soon escalated into an all out war. The other bands had joined us and it was me, All Time Low, Hey Monday, Cobra Starship, Forever The Sickest Kids, We The Kings and a few others against everyone else. People were sat and stood on others shoulders and to be honest, it was loud, wet, mayhem. But it was perfect.