Just Look at the World Around You

Special arrangements had been made to allow Tadem, accompanied by Holly, Avara, Harlee, Jake, Travis Cooper, Travis Clark, Jonathan and John to fly to Perth for Tadem's sister's funeral before meeting back up with the tour in Melbourne the following Thursday.

No one was sure if Tadem would join them or if she would stay in Perth with her family, and Avara, feeling very bad as she did so, awaited the time when Tadem would make this decision with anxiety. Sarah's death was a tragedy, but the more time they would have to make arrangements for someone to fill in for Tadem, the better. She was all for giving Tadem as much time as she needed to adjust to this change in her life, but Avara still had her career to worry about. And yes, she felt horrible for thinking about herself in this situation when her friend needed her.

Tadem wasn't the type of person to share her burdens, so she hadn't spoken much at all since she broke the news to the girls. This made things between then slightly awkward, and a lot of the time they weren't sure how they should act around her. Avara was grateful for Travis Clark's presence because he seemed to be able to provide Tadem with some comfort on the plane. She was also grateful for John and Jonathan, who were there for herself and Holly.

As soon as they had entered the airport from the plane, Tadem had made a beeline for her parents and everyone decided to give them some space. Travis and Travis went to get coffee and hot chocolates from Dome while everyone else huddled by the baggage claim to await their luggage. Jonathan had taken a seat on a nearby bench next to Jake, who had Harlee curled up in his lap. Avara walked over to Jonathan and sat on him, and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. Holly walked over to stand in front of them, and John wrapped his arms around her.

"I still can't believe this," Avara mumbled. Jonathan smoothed her hair back and kissed her temple. Holly, who was staring in the general direction of Avara's shoes, smiled suddenly and sadly.

"Do you remember that time at the bus stop?" Avara nodded, knowing Holly was referring to the time they walked past Sarah's bus stop outside of their high school and Holly had yelled out her name. Sarah had then turned around and yelled out Holly's name. Avara, feeling left out, had then yelled out her own name.

"She had a cute pony," Harlee mumbled. Avara and Holly nodded there heads in agreement.

"She was funny," Holly sighed.

"And she took us on a holiday to Pemberton that one time," Avara pouted and grabbed Jonathan's left hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "That was a fun time."

"Yeah," Harlee nodded, a weak smile crossing her face. "And that chair was broken and she sat on it." Holly and Avara nodded.

"She seemed pretty cool," John told the girls, trying to cheer them up a little bit. None of them responded vocally, they just nodded their heads.

Alex Gaskarth.
We got Jakes message, hope you're all okay. We're just getting onto our flight now. See you in 24 hours. Tell Tades we love her.

"All Time Low are on their way," Holly sighed, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "They'll be here in 24 hours, so I think they're in the UK." Harlee nodded her head.

"Yeah, they're on a tour with The Cab and Hey Monday," she told her. Holly nodded her head in understanding. "Jack said they cancelled two dates to come and give Tadem moral support."

"That's nice of them," Avara smiled. "They're good dudes."

None of the group noticed as Tadem broke away from her family and made her way back over to her band and friends until she'd put her hand on John's shoulder. She had been crying again, that had been obvious.

"Has anyone seen Travis?" She whispered.

"He went with Cooper to get coffee," Holly told her friend, breaking away from John to wrap her arms around her friend. Avara and Harlee stood up and did the same. "He should be back so-"

"Are you okay Tadem?" The two Travis' were back carrying three trays of coffee. Tadem sighed and rubbed her brow as her bandmates stepped away from her.

"Not really," she replied. "Mum and Dad are taking me to see her..." She whimpered. Travis stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. "Will you stay with us Travis?" Travis was nodding before she even finished what she was saying.

"Of course," he told her.

"Okay," she whispered. "Thanks for coming home guys. I'll let you know details about the funeral when I know them." She went to turn away but Holly stopped her.

"Tadem?"

"Hm?"

"The All Time Low boys are on their way over," she said softly. "They want to be here for you. Is that okay?" A small smile ghosted Tadem's lips as she nodded. "Alright, I'll let you know when they get in, okay?"

"Thanks Holly."



Holly woke up the next morning in her own bed, right beside John. While she had, had a restless night tossing and turning he had slept peacefully with his hands behind his head and his legs everywhere else.

"I'm never sharing a bed with you ever again," she whispered in his general direction as he let out a deep breath and rolled over to face the window.

"Good morning," Mrs. Burming smiled weakly when Holly stepped out of her room and took a seat at the bench. "How are you feeling this morning?" Holly shrugged.

"Still a bit confused and shocked, ya know?" She sighed. "I've known Sarah for a few years now and she's just gone. I can't imagine how Tadem's feeling right now. Thank god Travis is with her." Mrs. Burming nodded.

"She'll be okay," she nodded again. "She's got you girls and her boyfriend and her family and your fans."

"She does have all of that," Holly agreed.

Avara Law.
Rian just texted me, they just got into Perth. Want to go pick them up?

"I'm just going to go get the guys from the airport with Vara," Holly told her Mum. "Can you make sure John doesn't freak out when he wakes up?"

"Can do."

Holly Burming.
Just getting dressed, be there soon.

"I'm taking your car," Holly said to her mum when she emerged from her bedroom, where John was still fast asleep.

"Why can't you take yours?" Her mum replied.

"Because I need to pick up like five hundred people from the airport," she replied, pulling her phone out to text Avara.

"Five hundred people won't fit in my car!" Holly's mum replied.

"More people will fit in yours than in mine," Holly shrugged, taking a piece of vegemite-slathered toast from her mum's fingers and shoving it into her mouth. She then grabbed her mum's keys off the table and went out to get in the car.

Holly's dog Rosie was sitting by the passenger door of the car, clearly wanting to go for a drive.

"Sorry Rosie-Noo, you can't come this time," Holly frowned. Rosie pulled a puppydog face and trotted over to where her mother, Lady, was curled up in the sand.

When Holly arrived at Avara's house, which was just down the road from her own, she nearly ran over Avara's cat, who preceded to run up the driveway and into the front door as it opened to reveal Jonathan and Avara. Avara waved at Holly, laughed at her cat and pecked a worried looking Jonathan on the lips and skipped toward the passenger side of Holly's mum's car.

"What's wrong with Jonathan?" Holly asked as she gave him a small wave. He waved back, blew a kiss to Avara, and was dragged back inside Avara's house by her little brother.

"My dad's home," Avara replied.

"Oh," nodded Holly. She knew that Avara's dad was a funny man, and was probably going to drill Jonathan while Avara wasn't there. "If only he was Garrett," Holly replied, "He'd get on with your dad pretty well, considering they both love zombies."

"Ew," replied Avara, making a face, "but Garrett is Garrett. Could you imagine if I brought Pat home?" At that, Holly cracked up laughing and reversed down Avara's driveway.



About an hour later, Holly and Avara were on the way to Harlee's, accompanied by Alex, Jack, Rian, Zack and Matt, Jack and Alex hiding in the boot, to drop Jack off.

"So how is Tay?" Rian asked. Holly shrugged.

"Not good I suppose," she replied.

"Ri?" Avara asked.

"Yeah?"

"When does your tour in the UK end?" Rian turned to Matt with a frown.

"Next Wednesday, right?" Matt nodded. "Why?" he asked, turning back to Avara.

"There's a good chance Tades won't be ready to come back on tour to finish Soundwave," Avara said quietly, turning to give Rian a meaningful look.

"Avara! Is this really the time?" Holly asked, appalled that Avara would only be thinking of the band right now.

"No, it's not Holly, but I would feel a hell of a lot better if we had a temporary solution band-wise."

"You want me to come and play with you guys?" Rian asked.

"It was just a suggestion," Avara mumbled, turning around to look out the window again.

"It'd be happy to help, but I don't know your songs. I don't want you guys to have to cancel the tour though, so I'll do my best to learn them by...."

"Our next show is next Friday," Holly muttered. "Thanks Ri, Avara's right, it is nice to not have to worry about band things right now."

"You never know," Alex said, popping his head over the back seat. It would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so sad. "Tadem might want to play." Avara and Holly nodded, but weren't convinced.

They stayed at Harlee's house long enough to say hello to everyone and to help Jack get his things from the boot of Holly's mums car and then they were off back to drop Avara off at her house.

Tadem Cefni.
Subject; Mass text.
Sarah's funeral is tomorrow at Kakatta funeral homes in Claremont at 10PM. The wake will be back at our house after if anyone wants to join us in celebrating her life.

As soon as Avara got out of the car, she let Alex out of the boot and he went straight to the front seat and shut the door. Holly leant across Alex to speak to Avara through the open window.

"I'll drop the dudes off to you in the morning at around 8?" She asked. "It'll take like an hour to get there with traffic and stuff." Avara nodded her head.

"Okay, sounds good. See you all tomorrow!" She turned and began to walk up her driveway to her front door when Jonathan burst out apparently glad she was home.



"Alex, get the hell out of the bathroom!" Holly yelled, bashing her fist against the bathroom door angrily. Avara, who had decided to come and join them instead of waiting for them to be dropped off laughed as her best friend screamed at the white door.

"Holly, chill!" Alex yelled back. "Fuck!"

"I need to shower!" She kicked the door. "Ow!" Avara laughed again and picked up the glass of juice she had stolen from the fridge and took a sip.

"Calm the fuck down Burming, I'm almost done!"

"We're going to be late, hurry up!"

"Alright, alright, I'm done!" The door opened and Holly pushed her way in and kicked Alex out. He flung forward into the washing machine and yelled out. Holly didn't seem to care apparently because the door slammed shut and the shower turned on.

"She's a fucking bitch in the morning," Alex huffed, stalking down the hallway and entering the spare room he had shared with Rian the night before. Avara, who was still watching the whole thing laughed.

"They've been like that all morning," Rian sighed. Being the organised people they were, Rian and Matt had gotten ready a lot earlier and were sitting out side with Rosie and Lady. Avara smiled and nodded.

"Doesn't surprise me," she grinned.

By the time everyone was dressed and ready to go, Matt herded them into cars. Rian, John and Holly's parents went in Holly's car while the rest of the guys went with Avara in hers.

Harlee Anchor.
We're leaving now. How long will you guys be?

"Harlee wants to know how long we'll be?" Rian asked Holly as she pulled out of her street and drove off towards the city.

"Tell her around forty-five minutes," Holly replied. She watched as Avara over took a slow red ute that had pulled out in front of her and imagined her yelling at it.

Rian Dawson.
Around 45 mins. See you all there.



When everyone met up at the funeral home, there was a lot of exchanges of hugs and kind words. They entered the hall in which the service would take place and Tadem took a seat with her family in the front row. Everyone else hesitated, causing Tadem to turn around and frown.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" She asked.

"The front row is for family," Harlee said awkwardly, glancing to the second row which was filled with strangers. Tadem smiled.

"But you are family." Harlee's face broke into a grin, happy that Tadem considered her family, and the group filed into the remaining seats in the front row beside Tadem. There were three seats remaining, but they were soon filled by none other than Shaun, Bradie and Andy from Short Stack. The boys gave Tadem and her family their condolences and filed past everyone else to take their seats. As Shaun passed Avara, he gave her a pleasant smile, while faltered slightly when he saw the she was holding hands with Jonathan. Shaun took it like a man, not wanting to cause a scene at all, let alone at his friend's sister's funeral, and sat down between Andy and Bradie.

The service was beautiful. A number of Tadem's relatives stood up to speak about Sarah, and share their memories of her with everyone. People laughed, people cried, and eventually Tadem stood up to speak. She cleared her throat and it was a few moments before she said anything. Everyone in the room waited in silence.

"I uh," she started, sniffing back tears and wiping her hand across the bottom of her nose, "I wasn't going to say anything. I couldn't think of anything to say, except that I miss my sister." Everyone had to give Tadem a moment, for she had started to cry. She cleared her throat again. "We were in the middle of a tour when I found out that there had been an accident, and I-," Tadem faltered again. "Everyone has been up here sharing all their memories of Sarah, but I spent my entire life with her, so there are too many. She was my best friend, and I have no idea how to go on without her but, and I know this sounds really corny, I know she'd want me to go on with my life. Which is why I've decided that I'm not going let my band down," she said, looking over at Holly, Avara and Harlee and smiling, "I'd like to ask my girls if I can miss the next date or two to be with my family in this hard time, but if Sarah is up there," she said, looking upwards, "and she saw me get so overwhelmed with grief that I quit the band and my career and my future, she'd falcon kick my ass so hard!" She said with a laugh, "I know you were worried girls, but I'm not giving up. You don't have to worry about me. Mum, Dad, Paul" she added, now looking to her parents and older brother, "You don't have to worry about me. Loosing Sarah was a huge blow, but I'll be okay."

Tadem and Sarah's parents were the last people to stand up at the podium together to speak about their daughter. You could see Mrs. Cefni was about to break, and Mr. Cefni wasn't far behind her.

After they were finished, they stepped back down and took their seats between Paul and Tadem while the minister took to the stand.

"On behalf of the Cefni family, thank you for coming along to Sarah Cefni's service and you are all welcome to join the family at their home in the Swan for the wake. Thank you."



"That was the saddest funeral I have ever been to," Alex said sadly as the group walked back towards where they had parked the cars. Most of the guys hadn't really known Sarah, but they knew of her through the girls. Holly nodded her head and pulled Alex to a stop so that she could climb onto his back.

"It was beautiful," she said once she was in place. "I think Sarah would have been thankful for the amount of people that showed up."

"I can't believe we'll never see her again," Avara said sadly.

"Yeah," Harlee agreed.

"It's nice what Tadem said though, about not quitting the band. Sarah would kick her ass if she knew that Tadem was even thinking about it!" Holly told the group.

"I'm happy to fill in while she's gone," Rian piped up. Jake, who hadn't been in the car for the previous conversation revolving around Rian Dawson taking Tadem's place for a small amount of time, beamed.

"Really?" He asked. "We won't have to pull out of Soundwave?"

"I guess not." Jake hugged Rian happily.

"Thanks Rian!"

"Holly!" Someone called. Holly looked behind her and spotted her parents. She made Alex turn around and go back to them. "Your Aunty Pauline is just down the road at a party, so she's going to take your Dad and I home okay? We're not going to go to the wake."

"Alright," she nodded. "Want us to wait with you?" Holly's Dad gave her a look and Alex laughed. "Alright, alright. See you both at home later. Come on Alex, mush, mush!"



The Cefni's front yard was littered with cars and people who were making their way towards the back gate when the three cars pulled into the driveway. Holly, who still agisted her horses at Tadem's house shook her head and drove up to the next drive way where no one was parked.

"We'll go through the back," she told everyone when they were standing in a huge group. She lead them through a gate and around the house to a gate at the back where a small, fat appaloosa horse stood staring into the throngs of people in the back yard. "Aw Blushy," she said softly.

"Do you think she knows?" Avara wondered, walking past Holly to go and pat the horse on the face. Blush bent her face down so that Avara could scratch around her ears.

"I don't know," Holly sighed. "But in case she does; It's okay Blushy, Sarah's not hurt anymore." She brushed her hand against Blush's side.

"They all look pretty bummed," Jack said. You could tell Jack was sad because he hadn't said or done anything crazy that day. Holly and Avara looked up and over Blush and noticed that the other six horses were standing around watching the people too and they did in fact look sad.

"Maybe they can sense something?" Jonathan said. Holly nodded and went over to a large bay horse with a small white star.

"Hey Sebastian," she smiled, giving him a kiss on his nose.

"That's my dog's name, you thief!" Alex laughed. Holly ignored him as a smaller bay horse with a white star walked over to her.

"Hey Vita," she smiled, kissing her forehead. "You guys go into the party, I just want to see my ponies for a minute." The group nodded and went in through the gate after Harlee and Avara. John watched them go and then went to stand behind Holly.

"These yours?" He asked. Holly nodded and gently stroked Lavita's nose. "They're beautiful," he told her. Holly smiled. They were nice, and she loved them. She only wished it was her riding them, taking them to competitions. Not the girl she had hired to do so in her absence.

"I miss them a lot," she sighed. "They were my life right up until the band kicked off." John nodded.

"Your Mom showed my your ribbons and pictures and your show books," he smiled. "She said you did pretty well with them and that it's a shame you didn't have time for the band and them." Holly nodded.

"Maybe we can bring them into the band?" She laughed. "And my Rosie dog and Tigger?" John chuckled and shook his head.

"I don't think Jake would like that," he grinned. "And it'd take forever to get them all through customs when you take them overseas."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Holly glanced over to the fence and saw Tadem standing there. "Come introduce John to your girls," she called. Tadem smiled and pushed the gate open. "I'm going to go in and see your parents."

HollyBurmingKB What a beautiful service and a good way to say goodbye. We love you Sarah <3 RIP #goodbyesarah

AvaraLawKB Sad day for Kill Barbie. We've all known you for years and years now Sarah, and we'll miss you like crazy! Rest In Peace. #goodbyesarah

HarleeAnchorKB Goodbye Sarah! We love you! #goodbyesarah

AlexAllTimeLow Didn't know you that well, but by the stories I've heard today, you were fucking hilarious. Rest In Peace girl. #goodbyesarah

travisrclark saying goodbye is always hard. See you in the next life! #goodbyesarah

JakeReynolds What a sad day today is. You were a bright and happy woman Sarah, and will be forever in our hearts. #goodbyesarah

KillBarbieBand #goodbyesarah To the fans, please respect that Tadem needs time to mourn the loss of her sister. Please do not talk/ bring Sarah up when meeting the band. - Jake.

TademCefniKB Said goodbye to my big sister today. So many good memories with her that I'll never forget. I love you Sessle. #goodbyesarah

TravisCooper Gonna miss you like crazy Sar, RIP #goodbyesarah