Just Look at the World Around You

Jonathan led Avara somewhere he thought they could be alone and turned around to face her to see her standing in front of him defiantly with her hands on her hips.

“You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?” Before he could respond, Holly entered the room.

“Hey, Avara, wanna go get some grub- oh, am I interrupting something?” It was clear to her that she was, so she advanced a few more paces and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed. “My apologies. Carry on.”

Jonathan knew that he couldn’t make her leave, so he decided to carry on as though she wasn’t there.

“It’s not that I don’t like you,” he started lamely. Avara raised an eyebrow, surprised he couldn’t come up with something a little more original.

“Oh, you’re breaking up with her, I see,” Holly said as though she were watching a sit-com. Both Avara and Jonathan ignored her.

“Because I do,” Jonathan continued, aware of how stupid he sounded, but wanting to make sure Avara knew he really did like her.

“Me too!” Holly yelled. Again, she was ignored.

“But in three days, I’m going back to the States and when you go back to America for Warped, I won’t be there. We’ll never get to see each other.”

“He has a good point,” Holly nodded. Jonathan ignored her yet again, but Avara turned to look at her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” Holly responded by puling a lollipop out of her pocket, unwrapping it, and putting it in her mouth.

“I want a lollipop,” Avara pouted. Jonathan sighed.

“This is also part of the reason I’m breaking up with you.” He hadn’t meant to say it, but now that it was out, he couldn’t take it back. Both Holly and Avara stared at him open-mouthed.

“Because she wants a lollipop?” Holly asked, perplexed.

“Because of you! Look, I love you both, but you’re so tight-knit and insane that it’s just, I don’t know, exhausting!” At that moment, the door of the room opened and Harlee and Jake came in.

“Jonathan is breaking up with Avara,” Holly said to them while she patted the floor beside her, “Come, take a seat.” Harlee and Jake exchanged looks and then Harlee walked over to Avara, wrapping her arms around her.

“Oh, honey, are you okay.”

“Calm down, Harlee, he hasn’t done it yet,” Avara said, patting Harlee on the back. “And it doesn’t take four of you to break up with me.”

“I’m not breaking up with you, Vara,” Holly said.

“Neither am I,” agreed Harlee.

“And neither am I.”

“Look, Jake can handle my bromance with Avara, and he spends more time with us than you,” Holly said to Jonathan.

“That’s my point!”

“Wait, you’re breaking up with Avara because of Holly?” Jake asked, tensing into big brother mode.

“No!" Jonathan said with a face-palm, "I'm breaking up with Avara because we don't spend enough time together! It's not her fault, and it's not my fault, it's just the way it is."

"So how do you come into this?" Harlee asked, looking at Holly.

"I don't know," Holly said, waving her arm, "He said something about it before."

"My point there was that whenever we are together, either Holly is there or Avara is off doing something with her! I can't even break up with Avara without her here!"

"And now that we've cleared all this up," Avara said, breaking away from Harlee to throw her arms in the air, "I'm going to go and find some food."

"Me too!" Holly yelled, jumping up.

"Actually Holly," Avara said as she walked toward the door, "I kind of want to be alone."

Holly sat back down with a look of hurt flashing across her face. She knew that Avara probably just needed some time, but she wanted to be there for her best friend. Avara let the door swing shut with a loud smack while the rest of them sat awkwardly in silence.

For the second time in the last three minutes, Holly got back up. She looked around at the rest of them, except for Jonathan, she avoided looking at him, before making her way to the door and going through it. Unlike Avara though, she shut it quietly behind her.



Avara didn't exactly want to be alone, she just didn't want to be around people who would make her talk about Jonathan. She was okay with the break-up, Jonathan had made a good point about them spending hardly any time together, but she didn't want people to ask her if she was okay or start calling him a jerk.

She walked around for a bit until she found Derek Sanders watching Every Avenue from the side of the stage and walked up behind him.

"Hi Derek," she grinned. He looked at her warily, as though she was a mousetrap that would hurt him if he got too close.

"Avara, hi." Neither of them said anything more, but Derek sent Avara a few weird looks. He was surprised that she could stand here, tapping her feet to the rhythm and murmuring along to the words without doing anything insane. He couldn't imagine her being engrossed in anything, but she was engrossed in this.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Avara finally asked as Tell Me I'm A Wreck came to an end and Dave Strauchman addressed the crowd. She didn't look at Derek, but he knew she was talking to him.

"I'm waiting for you to do something unexpected," he replied. Avara turned to grin at him.

"If you're expecting me to do something unexpected, you shouldn't be expecting it." Derek blinked in confusion and they both turned back to the stage as Every Avenue started to play Mindset.

After the song had finished, Avara turned back to Derek.

"I'm hungry," she said, stepping closer and attempting to climb onto his back, "take me to food, faithful steed."

"Get off me!" He yelled, but he couldn't help but laugh.

"You're mean, Derek," Avara pouted, "Dave will feed me, won't you Dave?" She added as she skipped toward the Every Avenue vocalist.

"No, go away," he laughed and pushed her into Derek, who wasn't expecting it and stumbled backwards.

"I can't believe you're all leaving me to fend for myself," Avara scoffed, "We are no longer friends." And with that, she pretended to storm off the stage to go and find somewhere to buy a stuffed spud.



"So please explain to us who you are and what you do in the band," the woman who was apparently called Julia said loudly. Holly and Harlee exchanged amused looks.

"My name is Holly Burming, and I play the bass guitar and I sing vocals," Holly said just as loudly. She passed her microphone onto Harlee who raised it to her lips.

"Hi, I'm Harlee Anchor and I play guitar." She handed the microphone to Avara, who took it almost robotically.

"Avara Law. I play guitar."

"Now your drummer Tadem Cefni is missing, can you tell us why?" Harlee and Holly exchanged yet another look before Avara spoke up.

"Tadem's sister Sarah passed away last week," she told the woman. Holly frowned at the angry look on Avara's face. "None of us are over it so if you don't mind, we don't want to talk about it." Harlee and Holly stared at Avara in shock as Julia cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Okay... Alright, next question." Holly smiled at Julia nicely, trying to make her feel more comfortable. "How has Soundwave been for you all?" She asked. "I know that you two, Holly and Avara were regulars at the festival in Perth? Is it living up to your expectations being on this side of the fence? The artist side?" Holly saw Avara opening her mouth to speak but quickly cut her off in fear she'd say something nasty.

"It's been amazing," she smiled. "I love every aspect of being on a festival, especially in Australia. We've met so many new fans and seen a whole bunch of old faces. It's been really nice, you know? As for being on the 'artist' side of the fence, it's different. I can go and watch bands play from side stage and avoid being crushed in the pit."

"I'd rather be on the other side," Avara said with a monotone. "A lot less boring."

"I went with them once!" Harlee piped up. Holly laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you got sick and sat in the grandstand for most of the day."

"Yeah, cause I was sick!" She exclaimed.

"Cause you didn't eat!" Holly laughed.

"I was too sick to eat!" Harlee replied.

"You were sick cause you didn't eat!" Holly and Harlee glared at each other before breaking into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Avara rolled her eyes.

"Is Soundwave a lot like Warped Tour? Or are they different?" Avara spoke up before Harlee or Holly had the chance to.

"Different," she said. "At Warped Tour you live in a bus, you barely shower, and it's like six weeks longer than Soundwave."

"Which do you all enjoy better?" The three girls were silent for a minute.

"If Soundwave was as long as Warped Tour, I'd choose Soundwave," Holly spoke up.

"Yeah, same," Harlee nodded.

"I can't choose."

"Alright, can I ask you all 'love' related questions?" Julia asked. Holly and Harlee shot looks in Avara's direction but were shocked when she nodded her head. "And you two?" Holly and Harlee quickly nodded their heads. "Okay, John O'Callaghan for Holly. Jack Barakat for Harlee. Jonathan Cook for Avara and Travis Clark for Tadem. Correct?"

"Uh," Harlee mumbled.

"All true except for Jonathan and I." Julia's expression became curious but she didn't say anything. Instead, Avara kept talking. "He broke up with me yesterday."

"Oh..." Julia said awkwardly.

"I love my Jacky," Harlee said quickly. "Before he left to go back to the UK the other day, he took me to Dome for breakfast. We had pancakes and Jack let me have his last one."

"Aw," Holly and Avara said at the same time.

"John bought me a bag of lollies the other day..." Holly laughed. "And, most of them were cola bottles and sour gummi worms."

"True love," Harlee nodded.

"True love," Holly agreed.

"Sometimes, I take myself out for a romantic dinner for one," Avara said.

"Aw," Harlee said, "Oh, wait."



That night, the bands had to fly to Adelaide for their next show the next day, and Derek had the misfortune of having been seated between Avara and Holly.

"Do you, you know, want to swap seats?" He asked both of them, "So you can sit together."

"Nah," Holly said, "I'm good."

"Me too!" Avara added.

"I wish we were on a bigger plane," Holly muttered, "I want to play Yahtzee with Avara on the TV thingies they have on big planes."

"You're a big plane," Avara said whilst grunting in effort to pull something out of her back pocket. She pulled out a small bag and reached over to put Derek's tray down. She then unzipped the bag and five dice, a pad and a pencil rolled out.

"Yahtzee!" She grinned at Holly.

"You're not going to play that now are you?" Derek asked.

"You're right," Avara frowned, scooping the dice back into the bag, "We should wait until after the plane has taken off."

Derek put his palm to his face and slid down in his seat, hoping he would be able to swap seats with someone when they were in the air.



"Derek, Avara's cheating, can you hit her!"

"I am not cheating! You already used your chance before!"

"I told you, I changed it to 'onesies'!"

"Haha, you said onesies."

Derek groaned.

"Are you okay Derek?" Avara asked.

"Maybe he's sick," Holly said, putting the back of her hand to his forehead, "yep," she nodded, "definitely sick."

"You don't think he has rabies, do you?" Avara asked, worried.

"What makes you think I have rabies?" Derek asked, but they both ignored him.

"I hope not," Holly said, "I don't want to have to land prematurely."

"And run away from zombies in the airport terminal," Avara nodded.

"What?" Derek asked.

"What?" Holly and Avara echoed.

"What?" asked Dave, who was sitting in front of Derek. Avara leaned forward and tapped him on the nose with her Yahtzee pad.

"Sit," she said. Dave raised his eyebrows, but turned around nonetheless.

"Did you say something about zombies?" Garrett asked from across the aisle from Holly.

"Yeah, Derek has rabies," Holly told him, "What should we do Zombie-Hunter Garrett?"

"Off with his head," Avara said.

"Off with his head," Garrett agreed.

"If any of you touch my head," Derek said, holding his hands out to Holly and Avara to stop them coming near him, "I will take this plane down."

"But you're on the plane too silly, so you'd die too," Avara told him.

"I'll take your life vests, so that I survive and you don't."

"Hide ALL the life vests from Derek," Holly yelled, punching her fist into the air.

"I don't get it," said Dave, who had turned around again, "We're flying over land." Avara, Holly and Derek were silent for a moment until Holly spoke up.

"Well," she said to Dave. "When in Rome, always say weird things."

"We're not in Rome," He replied. Holly stared at him awkwardly before throwing her hands up into the air. "Well shit, why didn't anyone tell me?" She exclaimed, getting up and marching down the aisle to where John was sitting between Jared and Kennedy. "Kennedy, Avara wants to talk to you..." She smiled. John, knowing perfectly well that both Holly and Avara thought Kennedy was a secret pervert, shook his head with a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"What about?" He asked. Holly shrugged.

"I dunno... Band stuff..." Kennedy shrugged and got up to go see Avara. Holly sat in his seat as soon as he'd let her through and laughed triumphantly. "Ha-ha, stole your seat!"



"Hey Adelaide, how're you all doing?" Holly grinned happily at the amount of fans standing in Kill Barbie's mosh pit. The crowd went insane, so Holly sat down on the edge of the stage and waited for them to calm down.

"Hey, be careful of that girls head!" Harlee yelled suddenly, pointing towards a boy crowd surfing his way to the barrier.

"Yeah!" Avara yelled in agreement. "When Holl and I used to come to Soundwave, we'd be on the barrier and get kicked in the head so much. we always had back, neck and headaches the day after Soundwave..."

"This is true," Holly agreed. She spotted the boy Harlee had been talking about and hopped off the stage to go over and assist the girl. "Are you okay?" She asked. The small girl grimaced and nodded her head. "Here, how bout we get one of the dudes in red to help you out and then you can come sit side stage and watch, okay?" She nodded.

Once Holly and the girl were back on stage, Avara and Harlee greeted her while Rian gave a wave of his hand.

"Alright, this songs called Kyle."



HollyBurmingKB People at Soundwave! We'll be signing in 5 mins at table 1! Rian from ATL will be there too! Be there, or be circle!

AvaraLawKB @HollyBurmingKB Not even going to comment on how stupid you sound...

HollyBurmingKB @AvaraLawKB ... Shut up...

"Shut up," she said again out loud for good measure. Avara laughed, but didn't say anything.

"Jake, did you bring us pre-signing cake?" Harlee asked. She was sitting at the end of the line between Rian and Alex Garcia. Apparently Mayday Parade were doing a signing at the same time.

"Yes Harlee," Jake nodded. He pulled an eco-friendly canvas bag he'd stolen from Holly's Mum from under his seat and opened it up. He dug around inside for a moment before pulling out a tray of iced cupcakes. He handed one to Harlee before offering Holly, Avara and Rian one. When they each took one, he handed them to Alex to pass down Mayday Parade's line.

"Jake, I really think you're swell Jakey-May," Harlee smiled happily as she bit into the cakey goodness.

"Thanks Harlee May," he replied.

"Are you guys ready?" A short girl with a heap of facial piercings and a huge tattoo across her left shoulder asked. Jake nodded and stood up. "Alright. Are photo's and and hugs allowed?" Jake looked at the girls to see if they minded. They all shrugged.

"Sure."

"Hi Avara!" A girl chimed in excitement as she stepped up to the table. "How are you?" Avara grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

"Pretty good," Avara nodded. "How are you enjoying Soundwave?"

"So much fun!" She replied. "Can you sign my poster and can I get a picture?"

"Course you can!" While her friend took her picture, Holly signed the poster that Avara had passed down. "Oh, can Rian sign your picture? He's our temp-Tadem."

"Of course, I love Rian!"