I'll Make a Man out of You

Holly rolled out of her bunk and landed on the bus floor with a soft thump before getting up, yawning, stretching, and walking into the kitchen area to find her new cereal. She was just settling down at the small table, grinning into her bowl of Reece's with glee when the bus door opened and Jake walked in, followed by Vanesse.

"Morning, Holly," Jake grinned. Holly opened her mouth to utter her own greeting, but it occurred to her that Jake seemed to be in a cheerful mood, and Jake never seemed to be this cheerful around her. Whenever Jake was around her, he was sighing at her, yelling at her, or pulling out his hair.

"Hello," she said skeptically as Jake and Vanesse took seats across from her. "What's up?"

"We're putting you on a diet," Jake beamed.

Holly's face fell.

"A what? What, do you think I'm fat or something?"

"No, no, no," Vanesse said quickly, shaking her head. "It's not that kind of diet."

"We're trying to preserve your voice," Jake shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with my voice!" Holly said indignantly, then she turned to Vanesse and added timidly, "is there?"

"No," she smiled, "Not yet anyway. Being a vocalist is demanding of your voice, Holly. You're going to be using it so much over the next few months, we just want to make sure you don't strain yourself. Cutting out on certain foods can help prevent damaging your voice."

"What kind of foods?" Holly asked. She saw Jake's eyes flick down to the bowl in front of her and dragged it closer to her. "No, I will not give up my cereal!"

"'Sgoin' on?" came the sleepy voice of Avara as she entered the kitchen area and slid in next to Holly at the table.

"They're trying to put me on a diet!"

"Why?" Avara asked, "You're not fat."

"Thank you," Holly mumbled, and Jake started to explain to Avara the reason for the suggested diet.

"I see," she said, picking out a piece of Holly's cereal, popping it into her mouth, and then making a face because she didn't like it. "Does that also mean I'll have to stop doing so many things with my fingers? To make sure I don't hurt them?"

"Like what?" Jake asked, frowning. Avara shrugged.

"Playing Nintendo and stuff."

"We don't have a Nintendo," Jake said.

"I know, I'm just saying if we did have a Nintendo, would I need to give up playing it?"

"No," he said, rolling his eyes at Avara, "No, you're fine."

Holly suddenly stood up and announced that she was going to go out for a little bit. She crawled over Avara and walked toward her bunk to find a pair of shorts.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Avara called, standing up.

"No," Holly replied, returning fully dressed, "I'll see you later." Avara sat back down and gave Holly a small smile as she left the bus.

After closing the bus door behind her, Holly pulled out her phone and sent a text to John, asking what the code to get onto his bus was. She begun to walk in the direction of The Maine's bus while she waited for a reply, and shortly realised John was probably still asleep. She sent the same question to Jared, who replied swiftly with the code.

Jared Monaco.
Morning Holly! None of us are at the bus right now except for John who is asleep!
Definitely head on over though, the code is: 5688924.

Holly let herself onto the bus and walked directly to John's bunk and pulled open the curtain to see him lying there, sound asleep and with his mouth slightly open. She smiled to herself and crawled in next to him, closing the curtain behind her.

John mumbled something unintelligible and Holly giggled and kissed him on the nose as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. They were both fast asleep shortly after.



"I just think that you should have been a little more tactful," Avara was telling Jake, still sitting at the table, still talking about Holly's 'diet'. "I think she's pretty upset."

"Alright, Avara, we get it!" snapped Tadem, who had now joined them at the table.

"Tadem," Jake muttered, in what Avara was sure was supposed to be a scalding tone, but he seemed just as surprised by Tadem's outburst as Avara. Avara opened her mouth to ask Tadem what had crawled up her anus and died there, but a scalding look from Jake told her not to. Since she didn't have anything pleasant to say to Tadem, she stood up.

"I'm going to go and find my best friend," she said.

"I thought Holly wanted to be left alone?" asked Vanesse.

"I was talking about Derek," said Avara, "Duh." Tadem muttered something that was probably offensive, but Avara didn't hear her because she had gone to her bunk to get changed.

Avara left the bus without saying goodbye to anyone and proceeded in the direction of Mayday Parade's bus, trying to think of how she would get on said bus without the code because, obviously, knocking wasn't an option.

When she found the bus, she stood below one of the windows and clicked her tongue. She then pulled her phone out of her pocket, turned the volume all the way up, and held it over her head as she pressed play and bent down to pick up a few bits of gravel off of the ground. Miserable at Best (deciding it was probably the most lovey-dovey song she currently had) started to play out of her phone, and she straightened up and threw the bits of gravel at the bus window.

She didn't know who's window it was, and she didn't care because she considered herself to be best friends with all of Mayday Parade. It wasn't until the had thrown a second handful of gravel at the window and the bus door opened that she remembered Mayday Parade also had a crew. And that crew consisted of...

"Rodger," she breathed.

"Are you throwing rocks at my window?" he asked, eyebrows raised, "How romantic."

"IwaslookingforDerek," Avara said, so fast that she was surprised he even understood.

"Catering," he replied, nodding in the general direction of the catering tent. "I was just about to go down, I'll walk with you."

He stepped off the bus and turned around to shut the door behind him as Avara yelled out, "SQUIDDLY-SQUID MANEUVER!" And ran in a zig-zag pattern in the opposite direction of catering, waving her arms around her head like a maniac.

Avara found herself at The Maine's bus and let herself on, walked down the bus and directly to John's bunk, where she tore open the curtain and squeezed herself in next to Holly.

"Avara, what are you doing?" Holly mumbled. Holly's eyes were still closed, but Avara was so familiar to her that she immediately knew who barged in.

"I just ran into Rudolf," Avara explained. Holly's eyes fluttered open.

"Go on."

"I went 'AAHH!' and his face went 'AAHH!', but his face didn't go 'AAHH!' and I ran away and I never want to experience this again."

"Are you ever going to talk to him?" Holly replied lazily, stifling a yawn and closing her eyes again.

"No. I'm quite content with admiring from afar."

"Avara, how did you get on the bus?" John mumbled sleepily. "Who gave you the code?"

"I beat it out of Pat yesterday. In fact, I'm going to go and beat some breakfast out of him now," she said, and then added, "if you don't mind," like it was Holly and John who had invaded her personal space and not the other way around.

"Cool story, Bro," Holly said, "Now get out." With a shove from Holly, Avara rolled out of the bunk with a squeal and landed on the floor with a thump, similar to the one Holly had made earlier.

Avara pulled herself off the floor and walked into the kitchen area to see Garrett holding a jug full of what appeared to be egg whites.

"You disgust me, Garrett," she said, sitting at the table. Garrett lifted the jug to his mouth.

"Zombie Hunters of the Zombie Hunter clan, Garrett and the Zombie Hunters need a protein rich diet," he said. He tipped the jug as though he were going to drink out of it, and then lowered it with a laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm replacing the milk in the fridge with this."

"What are you going to do with the milk that's already in the carton?" Avara asked. Garrett's face fell. Clearly, he hadn't thought of that. "No offence, Garrett, but I think you should let Holly and I make all the plans for the Zombie Hunter clan, Garrett and the Zombie Hunters."



Later on, when Holly and John had finally pulled themselves from John's bunk, they found themselves walking hand-in-hand down merch ave. John was walking silently as Holly chattered about how happy she was to be back at Warped Tour and pointing out wristbands at every single merch tent that she wanted, and then making John buy them for her.

"It's orange and green," John raised an eyebrow as Holly stopped him in front of Hey Monday's merch tent. Holly nodded.

"I love orange and green, John," she told him. "And it's so beautiful. Don't you think it's beautiful?" She asked him, holding his left hand in both of hers.

"Hol," he said, "it's orange and green..."

"So?"

"Couldn't you get the pink one?" He asked. Holly rolled her eyes and stuck her hand in the jar that held the green and orange wrist bands. Once her hand closed around one, she pulled her hand out and slipped the rubber ring over her wrist.

"John, it's so beautiful!"

"It's hideous." Holly glared at him before she turned to pull a yellow and a green one out of the other jars. "You seriously want me to buy that for you?"

"Yes."

"Hol, it's orange and gree-" He stopped talking when Holly turned and glared at him again. "Okay, okay, I'll buy it for you." Holly grinned and gave John a quick hug.

"Thanks John," she said. "These too?" She held up the yellow and green wrist bands for him to see. John rolled his eyes.

"Sure thing, Hol."

"Hey you two!" A familiar voice said happily. Holly looked up and grinned when she saw Rian Dawson from All Time Low. "What're you guys doing?"

"Hey Ri, John's buying me wrist bands!"

"John's being roped into buying you wrist bands," John corrected. Holly shot him another glare before turning back to grin at Rian who was chuckling.

"What are you doing?" She asked her friend.

"Just dropped in with Cass to cover for Matt their merch guy while he went to the toilet," he explained, pointing over his shoulder to the backside of someone who was shuffling through a box behind him.

"Cass?" Holly wondered.

"Cassadee Pope," Rian grinned.

"Assadee Poop?" Holly asked before she could stop herself.

"Holly!' John exclaimed as Rian and Cassadee laughed.

"I see you've been talking to Alex," Cassadee laughed. "He's been calling me that for a while now as a joke. Such a funny man."

"Yeah, a joke," Holly mumbled under her breath. John nudged her and shook his head when she looked up at his face.

"We should go," John nodded, pulling out his wallet and tossing two one dollar bills down on the table for Cassadee. Holly frowned.

"Why?" She asked.

"I'm starving," he nodded, rubbing his stomach for emphasise.

"We just had brunch?"

"I'm a growing man Hol, I gotta eat every twenty minutes or so." Holly frowned and lifted up the bottom of his shirt so that she could see his stomach. "What're you doin'?" He laughed, trying to push her away.

"If you gotta eat so much, why're you so skinny?" She poked his stomach and laughed when he spun her around and held her tightly so that she couldn't poke him anymore.

"Fast metabolism," he replied taking her hand. "Let's go back to your bus." Holly shook her head. "Why not?"

"Jake and Vanesse are making me go on a diet," she said sadly. John rolled his eyes at Rian and Cassadee.

"It's for your voice, not because they think you're fat- bye guys," he said quickly, leading Holly away.

"Bye!' Holly called.

"Bye!" Rian and Cassadee called in unison.

"I can't eat my new cereal though John," Holly mumbled.

"Want me to beat them up?" He asked, showing a security guard his pass as they went back stage and headed towards the buses. Holly nodded. "Alright, when we get to your bus, I'll beat them up."

"Thanks John."

"No problem Hol."



They found Avara and Harlee sitting on the grass by the bus with a box filled with finger puppets.

"Where'd you get those?" Holly exclaimed, dropping down beside them.

"A fan gave them to Trav," Avara shrugged, handing Harlee and Octopus finger puppet. "Harlee bought them back a little while ago." John dropped onto the ground behind Holly and laid back, closing his eyes.

"Get your stinky feet away from me," Harlee laughed, poking John's foot.

"He's ticklish on that foot," Avara said without looking up from the box.

"How did you know that?!" John exclaimed.

"Read it in Holly's diary," she replied.

"You have a diary?" He asked Holly, who laughed, shaking her head.

"No."

"Oh, my god, it's a Turtle!" Avara exclaimed, pulling a green finger puppet from the box and tossing it at Holly. "And a mother freaking Penguin!"

"And a Snail!" Harlee exclaimed.



At around lunchtime, Avara announced that she was hungry and left Harlee and Holly playing finger puppets to get some grub. About fifteen minutes after she sat down under the catering tent, Holly appeared across the table from her.

"So like, Tadem's new tech used to be a tech for Mayday Parade," Holly said, wiggling her eyebrows at Avara, who was engrossed in her phone and didn't seem to be listening. "Duderino?"

"Wicked," Avara muttered.

"Rodger is Mayday Parade's merch kiddlywink," Holly said. She was beginning to become annoyed at the lack of attention Avara was showing.

"His name isn't Rodger, it's Curtis."

"How do you know this? And more importantly, why did you not tell me you knew this?" Avara looked up at Holly's astonished face, grinned, and then passed her phone to her friend. Holly took the phone and stared at the screen, which displayed her text messages to and from Jake, and read the most recently received message.

Jake Reynolds.
His name isn't Roger, it's Curtis.

Holly scrolled up past the last five or so messages and read the conversation fully while Avara waited impatiently.

Avara Law.
Since when did we have wristbands

Jake Reynolds.
Kill Barbie ones?

Avara Law.
Yis

Jake Reynolds.
Since last week. Why, where did you see them?

Avara Law.
Rodger was wearing one

Jake Reynolds.
Who is Rodger?

Avara Law.
The merch kiddlywink of MP

Jake Reynolds.
His name isn't Roger, it's Curtis.

"Curtis?" Holly frowned, "That sounds like something you would name a turtle."

Avara made grabbing motions for Holly to giver her back her phone, as Jake showed up and sat down at the table.

"Where did you get Rodger from?" He asked Avara.

"Rodger. Curtis. Same thing," Avara shrugged. Jake knew better than to tell her that Roger and Curtis were hardly the same name. It was an argument he would not win, especially with Holly here to back Avara up, who probably thought up the whole thing anyway.

"Speaking of Ricardio and Curtis, since when did Kill Barbie have wristbands?" Holly asked. Jake rolled his eyes.

"He already said," said Avara, pointing to her phone, which was still in Holly's hand, "Since last week."

"I don't remember agreeing to this," Holly said, looking from Avara to Jake.

"I knew you wouldn't," Jake replied, pulling out his own phone. "So I did this." He pressed a few buttons and then they heard their own voices coming from a recording.

"How do you feel about wristbands?" Jake had asked.

"They're cool I suppose. Some of them have a bit of an attitude, but apart from that they're okay," Holly had replied. They could almost hear Jake roll his eyes.

"Let me rephrase. How do you feel about Kill Barbie wristbands? As in, should we make them?

"Yes. Yes we should Jake. Yes we should," said Avara.

"I would have to say that I agree. We should make Kill Barbie wristbands," said Holly.

Jake snapped his phone shut and looked at Holly smugly.

"Hmmm," she hmmmmmd, pursing her lips together, "I think my memory and myself must have a chat."

"Later," Jake said, rolling his eyes, "Right now, you two have a show to get ready for."