I'll Make a Man out of You

"Soooo," Holly said, trying to sound more calm than she really was. "What're your parents like?" John, who was trying to point out important landmarks , sighed and turned to look at Holly. "What?"

"Don't be nervous," John chuckled. "My folks are real excited to meet you."

"You have brothers right?" Holly asked, ignoring John. "Will they think I'm weird?" John rolled his eyes.

"Yeah,I have brothers, and no, they wont think you're weird." Holly gave him a look to which he replied to with a chuckle. "Seriously Hol, relax, my folks and-" He gave her a pointed look "-my brothers, too."

"Alls I'm saying, is it's possible that they'll think I'm weird. What're you gonna do then?" Once again, John rolled his eyes. "Will you do a Jonathan on m-"

"Turn right, here," John called to the cab driver, ignoring Holly when she gave him an annoyed look. "Seriously Hol, you're great!" John sighed when she gave him a disbelieving look. "Honestly Hol, they're gonna love you."

Holly fell silent then as she watched the houses go by until finally, John was asking the cab driver to pull into a house.

The house was two stories and made of white brick and the garden was filled with bushes and beautiful flowers. John helped Holly from the car, pulled their back packs out and handed the cab driver a twenty dollar note. Once the cab driver had driven away, he took hold of Holly's hand and started to lead her up the path to the house.

Holly Burming.
I hate you Avara.

"Mom, Dad, we're home!"

"Oh, Jay, they're here!"

Holly didn't have enough time to react before a tall blonde woman was embracing her and telling her how pretty she was. Then she was pulled into another hug by a John in twenty to thirty years. And eventually she was being gawked at by two younger versions of John.

"Hol," John grinned, "this is my Mom; Jenny, my Dad; John and my brothers; Ross and Shane."

"Hey," Holly smiled awkwardly. John laughed and rolled his eyes.

"She's real shy," he told his family who laughed and shrugged their shoulders.

"Oh sweetheart, no need to be shy here," Jenny chuckled.



Meanwhile, at the venue, Avara was busy telling Jake how she was in need of another sticker for her sticker chart in order to make it more like a watermelon.

"No," he told her.

"And why not?" She asked, following him down merch ave to where Travis and Danny were setting up Kill Barbie's merch tent. "I won't tell Holly about it, I promise."

"No."

"Jake!"

"Avara!" He mocked.

"Jake, I'm serious!" Avara exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "I really need to have another green sticker to make my watermelon theme more complete and even."

"I can't allow that Avara, if Holly found out she'd be furious."

"Well If I wont tell her and if you wont tell her, who will?" Avara asked. "Who will tell her Jake? Who?"

"She'll figure it out... When she sees your sticker chart..."

"I'll hide it," Avara shrugged. "No one knows where my special hiding spot is."

"It's in your pillow case."

"What? How did you know that?!"

"You told us all when you were telling us we should hide Derek's wallet there last week."

"I would never!"

"You would and you did."

"Soooo, I can have a sticker?"

"No."

"Jake!"

"Avara!"



"So Holly, how did you and our John meet?" Jenny asked Holly over dinner. "My son doesn't tell his mother anything!"

"Uh..." Holly said unsure, glancing at John to see his face was pink. "My uh, my band mate Avara and I were uh, we weren't talking at the time and she knew that I'm a huge fan of The Maine's so she talked her boyfriend at the time, who is John's friend, into talking John into flying down to Australia..."

"Oh!" Jenny laughed, turning to John. "Is that the time you were going to look at the venue of one of your tours?" John nodded his head as he chewed on a baked potato. "I remember that!"

"Yeah, so, Avara convinced Jonathan to convince John to come to Australia and then she snuck him into my bedroom while I was asleep."

"It was the weirdest shit I've ever done," John added.

"So I guess we were friends for a little while after that and then it grew from then."

Jenny clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Well John, you've found yourself a looker." John and Holly both blushed pink at her words while his two brothers snickered from where they sat. "Isn't that right Jay?"

"Yes dear."

"So," Jenny nodded, looking to John. "The family are coming from Mesa in the afternoon to see you at the barbique tomorrow night. I spoke to Mrs. Kirch yesterday and she is coming, so are the Nickelsons. Do you know if Jared and Kennedy's families will be there?"

Holly didn't listen to the rest, instead she tried to focus on not dropping any food on her shirt. She was mostly successful until Ross, John's brother started a conversation with her and she dropped a bit of gravy on her sleeve.

"Dang," she muttered, rubbing at her sleeve. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said," Ross started. "I've heard a lot about you and Avara." Holly glanced at John who shrugged. "Apparently you're both hilarious."

"We are?" Holly asked, turning pink.

"Yeah. I also heard about last Warped Tour..."

"What about last Warped Tour?" Jenny asked, a smile on her lips. Holly looked at John who glared at his brother before answering the question for Holly.

"Hol got into a tiff with Alex Gaskarth," John explained. "Alex uh, Alex had a disagreement with Avara and Holly stood up for her."

"Oh?" Jenny frowned. "Nothing serious I hope?" John smiled and shook his head.

"They're good friends now, Mom."

"Well that's good news then!"

A little while later, John excused himself and Holly for the table saying they needed to get rest for their show the next day. Holly was extremely thankful but thanked Jenny and Jay for her dinner and thanked them for allowing her to stay in their home.

"They hate me!" She said softly as soon as John had shut the door to his room behind them.

"No they don't," he replied, rummaging around in his draws for a pair of boxers. "They know you're nervous. You'll feel more comfortable tomorrow night with Avara here." Holly nodded and went over to his draw and grabbed one of his shirts.

"Maybe," she sighed, yanking her shirt off and pulling his white one back over her head and then climbing into his double bed. "Oh lord, a real bed!"

"Yeah, I missed it."

"Bet you did," Holly nodded, pulling his arm over her body as if he were hugging her. "Hey, don't take up all the room this time, okay?" She asked. "At my house, you stole the whole damn bed."

"I did not!"

"Uh, you did too."

"Yeah alright, miss liar."

"You did!"

"Yeah..." He nodded, pushing his face into her hair. "Alright."



The next morning, Avara was still Hollyless, so she decided to continue her search for Derek who was her second best friend. She had tried to find him yesterday afternoon but had become distracted by Eric of Halvorsen, who demanded a sword fight by the fact that he existed. Avara won, but Eric of Halvorsen was being a really sore loser about it and said that Avara hitting him repeatedly with a stick didn't class as a sword fight.

She found Derek backstage fiddling around with some cords.

"Hi Derek," Avara grinned, showing her teeth and batting her eyelashes. He groaned and ran a hand through is hair.

"Hi Avara."

"What are we doing today?" She asked, hopping up onto a speaker and taking a bite out of the apple in her hand.

"We?" He asked. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"By we, I mean you and I, my fantabulous friend." Derek rolled his eyes.

"Maybe you didn't get the memo," he replied, "We're on Warped Tour. I don't know about you, but I have a show to play today." He finished, emphasising the words 'you' and 'I' to show that he clearly meant the clauses separately.

"Interesting," Avara said, narrowing her eyes in thought, "What is this 'show' thing you speak of." Derek sighed in frustration. Avara was great, really. In small doses. She was also 100% nuts which got a little exhausting after spending day after day with her because she was his proclaimed second best friend. "Why are you sighing at me?"

"Because you're like a fly!" He said, throwing his hands in the air. "You're around all the time, buzzing around my head, never leaving me alone." Avara's amused expression fell and Derek worried that he had hurt the girl's feelings. He didn't mean the words unkindly. "You're also like a bunny. Adorable and cuddly..." Sometimes, he added in his head.

"You think I'm like a fly....and like a bunny?" Avara repeated slowly, "So...a funny? You think I'm funny? Oh thanks, Derek, I knew you loved me really!"

"No," Derek said, shaking his head, though he couldn't help chuckling. "I meant you're a by. As in bye-bye," he said, waving and walking away from her.

"I think Derek's a little too sane to handle your flamboyant personality," said a voice behind her. Avara's head spun around and she saw that it was Mayday's merch boy, Curtis. The insanely hot Curtis.

"What would you know of my flamboyant personality?"

"Everyone on Warped knows about your flamboyant personality," he said, a smile playing on his mouth. He dropped the box he was holding and walked towards her. Avara was glad she was wearing sunglasses as she was sure that her eyes were going gooey like Holly's did when she looked at John and like Jack's did when he looked at Harlee and like Harlee's did when she looked at cake. "Everyone calls you and Holly the Terrible Twins."

"Twins?" Avara gaped, "I look nothing like her!" Curtis laughed.

"I think they mean fraternal, rather than identical."

"I don't think I much like this 'Terrible' business either," Avara continued. "It should be something like 'Terrific Twins' or 'Taco Twins'"

"Taco Twins?" Curtis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Holly and I are mexican walking fish," Avara told him matter-of-factly.

"Of course you are," Curtis said quietly. Avara didn't have time to respond as Holly came running around the corner with a taco in her hand.

"Mexican Walking Fish Number 2, where are you?" she yelled. Avara slid off the speaker.

"Mexican Walking Fish Number 2 here and reporting for duty," She said, saluting with her apple-hand. When Holly saw her, she rushed over, grabbed her arm and pulled her away, raving on about a taco stand and how Harlee and Jack were having a hand-stand competition, which really didn't seem to have much to do with anything. Avara let herself be dragged away, giving Curtis a "Told you so" on the way.

What Holly said was a taco stand, actually turned out to be a van that sold stale burritos, but the meat was fresh so the girls ate them anyway while Holly told Avara everything that happened with John's parents.

"I'm 110% sure that they may probably hate me," Holly said. Avara rolled her eyes at her friend and pulled out her phone. She called up John's number and when she saw that it was ringing, she put the phone on loudspeaker.

"Hello?" Answered John.

"Do your parents hate Holly?" Avara asked immediately. John gave a small laugh.

"No, they love her!"

Avara disconnected the call and looked at Holly smugly.

"If you don't believe him, then I'll tell you tonight when I meet them whether they like you or not."

"Thanks, Vara."



"So who's coming to your area of cribbage tonight?" Avara asked, turning to John over the table in The Maine's bus and referring to the barbecue that John's parents were holding at their house tonight.

"Mum told me to invite just a few people," John answered with a shrug, "So everyone, really."

"I see."

"Why are you here, anyway? Holly isn't here, if you're looking for her."

Avara pretended to be insulted.

"I have other friends besides Holly," she said, "And some of them live on your bus."

"Garrett's not here either," John laughed, "And neither's Pat."

"I was talking about Kennedy! Anyway, I already know where Holly is. I came here because she was in the shower singing Justin Bieber again and I couldn't concentrate on the book I was reading."

"Ah," John nodded.

"So, who is coming tonight?"

John looked thoughtful for a second.

"Well, us, you guys, All Time Low, Rocket, Mayday, Every Avenue, Tonight Alive, Summerset, Paramore," he said, ticking them all off on his fingers, "You know, the usual suspects."

"Cool, cool," Avara nodded, trying to act indifferent, "Crew members too, or just band members?"

John eyed her for a second, and then smiled.

"Hoping Curtis will be there?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows. Avara jumped up from her seat, heat rising in her cheeks.

"Has Holly been telling you all my secrets?"

"Holly didn't tell me," John said quickly, and honestly. Avara narrowed her eyes at him, but believed him and sat down again.

"How did you find out?"

John shrugged, "I noticed."

"Has anyone else noticed?" Avara asked, alarmed.

"I don't think so."

"Oh. How did you 'notice'?" Avara asked.

"I saw you watching him from behind a dumpster yesterday."

Avara made a small 'oh' and looked at her hands, not sure of how to feel about someone apart from Holly and Harlee knowing about her little crush.

"So... will he be there tonight?"

"He's invited," John told her.

Before Avara could say anything else, there was a thump on the bus door, a cry of pain, and then the door flew open and Holly entered.

"So I've been thinking," she said, sliding in next to John and ignoring Avara completely. "And I've decided that in order to not make your parents hate me even more, I'm not going to come tonight."

John sighed and Avara rolled her eyes.

Avara said "Even if they do hate you-"

"Which they don't," John interrupted.

"Yes, but even if they did, wouldn't it be more of a reason to go. So you could be like "Na na I'm dating your son."

Holly just looked at her.

"No," she said before turning back to John, "So can you just tell your mum I got appendicitis or broke my leg or something?"

"No, Hol, if you want her to think that then you can tell her yourself!"

"None if this is relevant, because you're going," Avara said.

"Yeah," John agreed, "Avara needs you to help her plan a sneak attack on Curtis."

"The turtis?" Holly asked, turning to Avara, "You told him about Richelle?"

"No, apparently he saw me perving behind a dumpster yesterday."



"Bon to the jour," Holly grinned into the crowd before her. "We're Kill Barbie an-"

"Hey!" Avara interrupted. "You stole that from Josh Franceschi!"

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Anyway," Holly said, ignoring Avara. "Tonight we're going to a BBQ... Something we haven't done since we left Australia. Let's see if you Arizona kids know how to have a real barbie!"

"Also, Holly's re-meeting the in-laws!" Avara added. Holly sent her a look to which she laughed at. "Anyway, this song's called Picking Daisies..."

"And it goes a lot like this..." As Harlee, Avara and Tadem started to play their instruments, Holly glanced around at the crowd and froze when she noticed John standing by the lights and sound tent with his parents and his brothers. "So he showed up here, just like everything's fine, when he didn't call me back for weeks at a time. Now its really late, like 12:59, and I feel like a twit, cause' I thought he was mine," Holly sang.

John and his family were grinning. His Mum had her hands clasped together as she spoke to John.

"How do you live with yourself everyday knowing that you hurt me this way? Who would have thought that we'd break away? Who would have thought that our love would decay?" Holly started dancing around as she hit the chorus. "How does your smile still leave me hazy? How do your eyes still make me go crazy? Like a school girl, I'm still picking daisies, and none of them say you love me. Do you love me? Do you love me?"

As their last song finally came to an end, Avara finally noticed John. And Holly noticed Avara noticing John.

"Thanks so much for having us Arizona, we'll hopefully be back someti-"

"Hi John!" Avara yelled, waving towards the back. About a hundred heads turned to see who Avara was talking to and Holly sighed and smacked her forehead. "Is that your Mum?" Holly watched John laugh and nod.

"Hi Mrs John's Mum, I'm Holly's best friend!"

"Vara..."

"I'll see you tonight at the BBQ!" Avara said, ignoring Holly. Johns parents laughed and waved.

"Alright, so we'll see you guys later!" Holly chuckled awkwardly, pointing to the O'Callaghans. "And we'll see you Arizona when we see you!"

"Bye!" Avara grinned, tossing her guitar pick out to the crowd and heading off the stage. Holly waved one last time and followed Avara. "Well, that was a great set!"

"I hate you." Avara grinned in reply.