All I'm Living For

“106 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky. Brilliant.” Teah mumbled to herself as began raising the supports for tent. It was only 9:30 in the morning, and already, the temperature was in the mid-nineties and still climbing.

“Just be glad you’re only on for a couple of dates.” Kyle, a scruffy man in his mid-twenties and her company for the day, came around from the trailer and over to the other side of the tent to help her get the canvas over the top. “The weather’s been like this every day since this tour started,” he yanked the last corner of the canvas down and began unfolding the table. “And it’ll probably be the same for the rest of it. It’s the curse of the Warped Tour.”

Teah sighed as she shuffled up back ramp of the trailer, hauling boxes of merch out behind her and beginning to set it up on the tables. It’s not that she wasn’t used to the heat. Living in southern California for several years had gotten her quite used to it. But this was Florida. And Florida heat was horrible because on top of the extreme temperatures, the humidity was suffocating.
When the last of the setup was done, there was still half an hour to kill before the gates were opened and people would begin to flood in, so Teah grabbed her longboard out from the tent and decided to cruise around the lot and check out the layout for the day. All of the other bands and companies had pretty much finished setting up by now. She weaved lazily in and out of the long rows of tents, noting which bands were on the bill this year and whose set she would have to go watch.

Rounding the last corner, she noticed that a group of boys, most likely a band, was scrambling to get their tent up and set their merch out on the spot next to hers. They were young; no more than 19 or 20 years old if she had to guess, all fairly cute, and by the looks of it, they weren’t getting along very well. One of them, a bit on the tall side with shaggy brown hair and bright blue eyes, was shouting at a shorter one with darker hair to move out of his way, while another one, this one with shorter brown hair and a backwards cap, stood with his arms crossed, scowling at them as they bickered back and forth like children. Against the fence, another boy, whose hair was quite long, rolled his eyes, leading her to believe that this sort of this happened quite often. From the shouting though, she could gather that they were from the UK, and this caught her attention.

Cautiously, she approached the boy in the hat, being careful to stay out of the others’ shouting match.
“Uhh, hi. I couldn’t help but notice that you lads seem to be having a bit of a struggle with your tent.” The boy stared at her for a moment, and then broke into a half smile that she could tell was forced.

“Yeah, um, it’s a bit of a chore.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before extending his hand to her. “I’m Dan, by the way.” She took his hand, shaking it politely and grinning.

“Teah,” she replied. It had been a long time since she’d met people from home, and even if they were a bit on the cranky side, it was nice to not have people fawning over her accent and telling her how cute it was.

“I saw you skating when we pulled up. Is that your tent next us?” He gestured with his thumb to the table where Kyle was sitting, looking at something on his phone. “If so, I’m really sorry you’ll have to put up with us all day.”

“Yep, that’s me,” she nodded, chuckling. “I’m sure I’ll manage.” By now, the two who were fighting had managed to get the tent up and were unloading merch with the long-haired one. “Do you need any help? Everything’s done over at ours.” Without waiting for him to answer, she approached the taller boy, shuffling past him and grabbing a box from their trailer.

“Oi, what are you doing?” The boy stared at her as she brought the box down and set it with the rest of them. “Who the hell are you and why are you touching our shit?”

“Josh, piss off. She’s helping us out because clearly you and Matt are struggling.” Dan smiled at her while the blue eyed boy, Josh, scoffed.

“I don’t need help from a girl, Dan. Why don’t you get off your arse and do it?”

“I would have but the two of you were about to get into some kind of punch up and I’m not in the mood for-“

“BOYS. ENOUGH.” All four of them stared in disbelief at such a loud voice coming out of such a small girl. “Josh, hi. My name is Teah. That’s my tent right next door. I just came over to say hello and see if you needed any help.”

To her surprise, he grinned at her and began laughing hysterically. She gave him a puzzled look as he composed himself. “Ohh my god you don’t know how nice it is to finally meet someone from back home. It’s been nothing but mental Americans making a fuss over our accents for the last month.” She smiled now, pleased to know that they shared that feeling. “And you’re quite feisty. You’ll be hanging out with us for the day now. Should’ve thought twice before coming over here because now you’re stuck with us.”

Matt, the one Josh had been arguing with, introduced himself, as well as Chris, the one with the long hair. They were all very pleasant now that the fighting was done with, and she was quite enjoying getting to know them. “So, you guys are in a band then, yeah?” She noted all of the shirts and bracelets that adorned the table and hung on the rack in the back. “I think I’ve actually heard of you before. Some friends back home sent me one of your EP’s or something. I quite liked it.” The boys nodded, seeming pleased that she knew who they were and enjoyed their music. They chatted for a while, about everything from the bands they liked to watch, to who they’d met and what they had seen of America since the tour had started.

“So, Teah. We’re a good month into the tour by now. Why haven’t we seen you up until today?” Matt questioned as they all sat around under the tent.

“This is my first day, actually,” she replied. “The other person who normally works at the tent had an emergency, so I flew in from California last night and I’m leaving to go back in a few days.”

At this, the four boys began to pout. “But you can’t leave us,” Dan whined. “Yeah,” Josh chimed in, “you can’t just abandon us here all alone. We haven’t got any friends.”

Just as she was about to respond, another boy walked into the tent. He was smaller, with wild brown hair sticking up every which way and massive dark brown eyes. And he looked rather angry. “Hey, lads, the air on the bus is broken again and they-“ he cut off as he noticed Teah, perched on a chair in the middle of the tent. “Who’s this then?

Teah beamed at him, waving as she introduced herself. “I’m Teah, I’m from the Up Beat Records tent next door.” He smiled a bit and waved back. “And you are?”

“Max,” he replied shortly, shuffling some things around on the table. Teah could tell he was in no mood to talk. And that was fine with her. Some people were friendly and some weren’t. She was able to make friends with anyone and everyone, but this Max character seemed more of the quiet and reserved type. “Anyways,” he began again, addressing the rest of the boys more than her, “the air on the bus. It’s busted again. So we have that to look forward to again tonight. And we’re on in 20 so I’d suggest you get your shit together.” And with that, he trudged back out the tent in the direction he’d come from.

“Don’t mind him,” Dan said as everyone stood up. “He’s not usually like that. In fact, he’s quite the opposite a majority of the time. He’s just having a shit day.” Teah looked at him skeptically, not totally believing that what she’d just seen wasn’t typical Max. “Come watch our set? You can probably get right up in the front seeing as you’ll probably be one of about twenty people watching.” She could detect a hint of bitter sarcasm under his joking tone and she knew they must be having the first-year Warped struggles that she’d seen a lot of other bands go through. She felt bad, realizing how difficult it must be to come to an unfamiliar country where no one really knows about you and not having any escape for a solid two months. So after getting the ok from Kyle, she happily joined them, excited to see what kind of show they would put on.