My Warped Summer

Allison's Point of View

I feel a soft tapping on my shoulder, and slowly blink my eyes open. Half asleep, I find Tony’s face hovering above me, with a shy smile.

“Hi Tony,” I croak, and clear my throat.

“Hi Allison,” he says quietly, looking around the bus. I hear loud voices coming from the back.

“What’s going on?” I ask, craning my head over in attempt to see the ruckus.

“Well,” Tony says, looking over toward the voices. “Your mom called.”

“Oh,” I sigh. “That’s fine, just-”

“And Mike answered it.”

With that, I bolt up to go find my phone. Oh my God no, this can’t be happening. If my mom picks up the phone to hear a random man’s voice on the end of the line, there is no way she is going to let me stay here.

“That’s so funny!” I hear Mike say, swatting Vic’s attempts to retrieve my phone for me.

I clear my throat and step into the room, giving a feeble attempt to copy Scarlet’s menacing glare.

“Oh hey Allison!” Mike says, still as upbeat as ever. “Here you go Mrs. W.”

Mrs. W? Oh sweet baby Jesus. Mike holds out the phone to me, and I take it quickly before anyone can snatch it again.

“Hello?” I say nervously, waiting for angry speech that is about to come. And yet, it doesn’t.

“Allison!” My mom says in delight. “It’s so nice to hear from you.”

“Mom, are you okay?” I ask, thoroughly confused. I hear laughter coming from the other line.

“I’m fine, honey. How’s San Diego?”

“Okay, I’m done. What did you do?” I say, throwing one of my hands up in defeat and sitting down on a lower bunk.

“Well, you don’t really think you can sneak out without me noticing, can you? The minute I saw you gone, I tracked your phone on GPS. I know exactly where you are. And what you are doing. Your sister saw a performance of you on YouTube. You’re famous now!”

I laugh at that. “I’m not exactly famous yet, Mom.”

“Sure you are!” She says. “You’re touring with that band you obsess over. What is it? Pierce the... Pierce the something.”

“Pierce the Veil, Mom. And shh, they’re listening,” I say, looking at Vic and Mike who are watching me talk on the phone. “So, let me get this straight, you’re not mad?”

“Well, I’m pretty worried, but as long as you get back in time for college, that is what matters.”

I pause at that. I haven’t given much thought to college or if I’d be staying with the band. I knew at some point in time I’d have to make the decision, but I’m just not ready now. After an awkward silence, my mother begins talking again.

“Where’s that nice boy I was talking to? Mike, was it?” My mom says as if nothing happened. “I was just telling him about that picture of him you have hanging in your bathroom.”

“You told him that?!” I say much too loudly, making Tony and Jaime from the front turn around to look at me. I give them an apologetic wave. “Mom, really.”

“Don’t worry, I took it down already,” she says in a hushed voice.

I give an exasperated sigh and switch the phone to my other hand.

“Okay, mom, I have to get going,” I say, looking down at my feet. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay, Allison. I love you!” She says.

“Love you too,” I reply and hang up the phone.

I look up at Vic and Mike who are still watching me.

“Well,” I say after a long pause. “That went better than expected.”

“I’m glad,” says Mike with a smile as he gets up to go back to the front of the bus.

“Oh no, you get back here,” I say, and grab a handful of the back of his shirt. He keeps walking as I hold onto him like a toddler. “You can’t just answer my phone like that!”

Mike laughs and turns around. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again if you don’t want me to.”

“Thank you,” I say and fall into the couch when the bus comes to a lurching stop.

“Taco time!” Jaime calls from the driver’s seat.

I peek out the window to see we are stopped outside a Taco Bell. I look up in the sky to see it’s around noontime. Geez, I slept in late. Jaime stops the bus and climbs out onto the wet pavement. Vic, Tony, Mike, and I follow after him. I look around the parking lot to find large pools of water in shallow areas.

“It must have flooded last night,” I comment.

“Yeah,” says Tony. “Some buses had to stop and wait for the water to go down. We were lucky to make it out of there when we did.”

“We almost didn’t because of this crazy girl right here,” says Jaime, softly punching me on the arm.

“It’s not my fault!” I say in protest. “If anything, it’s Vic’s for letting me fall asleep in the first place.”

Vic laughs. “Guilty as charged,” he says. “You just looked so adorable while you were sleeping.” He slips his hand around my waist before we enter the restaurant.

“Aww you guys are forgetting me!” Jaime says, and comes up on the other side. He too puts his arm around my waist. I laugh and put both my arms around Jaime and Vic’s shoulders as we walk into Taco Bell looking like complete idiots.

The young girl at the register gave us a quizzical look as we survey the menu.

“The usual?” Jaime says to Vic.

“That’s good,” Vic says. “You guys up for the usual?” He nods to Tony and Mike.

They both nod in agreement and Jaime begins to order.

“Hi, we need two variety twelve taco packs please,” he says in a charming voice.

The girl punches in the order and tells him the total. He drops his arm and fishes out some money from a wallet. He gives it to the cashier, and we wait for our order. Soon, we were out the door with twenty-four steaming tacos.

*#*

“WE COME BEARING TACOS!” I call as the guys and I board the Girls in Skirts bus.

“Did I just hear tacos?” Kellin Quinn pops out of the back of the bus. Oh okay. Just a random Kellin Quinn on my tour bus.

“Yes, of course you heard tacos,” I say, setting down a box on the table-area. “When it comes to tacos, I don’t mess around.”

Kellin laughs and takes a taco out of the box.

“No!” Jaime calls. “We’re gonna go eat those outside.”

Kellin reluctantly puts the taco back and slides the box in my direction. I pick it up and motion for Cassie and Emma, who were sitting on the couch watching us, to follow us outside. I look around for Genevieve , but she was nowhere to be found.

“SCARLEEEEEET!” Kellin calls. Scarlet appears and also follows us outside.

We all gather around, laughing, telling stories, and eating tacos before we have to go get ready to go do our sets. I smile to myself. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been this happy. Not to say that I was unhappy before. Just having Vic, Scarlet, and all my other friends surrounding me makes me feel whole. Like this is what I am supposed to be doing. The thought that I’d have to leave all this for college leaves a hollow feeling inside of my stomach. I swallow the lump forming in my throat. That’s a decision I’ll have to make later, but for now I’ll just eat some tacos.