It's a Pup's Life

Evie

So half an hour later, we were picked up in 2 cars (like we were going to fit in just one car with all this stuff) and we were on our way to meet the others at the buses. There were four buses for Panic and 2 for Fall Out Boy, but I wasn’t sure how many MCR and MSI had.

I knew that the 2 Fall Out Boy buses would have Pete and Patrick on one, they got together after Pete and Ashlee broke up, that was about 16 years ago so he and Patrick must have been together for 15 years now. Andy and Joe were both in the other, they never got with anyone. I was buzzing, although they had moved to Vegas, a few blocks down from us, we were meeting them in Chicago, they were visiting family.

And I’ve really missed Amanda, Pete and Ashlee’s daughter. Mandy’s lived with Pete and Patrick for 14 years though. Apparently, Ashlee went off the rails and was taking all sorts of drugs. Pete applied for full custody and got it, sending Ashlee deeper into her drug problem.

The day after Mandy’s 5th birthday, Pete had a call saying that Ashlee had been killed in a car crash. None of us kids knew about this until a few years ago. Mandy doesn’t remember Ashlee that much, although I think that’s probably for the best.

“We pulled up in a parking lot and I jumped out as soon as we stopped to run over to Stephanie.

“Steph!” I yelled, jumping on her.

“Evie, I’m the shorter one. I should be jumping on you, not the other way around.” She laughed.

“You guys are so immature.” Mandy laughed as she walked over with Maddie and Finn.

“Mandy! I thought you were in Chicago?” I asked as I hugged her. “Why aren’t you going from there?”

“We were going to, but we’d seen my gran so dad decided we’d surprise you guys and come from here.”

“Awesome!” Jayden had joined us.

“Kids, up front!” I heard Pete shout at us. We all ran over to stand with our parents. “Right, we’re going to be on the road for about 4 hours before we stop for dinner, just so you know. And we’ve made a change with the buses. We’ve got rid of one, Andy and Joe are sharing mine and Pat‘s, Sienna and Ryan are sharing with Spence and Jen and then Brendon, Robyn, Jon and Bekah have another one. So the 6 of you have 2 buses between you. Decide who’s going on which on now so we can get your stuff on the right one.” “We all grinned at each other.

“You guys, do you wanna stay together, before the only guys and all.” Maddie asked Jayden and Finn. “Cos I don’t mind bunking with you two if you do.”

“Are you sure about that Maddie?” Bekah asked her.

“Yeah I’m sure. It’s just going to be our stuff after all. I doubt we’re gonna stay put for long anyway.”

“Well if you’re sure sweetheart.” Jon said. “You girls ok with it?” He asked Mandy, Steph and I. We all nodded. “Ok then. Guys, give me a hand loading the buses.”

“Fine. We’re leaving in about 25 minutes, ok pups? Be ready.” Dad said as he went off with the rest of our dads. He always called us pups, even Mandy. Pete, Patrick, Andy, Joe and Mandy all knew about the fact our parents and us kids could turn into dogs. They’d told them after they had all come back from England before they got married.

They’d told them because they had trusted them with their lives, and they’re practically our uncles anyway. Mandy was slightly jealous when we were younger, but not anymore. Well, she doesn’t mention it if she is.

So 15 minutes later, we all clamoured onto our buses and they started off. As soon we started moving, Mandy, Steph and I all started to giggle.

“This tour is going to be amazing.” Mandy said.

“Hell yeah! Over 2 months on the road with my best mates, watching amazing bands and having a great laugh! It’s going to rock!” I said.

“I know. I wonder what the others are going to be like. The My Chem kids are around our age I think.”

“I dunno, we’ll find out tomorrow morning.”

Frankie

“Frankie! Get your stuff together! We have to leave!” I heard dad shout up the stairs to me.

“Ok dad! I’m ready” I shouted to him. 10 minutes later, we were in the car on our way to the buses. Between My Chemical Romance and Mindless Self Indulgence, we had 6 buses. One for my parents and Ray and Sara, one for Mikey, Lucy, Bob and Reggie, one for just Gerard and Lyn-Z (they had drawn straws for who got the bus to themselves) and one for Jimmy, Kitty and Steve.

The other two were for Elliot, Chris and I and the other for Benji, Zacky and Jamie. Jamie is Jimmy and Kitty’s son. He’s the oldest of all of us. We get on really well, the six of us. We’re all like brothers and sisters to each other, so it doesn’t bother us who is on each bus, but Elliot and I wanted to stay with each other since we’re the only girls.

We got to the buses and I jumped out to see Elliot and Benji. I ran up behind Benji and jumped on his back.

“Heya Benji!” I yelled. He groaned.

“Why do you only jump on me every time?” I jumped down and hugged him.

“Because I can. So when are we leaving?”

“5 minutes. Come on Frankie, let’s get on the bus already.” Elliot said, dragging my arm. She led me to one of the buses and up in it and I saw Chris already there.

“Hey Chrissy boy!” I said, hugging him.

“Hey Frankie. You know you’re the last one to get here.”

“Oh well, we’re here now.” The bus started up and I felt it pull away. “Awesome! So we’re meeting with FOB and Panic in New York aren’t we?”

“Yeah, then we’re heading to Michigan.” Chris said, collapsing on the couch.

“Are the Panic kids coming with them?” I asked, sitting next to Chris.

“Yeah. I think they’re about our age as well.” Elliot said.

“Cool. Maybe we’ll get on with them and we can go visit them sometime. It’ll make a change from being in Jersey all the time.”

“Yeah.”

I decided to grab my guitar and start playing. Dad had started teaching me when I turned 8. By the time we were 13, we’d all learnt how to play keyboard, guitar, bass and drums. And to be honest, Elliot, Jamie and I are the best vocalists. Benji can’t sing to save his life and he knows it.

“Frankie, come through to the back, it’s really cool.” Elliot said, dragging me back there. There was a drum kit set up and some small amps. A microphone sat on a stand by one of the amps.

“This is sweet!” I shouted. “Is Benji’s bus the same as this?”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s play. We’ve got about an hour until we stop again, let’s make the most of it.” Elliot said, jumping behind the drum kit. Chris picked up the bass, he preferred bass just like Mikey. “Shall we just play some random songs?”

“Sounds good. What should we play?” Chris asked.

We decided on a few of our dad’s songs and then we played some Blink 182. Yeah, we love all that classic rock. Loads of bands from the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, everything in the past 40, 50 years basically.