I'm Not Your Protege, Just Your Kid

A few hours later I woke up to a silent and still bus. I stretched as much as I could in the tiny bunks and got down. I shuffled into the bathroom after grabbing he towel that they left for me and started to get ready.

I walked off the bus dressed and determined to start tour off right. I saw other buses in the distance, but couldn’t read the names on them. Finally reaching the side door of the venue, there was a guard blocking the door.

“Hello,” I greeted.

“Hello,” he politely said.

I tried walking around him, but he easily shoved e back with one large hand.

“Sorry Miss, no one’s allowed through here,” he said and crossed back his arms.

“I understand that, but I’m with the band, Avenged Sevenfold,” I explained.

“Yeah right, I heard that one before. Try another excuse,” he chuckled.

“I’m not making up excuses you moronic ape,” I snapped. “I’m Zack’s daughter,”

His head fell back and he let out a loud laugh. “That’s a good one,”

I gritted my teeth and my hands balled up. “Can you just let me through already?”

“No darling, I already told you that no one is getting through that door,” he said back in his serious tone.

I shoved him out the way and was within inches of grabbing the door handle but his muscular arms wrapped themselves around me.

“Get off of me!” I yelled and struggled in his iron grip.

With little to no effort at all, the guard flung me to the ground, causing me to scrape up my knees and arms. I growled deep in my throat and charged at his towering figure. I basically rugby tackled him into the wall and gave him a good, strong kick to the balls. As he held himself, I took that as my chance to run inside.

I heard him yell for me before the door shut back. I started walking down the long hallway, following the muffled sound of music playing. The further I walked, the clearer the music became. By now I could hear Matt singing and Zack, Brian, and Johnny shredding o their guitars and Jimmy banging away on his drum set.

“Hey! Get back here!” someone yelled.

I looked behind me and saw the guard from earlier coming after me. I started running, my feet slapping against the ground and echoing against the walls. I looked behind me and saw the guard catching up now. I passed by dressing rooms and eventually I saw a small flight of stairs that most likely connected to the stage.

I raced up the stairs and I felt a large hand wrap around my ankle. I fell face first into the stairs and I felt my head spin. I let out a shriek and the music stopped.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Matt asked the guard as he picked me up.

“I’m just trying to get this crazy fan girl out of here,” he said.

“She’s not a crazy fan girl,” Brian chuckled.

“She’s not?” the idiot guard asked.

“Hell no, that’s Jayden, one of Zack’s kids,” Jimmy said and pointed his thumb towards Zack who had a very pissed off look on his face.

“Oh I didn’t know that,” the guard said from above, still holding me may I add.

“What?! Yes you did! I told you that outside before you man handled me,” I exclaimed.

“Let go of my daughter right now,” Zack said in a quiet, menacing tone that made even me get scared.

The guard finally let me go and I stumbled, but Johnny caught me before I cold fall back on my face again.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“No problem,” he grinned.

Devon came rushing over and his eyes got wide at the sight of me.

“What?”

“Your head,” he said.

I ran my hand across my forehead and winced when I felt a bruise forming on the right side of my head where the guard took me down on the step. Alongside the bruise, I could feel blood start to mat down a section of my hair and drip down the side of my face.

“Holy shit, your arms and legs don’t look good either,” Brian said while holding out my arms and examining the scratched I obtained when I was shoved to the ground.

Zack saw the res of my injuries and his featured darkened even more. He turned towards the guard who gave us a nervous look.

“I’m going to get in contact with your boss and make sure that he fires your ass,” Zack threatened.

The guard swallowed the huge lump in his throat and nodded his head. Even though he nearly killed me in the process of getting me out of here, he was just doing his job.

“Zack, don’t do that,” I finally said.

Everyone gave me confused looks, including the guard.

“Jayden, he hurt you badly though,” Zack explained.

“I know that, he’s supposed to,” I said. “He’s a guard, that’s his job. You can’t fire him for doing his job. That’s like your manager firing you for being good at guitar,”

“I guess you’re right,” he mumbled.

“Of course I am, why would you even question that?” I asked.

“Fine,” he said and turned back towards the guard. “If you lay another hand on my daughter, I won’t hesitate to castrate you and than have you fired,”

“I understand,”

“Good, and tell the rest of the guards that I have my kids with me and to let them come in and out of the venue whenever they please,”

“Yes sir,” he said and ran off.

“You didn’t have to threaten him like that Zack,”

“He hurt you though, look at your head for Christ’s sake,” he said and pointed towards my head wound.

“It’ll be fine, I just need some band-aids,” I shrugged.

Devon took me by the arm and led me down the stairs and down the hallway. We stopped at a door that said ‘Medical’ on it and Devon knocked. Someone said ‘come in’ and he opened the door. An older lady was sitting behind a desk and smiled warmly at us.

“How may I help you?” she asked.

Lady, I know you’re old, but you can’t exactly miss this huge bruise on my forehead that’s the size of a grapefruit.

“My sister fell down the stairs and hit her head and scraped her arms and legs,” Devon explained and sat me down on the small medical bed.

“Oh dear, you have to be more careful sweetie, you wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty face now do you?” she smiled at me.

Devon scoffed and he quickly shut up when I sent him a harsh glare. I turned back towards the lady as she dabbed an alcohol swab against my scraped knees. I hissed when she applied pressure to certain areas and she quickly apologized. She finished cleaning the wounds on my arms and knees and she finally got to my face.

Carefully she started to wipe away the dry blood on my cheek and the sticky blood around the area where my skin split. She poured alcohol on a cotton swab and pressed it on the bruise. I flinched and she took the cotton ball away. She grabbed a band-aid and gently pressed it to my head.

“There you go dear,” she smiled.

“Thanks,” I climbed off the bed and walked out the room with Devon behind me.

“I’m loving the band-aid,” Devon joked.

“Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled and pulled my bangs over my bandage.

We reached the stage again where the guys were talking to some guys whose backs were to us. Zack saw us and called us over.

“Guys, this is one of the bands who’ll be playing with us on tour,” Zack said and struggled to put his arms on our shoulders, but we were too tall for him.

A pair of blue eyes surrounded by eyeliner looked back at me and my mouth fell open. I was looking straight into the face of Jacoby Shaddix.

“You must be Jayden,” he smiled and shook my hand.

I felt like I was on auto-pilot as I nodded my head and shook his hand. I heard someone chuckle and I snapped out of it. I gave Devon the middle finger and he chuckled some more. I just remembered the bandage on my head and calmly pulled my hair over it some more.

“We have to go get our stuff and get ready to do sound check, so we’ll see you guys later,” Jacoby said.

He waved to me, as did his band mates, and I stared at his ass as he walked away. I felt everyone come around me as I continued to check out Jacoby.

“Oh, the things I’d do to that man,” I sighed and bit my lip.

“Make sure she stays away from him,” I heard Zack whisper to the guys.

“Oh Zack, nothing can keep me away from him,” I sighed like a love-struck 12 year old girl when she sets eyes on her favorite boy band member.

“Don’t you guys just love teenage hormones?” Jimmy asked everyone.

“Definitely not,” Zack grumbled and dragged me away.

When we were outside I finally calmed down.

“So, whose the other band you guys are touring with?” I asked Zack as I kicked a pebble.

“Atreyu is the other band,”

“Awesome, another guy I can check out,” I sighed as I thought about Alex.

“Keep your hormones in check please,” Zack begged as we reached an ice cream shop that was a few blocks down the street.

“I’ll try,” I said and waited besides Zack.

He saw my dazed expression as I went back to thinking about Alex and Jacoby and he chuckled before ruffling my hair. Usually, I’d get mad and fix my hair, but right now I didn’t even care. I was to content with fantasizing about two gorgeous front men whom I’ll be seeing for the next five months.