Learn to Spell, God!

Jenn’s POV

Cincinnati. Everything should be sorted out here, I hope. As soon as the bus was parked, Jimmy, Johnny, Zacky, Brian and Matt disembarked, without a second thought. Why Jimmy went, I don’t know. But I’ll find out later, I’m sure.

After the guy’s departure, I wandered around the bus and found Pippa crying on Papa Gates’ shoulder. Not wanting to intrude, I walked past and ignored their conversation. Danni was sat on the couch, staring into space and not blinking. I walked over to her and waved my hand in front of her face. She still didn’t blink. I left her in her trance-like state and decided to try my luck in the bunk area.

Surely enough, Layla was sat in her’s and Zacky’s bunk. But how much longer it’s going to be both of theirs, I do not know. She was sat there with books spread around her, something I never thought I’d see. As I walked closer, I recognised the books to be her Physics and Math books. Before we left to tour with Avenged Sevenfold, she’d promised herself that she would still keep up with those subjects so she could go to college next year and major in Mechanical Engineering. Why she wanted to do that, I’ll never know. But so far on this tour, she hasn’t done any at all. So my guess is that she’s taking advantage of this time to catch up.

I sat on the bunk across from her and waited for her to look up. She wouldn’t have heard my arrival, she had her IPod on full volume. She looked up from her workbook, presumably to cross-reference something, and noticed me. She took one of her headphones out of her ear and turned the volume down.

“Oh, hey Jenn.” She sighed longingly.

“Are you okay?” I asked her cautiously.

“As okay as I can be I suppose.” She shrugged.

“Did Zack apologise?”

“Yeah, he did. But I can’t help but feel that he apologised ‘cause you’d kick his butt rather than he actually felt some remorse. Y’know what I mean?”

“Well, I did threaten something like that, but I do think he is remorseful for what he’s done.” I reasoned.

“How can you know that?” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“I told him about how you’ve been bullied and you’re thankful for all of your friends.”

“Jenn!” She groaned. “Can’t I have any secrets anymore?”

“Nope, no chance.”

“Gah! Not even one?” She reasoned.

“Depends what it is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She narrowed her eyes at me.

“It means that if you tell me this secret you want to stay secret then I’ll decide whether it’s allowed to stay secret or not.” I grinned.

“Ha! No chance. I’m telling no one this.”

“Damn. Well, I suppose it was worth a try. I’ll leave you to your nerd stuff now. I’m gonna go find Sophie and see if she’s okay.”

“What happened to Sophie?”

“Brian had wandering hands. At a truck stop she stormed of the bus and she’s been on the techies bus ever since.” I replayed.

“Is she okay?”

“I think so. She’s incredibly pissed at Brian though.”

“I don’t blame her really. He’s a bit of a man whore.”

“Very opinionated today, aren’t ya?”

“Yup. And now I’m afraid that I’m gonna say something I’ll regret at a later date. So Ima go back to not failing high school. Not to be rude or anything.”

“Have fun with that. We’ve gotta be on stage at seven though, so you may wanna stop at five-ish.”

“Thanks for reminding me. I’ll see you at seven if I don’t see you before then.” She waved at me as she replaced her headphone and turned the volume up again.

I walked away and back down the stairs to the lounge, shaking my head. What is it with the guys? Sometimes it seems like they don’t give a shit about our feelings and they just want a quick fuck. Brian needs to learn how to treat Sophie with respect; Johnny needs to learn that Danni doesn’t care that he uses Viagra; Matt needs to learn to show some compassion; Zack needs to learn to seriously control his jealousy issues, he has a lot of them.

I left our bus in search of Sophie. I walked up to the door of the techies’ bus and pushed down the handle. It was locked, meaning no one was inside. By deduction, I decided that Sophie was probably helping them set up the show. I retreated away from the techie’s bus quickly so no one thought I was trying to break in and rapidly made my way towards the stage door that had been left open, much to my better judgement.

I found Sophie with Jason Berry on the stage, setting up Jimmy’s drum kit. She took hold of one of the cymbals and a drumstick before holding it up to Jason’s ear and hitting it hard. The sound reverberated of the arena walls, getting quieter the more it rang. Jason’s hands flew up to his ears as he began cursing at Sophie, who was stood there laughing at him. She placed the cymbal on it’s stand before picking up one of the kick drums that Jimmy used for his nightly experience. Jason stole it from her as punishment for her sins, she pouted as he did this but he just laughed in her face. She stormed away from him and sat on the side of the stage, swinging her legs. I laughed at this and walked casually up to her.

“Sophie! How are you, my little ginger elf girl?”

“Elf girl?! Who the fuck are you calling elf girl, Mrs Sullivan?” She noticed the shocked look on my face as she said this and didn’t leave it unacknowledged. “Yes, that’s right, I went there!”

“Oooh, you so did not!”

“Uh huh, you betcha.” She smiled smugly at me.

“Yes, well, anyway. To the point, what’s happening with you and Brian?”

“I honestly don’t know Jenn. I mean, he’s been acting like an ass-face and all, but sometimes he can be really sweet, y’know?”

“To be honest Sophie, no I don’t. I haven’t spent enough time with him to know that. But I do know that he’s truly sorry for what he did earlier.” I relayed. She sighed.

“I wish I could believe that, I really do. But he says that and then he just goes and does it again a few days later. I really wanna know what’s going on inside his mind just so I could tell whether or not he counts ‘us’ as serious or not. It’s driving me insane.” She shook her head and gazed yearningly at the arena floor.

“Talk to the long haired fucker, that’s what I’d do anyway. Well, you should at least come back to the bus. They’ve gone out for a while. By orders of Jimmy. He’s gone too. And he won’t tell me where the fuck they’re going!”

“Marriages shouldn’t have secrets.”

“See, I told him that but he still wouldn’t tell me. Come on, we need to cheer Pippa up before the show.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the stage.

***

Showtime. This should be interesting, to say the least. The guys returned an hour ago and, so far, their ‘better halves’ haven’t spoken a single word to them at all. All the time when we were getting ready for the show, they had the door locked so the guys couldn’t come in and talk to them. I don’t really blame them; arguments before a show really aren’t good.

We walked out onto the stage to a screaming crowd, as per usual, everyone except me with forced smiles on their faces. For once, I was un-reluctantly happy, not something that usually happens. Well, in this life anyway. To be frank, our set wasn’t that good. Our playing tends to reflect our mood most of the time, so it was pretty crappy. Not once did Pippa mention the guys, something that doesn’t normally happen. She must be really annoyed at them. Although, at one point, she did mention something about the new ‘Mrs Sullivan’.

Well now Cincinnati, we have some newly-weds amongst us tonight, give it up for the new Mrs Sullivan, Jenn!

The audience screamed enthusiastically at this, but I’m sure that several sets of evils were sent my way from girls, and a few boys, in the crowd.

When we walked offstage at the end of our set, all the guys were waiting for us, but my band members just walked straight past, not acknowledging them at all. I, on the other hand, stayed and wished Jimmy good luck. I left them just before they went on stage to watch the show from the live hook-up.

Their show was started normally, with Critical Acclaim and Second Heartbeat opening the show monumentally. It was from then on where things started to get interesting. At the end of Second Heartbeat, I was called onto the stage. Or, more specifically can Rev’s missus get her ass on stage, pronto! I did as I was told and quickly made my way through the corridors towards the stage where they were awaiting me.

“Jenn, oh newly-wed one, tonight you’re our guardian angel, literally. Today you and your husband have been sorting out all of our problems. And now we just need your help for the rest of the show then you can finally enjoy the beginning of your married life. Not that you didn’t last night, so that all of us could hear, but oh well…” The audience laughed at Matt’s last words.

“Yeah, so…what’d you want me to do?” I asked them.

“Fetch Sophie, please. You have until the end of Afterlife.” Brian told me.

I skipped off stage and navigated my way back through the corridors to the dressing room. Sophie anticipated my arrival and was clutching the side of the couch for dear life. I grabbed her arm and yanked her off the couch before dragging her towards the stage where fate awaited her. At the end of the song, I pushed her forwards; she stumbled, as was expected from her. Brian caught her and straightened her up. She brushed him off like he was a contagious disease. He composed himself, before he began his little speech.

“Sophie, I know I’ve been a dick to you, today being no exception to that. And for that, I apologise to you profusely. Even though I’ve been a dick, you have to know that I love you so much. The love I’ve ever felt for anyone else doesn’t come close to how I feel about you right now. I may regret this once I get your answer and your answer will probably be against one of our better judgements, but, Sophie Elizabeth Heaviside, will you marry me?” Brian got down on one knee and pulled a small black box out of his pocket before opening it in front of Sophie.

“Brian, I….I don’t know what to say.” She stuttered, her voice shaking uncontrollably, as were her hands. Brian stood up and took her hands in his, she didn’t flinch away this time, she just stood there, her eyes boring into him.

“Sophie, I know this is slightly unexpected, okay maybe majorly unexpected but I want to be with you. I realised that this afternoon. Please, please consider being my wife. You have no idea how happy you'll make me. And I promise that I will treat you like a princess.” He stopped and looked at her imploringly. He leant down to whisper something in her ear. By the look on her face is was obvious that he had said please.

She shook her head slightly as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. Brian understood this to be a no and his face dropped. “Brian, I love you. I just don’t know if I’m ready for this. I honestly don’t.”

“I know, it is a little sudden huh? But we don't have to get married straight away. You don't even have to answer straight away. You can take as much time as you want. I'll wait for you as long…” Sophie put her finger up to his lips, silencing him.

“You’re rambling, let me speak. I love you. And this may be against my better judgement but, yes, I will marry you.” Brian’s face lit up at her words. He slid the ring onto her ring finger before claiming her mouth with this. Matt laughed at this as the crowd cheered.

“Okay, okay. Break it up you two! Sophie, you are now banned from the stage. Although, saying that, you will be called back later to assist Mrs Sullivan with her duties.” I flipped him off as Sophie giggled “Thank you Mrs Sullivan, how polite. Now, if you’ll be so kind, please fetch one Danielle Cresswell. We will be awaiting her arrival at the end of this song.” Matt laughed before the lights went down and the introduction for Beast & The Harlot rang out through the venue.

Me and Sophie ran off stage, me giggling and her smiling like a maniac. Once we reached the dressing room, we pushed the door open quietly and crept up behind the couch. Sophie wrapped her hand around Danni’s mouth and I grabbed her by her elbows. Together, we managed to drag her unceremoniously over the back of the couch and out of the door. She was struggling all of the way; it was no mean feat. Pippa and Layla turned around and watched us as we dragged Danni behind us, I could hear them giggling from all the way down the corridor; at least they’ve cheered up.

We returned to the stage just before the end of the song. It’s a good thing really, they can be incredibly kinky when it comes to thinking up punishments for us, and we don’t really want that. After it had finished, Matt called us and our captive onstage. We pulled Danni onstage by her elbows and placed her in front of Johnny. We let go of her arms and went to stand by our respective band member. She folded her arms and glared at him.

“Danni, words cannot even begin to say how sorry I am. I know I over-reacted, but it’s a touchy subject for me, you have to understand that. I’ve been trying my hardest to get around that, and it was going alright until Pippa announced it to the whole bus. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to pass the blame onto Pippa here, because I’m not. I know I should have told you myself, and sooner, and I regret that now, but we have to move on from that. And that’s why I want you to have this. And with it comes a promise; a promise that, one day, I will ask you to marry me, but also a promise that I won’t keep things like that from you anymore.”

The hard look on Danni’s face softened as Johnny pulled a box similar to the one Brian had out of his pocket and placed it in his palm, in front of Danielle, offering it to her. Her eyes were wary as she reached out and carefully took the box off of him. She opened it slowly, eyes fixated on the box; all the while Johnny was watching her closely, judging her reaction. Opening the box revealed a simple silver ring, no jewels, that looked as if it had been engraved. She looked up from the box and smiled from ear to ear, throwing her arms around his neck, completely ungracefully, as she did so.

“Ain’t that just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Now, if they could stop living for the moment for a while, we have a show to play and two more problems to sort out.” Danni and Johnny sprang apart as Matt said this. “Thank you. Now, if you will, please get Pippa. I have an apology to make.”

We nodded before we skipped of the stage, arm in arm. When we arrived back in the room, Layla was no where in sight. There was just Pippa, curled up in front of the couch, trying to hide. She stood no chance. Me and Sophie grabbed her arms as Danni pulled her up. We frog marched her out of the room, still holding onto her arms as Danni pushed her reluctant form towards the stage. After we were a few paces away from the room, the door slammed and I heard the sound of the lock being closed.

We reached the edge of the stage moments after Scream finished. Any later than that, and we would have been toast, literally; they would have shot us with their lasers. We had to physically pull Pippa onto the stage, to Matt; she wouldn’t have gone otherwise, I could tell that by the look of determination on her face as she tried to dig her heels into the floor, unsuccessfully, may I add. As we placed her in front of Matt, who was stood on the riser downstage centre, he offered her hand but she refused it and stepped up there herself without any assistance. We shrunk away into the background at this point, to let Matt and Pippa have their moment.

“Pippa, I am beyond doubt that I love you. I know I was out of line earlier. You needed someone and I wasn’t there for you, and now I regret that. But I’m not good in those types of situations, that will become clearer the longer you know me. I’m not gonna follow type here and propose to you or give you a promise ring, ‘cause I know you’re not ready for that and you’ll probably just throw it back in my face if I do, but I have got you something. There’s no point in you receiving it now, it’s back in California, but you’ll get it at the end of the tour. That is, if you can put up with me until then?” Matt’s eyes were full of sorrow as he relayed this information to her. She stood there, static, until he finished speaking.

“Matt, I know you’re not good in those situations, you showed me that in December. And I can’t hold that against you. And you must be stupid if you think that I won’t be able to put up with you until the end of tour.” She giggled as Matt’s face lit up and he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

“All right you two, break it up!” Brian laughed. Sophie flipped him off as everyone else in the venue laughed.

“You know what we’re gonna ask you know?” Matt turned to the three of us as Pippa skipped over to us, increasing our number to four.

“Yup, but we can’t. She locked the door after we got Pippa out of the room.” Sophie told them.

“Shocking. I don’t blame her really, she knew what would happen eventually.” Brian replied.

“What you gonna do now then, seeing as your oh-so-amazing plan has been foiled?” Pippa asked.

“Audience participation.” Matt grinned and turned to the audience. “Y’all get the jist of what we’ve been doing up here, right?” The audience screamed. “Well, Zack’s girl has locked to door to the dressing room so these lovely ladies can’t get her out of there for us. You guys wanna help?” More screams. “Okay then, can I have three guys up here please?” The guys holding up the barrier pulled three guys over and then hoisted them up onto the stage. “Names, please?”

“Daniel.”

“James.”

“Sylvester.”

“Right, what you have to do is go with Jason and retrieve Layla from the dressing room, by any means necessary, and bring her back here. You got that?” They nodded. “Off you go then!” They hurried off the stage as Matt sang the opening line of the next song.

Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost, to many people to ache over…

Throughout the song, I noticed that Zack was getting more and more agitated, awaiting the return of the fans. As they reached the last line of the song, the fans returned, Layla slung over one of their shoulders in a fireman’s lift. She banged her fists against his back repetitively until he finally set her on her feet, but he still had hold of her arms, pinning then to her sides.

I stand here alone, falling away from you no chance to get back home.

The crowd screamed as the song finished and Matt glanced at the side of the stage.

“They’ve returned! Bring her out boys!” Daniel and James pulled her along by her arms as Sylvester placed his hands on her back and pushed her gently forwards. After reaching Zack, the released her and bowed; hence the crowd laughed again. As they went to jump off the stage, Matt stopped them. “Hey, you can watch from the stage of you want, it’s a great view, I promise.” They retreated from the edge of the stage and walked over to stand with us in the shadows just off the side of the stage. “Zack? I believe you have something to say…”

“Well I did, but Syn copied me. Fuck it, I’m gonna say it anyway! Layla, I was out of order earlier, asking that of you. I should never have done that. I guess you were right, I am jealous, I couldn’t stand it. I know you were joking, but it still got to me and I shouldn’t have let it. I love you, and that makes all of this even worse, ‘cause I know I should trust you, but what you were saying just pushed me over the edge I suppose. You have to know that I would never do something like that to you purposefully, and that brings me to my next point. I know how unorthodox all of this is but, to be honest, I don’t give a fuck. Will you marry me?” He didn’t bother going down on one knee like Brian had, he just pulled the box out of his pocket and held it open in front of her. She stood there for a moment, before speaking.

“No more jealousy?”

“No more jealousy.” He verified.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, I will marry you.” She grinned as Zack slid the ring on her finger and embraced her.

“Don’t you just love happy endings?” Matt chuckled, wiping a fake tear from his eye. “Oh, wait! I do believe it is customary for newly-weds to have a first dance!” Shit. I tried to recoil backwards, but I was stopped. Layla skipped over and helped Sophie pull me onto the stage as I transferred my weight backwards, fruitlessly. “Jenn, Jimmy, here, now!” Matt commanded.

Jimmy left the drum kit as I was dragged onto the stage. We met in front of Matt. Sophie and Layla scurried off the stage as the sound of a piano filled the arena.

Your hazel green tint eyes watching every move I make. And that feeling of doubt, it’s erased.

As Matt sang, Jimmy placed his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. My arms found their way around his neck as we swayed in time to the music. As I looked up into his eyes, I could see that they were consumed with happiness, I’m sure mine were the same. At the end of the song, Matt took it upon himself to say something about it to the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the newly-weds!” He gestured backwards to us as I looked towards him and out into the crowd, a smile plastered on my face.