Rise Above This

(Before show)

Oh mein Gott I’m so nervous! Okay Bill. Breath in and out. In and out. Wait…that sounded so wrong. Son of a bitch.

“Bill? You okay there?” I heard Frank ask. We were all in the same greenroom.

I nodded my head. “Ja. Just a bit nervous, that’s all.”

“Ah. Well, how about some Skittles? They’ll give you energy and make you really hyper like Mikey on eight cups of coffee and three hours of sleep,” Frank suggested holding a bag of Skittles.

I nodded and took a few before popping them in my mouth. I ate them merrily and said, “Thanks Frank.”

“No problem,” he said before sitting down next to Bob, randomly poking him in the sides and stomach.

I started pacing back and forth for a while when I heard Tom say, “Bill, calm down. And quit pacing please?”

I shook my head. We haven’t played in a while. Sound check went…well, not well at all. I’m just nervous about tonight.

I paced a bit when I was stopped by someone hugging me. I looked to see that it was Tom. “Beruhigen Sie Billa. Die Show wird glatt heute Abend laufen. Ich verspreche,” he said softly to me.

I hugged him back and said, “Ich bin nervöser Tomi. Wir haben in einer Weile nicht geleistet.”

“Ich weiss,” Tom said as we hugged. We stood like that for a while when Tom stopped hugging me (as much as I didn’t want to stop hugging him) and said, “Now come on. We have a show tonight and we’re going to kick some major ass.”

I nodded. “Ich weiss Tom,” I said before I walked around, jumping up and down a bit every now and then.

“Tokio Hotel on in three,” the tech guy said.

Oh crap! Okay, what’s the set list? Ehm, Rescue Me, On the Edge, Monsoon, Love is Dead, Raise Your Hands, Don’t Jump, Live Every Second, and ending with Ready, Set, Go. I think. Oh shit I don’t remember!

I looked at Tom and whispered, “Tom, I don’t remember the set list!”

“Rescue Me, On the Edge, Monsoon, Love is Dead, Don’t Jump, Scream, Raise Your Hands, Live Every Second, and Ready, Set, Go,” he whispered back.

I knew I was forgetting something. “Danke Tom.”

“Sie sind willkommener Bill,” he said before we got up and the two bands left the room. My Chemical Romance was going to watch our set from the side of the stage.

We kept walking when I felt Tom put his arm around my shoulders. “Come on Bill. Let’s give these people a show they won’t forget any time soon,” he said.

I nodded before we walked out onto the darkened stage, Tom grabbing his guitar and starting Rescue Me before I walked out and started singing.

“This used to be our secret.
Now I’m hiding here alone.
Can’t help but read our names on the wall
and wash them off the stone.
I trusted you in every way.
But not enough to make you stay.
Turn around.
I’ve lost my ground,” I sang, my nervousness leaving as I sang. I looked over at Tom and smiled, him smiling back before going back to his guitar.

(after TH set, MCR set)

Wow. They’re amazing live.

“Well, let’s go back to the middle of the day that starts it all.
I can’t begin to let you know just what I’m feeling.
And as the red ones make me fly
And the blue ones help me fall.
Well, I think I’ll blow my brains against the ceiling.
And as the fragments of my skull begin to fall
Fall on your tongue like pixie dust.
Just think happy thoughts,” Gerard sang as he got the crowd involved. They simply are really amazing live. It’s funny because they get all the girls screaming when Gerard and Frank…well, make the girls think that the Frerard fantasy is real. And I noticed that Gerard is by Mikey a lot. Oh well.

“Wow, they’re really good live,” I heard Gustav say to himself.

“I know,” I said.

“I agree,” Georg said.

I looked to see Tom mouthing the words to himself. “Hey Tom. I didn’t know you listened to them,” I said.

He looked at me and said, “Well, my iPod died one day, so I stole yours and listened to it until the battery died. I had put it on shuffle and one of their songs came up. So yeah, I like them. So? Oh, I charged it though afterwards.”

I rolled my eyes. I really love my brother. If only it was the way I should love him, not the way I do. I sighed and continued watching My Chem’s set.

“So, what’s the plan afterwards?” Georg asked.

“Nothing really. I was thinking we could see if the My Chem guys weren’t doing anything so we could all hang out on one of the buses,” I replied.

“Cool,” Georg said before we went back to watching My Chem as they performed Helena. This song’s sad. Sad, but really good. I sang along as they performed it and saw Gerard look over at us. I looked to see Tom singing along as well. Gerard smiled at us before looking back at the crowd, finishing up the song.

“Well, guys. I hate to tell you this, but that was our last song. We had fun tonight with you Jersey! Good night!” Gerard said before taking a bow and skipping off the stage. He skipped over to us and asked, “Did you guys like show?”

We nodded. “Nice! Come on! We should all hang out in our bus!” Frank said handing his guitar to a roadie.

“Okay,” I said before we started towards the exit and My Chem’s bus.