10 JUNE 2233

TARA

Tara crossed her legs at the ankles and managed to catch her laptop before it could fall to the pavement. She smiled at her catching skills, pushed her sunglasses higher up her nose, and resumed typing her email reply. She had decided to get off the bus for today, maybe get a little sun, so she had dragged her old lawn chair off the bus and set it up in front of the bus. It was the second time that she’s done some kind of work while lounging on the old thing, so she knew bringing it was a good idea.

“Tara!”

“No!”

“I didn’t finish!” Although, if people kept insisting on interrupting her, she might start setting the lawn chair up on the roof of the bus instead of in front of it. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head and looked at the people standing in front of her. Audrey, Lindsay, and Bert were standing in front of the lawn chair in a line. Bert was standing in the middle, and Lindsay and Audrey were holding a towel in front of Bert’s face.

“What’d you do to him?” Tara asked. She hoped it wasn’t too bad, because Bert was playing his first show in five years later that night.

“I give to you, the new and improved Bert McCracken!” Lindsay yelled. Audrey let go of the towel, and Lindsay whipped it away to reveal Bert’s new ‘do.

“Bert! You look great! Even better than usual!” Tara yelled and clapped as Bert bowed. His black hair now had red streaks, and it looked like it had been straightened.

“I know, right?” Bert asked and then did a little twirl.

“And he has to keep it that way for the rest of the tour,” Audrey said with a wide smile. Oddly enough, Bert had the same smile. It was somehow both innocent and utterly terrifying.

“It’s a good thing we have Lindsay,” Tara said and smiled at their resident hairstylist.

“Which reminds me, someone needs a trim soon,” Lindsay said and cut her eyes over at where Tara was reclining.

“I’m thinking of growing it out,” Tara said and crossed her arms.

“One little haircut won’t kill you,” Lindsay admonished. Tara loved having her hair played with, that wasn’t the problem. Sitting still was the problem.

“It’s very relaxing,” Bert sighed dreamily. Tara categorized it as dreamy because Bert lifted a leg behind him as he smiled up at the sky, which meant that he missed the glare that Tara tossed his way. So she sighed and lowered her eyes.

“How about after the show tonight?” Tara finally mumbled out. Lindsay squealed as she hopped over to the lawn chair, and Tara held still and dutifully received Lindsay’s happy hug. Then the trio ran off to who-knows-where. Tara resumed her earlier position of just sitting and doing a little work, and it was more relaxing than she anticipated. A few people walked by, but she didn’t bother to lift her eyes and say anything.

Sometime later, a shadow fell over her. She sighed at the absent feeling of the sun, because it was really starting to burn. Even though she carefully slathered on sunscreen before coming outside. She left her sunglasses on this time as she looked up, and the first thing she noticed was the big hair. It was a dead giveaway. She closed her laptop and smiled up at the man standing in front of her.

“Hiya, Ray!”

“Tara. Nice to see you again.” She liked Ray; he was polite, and talking to him wasn’t awkward. She was afraid it would be since she’s a big fan, but the guys were surprisingly normal. Except for maybe Bert. And Matt. There was something extra going on with those two.

“Likewise. Need any help with anything?”

“Me and Mikey made Frank a little paranoid. He wants to know how we are on security,” Ray said and shrugged.

“To be honest, I have no idea. Emily’s in charge of all the security stuff. She’s right inside if you want to go talk to her,” Tara said and pointed at the giant blue bus behind her.

“Right in here?” Ray asked.

“Right in there. Just yell out Emily, and she’ll come a-runnin’.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Tara twisted around to watch Ray disappear into the bus, and she started back on her work after the door closed. She wanted to be finished in time to watch the show tonight.

|XXX|

“Tara!”

“Liza!”

The two women met in the center of the parking lot, and Tara tipped her head back so that she could meet the other woman’s eyes. Eye contact was important to Tara, always. The look on Liza’s face was hard to read, mostly because it was blank, and Tara raised a brow at her. Liza’s face transformed as she laughed, and the taller woman slung an arm around Tara’s shoulders. Tara’s hip knocked into Liza’s thigh as they started walking across the dark parking lot, and she could hear the sound of screaming fans echoing in the not-so-far distance.

“So, you look like you’re dressed for action. Heading back into the crowd tonight?” Liza asked as they got closer to the stadium. Tara had a small bruise under her left eye, but it wasn’t a shiner or anything. Just a little bruise. She was dressed in cut-off denim shorts, a tighter than usual dark green tank top, and her old black pair of Converses. Oh yeah, she was ready to wade back out into the crowd tonight.

“You betcha! There ain’t no way I’m missing this! You?” Liza was wearing purple skinny jeans and a black tank top with some kind of car on it, and her boots looked like they could easily break some toes.

“It’s been five years since I screamed with a crowd while my man did his thing! You damn right I’m going out there!” Since Liza still had an arm around her shoulders, the two women made their way around the stadium together until they could slip into the front of the crowd. They made it just in time too.

“If I die, come back for my carcass when the show is over!” Tara screamed as she jumped into the crowd. She saw Liza give her a thumbs-up and then everything was chaos.

|XXX|


“I think she’s dead,” Sam said and poked the center of Tara’s forehead. Tara thought about swatting Sam’s hand away, realized that would take too much energy, and groaned aloud instead.

“What’d you do to yourself, hun?” Aiden asked and brushed a slightly bloody chunk of hair behind Tara’s ear. Tara was currently lying down in the parking lot, about a hundred feet away from the party tent, because that’s where her legs gave out. So she was sprawled out on her back, arms and legs all akimbo, and looking up at the stars.

“Well, I fought a guy the size of a brick house for the tie that Gerard tossed out into the crowd. He kinda felt like a brick house too, or his hands did at least. That’s where the bloody nose came from, but I got my prize.” Tara watched as Sam and Aiden both looked downwards, where the black and red striped tie was resting against Tara’s chest. She could still feel dried blood along her nostrils and on her upper lip, and she was pretty sure that was how she got blood in her hair.

“Okay, so you won Gerard’s tie and only got a bloody nose. Where’d the bruises on your shins come from?” Sam asked. It looked like Sam was going to try to poke the center of one of the bruises, where the skin had broken and allowed some blood to run free, and Tara winced without even being touched.

“Well, at the end of The Used’s set, Bert tossed out his tiara. I felt a little bad about beating up the brickhouse guy for Gerard’s tie, so I helped him fight a twelve year old. She kinda looked twelve anyway, and I think she was wearing clogs. Whatever they were, they tore my legs up.” From knee to ankle, her legs were covered in bruises. A few of the bruises had scrapes along them, so there was some blood streaked down her legs as well.

“Did you win?” Aiden asked and leaned over so that the only thing Tara could see was her pretty violet eyes.

“Hell yeah we did! Brickhouse guy was totally rocking that tiara when I vacated the premises.” Tara ran away. She’s pretty sure that twelve year old was getting ready to come at them again, and she liked having her legs in one piece.

“And you got Gerard’s tie. Not bad,” Sam complimented her.

“I’m never taking it off. Not never.” Tara rolled her head against the pavement so that she could see both of her friends. “You should lay down with me. The stars are pretty. Not as pretty as my tie or brickhouse’s tiara, but I think the stars can take the bronze.”

“Concussion?” Sam asked.

“From a hit to the nose?” Aiden asked.

“I’m high on life, and Gerard Way’s sweat,” Tara carefully drawled out.

“That’s just nasty,” Ray commented as he walked by.

“I’mma bottle it!” Tara called after him. She could hear Ray laughing, but the sound was muted a moment later. Probably went to the party tent.

“Evacuation?” Sam asked.

“That’d be the wisest decision,” Aiden decided. Tara blinked as an arm hooked around her knees, and she squealed a little as she was suddenly lifted into the air. Her tired arms flapped uselessly for a moment before winding around Aiden’s shoulders, and she moved one hand to pat Aiden’s cheek.

“Such a good friend. Good pretty friend. Oh! Speaking of pretty friends! Where’s my Samantha?” Tara heard Sam’s distinctive laugh, and she twisted in Aiden’s hold to meet Sam’s eyes.

“You are really out of it,” Sam laughed.

“Probably because that twelve year old hit me over the head with her clog,” Tara said and waved a hand.

“What was that, Tara Charlotte?!” Tara groaned at the loud yell and tried to bury her face against Aiden’s shoulder, but Aiden’s whole body was shaking with laughter. It made hiding difficult.

“She middle named me. Can you believe that?” Tara asked as Aiden released her. She fell down into someone’s lap, someone who was sitting in a chair in the party tent, and she reached up to pat some of Ray’s hair.

“She’s all yours, Sarge. I’m going to find someone’s sweat to get high off of,” Aiden said and walked off into the crowd. Sam walked behind her, laughing all the way, and Emily was twisted around in her chair to watch them. When she turned back around, her dark eyes immediately moved over Tara’s body.

“Why do they call you Sarge?” Ray asked. Ray and Emily were sitting in chairs facing each other, a little separate from any of the other groups, so they must have been talking before Tara was deposited in Ray’s lap.

“Because I was a Sergeant in the Army before I retired,” Emily said as she got to her feet. She narrowed her eyes down at Tara, who just grinned up at her.

“I am totally fine. A little bruised and bloody, but look! I won Gerard’s tie.” Tara gently pinched the fabric between two fingers and waved it a little to get Emily’s attention.

“And the clog to the back of your head?” Emily asked with her hands propped on her hips. Ray was already laughing, which made Tara’s aching body move along with him.

“Totally different fight, and it’s just a bump. No concussion.” When Emily just continued to stare at her, Tara sighed and dramatically rolled her eyes. “No light sensitivity, no super headache, no nausea, no nothing. I feel awesome!”

“Maybe you should take a break from the crowds.” At that, Ray’s silent laughter turned into loud laughter. Tara was able to grab his shaking shoulders and use them to hoist herself into a standing position, and she pointed a finger at Emily’s frowning face.

“You are a buzz kill and totally messing with my sweat-induced euphoria. I’m going to go…somewhere,” Tara said and walked off.

She made it through the crowd of people in the party tent and then managed to slip out the back of it, which should have been impossible because there was no back opening. There was, however, just enough space around the bottom for her to slip out. So now she was weaving through the parking lot and reliving her epic crowd experience. My Chem and The Used in one night? She was going to be riding this high for a long time to come. After several minutes and a couple of near falls, she fell back against the front of the bus and slid just enough to sit on the front bumper. Her chin bumped her chest, and she smiled as she ran her fingers over the black and red tie. Oh yeah, she definitely earned this thing tonight. Her shins will never be the same, and she had a sinking suspicion that her nose was broken.

Caught here in a fiery blaze
Won’t lose my will to stay

Tara tilted, a little dangerously, to the side as she struggled to get her phone out of the zippered front pocket of her shorts. After some slight cursing and one chipped nail, she managed to get it free. She had to squint to read the name on the front screen, so she might be slightly concussed after all, but the letters came into focus eventually. She swiped her finger across the screen with a grin and brought the phone up to her ear.

“Casey! You were supposed to call me yesterday. Or was it the day before yesterday? Is it still Saturday?” Tara rambled.

“Oh, wow, you sound completely out of it. Tour off to a good start?” Casey asked. That was just the opening Tara needed. She launched into the first official day of tour, yesterday when Avenged took the stage, and she even told Casey about the Towel-and-Tackle Incident. Casey laughed through all of her stories, but Tara could sense the serious undercurrent. Damn. And she was having a real good night too.

“Now, let’s get to the real reason why you called me. What’s going on, Adams?” Tara and Casey were friends, but Casey was usually a journalist first. Which Tara completely respected.

“Nothing concrete. I just wanted to tell you to keep your eyes open, okay? There’s been rumblings, and it doesn’t sound good.” Tara closed her eyes as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, and she winced against the sharp pain. Probably definitely a little broken.

“We knew things weren’t going to go smoothly. We knew that before we even really got started.”

“Yeah, I know that. It’s just…news about the reunion tour is really spreading. People are excited, and you know The Management gets a little twitchy whenever the people get too happy,” Casey said with a dry laugh at the end.

“We’ll keep an eye out, I promise. You still coming out to the Vegas show?” Tara asked. That was the next show on the schedule, and Casey was supposed to come out to get the first real scoop on the big reunion tour.

“I’m going to try. I gotta check in on another one of your insane ideas, but I’ll catch up to you in Reno if I miss Vegas. Call me if there’s any problems?”

“As long as they’re kept off the record.” Casey groaned while Tara laughed, and they quickly said their goodbyes and hung up. Tara stuffed her phone back into her pocket and zipped it closed again, and she tipped her head back against the bus so that she could look up at the sky. While she looked at the stars, she absently ran her fingers over the length of her new tie.

“So, are we totally fucked or just a little fucked?” Emily asked as she leaned on the bus next to Tara.

“I guess we’ll find out at the next show.” Emily hummed, which meant she was thinking things over, but Tara didn’t look away from the stars or stop petting her tie.

“You do realize that your nose is broken, right?”

“Just a little bent. It’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

“Broken bones aren’t cured with optimism.”

“They’re not, not cured with optimism,” Tara grinned. Emily slung an arm around Tara’s shoulders and pulled her close while they both laughed, and it felt good to let go for a moment. Because Tara had a feeling that the next show was not going to go as smoothly.

23 JUNE 2233

TARA

“This crowd is huge!” Pyper yelled in Tara’s ear.

They were in Vegas now, two weeks after everyone’s first official show, and Tara was surprised that they hadn’t killed each other. Three bands, two busses packed with women, and numerous other workers all crammed onto a singular highway or a single parking lot? Pure chaos, and not the good kind. Tomorrow, My Chem and Avenged were scheduled to play to a packed out arena. Earlier tonight, a local band from here in Vegas entertained the crowd. Now The Used was playing for the screaming fans. (Tara wasn’t really clear on how the order got decided. All she knew was that it had something to do with a feather boa, a game of Twister, and a sock full of skittles. She gave up on trying to figure it out.)

“I know!” Tara yelled back.

“Did it get bigger?!” Lindsay yelled. It was so loud, even backstage, that everyone had to yell if they wanted to be heard. Or, if someone didn’t feel like yelling, they could always lean really close together and whisper. For example, Tara could see Emily and Ray from the corner of her eye. Their heads were bent towards each other, and their lips were moving. Tara knew nothing too bad was going on, and she hoped that it stayed that way. As another song started up, Tara closed her eyes and thought back to early that morning.

“So, you want to double security?” Tara asked Emily. They were the only ones standing outside of the bus, and Tara was calmly sipping at her hot coffee while Emily paced.

“Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about today. It’s not going to end good,” Emily said. Tara’s face remained impassive, but Emily’s words scared the shit out of her. Tara was used to bad feelings, she felt them semi-regularly, but Emily? Emily rarely had a bad feeling about anything. When she did? They pretty much always came true.

“Are we talking totally fucked or just a little fucked?” Tara asked.

“We’re talking straight up cactus-fucked this time,” Emily said.

“Horrible imagery aside, I think you’re right. Double the security, and I’ll pray that nothing bad happens tonight.” Emily stomped off to go wrangle some more security, and Tara gripped the silver chain around her neck with her free hand. She learned over the years that prayer rarely helped, but it was worth a shot.

The Used was still going strong when Tara zoned back in, and she realized that her body was moving along to the music. She loved hearing familiar music again, and so did the crowd. She’d been to some smaller concerts over the years, over the past five years, because only small bands could still play whatever they wanted. But those crowds never looked anything like this. Maybe, Tara thought, all the really enthusiastic fans had been in hiding. These kinds of fans were reserved only for the most deserving of bands, like the one playing now.

“What the hell is that?!” Tara yelled as she jumped ten feet in the air. Okay, it was closer to ten centimeters, but it felt like she jumped higher. A laugh sounded behind her, and she glared over her shoulder at Sam.

“It’s your phone!” Sam said with a wide smile.

“I know that! I’m just keeping you on your toes!” Tara called over her shoulder as she reached into her pocket. Her phone was set to vibrate as well as ring, just in case it was too loud for her to actually hear her phone, and it scared her every time it rung. She slipped the phone out and noticed that she had a new text message, not a missed call. Could still be important though. She quickly opened her messages and scanned the text from an unknown number. It took two tries for the words to sink in, and Tara scanned the area for Emily once the words were finally processed. Unfortunately, Emily was nowhere in sight.

“You okay?” Sam asked.

“Yeah! Why wouldn’t I be?!” Even as she yelled the question, Tara could feel her heart beating in her throat. Her stomach felt cold, her skin felt tight, and she was breaking out in a cold sweat. Her heart rate was accelerating, and it looked like the room was weaving.

“Because I haven’t seen you that pale since I met you!” Tara met Sam right after she moved to California, before she’d been able to tan her extremely pale complexion.

“I just…I think I’m going to be sick!” Tara turned and ran, before she got sick all over everyone backstage. She felt her phone slip through her fingers, but she couldn’t stop to pick it up. Her feet slid in some loose gravel as she ran outside the venue, and her hands pressed flat against the side of the building as she doubled over. Her stomach heaved, but nothing came up. Probably because the only thing she’d had all day was coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

“What made you sick? I thought you liked the smell of guy sweat,” Sam said and lightly pulled on the back of the tie looped around Tara’s neck. (Tara did take the tie off and wash it, so it was clean.)

“Why aren’t you inside?” Tara asked instead and slowly straightened up. Her stomach rebelled against the motion, but there’s nothing in her stomach that can contribute to this particular battle.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay, and I picked this up,” Sam said and waved Tara’s phone in the air. Tara made to grab it, but Sam held it just out of her reach. Tara raised an eyebrow in question, and Sam mirrored the action. The look in Sam’s eyes told Tara that the other woman had read the text, and she knew that Sam wanted an explanation. Tara just wasn’t sure if she could give one yet. She definitely needed to do some digging.

“Sam,” Tara pleaded quietly. Sam brought the phone down and then read out the text still showing on the screen.

“Hey, Tara, I haven’t heard from you in a while and I was starting to get a little worried. You’re not still mad, are you? C’mon, you know you can’t stay mad at me forever. Well, I’ll be seeing you soon. Very soon. Love you, cupcake!”

“I didn’t realize it was that long,” Tara said and cracked a small smile. The simple action made her stomach roll, but she stayed standing upright. Then again, she’s not surprised that the text was that long. He always did hate that “stupid chat-speak shit” as he called it.

“Who calls you cupcake?” Tara hated that nickname. With a fiery passion.

“No one important.”

“Cupcake?! That’s a pet name! Not something you call a friend!”

“I would totally call a friend cupcake!”

“Who the fuck is it, Tara?!”

“It’s Kellan Morrison!” Tara slumped back against the building after that little outburst, and she watched as Sam’s eyes flashed with rage.

“You said things were over with him,” Sam said from between clenched teeth.

“Things with him are over, one hundred percent! Kel just thinks that I’ll come running back to him, which is insane. I’m more worried about him thinking that he’ll be seeing me very soon.” Sam’s mind seemed to switch from rage to hard thinking, and her light brown eyes had a faraway look in them.

“Do you think The Management is up to something?” Sam asked after a good two minutes.

“I think it’s possible. You saw how many people were out there, and there’s going to be just as many tomorrow night. This tour is making waves, and people are already talking about how much of a success this can be. So, yeah, I think the Assholes-In-Charge are going to try and mess things up,” Tara said.

“How’re we on security?”

“Emily doubled it this morning.”

“And all the employees, you checked them?”

“I did background checks and everything, yeah. Emily and Aiden personally interviewed everyone.”

“I think we should go back inside,” Sam said after taking a look around. They were pretty isolated outside, and Tara had watched enough horror movies to know that being isolated was never good. Tara nodded her head, and Sam handed the phone over. The phone got slipped back into Tara’s front pocket, and she followed Sam back into the building.

Tara looked around nervously for the rest of the show, and she kept expecting ghosts from her past to jump out at her every time she looked over her shoulder. Sam caught her eye a few times, but neither of them said anything. To each other or to anyone else. It was so loud in the arena that they would have had to yell, which was not a good idea. There wasn’t any way of knowing who might be listening in, and Tara was definitely headed towards full blown paranoia.

“It’s the last song!” Pyper yelled.

“And one of my favorites!” Tara yelled back. Bert stepped up to the mic and started to sing, and Tara let herself relax and get lost in the music.

Well you’re never gonna find it
If you’re looking for it
Won’t come your way

Well you’ll never find it
If you’re looking for it

Should’ve done something but I’ve done it enough
By the way your hands were shaking
Rather waste some time with you

A chorus of screams erupted from the crowd, and Tara’s eyes flew open as her body flashed cold in the summer heat. She watched as one of the high metal beams, that held some of the bigger lights, fell towards the ground. She knew the entire thing couldn’t have lasted for more than ten seconds or so, but it felt like an eternity. Everyone was screaming and pushing at each other, and Tara had to fight to hold her ground.

“Jeph!” someone behind her yelled. All four band members were lying on the stage instead of standing, but Jeph was the only one not moving. One of his legs was caught under the metal, and there was broken glass scattered all around him.

That was when real chaos hit. There was an explosion of movement and sound backstage, and Tara caught a quick flash of the crowd in front of the stage scrambling to get out of the arena. Hands pulled at her as she knocked against bodies, and she cried out as something sharp crashed against her still sensitive nose. There was a hot lick of pain across the bridge of her nose as a crunching sound echoed in her ears, and she caught a flash of green eyes and black hair just before the crowd of people backstage surged again. Well, if her nose wasn’t broken from the concerts two weeks ago, Gerard Way just made sure it was definitely broken now.

Tara was still holding the collar of her shirt over her nose when she felt a hand pull on her arm, and she let whoever it was pull her out of the mass of bodies and into open air. She could still hear muffled yells from the building behind her, and she realized that she was trying to go into shock. Trying to disassociate. With a quiet curse, she pushed her thumb against the break in her nose and then groaned as fresh blood dripped over her lips. It had the desired effect though. Her mind felt clearer, and she was able to take in her surroundings. She finally looked over at who was pulling her and saw a flash of black and burgundy hair.

“Where are we going?” Tara asked as she got her legs to go a little faster and keep up.

“Bus, for now,” Aiden said and kept pulling on her.

“We need to go to the hospital though,” Tara said once she had finally caught up with Aiden’s much longer strides.

“We will. Didn’t you hear Matt?” Aiden asked and then looked down at her. “Shit! What happened to your nose?”

“It got kinda crazy in there and someone clipped me, but I’m fine. I wasn’t really paying attention to announcements though.” Aiden looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded her head instead.

“We’ll get you fixed up soon. Matt and some of his guys went with Jeph and the others in the ambulances. Matt’s going to call us and let us know which hospital they’re at, and then we’ll go. You should probably get that looked at,” Aiden said and pointed at Tara’s still bleeding nose. Tara had let her shirt drop, but she still reached up to wipe away the blood flow with her hand every few seconds.

“Aiden!” Tara turned to see two figures jogging over to her and Aiden, and she looked up at Patti and Zacky. To be completely honest, Tara was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic since she was surrounded by people who were all at least six inches taller than her.

“Hey, Tara. Rough fight?” Patti asked and looked down at her.

“You should see the other guy,” Tara weakly laughed. Actually, Gerard had looked pretty much spotless. Even the giant watch on his wrist, which had connected with her nose hard enough to definitely break it, had looked spotless.

“Where’s the others?” Aiden asked.

“On their way,” Zacky said and looked around. Tara looked over at Aiden and realized that she was nervously biting on her lip.

“Everyone’s going to be alright, hun,” Tara said quietly.

“I hope so,” Aiden said in the same quiet tone.

“We’ll get through this. I’m going to step around the bus for a minute, okay?”

“Okay. Just don’t be gone long.”

“I won’t,” Tara said over her shoulder.

She walked over to the front of the bus, the Blue Bus, and tried to get a look at her nose. The bumper was just reflective enough for her to get an okay look. The middle of her nose was slightly turned to the left, barely noticeable, and there was a cut across the width of her nose in the same place. That explained the extra blood flow. Blood was pouring from her nostrils and from the cut across her nose. She used the inside collar of her shirt and a little spit to rub at the blood on her face, until she looked a little more clean and a little less like she just walked off the set of a zombie movie.

Once she felt clean enough, she turned around and leaned her back against the front bumper. Now that she didn’t have a task to focus on, her mind was all over the place. How had everything happened so fast? How’d she miss everything that was going on? Where was everyone else? How the hell did all this happen? And why did Gerard have such a gigantic watch with sharp edges?

Her eyes closed as her temples started to pound, and she groaned as she let her head fall back against the bus. Her whole face was pain, but it was hard to worry about a possible broken nose when she didn’t know if Jeph was okay. If any of The Used guys were okay. And what about the girls? The crowds had gotten pretty crazy very quickly, so what if one of them got hurt? Every little thing was skittering across her mind, and she felt like she was going to go crazy. Which was not a phrase that she used lightly.

“What the hell happened to your face?!” Tara’s eyes snapped open at the voice, and she looked up into brown eyes so dark that they nearly looked black. Once, she thought those eyes were beautiful. Especially paired with all that pale skin and coupled with that crooked smile…but that was in the past.

“K-Kellan?” Tara asked.

“No, it’s Santa Claus.” Kellan’s body blocked her view of everything behind him, so Tara had to lean to the side to see the three people standing behind him. Her eyes narrowed in a glare at the person who had spoken, and she had to resist the urge to bash his head into the closest hard surface. Like, say, the bus behind her or the pavement. Gabe Michaels, one of the few people who could drive her to commit murder in under five seconds. She’d gladly spend a few years in prison if it meant that she could have a go at him.

“No head bashing tonight. That’s Emily’s job. Now will you please tell me what happened to your face?” Kellan asked and continued to look down at her. Kellan Morrison…where to start? Childhood friend? High school sweetheart? Lying ex?

“Yeah, I’ll leave Gabe for Emily,” Tara said and aimed a blood stained smile at Gabe. He paled, but his facial expression didn’t change. Emily had kicked his ass more than once, and Tara’s sure that he’ll never forget her.

“Still the same old pair, huh? Emily fighting and you rooting? Or did you decide to take up fighting?” Tara smiled at the youngest member of the group, Lee Morrison. Lee was only twenty-four, which made him three years younger than Tara. He was her favorite out of the whole group, because he was like a little brother to her.

“Nah, Emily’s the fighter. Some things never change,” Tara said and moved her gaze back to Kellan. He understood the meaning behind her words, because his smile slowly disappeared.

“We just wanted to stop by and see you, and let you know that we’ll be touring again. Then we saw those ambulances and didn’t know what happened, or if you were okay. Kellan almost gave himself a heart attack,” a feminine voice said. Tara leaned to the side to see Mercy Morrison staring right at her, unsmiling. Kellan might have possibly been worried, but Tara knew Mercy hadn’t felt any such thing. Once upon a time, Emily and Tara were close friends with Mercy. The three of them had been inseparable growing up. Then Tara was “love struck” and always with Kellan, and Emily and Mercy had started fighting over every little thing.

“I can take care of myself, so there’s no need to worry. Now, I think all of you need to leave,” Tara said and raised her chin a little higher. Being short really did have its disadvantages.

“You call that taking care of yourself?!” Gabe yelled and pointed at the blood still on her face. Which, rude.

“Quit yelling, or I’ll permanently shut your mouth for you.” Hazel eyes widened at the sound of the new voice, despite the pain it caused her nose, and Tara had to look around Kellan again to make sure she wasn’t just hearing things.

“We just stopped by to pay some friends a visit—”

“Save it, Mercy. We have somewhere we need to be, so y’all need to go. Now,” Emily said. Mercy turned, flipped her long black hair behind her, and walked off. Gabe quickly followed after her, and Emily continued to glare at his back. Lee mouthed a quick sorry and then walked off.

“Do you think, maybe later, that we can talk?” Kellan asked.

“I don’t have anything to say to you. I think we said it all the last time we were together,” Tara said and looked up at him. He hadn’t changed a bit in the past four months, but Tara didn’t feel the urge to wrap her arms around him like she usually did. She loved him, honest to Christ loved him, and he ruined it.

“I’m only asking for one talk? C’mon, just for old time’s sake?” Kellan asked.

“I’ll call you later,” Tara said. Kellan nodded his head and then walked off after the others.

“They’re going to be fun to handle, huh?” Emily asked as she stood next to Tara. Her dark eyes were looking at the blood on Tara’s face, but Tara waved that concern off for the time being.

“They’re going on tour again,” Tara said and arched a brow. Emily’s eyes darkened even further, and Tara saw a small muscle in her jaw twitch.

“We’re ready to go,” she said quietly after a moment.

“Alright, come on,” Tara said and walked towards where she could hear the others. Emily followed behind her, and Tara could practically feel the anger radiating off of her. Emily had been right. This wasn’t going to end good.

Notes

Another chapter down! I am officially caught up with the rewrite, so I thought I'd update to celebrate. I just finished writing Chapter 15, which is completely brand-new material. It's exciting, for me. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Also, if you ever feel like you might be going into shock or disassociating from a situation, do not break a bone or agitate a possibly broken bone. It's not advisable, and I doubt it works for everyone. I did it once, after breaking one of my fingers, and it snapped me out of a panic attack. I also have a crooked finger now. So, don't attempt the things written in this story.

Songs Used
Tara's Ringtone: Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold
The Concert: Blue and Yellow by The Used

Random Gif!