She punched the doorbell of the huge building, which looked more like a house than a complex, and prayed that she had the right address. She had spent over an hour looking for the place and had just now found it. Luckily, she knew how bad she always was with directions, so she had left her apartment an hour early and was right on time.
The front door opened and a tall, older man with blonde hair smiled and said, "Hi. Can I help you?"
“Umm... I hope so. Is this the WEG Complex? I'm Rachel Haygood," she replied. She was relieved to see that, by the look on the man's face, he knew who she was.
"Oh! Yes! I'm sorry! Forgive me, I didn't recognize you from the picture we were sent," he replied, stepping onto the front porch and closing the door behind him.
"That's ok. It's an old picture," she laughed.
"Well... I'm Larry. I'm sorry Johnny couldn't be here, but he's at rehearsals with the guys. They're expected back any time now, but he told me to show you around in the mean time," Larry said. He held out his hand and motioned for her to follow him to the right side of the "complex". They walked across the driveway to the other side of the building and came to a large steel gate. Larry punched a code into a keypad on the wall of the building, making the gate open.
"How Star Trek," Rachel said, trying not to laugh. They continued on through the gates and into what she guessed was the backyard. In the distance, you could make out a pool, a pond, a basketball court, and putting greens. "This way," Larry directed. They walked across the yard, and Rachel saw what they were headed towards. A huge bus that was black, but faded into light blue and purple when the sun hit it at a certain angle.
"Umm... we aren't leaving immediately are we?" Rachel asked.
"Why no! We still have to wait for the guys and Johnny to get back first," he replied. He opened the door and stepped inside. Rachel hesitated for a few seconds, and followed him. Her first thought when she walked in was, "not bad". They were standing in what appeared to be a kitchen/dining area. It was very fancy for a bus.
"This is what the guys call the P.O. Wagon. It stands for Pop Odyssey Wagon," Larry said.
"Oh ok," Rachel laughed. She could have thought of many other things that P.O. could have stood for, but wasn't going to express them to anyone else. "Mind if I look around?" she asked.
"Nope. Johnny said to make yourself at home. After all, this is your home away from home. I have to step inside and make a few phone calls, but I'll come back in a few minutes," he said. With that, he stepped off of the bus and left her alone. She set her bags on the ground, by the door, and decided on giving herself a tour.
Rachel looked around and whistled. To be a bus, it sure was huge. She couldn't even touch the ceiling! But then again, she was only 5"5. She noticed a door at the end of the room and walked towards it, glancing around as she went. When she reached the door, she opened it and entered a much smaller room with bunk beds in it. They looked as if they had all already been claimed. She counted five of them. One of which had a sign on the inside that said "This is where the magic happens, so unless you're a sorcerer...Get the hell out!". How...male, she thought. She didn't feel the need to explore this room anymore after reading that and headed to another door at the end of that room.
When she opened it, she didn't know what to think. The entire room was lined with one big couch that was connected to the walls, yet wide enough to be a bed on all three sides. She walked further into the room and noticed all the shaded windows over the "couch". There was also a flat screen TV, built into the wall, at the end of the bus. The one thing that freaked her out about this room was that the ceiling was one gigantic mirror. Considering the fact that there were no other beds in the bus, this is probably where she would end up sleeping. She decided to go ahead and get her things back in this room.
She walked back towards the front of the bus and picked up her bags. As she made her way back to the back of the bus, she heard footsteps. She turned and set her bags down. “It's probably just Larry,” she thought. But a man about her age walked onto the bus, and she instantly guessed it had to be one of the members of the group. She didn't know, though, because she wasn't a huge fan.
He had buzz cut and a patch of fuzz that was barely visible on the bottom of his chin. He looked thick and muscular as he carried two duffel bags over his shoulder. When he saw her, he frowned and set them down on the table that folded out from the wall. "Who are you?" he asked in a rude voice.
"That's a good way to welcome a guest," she retorted. He definitely wasn't making a good first impression.
"I didn't know you were a guest," he replied.
"Well...I'm Rachel. Did Johnny not tell you about me tagging along with you guys for a month?" she asked, trying her best to be polite. It was very difficult when he was staring at her like some kind of alien.
"Yeah, he told me," he replied.
"Well don't sound too enthused. You sound like you're not happy about my presence... what did you say your name was?" she asked, starting to slowly lose her polite tone as she folded her arms over her chest.
"I didn't say, but it's Justin. And no, I'm not really all that ecstatic about you being here," he said bluntly. Rachel couldn't believe how rude he was!
"Well since we're being so honest...JUSTIN," she said in a cocky tone. She raised a finger and pointed it at him, nearly inches from his face. "I don't really want me to be here either, but considering the fact that we'll be STUCK together for four weeks we might as well TRY to get along. Even though I know it's hard for macho badasses like yourself to be polite."
Justin raised one eyebrow, formed a half grin, and made that annoying "psh" sound as he grabbed her finger. "First of all, get that out of my face," he said and forced her finger back to her side. "Second, since you’re stuck with the five of us BADASSES for a month, then doesn't that make you the...." He stopped in mid sentence when he heard footsteps. Rachel leaned over to one side of Justin and saw another guy, about Justin's age walking onto the bus. He had spiky blonde hair, with black roots (obviously from a bad dye job) and was no where near as big as Justin.
"Hey Justin. Who's your friend?" he asked as he set his bags on ground. Justin glared down at Rachel, then reached for his bags. He picked them up and mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "Find out yourself," as he walked into the bunkroom and slammed the door.
"Great guy," Rachel said sarcastically. "He's got a very winning personality."
"I'm sorry," the blonde haired one said. "I don't know what he said but I know it wasn't the most pleasant greeting from a stranger you've ever had."
"That's the understatement of the century," she agreed.
"I probably should warn you. None of the guys really liked the idea of having someone follow us around too much. So I'm guessing their greetings will be similar to Hot Head back there. I'm Lance," he said as he held out a hand. She shook his hand and then crossed her arms again.
"I'm Rachel. So... you don't feel the same as they do, do you?" she asked with a worried tone. She thought she was the only one that was going to hate this trip.
"Well..." he started, but was interrupted by someone jumping up each stair at the front of the bus one-by-one, singing loudly to himself. When he entered, she guessed that he couldn't possibly be a member. He looked nothing like the other two and appeared to have so much more spunk. He was apparently older and had spiky hair also, but it was completely dark brown to match his goatee. Not to mention he wasn't that much taller than she was!
"Who's the chick?" he asked Lance. Lance sighed.
"Rachel meet Chris, Chris meet Rachel," Lance said. Chris's face instantly dropped as he almost sneered at her.
"Oh," he said. With that he weaved in between them and into the bunkroom, slamming the door behind him. Rachel plopped down on one of the built in seats, made for the table.
"This is going to be a fun adventure," she said.
"Maybe it won't be so bad," Lance said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. He actually felt kinda sorry for the girl. Stuck with five strange guys, for a month, two of which already hated her. Another guy walked onto the bus, he ALSO had spiky hair, but his had more of a red tint to it. He set his bags on top of Lance's and smiled when he saw Rachel.
"Howdy people! I'm Joey," he said. Rachel was relived that she now had at least two human beings on the bus.
"Hi. I'm Rachel," she said. "
Oh you," he said. His smile vanished a little as he walked back and picked his bags back up. "One word of advice. Try not to get in anybody's way. I know a few people on this bus who might not be too happy if you do," he said. With that he walked into the bunkroom and barely slammed the door. Rachel sighed. Back to one fellow human being.
Another man walked onto the bus. He had fairly long hair that stuck out in every direction like he had forgotten to brush it. He was considerably smaller than the other members, but he was still very intimidating for some odd reason. He didn't even look up as he walked to the back of the bus, slamming the door to the bunkroom as he went. Lance laughed. "He's not being mean; he just doesn't like being up in the mornings. Early morning vocal rehearsals are everybody's least favorite."
"Understandable, I guess. What about Johnny?" Rachel asked.
"He said that he would meet up with all of us at the warehouse this afternoon," Lance said, sitting down in the seat across from her.
"Warehouse?" Rachel said. She could tell that there was obviously a lot she didn't know about the music industry.
"It's a big warehouse where we rehearse the tour. We have to use a big place so we can set up the stage and blow off the pyro and stuff," he explained.
"Oh. Do I get to go to that?" she asked.
"I don't think so. The cameras won't be turned on, so Johnny didn't see a reason for you to tag along."
Rachel laughed. "I'm sorry, cameras?"
Lance looked at her in disbelief. "You don't even know how they are going to film us for your school?" Rachel laughed at her own ignorance and shook her head.
"They have cameras set up in every room in the bus. They're hidden though, so we don't know where they are. They'll be turned on at 5:30 every morning and turned off at 1:30 every night," he said.
"I didn't know they were spending that kinda cash on this," Rachel said. Then the bunkroom door opened, and all four of the others members filed out. They all walked off of the bus, except for the one who hadn't introduced himself before.
"Come one, we told Johnny we'd drop our stuff off and come back," he said.
Lance nodded and stood up. "I guess I'll see you tonight," Lance said to Rachel before he walked off the bus.
The stranger yawned and said, "Sorry I didn't say anything earlier. Just tired. I'm JC." With that, he followed the others off of the bus.
Well...at least there was ONE person in the group with a brain. JC was ok, but she'd have to wait until he was completely awake to make that judgment. And she immediately wanted to throw something when she thought of Justin. How could anyone be such an ass? She knew one thing, for sure. If he said anything else to her, she'd set him straight.
Rachel had been alone on the bus for about half the day. It was 7:00 when she looked down at her watch. She tried to think of something else she could do to pass the time as she waited, but nothing came to mind. Probably because she had done EVERYTHING there was to do on the bus. She played with the built in TV, she had found a Nintendo, which she hooked up and played for a few hours, she had played on a laptop computer that had been in the dining room, and she had even spent a couple of hours trying to jump up and touch the ceiling.
"That's it," she sighed in frustration. She stood up from whoever's bunk she had been laying on and walked back to the front of the bus. "Time to explore." She walked off of the bus and looked around the huge area behind the house. It was dark so barely anything could be seen. The only things should make out where the pond the pool and...
The basketball court. She smiled and headed in its direction. There were lights all around it, which were turned on. There was a chain link fence higher than the second story of the complex that blocked it, all the way around. When she reached the gate, she realized that it had a keypad on it, exactly like the one that had opened the other gate on the side of the house. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the numbers she had seen Larry punch in. “035... no wait,” she said. "530712." She stepped forward and punched in the numbers. The green light on the pad lit up as the gate swung open.
She walked onto the court, and whistled. It was even bigger than the one at her university. Bigger than any other university she'd seen, for that matter. She played point guard for her college's JV basketball team and was looking forward to blowing off some steam by shooting hoops. She saw a ball sitting on the half court line and walked over to it. When she picked it up, she turned it in her hands before bouncing it a few times. "Gotta get the feel for it," she said. Then she took the ball and stood in the standard shooting position. Taking her aim very carefully, she jumped as high as she could and released the ball. It soared through the black sky and bounced off of the painted square, and through the rim.
"Half court three pointer," she smiled. She ran at top speed and picked up the ball. Then dribbled back to half court and did the same thing again. And again. And again. And again until she had made ten half court shots and only missed one. "All right one more and I'll call it quits," she smiled to herself. It was getting late and she didn't want to miss meeting with Johnny.
She took her aim again and jumped, but the ball fell short of the goal by a few feet. "It's because you're so short. Short people can't play basketball," a familiar voice said. She turned around and saw the one person she absolutely wished she could hit in the face with that basketball.
Justin had his fingers weaved through the gates holes, as he stood on the outside of the gate. "How long have you been standing there?" Rachel sneered, while she picked up the basketball that had rolled to her feet.
"Long enough to know you can't ball," he laughed. That was all it took. She walked across the court in his direction. She waited until she was to the gate then stopped.
"Listen, baldy. I may not be able to sing. I sure as hell can’t swoon thirteen-year-old guys the way you do with all your fans. But I can say this. 15 rebounds, 13 assists, 75 points in three pointers, and 150 in two pointers. One season." Justin stared her in the eyes and squinted with rage.
"How do I know you ain't lyin' just to make me look like an idiot," he asked.
"Because I don't need to lie to make you look like an idiot," she sneered back.
Justin pushed himself away from the gate and punched in the magic numbers on the keypad. He walked in as the gate swung open and said, "Well prove it big shot."
She looked at him as if he was insane. "And how exactly would I do that?" she asked.
Justin unzipped his windbreaker, took it off, revealing his almost see-through wife-beater, and threw it to the side. "You and me," he said.
"You and me?" she repeated.
"One-on-one, you and me. First one to score five goals wins. We'll see if you're the baller you think you are," he challenged.
Rachel laughed and pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing her white tank top, and tossed it to the side. She turned and walked to half court and turned back to see he had followed her. He was a few feet away. She bounced the ball to him. "Check," she said. He grinned evilly.
Meanwhile, Lance, Chris, Joey, and JC were walking to the bus. As Lance stepped on, JC said, "Look man." He pointed towards the court as Justin bounced the ball back to Rachel. She stood still for a moment, then pivoted around him.
"Oh shit!" Chris yelled. Chris, Joey, and JC took off running.
"Oh great," Lance sighed as he walked after them.
Rachel dribbled the from hand to hand, staring at Justin, in blocking position in front of her.
"Come on Justin!" Chris yelled, from outside the gate.
Rachel looked at him and chuckled to herself, then looked back at Justin. "I like them being here," she said.
"Uh huh? And why's that?" Justin asked.
"Because it's more humiliating for you," she said, pivoting to right. He jumped to the right as she ran to the left towards the goal and shot a perfect lay-up. She picked up the ball and bounced it to Justin as she walked back to half court. "Make-it-take-it?" she asked. He jumped up and shot the ball from where he was standing. It went in, not even shaking the net, which made the four guys standing outside the court, cheer.
"Take it, make it," he laughed. Knowing there was no such thing, she picked up the ball and threw him a chest pass. Hard.
The ball slammed into his chest, making his laughter stop. He picked up the ball and passed it to her. "I didn't know we were playing street ball..."
"Well we are now," she said, turning and walking back to half court.
"You can do it man!" Joey cheered.
"Easy win!" Jc yelled.
Justin dribbled back to half court and tossed her the ball. "Check," he said. She passed it back and with a fake to the left, they went into one of the roughest game of street ball anyone had seen.
He scored. She scored. He scored. She scored. He scored. She scored. They had both scored 4 goals. By that time, they were both so out of breath that they couldn't stop moving without clutching one of their sides. The on-lookers were yelling their support for Justin, except for Lance, who couldn't do anything but shake his head. Justin had the ball. He dribbled back to half court and checked the ball. He stood up straight and bounced it. "You know it's funny how things turn out. Game's tied. This shot could end the game," he said.
"No. That's not funny," she said. "You wanna know what's REALLY funny?"
"Oh yeah? What's that?" he said. As the ball hit the ground and bounced back up, she knocked it to one side, then ran after it. Justin stood, trying to take her fast move in, as she came walking back to him, bouncing the ball. "Anyways, what's funny," she said as she stood in front of him and held the ball with both hands. "Everything I said earlier was a lie." They both jumped.
She shot the ball, and he failed to block it. It sailed through the air, almost in slow motion, and slid in the net.
Groans could be heard from the other guys. Rachel smiled and walked past Justin. She picked up her shirt. "Hey," she said with her back to him.
"What?" he said with gritted teeth, turning to face her.
"I DID lie to you," she said, pulling her sweatshirt back on. "It was 17 rebounds. 15 assists, 78 points in 3's, 175 in 2's." She smiled and added, "It's been fun, JUSTIN." She opened the gate and headed towards the bus. All five guys stared at her until she was out of their sight.
"Damn man," Joey said, breaking the night's silence. "She beat you bad."
Justin shook his head and walked over to his windbreaker. He picked it up and slid it on. "Yeah well...I'll my chance to take her again," he replied quietly. "But in the meantime, help me think of something I can do to get even..."