Brynn Kishbaugh dropped her backpack onto the couch in the back section of the bus and took a deep breath. Looking around at the empty portion of the bus she still hadn't quite come to grips with where she was, on a bus, heading for a concert in Erie Pennsylvania. She wore a pair of jeans and tight red t-shirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. She looked completely nervous about what lie ahead of her.
Holly on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected by the brand new surrounding. She was wearing a long purple, shimmery skirt and a white sweatshirt. Brynn laughed, but figured, at least she matched. Her hair was in two, long, french braids which somehow, after the game of "truth or dare" the night before, were bright pink at the ends. Brynn was happy when Diana and Walker didn't ask how that happened.
"How do you do it?" Brynn asked, sitting down next to Holly.
"Easy, you just suck the air in, and it tends to come out on it's own after your face turns purple..."
Brynn chuckled. "I don't mean breathing. I mean, how do you just sit there like you're not even nervous?"
"Easy. I just don't think." She shrugged. "Besides, why would you be nervous? They've gone completely out of their way to make us at home. We're ... friends. Whoa ... headrush."
Brynn laughed. "See, that's what I mean. I don't know how to act. I don't want them to think I'm some kind of weirdo."
"You are a weirdo." Holly smiled. "Besides, Taylor would never think anything negative about you." She lowered her voice as Taylor and Zac finally made their way to the back of the bus. "Me thinks he likes you."
Brynn slapped her lightly on the arm and smiled up at Taylor and Zac. "Hey guys."
"Dad says to let you know we're gonna get going in about two minutes. He just wanted to make sure Jessica and Avery cleaned up your room first."
Zac sat down next to Holly and touched on of her braids. "I still can't believe you did that."
"It's just kool-aid. It's not like I haven't done it before. Besides, you should have none better than to dare me do do something that is going to last at least a month."
He laughed. "Isaac said he'd be right back and then we'd all watch a movie. Did you know it's like 6 hours to Erie?"
"I'm aware." She nodded. "What movie do we have?"
"Not sure. I think he went out and bought Coyote Ugly when he went out this morning."
Brynn rolled her eyes as Holly jumped up. "YEAH BABY!" She had told Isaac last night what her current favorite movie was. She couldn't believe he went out and just bought it.
Brynn smiled as Taylor sat down beside her. "Sleep well?"
He nodded and yawned. "Yeah. I wish we didn't have to leave here so early though." He sighed, looking down at his watch which read 7:30 a.m. They had just gone to bed 3 hours ago. Brynn shivered as he put his arm around her shoulder and leaned his head against her. "Don't mind me if I fall asleep on the way."
"Don't worry. She won't mind." Holly grinned.
There was a loud thud, the sound of the door to the bus closing, and then the engine started. Isaac made his way to the back of the bus and stumbled as they pulled out of the driveway. "Ok here's the deal." He began. Brynn noticed that he always knew what the "deal" was. It must have been part of being the older brother.
"We're catching up with the other bus. Then we're hitting the road. Jess, Avie, Mackie, and Zoe are all asleep. I guess it's too early for them. Mom's up front, and Dad's driving right now. So it's just us back here." He paused, looked at Zac, grabbed his arm, and yanked him from off of the couch.
Zac grumbled and sighed, sitting on the other couch, while Isaac put the movie in and sat down next to Holly.
Surprisingly, the six hours it took to get to Erie went by rather quickly. Taylor had his arm around Brynn almost the whole time. Zac continued to be a loner, eventually retiring to his bunk for a nap. And Isaac got out his favorite acoustic guitar and actually let Holly play it for a while.
Brynn was surprised at this. She pictured Isaac as being extremely anal about his guitars. Or maybe, he just trusted that Holly could play. She almost hoped she would get the chance to play Zac's drums later, as she was a drummer, but would never ask. She was afraid to push it. Holly, on the other hand, didn't have to ask. Isaac just sat the guitar in her lap and told her to play. Brynn sighed to herself, wishing she played keyboards.
A half hour after arriving at Erie, Walker and Diana left the bus, taking the kids with him. Brynn looked out the window nervously. "It's only 2:00 and there's already like 50 people out there." She commented on the crowd that had formed at the back entrance of the theater they were playing at.
Holly laughed. "Brynny, what time did we get to the Kirby Center."
"Oh. Yeah..."
Taylor smiled. "Do you guys know how this works?"
Brynn and Holly shook their heads and Zac took it upon himself for once, to interrupt Taylor's speech. "Dad will come out with a couple security guards. He'll come in here and grab us and we'll go out. We might get to sign some autographs but we usually don't." He sighed. If it were up to Zac, they'd sign every piece of paper that was handed to them.
Taylor looked out the bus window. Bored, and realizing again that they were tinted, he opened it an inch and stuck his hand out to wave. A loud shriek came from outside and Brynn laughed. "They won't grab us or anything will they?"
Isaac shook his head. "We won't let them. They will, however, give you the dirtiest looks you've ever seen."
Holly stood up and smiled. "BRING IT ON!"
After another long, half hour, they watched as Walker came outside, waved to a few fans, said hello, shook some hands, and then jumped onto the bus. "Alright, let's get inside. It's now or never." He paused, remembering that there weer two teenaged girls on the bus. One almost 15, and the other almost 18. Fresh meat for obsessed teenyboppers. "Ok, Brynn, I want you to grab onto the back of Tay's shirt and go inside as fast as you can. Holly, you do the same with Isaac. I don't want you to stop for anything. I'll let you two come back outside a little later to shake some hands so they aren't too disappointed," He said, referring to his two oldest sons, "But I don't want you girls getting grabbed. The fans are roped off so you shouldn't but you can never really tell."
Isaac nudged Holly. "Welcome to our world."
"What about me, Dad?" Zac asked, confused.
"One of the security guards from inside is going to stay with you. You can come out on your own after we get Holly and Brynn inside safely. You can stay for a few minutes to shake hands. Sound good?"
Zac nodded.
Brynn shook her head. "Wait, you trust the security guards from inside?"
Walker shrugged. "Why?"
"Have you ever let them look after one of your sons before?"
"Once or twice during occassions like these."
"I just want to warn you that the security guards at the Kirby Center were awful. They didn't care at all about the fans and they didn't seem too thrilled with you guys rocking up their nice clean theater."
Walker thought for a long moment. "Ok. New plan. I'll take you four inside and then come back out for Zac."
Isaac was confused now. "Why don't we all go out at once."
"Because watching after the four of you is enough. I'll come back out for Zac. I know how much he likes meeting fans."
Everybody agreed but Brynn and Holly couldn't fight the feeling of being a total burden on the Hanson clan. They shrugged it off and in the next 30 seconds, went through the most chaotic experience of their lives. Brynn grabbed Taylor's shirt with her one good hand and Holly grabbed Isaac's. She would have used both hands for extra security, but she was attempting to drown out the sounds of the screams with her other hand. Within seconds, they were inside.
Walker came back out to take Zac inside and they stopped for five minutes to sign some autographs and shake some hands. Zac was stuck answering questions.
"Who were they?" A girl with thick, short, black hair asked, referring to Brynn and Holly.
"Friends of the family. What's your name?" He asked, but never got an answer.
"Are they your girlfriends?" Another girl asked. She was blonde and bubbly and very loud. She looked obnoxiously familiar and she never took the oppourtunity to shake his hand, so he assumed she'd met them at least 10 times before. He hated that. He hated the way some fans had the money and oppourtunity to meet them so many times, while the fans in the back row had used all of their allowance and begged their parents to bring them.
Zac laughed. "I can't have two girlfriends, can I?"
"So they were Ike and Tay's?"
"No." Zac shook his head.
He almost pushed the girl aside and pointed to a girl standing in the back with a pen and cd in hand. She was smiling at him but somehow she knew in her heart she'd never get the chance to meet him. "Hey, come here!"
She almost fell over at his voice being directed at her, and then she pushed her way forward. All the other girls screamed in anger and envy, and Zac ignored them. "Do you want me to sign that?" He asked after shaking her hand.
She nodded and handed him the cd. "What's your name?"
"Rebecca."
Zac wrote, "To Rebecca, you won't always be standing in the back, Love, Zac." And he handed it back to her.
"Could I... do you think..." She paused and blushed. "Can I have a hug?"
Zac nodded and gave her a quick hug. Before he knew it, Walker grabbed him by the arm. "Ok everybody, we have to go set up. We'll see you all later!" Then, they were inside.
Zac waited for his eyes to adjust to the light as he sat down in the dressing room. He looked over to see Holly, Taylor, and Diana sitting around Brynn. She looked like she was about to cry. "What happened?" He asked.
"Somebody pulled on her arm." Taylor grumbled. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. It just hurts a little. I'm ok." She smiled.
Taylor put his arm around her and looked at Zac. "What'd they say to you outside?"
"Same old questions. You sure you're ok Brynn?"
Brynn nodded again.
Holly stood up. "Do you think if I went outside and just like, stood there talking to security, it would piss them off?"
Diana laughed and patted her on her shoulders. "I don't think that'd be a good idea."
Holly slumped back down. "I didn't say it was a good idea." She laughed.
Diana pulled a bottle of tylenol out of her purse and handed two pills to Brynn. "Here you go, sweetie. This will help with the pain."
"Thanks." Brynn smiled. Somehow she wasn't surprised at how sweet Diana was. She took the pills and shook off the pain, excited for the concert. She still couldn't believe they would be standing on the side of the stage watching their favorite people in the world play music.
Before she could finish her thought, she noticed that Holly gasped suddenly. "Oh ... my... oh my god..." She stuttered, staring straight ahead into the hallway.
Brynn looked at what Holly was staring at and then she laughed. "Holly, suck the air in..." She remembered what she had told her before.
Isaac finished who he was talking to outside in the hallway and then came into the room to see that Holly was about to go into shock. He turned around and laughed. "You wanna meet them?"
Holly looked at him and nodded... A few nights ago in Wilkes-Barre, she cried when M2M came on the stage. Two girls from Norway, two girls that Holly idolized, were standing 10 feet away from her. And now, they were in speaking distance. She took a deep breath as they smiled and came over to her...
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