Left For Dead

Vanna's POV

The music was loud, the people were loud and I was standing in this corner by myself and a red cup filled with soda in my hand. I look at how the band members talked to each other and I was just the new girl, totally out of the circle. I looked around for anyone I knew. Ally was probably still in the bus… Where was Echo? I tippy toed a bit looking above the tall heads in front of me. The music was finally making it's way to my head and found a way to keep me calm for a bit.
“Lost?” someone asks.
“not anymore. thanks.” I walk towards to Kevin as he landed in my sight range.
“Vanna, what's up? “
“Nothing, got tired of standing in the corner like some loser.” Kevin laughs and so does the guy that he was with.
“go meet people, Vanna. Why so nervous today?” I shrug. “Go Vanna. Make friends. These people are in your life for the next three months” I roll my eyes and smile. I give Kevin a quick hug and walk around the people. Who first? I walk towards a tall guy.
“Hey, you look lost again.” I blush and quickly composed myself.
“yeah, a bit. I don't know many people.” I say, truthfully.
“well I'm Valentino, or Tino. You?”
“Vanna. You play.. For Of Mice and Men, no?” he smile widely. He has one hell of a great smile.
“I do. I'm the drummer.how about you? Are you a merch girl?” I gasp and his eyes go wide. “Oops! Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.” I laugh and shake my head.
“It's fine. But I'm no merch girl, at least not this year or ever anymore. I play guitar for Left For Dead.” his eyes go wide and we start talking. He was a real nice guy, and he knew a little bit of guitar, but he knew his stuff.
“Who is the blue head?” Some guy asked. Who was I judging someone with a weird blonde streak on his spiky hair. No one.
“Jaime, this is Vanna. She play guitar for her band.”
“You don't look like a guitar player.” This Jaime guy comments. I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows. “Hey, just saying the truth. You sure she isn't more than just a merch girl?” he was testing me and I knew it. Tino chuckles and I give him a stare, he scratches the back of his neck. I look again at Jaime and his arms are crossed his arms as well.
“I still believe you're a merch girl. A pretty girl like you couldn't possibly play guitar for a band.”
“that's an insult, a bit sexist.”
“I don't think so.”
“what, you like to hit on your merch girls or what?” his eyes widen and I smirk.
“listen here you… “
“no. You listen.Don't you ever dare to call me merch girl.” he laughs.
“oh come on! It's not even a bad thing!”
“I love doing what I do, and I worked super hard to this, and you calling me a job that isn't rightfully mine, that's an insult for me! My looks so not determine my life! ” I screamed at his face. Everybody looked at me and I turn it down a notch. “I can't stay here… I have to go.” I made a show, and that was the last thing I needed for the first day of three months. I begin to walk away from Jaime, pushing and bumping against the others and I walk far away from the party in all. I can feel the girls looking my way, but I need to calm down first. Vanna you're so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
I reach my own bus and sat down next to the tire.
“You okay?” I nod to whoever was asking.
“You seemed pretty upset.”
“I get upset easily.” I said. “I probably looked ridiculous.”
“a bit, yes. Especially if you're not known. So.. Guitarist for a band huh?” I look at the mysterious person and smile smalley.
“how you know?”
“heard your conversation with Jaime. He’s an adult child if you put it that way.” I roll my eyes and the guy’s laugh fills my ears. “Names Holden. I'm merch guy for Blessthefall.”
“Vanna.” we shake hands and he sits down next to me.
“I believe there is a band called Vanna as well.” my eyes go wide. “ maybe I'll just call you Vivi for short.” I nod, accept the common nickname and he smiles. We talk for quite some time, not making any eye contact, but it felt nice to talk to someone, casually after the Jaime incident. Just looking at the party that was quite a distance from us.
“well I'm gonna go crash. We have a big day tomorrow, especially you. See you tomorrow, Vivi.” He gives me a side hug and jogs towards his bus. I stand up, brush off the dirt and walk back inside the bus.

Echo’s POV
This was it. My first gig with my first band. At Warped. I got a little sick of nerves thinking about it.
The girls and I were back stage, waiting to get up the stage. I sat in a plastic chair watching all of them deal with the nerves in a different way. They seemed to know what they were doing, even though they seemed pretty nervous.
I saw Vanna jump up and down and shake her hands in the process. I probably should do that too, getting my adrenaline flowing. To be honest, I was afraid that if I moved I’d throw up.
I saw Shannon talk to Leon and he seemed to talk some courage in her. Vanna was right, the fact that even Shannon was nervous made everything worse.
Without knowing what was going on, two hands took mine and dragged me up from my chair. When I looked up I saw that it was Ally. “You’re gonna do vocal warm-up’s with me. Even the background singer should be warmed up.” She said smiling.
I shot her a weak smile back and we started doing warm-up exercises. “How was the party yesterday?” she asked when we had finished our last.
I shrugged. “It was okay. I’m not really a party person, but I had fun. I just hung around with ATL.” I said and Ally and I started jumping up and down too.
Before she could say anything about Alex ( I saw she wanted too, because she started grinning), I asked: “How was your night yesterday? I felt pretty bad for just leaving you in the bus.”
“It’s okay, Echo. I actually went to the party too after I had finished talking to my mother.” She said and we stood still again.
“Really? I haven’t seen you.” I said. I searched my mind for a memory of Ally on the party. I hadn’t drunk anything, but my memory was just really bad. It made me fear for the time I would be old. Would my memory be none-existing?
She giggled. “I haven’t been there for long. I saw a glimpse of Matty Mullins of Memphis may fire and Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens, freaked the fuck out and run back to the bus.” She said and laughed.
I laughed with her, yeah that sounded like something Ally would do. “And the rest? What have they been up to?” I asked.
Ally looked over to Vanna. “I heard Vanna has been seen angry at Jaime, of Pierce the Veil. I heard it from Kevin, haven’t had a chance to ask her, though.” She said softly although I was sure Vanna wouldn’t be able to hear us over the screaming crowd that was divided from us with just a fence.
“Why would Vanna have been mad at Jaime?” I asked a little confused. Had they known each other already? I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, because she would’ve mentioned it. He must’ve said something to piss her off then.
Ally shrugged. “And Shannon has told me that she arrived later at the party too and that she has just been chatting with some musicians I think.” She said.
Before I could ask more about last night, a man with headphones on told us that we had to go on. We all walked to the side-stage and Ally, Shannon and Vanna held each other in a group hug. I stood next to it a little awkward, not really sure if I was supposed to join.
“Echo, you’re part of the group now.” Vanna said and she gestured me to join. I knew Vanna and Shannon still didn’t quite understand or trust me, so I found it nice from them to let me join.
I smiled and joined the group hug in between Vanna and Ally. “Okay bitches. Let’s fucking do this.” Shannon said. “This is everything we’ve ever dreamed of, so don’t fuck up.”
Ally rolled her eyes. “Wow Shannon, nice pep talk. Really motivating.” She said sarcastic.
Shannon grinned. “Ah well, you know me. I’m motivating as fuck.” She said and we all chuckled. I was happy I had something to laugh about, it made the nerves less.
“Left for dead on in thirty seconds.” Someone of the crew said while walking by.
Shannon walked to her place beside the stage and waited for a sign to run on stage. She would be the first to get on stage, followed by me and Vanna and then lastly Ally.
The sign was given and Shannon ran on stage. Immediately cheers were heard from the crowd, louder than I expected at first. Were there really so many people to see us?
She sat behind her drums and that was mine and Vanna’s sign to run on stage. Well, Vanna ran on stage. I stumbled awkwardly after her, taken back by the large crowd for our tiny stage (well, compared to the other stages). Vanna started stimulating the crowd by making gestures with her hands and waving at people, she was really good at it.
I just awkwardly walked to my place behind my microphone and looked down at my clothes and bass. All I could do when Ally ran on stage was stare at the crowd of all the people that came to see us. Either fans or people who were curious.
“Hello Warped!” Ally yelled through the microphone like she did it daily. Damn, these girls were such amazing performers. “We’re so excited to be here! We’re Left For Dead, I’m Ally, that is Vanna and Shannon.” The crowd went wild when she pointed at Vanna and Shannon. “and that’s Echo our new bassist!”
Everybody stared at me and people cheered. It made a smile grow on my face. I had been so afraid the fans would hate me.
And then we started playing. I started out a little uncomfortable and I missed a few notes, but after noticing with how much energy the girls played, I got a little more energy too.
I started jumping around the stage too and made eye contact with the fans. Which was a beautiful moment. I loved that connection between musician and listener.
Alex was right, this was what I was born to do. I was another person on stage. I wasn’t the shy, goofy girl anymore, I was a badass rock star.
I even head banged a little in sync with Vanna. Well, whenever I didn’t have to sing backing vocals. Singing and head banging at the same time didn’t go well I noticed.
I felt the end of our set come near and it made me give the last bit of energy I had. When I took a small look at the side stage, I saw something that shocked me. I had to look twice to see if my eyes hadn’t deceived me.
All four of the guys of Pierce the Veil stood on side stage, looking at our set. When Vic saw me looking confused he laughed and mouthed: “Don’t mind us.”
So I looked forward, just in time to sing a harmony with Ally. Our voices actually sounded really good together. I was happy they did, because I loved singing a lot even if it was just backing vocals.
Soon Vanna played the last few notes of her solo and our last song ended. I only noticed now that I was out of breath. It’s weird how I didn’t notice that while performing.
“Thank you, Salt Lake City! You were amazing!” Ally screamed and the crowd went crazy. “We hope to see you next year!”
And then Shannon came from behind the drums and joined us, so we could make a last bow to the crowd together. And then we ran off stage.
As soon as we did, we stood across from the PTV guys. All three of the girls stared at them with wide eyes, although Vanna’s expression changed into a grumpy one eventually.
“What the fuck are you guys doing here?” Shannon asked a bit starstruck and confused.
I saw Mike grin. “We were just curious to your set. We always watch the little bands perform at Warped. It’s nice to discover new music.” He said and Shannon smiled at him and nodded. I sensed some sort of chemistry between them. “Well I am sweating my tits off so..” Before she could finish her sentence Mike had thrown a towel at her.
“You were very good!” Tony said and we all thanked him, except for Vanna. “Yeah, pretty good for a merch girl, huh?” she snapped at Jaime.
He looked taken back for a second and then grinned. “Admitted, you play too well for a merch girl. You still look like one, though.” He said and shrugged.
I saw a fire light up in Vanna’s eyes. “Dickhead.” She spit at him.
“Very nice.” Jaime said sarcastically. I saw the guys shoot each other confused looks. What was going on here?
“You listen to me, asshole…” Vanna started and the tone in her voice warned me that this was going to get out of hand so I grabbed her arm to gently drag her away.
But she swatted my hand away. “Let go of me.” She said bitchy. I have to admit, it hurt a bit. Maybe she just did it because she was still mad at Jaime, but it reminded me of the times that I had been rejected by other people. I hated that feeling when I knew I wasn’t wanted.
I beamed my eyes down and walked away from the place, leaving the girls and Pierce the Veil behind me.
Maybe I was being dramatic, but I just felt awful. This day had started out so good. I truly thought I had a shot with these girls and now it just felt so far away.
And they didn’t follow me. So I just closed myself off in my bunker. Letting all the awful memories crawl back in my head and letting tears fall down my cheeks.

Notes

heyeyey guys...

soo a lot of drama, huh? How will things go?


xxxx

Nicky