Annabelle woke up still dressed in jeans. She rubbed her eyes, staring at the bottom of a bunk. Alex Gaskarth’s stubbled chin flashed into her mind. She bit into a smile, stopping herself from laughing. For years she had fantasised about meeting these rockstars. Suddenly she realised that she’d actually have to get out of the bed to see them again. The bed which smelt like boy. She touched her face; was her make-up okay? She leant on one elbow, ran a hand through her hair. She had no idea what she looked like, whether she could make a run to the bathroom. She took a deep breath, and pulled back the curtain. No one was about, and she spotted her suitcase in a luggage rack at the end of the line of bunks. She pulled the clasps open and bundled up fresh clothes - jeans, singlet, and underwear. She heard laughter and ventured through the curtain.

Alex was sitting down to ramen when Annabelle walked in, rubbing her eye in a way that could only be described as adorable, still dressed in her clothes from the night before. She smiled shyly at the eyes staring from around the table.
“Morning.” She met Alex’s eyes briefly before her's quickly slipped down to her feet. A chorus of ‘good morning’s ensued and she asked Matt where the bathroom was. He pointed to the door and she slid inside. Alex tried hard not to listen to her pee, or the rustles of her changing clothes. She appeared fresh, her face pink from washing it, and asked what the time was.
“It’s ten.” Zack replied swiftly, checking a new watch which he had been flashing around excitedly for the past week.
“Oh.” Annabelle laughed, “I expected you guys to wake up later!”
The boys exchanged glances. Last night Matt had explicitly told them that he was waking them up before ten so that Annabelle would not be alone for half the day. They didn’t tell her this, though. Even Alex, who had opened his mouth to tell her the story with a scowl, held his tongue after Rian hit his leg threateningly close to his penis.
Matt chuckled, “Me, too!” He smiled sweetly at Alex, who slurped noodles nonchalantly, “Would you like some breakfast?”
“Sure!” She replied brightly, “Hold on, I’ll put these away” She displayed the dirty clothes from yesterday, Alex caught a glimpse of a baby blue pair of underwear before she disappeared through the curtain.

“So what would you like?” Zack asked the girl in the tiny kitchenette.
“I’ll just stick with the juice, thanks.” She replied, clinging to the cup filled with synthetically orange liquid.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep!” She laughed nervously, “I’m never really hungry in the mornings,” Zack pointedly looked at his watch, she added, “like, when I first wake up.”
 Zack shrugged. She sipped her juice slowly. While she stared at her cup, Alex scrutinized her. She had high cheekbones, and slightly hollow cheeks, full lips, and big eyes. She looked too thin, but she was beautiful. He thought back to her sleeping in his arms and almost sighed, internally slapping himself. He couldn’t think of her in that way. She was so young. He was 21, she was 16. Still in high-school. Not okay with him. He could look at her, right? That was okay...Looking. Jack nudged him, licked his face, and then carried his bowl, and Alex’s empty ramen container, to the bin. Alex wiped his cheek.
“Gross, man, your breath smells putrid.”
“Your mum’s vagina smells putrid.” Jack retorted.
Annabelle looked up, shocked, however, she was pleased that their conversations were equally as dumb as her's were with her friends back home. Annabelle almost laughed out loud, but instead looked up at the tall guitarist who was standing over her with a pleasant smile.
“Can you play Guitar Hero?” Jack asked seriously.
“‘Can’ I?!” Annabelle chuckled darkly, and then in a burst of confidence said, “I’ll whoop yo ass, son.”
Jack narrowed his eyes, regarded her momentarily as she smiled innocently up at him.
“I challenge you... to a duel!” He cried. Annabelle clapped her hands in delight, but was quickly tugged from her chair into the center of the room, Jack passed her a plastic guitar and turned on the console.

***

Fifteen minutes later, after a best out of three, Jack was rolling around on the bus floor, throwing a tantrum. After she had beaten him, with nearly all perfect scores, he had solemnly declared her the true ‘Guitar Hero’ before dropping to the ground. Zack and Rian had watched on with amusement as Annabelle well and truly ‘whipped’ his ass. Annabelle had run off, telling the boys to wait a second. She brought back her camera and snapped a picture of Jack’s tantrum. Alex looked up from his iPhone, glaring at her. Leaked embarrassing photos of All Time Low were only okay when All Time Low leaked them.
“She should take your job.” Rian laughed.
“How are you so good!?” Jack whined. The girl shrugged.
“I actually don’t know. I don’t own a game console of any sort.”
“W-what?” Jack’s jaw dropped.
“I-I play at my friends’ houses?” She offered, sitting down on the ground next to Jack, who shook his head in disbelief. She fiddled with her camera for a moment before looking up at Zack. “So is this what you do all day?”
“Yeah.” Zack shrugged, “Pretty much until we arrive at the venue.”
“Where are we headed at the moment?”
“Detroit. Put your hands up.”
Annabelle smiled, “I’ve never been.”
“It’s bigger than Baltimore, that’s for sure.” Rian grinned at her.
“Do you get to look around much?”
“Not really,” Zack replied, “depends.”
“On what?”

“How quick soundcheck goes, how quick we get everything set up...etcetera.”
Matt walked in with a computer tucked under his arm, wobbled slightly as the bus hit a pothole, but then sat on the couch in-between Zack and Rian.
“We’re nearly there, guys.” He said while opening his laptop. Rian picked up the remote which was lying on the ground and flipped the paused game to TV. Jack pouted and rested his head on Annabelle’s lap. Annabelle jumped, but then calmed herself down. It was okay. Jack Barakat was in her lap, but that was fine. She rested a hand on his head, because that seemed like the normal thing to do.

***

Later, highway turned into suburban outskirts, and Annabelle climbed onto the couch next to Rian, and leant her elbows on the edge of the window to watch Detroit speed past. Alex watched her, her face, bright with excitement. He was so used to this; city to city. They were all the same really. Especially in America. He couldn’t catch the animated conversation between her and Rian over the music in his ears, Rian turned around and joined her at the window, pointing things out to her. Rian had family here, so he knew more about this city than the other guys. Alex was tempted to take out the plugs to hear what they were talking about. Instead he watched them laugh, and marveled at how easily Annabelle fitted in with the boys, how easily she had glided into their lives.

The houses started to condense, and apartments sprouted around them, growing into skyscrapers as they reached the city centre. Annabelle grew more excited about the new city.
“So what happens now?” She eagerly asked Rian as Alex pulled out his earphones and the bus rolled into a car park.
“We unload the truck, set up and sound check.” Matt said while clicking his laptop shut.
“Oh. Do you need help?”
Matt smiled at her, “That would be great.”
Annabelle left to pull on shoes.

***

She watched the boys’ soundcheck, snapping a few photos, here and there; they were bored. Alex looked uninterested, and obviously was not trying at all. She sat in the middle of the empty floor, thinking how in a few hours it would be filled with screaming youths, and plastic cups. She wondered what it would be like to be adored, worshiped, wanted, obsessed over; like Alex Gaskarth, like All Time Low. She couldn’t imagine girls and boys lining up for hours to crowd at a metal fence screaming her name until they were hoarse, throwing gifts and underwear onto a stage, craving a single touch. She watched the frontman leaning on his mic, bored, using his pick to scrape under his nails. Rian was twirling his drumsticks absentmindedly, Zack was flexing his bicep over and over, at which Annabelle chuckled, and Jack was playing the same riff repeatedly - his guitar was the one being checked. Annabelle took a sneaky photo of Zack, who was still playing with his arms. He looked up, startled by the flash, and grinned at the girl on the floor. Then posed, tensing all his muscles. Annabelle took another. Alex rolled his eyes and flicked a pick at the bassist, who flicked it back. It hit Alex in the head and he narrowed his eyes at his friend. The pick kept flicking back and forth until Matt, who was fixing the lights, called out for them to cut it out, told the sound man, David, that Jack sounded great and to move on to Alex. Annabelle thought this was just a ploy to stop the pick flicking.

***

Annabelle was sitting backstage with Matt, who kept running off to fix things, or talk to people. She was fiddling with the settings of her camera, watching the crew set up the stage for the support band she had been introduced to earlier. She hadn’t heard of them, and their sound was not memorable. They were called the Dogs and they were a bad punk band. The lead singer was greasy and smelt funny, like weed and hamburgers and pine, his name was Gavin. She took a few photos of them as they went on stage - an artsy shot of ruined converse amongst wires, their backs in the darkness, a pair of drumsticks in a tattooed hand. The crowd screamed politely. They were a good starter band, she gave them that. Greasy Gavin managed to work up the fangirls, and their loud, crass beats caused the crowd to jump, easy lyrics let the crowd pick up the songs before they were over. She was glad that her mum had slipped a pair of earplugs into her bag before she left. ‘Don’t ruin your ears!’ she had said as she kissed Annabelle’s cheeks goodbye, her latest man behind her in a dressing gown. Annabelle had wondered whether the man knew how many other men had inhabited that same gown.

All Time Low took the stage soon after the techs cleared off, after the Dogs’ set. They opened with power chords, turning into Dear Maria. Annabelle smiled, singing along. Matt walked by, and Annabelle stood up and tugged on his sleeve. He mouthed a hello.
“Could I go down in front?!” Annabelle screamed into his ear. He nodded and lead her away from the stage, down a set of stairs and opened a door. On the other side was the screaming crowd, a circle pit had already formed, and girls were already being pulled out of the crowd by bouncers. Annabelle raised her eyebrows. She had never been to an All Time Low concert before, and she was surprised that this was what it was like. Matt screamed that he had to go do something or another, and left Annabelle with the crowd pulling at the grate, and the bouncers. One looked at her, noticed her backstage pass dangling from a loophole in her jeans, and nodded at her. She smiled, and walked to a better view of the band. Girls hanging over the fence shot her envious looks as she strolled past. She ignored them and set to work.