Bad Girl's Secret // c.h

t w o

The five of us were sat at the small round table on the bus with a pack of scrappy old cards that we dug out from God knows where. The boys had used this bus for the Euro leg before so the cards had obviously been left from a previous tour.

Joy had gone to bed early so it was just me and the boys. We were playing Kings. Ashton just laid down the five, six and seven of spades. Michael followed with the eight, Luke with the nine and ten then me with the Jack and Queen.

"Yes!" I hissed as I collected my money from the King of Spades. We were just playing with coppers, ones and twos but it was just as fun.

Soon after, Calum lay down his last card, winning the game.

"You know, one day we should play for real. Like, with real money," I said, counting up my coins.

"Yeah, but I bet I'd win and beat you lot," Michael said cockily as he counted his money too. "Forty four cents, beat that, losers."

"I got thirty," Ashton said, making a profit of ten.

"Eighteen," Luke said, making a loss of two.

"Thirty six," Calum said, making a profit of sixteen.

"Tell us what you got then, Sash," Luke prompted. I smirked and let go my fistful of coins on the table.

"Sixty two," I said as I stood up and collected the boys' empty beer bottles and my champagne glass. "You're all losers."

The boys sighed.

"Any more beer, anyone?" I said.

They all agreed so I took four fresh beers from the fridge and poured myself another full glass of the expensive champagne that Ashton bought for me before we got on the bus. He and Calum had gone into the city to buy us lots of junk food, alcohol, sun screen and also some fruit, because Ashton says it's good to 'eat healthy'. He'll be the only one eating it all because there's no chance of any of the rest of us eating it, apart from Joy maybe.
I always found it strange, when I was younger my brothers and I used to be fascinated by celebs, thinking that they were surrounded by bodyguards 24/7, in the street, in the gas station, at the beach, at the pizza place, everywhere, but it's quite the opposite in your home city. Everyone in Sydney is just used to seeing us all about so no one really bothers anymore. Yes, we get the odd few people coming up and asking if I'm the real Sasha Hemmings, or for me to sign something but overall, they're really no bother. Sometimes even the five of us could wander about the city center and eat in at McDonald's and float about the shops with not one person approaching us. They're all just used to it.

"Playing another game, are we?" I said as I sat down and handed out the beers.

"Yep, Scabby Queen this time," Calum said as he dealt the cards out between the five of us.

"I wouldn't have any more of that champagne," Ashton warned as he attempted to open his beer with the old bottle opener. "It's quite strong."

"So," I said, taking a sip and picking up my cards, "We're not doing anything tomorrow."

Luke sighed and shook his head at Ashton.

"We do have a show tomorrow night, Sash," Ashton laughed.

I looked over my hand and threw the pairs to the side, taking another sip of my champagne. Luckily, I didn't have the queen. The game got going quickly and the queen just went round and round in circles, passing through me at least three times before it stopped and we were all out, apart from Calum who was of course the Scabby Queen.

"Boys, you better get to bed. It's eleven and you're busy tomorrow." Joy appeared in the kitchen in her night gown, her motherly instincts obviously telling her we weren't in bed and woken her up.

"Yeah, mum, we'll just have this last game, promise," Calum said as he began dealing out another game of Scabby Queen, the sixth one in a row. Joy rolled her eyes and went off back to bed.

We did as Joy said and had one final game, with me loosing. We all helped tidy the empty bottles away before clearing off to our bunks. I was already in my pajamas so I crawled into my bunk and closed the curtain, blocking out some but not a useful amount of the boys' stupid chatter.

I snuggled into my duvet, feeling cosy in my small bunk. Luckily, I'm not claustrophobic because the space really was tiny. There was room for a bed, and then only a couple of feet headroom, not even enough to sit up in. I love small spaces, they make me feel safe and warm.

A scream came from the aisle, followed by a loud thump from above. "No, Luke!" Michael screamed, "Bedtime!" He screeched, and the curtain was flung shut. "Bedtime for you too, Cal!" Another thud followed as Calum was shoved to the floor. I laughed, as they carried on for a bit and then the lights went out and it all went silent. I closed my eyes and was half asleep when I was jolted awake by another shriek. "LUUUUUKE!"

The lights were turned on and I could see my brother's feet standing in the aisle. "What do you want now?!" He snapped.

"Where are you going?!" Michael said, talking loud and clear like you would to a deaf person because he didn't know how far away Luke was.

"I'm going for a fucking piss, Michael!" He said, and padded loudly off to the bathroom. I snickered at Luke, he was always grumpy when he was half asleep and Michael found it hilarious.

Maybe a month on tour won't be too bad, I thought. I would be travelling around Europe going to concerts nearly every night, concerts that girls around the world would give anything to go to. I would be staying in five-star hotels with a room to myself, and I was being trusted not to party. Most of May was EU shows, and a few in the UK, then the remaining UK shows were in the first half of June. After that we got to go back to Sydney. Luke would start the Oceania leg of the tour after a few days and I would get to go home to my own house. Jack and Ben moved out a while ago so when Luke's away it was just me in the house, almost like being an only child. But then again, half the time I'm  away in Los Angeles and London and NYC for modelling jobs. Sometimes I'll be in the same city as the boys at the same time, so we have night or two to catch up and I get to go to that night's show. Usually mum comes with me and dad stays at home with Molly, and I do enjoy that. Just me and my mum exploring the world's biggest cities. All my life I've been with stuck with three older brothers, so it's nice sometimes for it just to be me and mum.