He's So Aggravating, But I Think I Like Him

Chapter Four

Mandy

I was sitting on top of the Insomniac Outcast tour bus, because I knew that if Max came looking for me, he wouldn't find me here.

Sure enough, he came out of my bus a few minutes after me and started walking around. He gave up after a few minutes and went back inside. Yes, he did hurt my feelings a little bit, but I'm not going to cry about it. Not over something that stupid.

I was actually thinking, not just about what he said, but other things too. I wondered what would happen to us if, for whatever reason, Insomniac Outcast never got any bigger than it was. I mean, all five of us had to scrape together every bit of savings we had to buy our bus. What if we were already all we were ever going to be?

I jumped down and nearly fell on my face, and I walked back inside, bypassing the rest of my band. I changed into my pajamas, and snuggled up in my bunk. I didn't want to stress anymore about IO anymore, or wonder why exactly Max hated me so much.

~~~

I opened my eyes the next morning, feeling groggy, but well rested. I made a quick breakfast and settled onto the couch, watching my bandmates play video games. Eventually I joined in, and I was playing Guitar Hero with Maddie and Corey. I was, of course, guitar, Maddie was drums, and Corey was singing, or at least he was trying.

After we finished playing the song we were on, I looked at the time and chuckled, we'd been playing for three hours already.

I was too focused on that to realize we had already started a new song. About halfway through, I looked down at my aches wrists, the joint in them were sticking out more than usual.

Do they do that after I perform? I should probably see a doctor about that...Mandy! Focus, you're about to make everyone lose!

Then, Chris came running through the door, "What the hell are you guys doing?" He yelled at us all, and our eyes widened.

"Um, playing GH?" Corey responded. It sounded like a question.

"We're supposed to be on stage right now!" Chris yelled.

Oh.

We all ran right out the door dressed in whatever we had on, Corey's and I's instruments in hand. We were only a little late.

We played our show, jumping and dancing and singing. We loved our fans, I loved our fans. They were the whole reason we were here, so we always put in a show. Chris's antics on stage always got the crowd laughing, and I threw my pick out at every crowd we ever had. We were appreciative, and we wanted them to know that.

After our encore, we thanked our fans and hurried off stage so we could get back to our game. We were going to dominate everyone then beat the Demigod of Rock.

That is as far as we've gotten. And right how, it looks like we'll be stuck there for a while. We're stuck trying to dominate Warrior Johnny. We only need one more star thingy. And we can't do it!

We were really getting into the game when someone knocked on the door. Apparently, Chris and Mike left the bus, and I didn't even notice. I paused the game and went to answer the door. Max was standing there, shifting around and looking a little out of place and uncomfortable. He gave me a small smile.

"What do you want?" I asked sourly as I walked back inside to continue our game. I unpaused it and started playing again while he talked.

"I'm really sorry about what I said last night. I didn't mean it," he said, picking at his nails and looking down.

"It's okay. I'm over it," I said, only half listening because I was focused on my game because I desperately wanted to win.

"Alright, well, that's all I wanted to say, I guess," he said while he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Okay, well, th-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! WE FINALLY GOT THAT LAST STAR! Anyways, thanks for coming by. Bye!" I said as I started dancing around the room with Maddie. Corey just watched us and laughed when I tripped over Maddie's dinosaur feet.

"Bye, Mandy." Max said, then left.