The Height of Fame

Chapter 2

Four weeks have come and gone and tomorrow we leave for the tour. It seems like every day we've been doing something else to get ready. Press interviews, radio shows, rehearsals, photo shoots, the label even threw us a sendoff party on Wednesday.

The closer we get to leaving, the more anxious everyone is to go. Things have been crazy since we announced the tour. By this point most of the shows have sold out. Our online merch store had to be restocked twice. Katherine and Amy even got mobbed by people when they went to the mall the other day. Things have changed all over again and it's not easy to adjust to.

I get snapped back to reality by the screams of everyone going crazy. Dani can't find her suitcase nor has she started looking for it, Lisa has a thousand loads of laundry to do, Amy is having an existential crisis, Kath is bouncing around doing a million things at once and Christina is having a mental breakdown because of everyone else.

I seem to be the only one who is packed and ready to go. On account of that, I decide to try and sneak out to see my friend Taylor. Everyone is distracted but that doesn't mean Christina doesn't stop me on my way out.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going?" she screams from across the house. In what seems like four bounds, she is suddenly standing in front of me.

"I'm going to go hang out with Taylor for a bit and then I'm coming right back," I lie.

It's not a full lie. I am going to see Taylor, but we are going to go pick up so I'm good for the tour.

"Are you done packing?" Christina grills.

"Yeah. Finished last night."

"And the merch is all ready to go?"

"In boxes, in the garage, since Tuesday."

"What about the recording and producing equipment?"

"Bundled up all tight and snug in the boxes right there," I say, motioning to the three banker's boxes by the front door.

Christina studies my face and squints at me for a minute.

"Is your room clean?" she asks.

"I'm sorry, what?" I laugh.

"Your room! Is it clean?"

"Yes, my room is clean mom. Can I go now? I'll be back in a couple hours and I'll help Dani pack."

"Fine, go. Leave me to deal with these morons," she cries.

"Bye Chris," I chirp as I dart out the door. I run to my truck and back out of the driveway quickly before she can think of something for me to do. After sending a text to tell Taylor that I'm on the way, I pull out my dab pen and hit it a few times.

By the time I get to Taylor's house, I have a nice buzz going.

"I can't believe you are leaving me!" she screams as she climbs into my truck.

I met Taylor through a mutual friend when we first moved to Nashville. We didn't really know anyone in the area and our personalities mesh well and she's also my age, so we got really close. The two of us started hanging out a lot and she helped bring me out of my shell. Well, that, and weed.

Before we moved out here, I was really against drugs but when we got here, I realized what a sheltered life we had in L.A. I love our parents but living in the small towns that we did really let them keep a lot of things out of our lives. And even when we were in the L.A. industry, our mom or dad was always there by our sides for the meetings, making sure that nothing bad ever came in contact with us.