Band tees and Hair dye. (Michael Clifford)

Band tees and Hair dye. (Michael Clifford) Chapter one.

My first word was Mackle. Yes. Mackle. And until I was three years old that's what I called him. My best friend. I was almost two when he said his first word. Ebwy. That's me. Well, that's what Michael called me until he was five years old. Im almost certain he could say Ebony before then, he just did it to annoy me. We learnt to walk together, ride a bike together, play guitar together. We were inseparable, or so we thought.

On the night of my 12th birthday Michael stayed over and we slept in a tent in my garden. We decided to stay up all night but by about 1 am we were almost asleep. Michael turned on his side to face me, his eyes half closed sleepily and his hair sticking up messily. "Eb.." He whispered and I rolled over to face him, opening my eyes. "Mhm.."

That's when he told me. His mum had been offered a job in Australia, where he was born. Of course she'd accepted, and they were leaving. I cried for hours, cocooned in a sleeping bag in the 2 man tent.

Three weeks later Michael and I sat on the curb outside his house, his arm wrapped around my shoulders, both of us crying. His mum came outside, calling him to the car. "I'll miss you." He whispered, wiping his eyes. "And I love you."

Obviously as a twelve year old girl I didn't know much about kissing, but I pressed my lips to his briefly. "I love you too." I whispered, giving him one last hug before he got up, walking to the car. I watched them drive away, sitting outside their house until it was dark and my mum came to find me.

The next five years passed slowly. Secondary school turned me into a pretty quiet kid. I didn't go out much. I just stayed at home, reading, writing, and playing guitar. I never gave up on Michael and I's dream of becoming famous. I probably should have forgotten it long ago but I was never good at letting go.

So now I'm 17. Exactly. My 17th birthday. I woke up at about 9, having a shower and getting dressed before trudging downstairs to the kitchen. My mum was already sat with a few presents on the table.

"Happy birthday darling." She smiled and pushed out the chair opposite her at the small, two seated table.

"Thanks mum." I smiled and sat down, taking a sip of the glass of water already in front of me.

"Right. I've got a few presents from me, and something from somebody else." She smiled and pushed over three small boxes, keeping an envelope in her hands.

"Thankyou." I smiled half heartedly and opened the first box. Inside was a small silver ring, a tiny diamond set into the band. I took it out and slipped it onto my finger.

"It's beautiful. Thankyou." I smiled and looked at it, holding my hand up and turning it slightly.

After a few moments of appreciating the ring I opened another box, containing a set of guitar picks with different band logos on one side.

The third box had tickets to see All Time Low.

I almost jumped out my seat screaming.

"Thankyou so much, you're the best!"

After fangirling over the tickets for about ten minutes my mum calmed me down.

"There's one more thing I need to give you." She smiled, sliding over a plain white envelope. I picked it up, opening it slowly. Inside was a photo of me and Michael when we were 7. We were staying with his uncle who lived by the beach. Michael thought it would be fun to dig a hole big enough to live in. We spent all day digging and by the evening we had dug ourselves a hole just big enough for the both of us to squeeze into, our heads poking over the top.

I smiled and sighed, looking at the photo. I missed him. A lot. For the first year we had emailed each other, even skyping a few times, but after that we started to drift apart.

I turned over the photo, instantly recognizing the scruffy writing scrawled on the back.

'Three weeks x'

I looked up at my mum quickly and she smiled.

"They're coming back."