tour with me | j.d

t w o

"Emily where do you want this?" Amanda, an underclassman asked me, forcing me too look up from figuring out the wires and cords to the rest of the instruments. I saw her holding my mic stand and simply just told her to put it in the middle of things, where mic stands and the lead singer usually stands. She nodded and left me alone, only to be interrupted with the loud laughter of the rest of my band.

"God, could you guys please come set up your own instruments? I have no Idea what I'm doing!" I announced, standing up quickly, getting frustrated with doing all of their work. They nodded slowly, obviously not used to me freaking out on them, but I was nervous and I didn't need the stress of doing everything to add on to that.

"Yeah Em, go take a break or something. Get something to eat. The assembly starts in less than 30 minutes so be sure to warm up your vocals!" Jeremy told me. I left out a long breath of air, tucking my hair behind my ears before walking a few feet to sit on the bleachers. I pulled out my phone and got back up to plug it into the speaker system. I knew I wouldn't get in trouble as long as what I was listening to was appropriate. The staff of my school seemed to like me, so they never really stopped me from doing the little things that I wanted to do. Putting my favorite playlist on shuffle, the familiar sound of Tyler Joseph's ukulele was heard all throughout the gym. I smiled as The Judge played, the drums eventually kicking in. My bandmates laughed, knowing how much I loved Twenty One Pilots, but I couldn't care less as I sat back down and just closed my eyes, preparing myself for our bands performance.

"Em, warm up your vocals!" Lucas demanded, throwing a microphone at me. I let out a little scream as the mic fell into my lap. I glared at him before picking it up and turning it on, lightly tapping on it to see if it was charged and ready to use. I paused my music and got up to put my microphone in its stand so I didn't have to hold it when singing. Quickly taking my phone back out of my pocket I restarted the judge and sang along with Tyler, "you're the judge, oh no, set me freeeeee"

***

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Mr. Peters politely demanded. The dance team had just finished their performance, and they were actually really good, causing the school to get more riled up than anticipated. The students quieted down, my band and I sitting in some of the chairs behind our set up instruments. I was nervous as hell. I knew we were up next but I silently wished that everyone would keep being noisy so I would have a few extra minutes to get myself prepared.

"As you all know, there is a band here to perform for you guys that is built up of 4 students that are seniors here at Green High School. I heard them rehearsing earlier and I must admit I was thoroughly impressed. Everyone give a loud round of applause for Keep Me Ready!" Mr. Peters announced. There was a loud roar of applause as the boys and I walked to our assigned spots. I felt awkward and nervous, but I knew as soon as I started singing I'd be fine.

"Hello guys!" I said into my mic, sending a small wave and a smile to the large crowd. I heard a few chuckles and a few people greeting me back, "we're Keep Me Ready and we'll be performing a couple of songs that we wrote a while back. A lot of you know the words so if you want to sing along, that's perfectly fine with us!" I smiled, looking around the room then finally back to my bandmates, getting the ok from each of them that they were ready to start. The gym was silent as everyone waiting for us to start our performance, and it made me anxious knowing everyone was looking at us, but I kept my fear hidden as Cole began drumming the beginning to our song mirrors.

"White lights are too bright, I just wanna see a trace or an outline," I started, smiling as I started to get into it. within a few seconds, the music got heavier and I took my microphone out of its stand so I could walk around enthusiastically while singing, "darling don't be so shy, I'll see you at midnight," I sang, pouring my heart into every lyric. I danced around, interacting with the people I noticed singing my lyrics back to me, before approaching my band again and singing with them, "and in the morning, I hope I see you by my side, in the sunlight, with my own eyes; and I go searching through reflections for your outline, but its just mine, but it just mine. I know you're dead inside, but you make me feel alive," I belted, holding out the last letters of the last words until the beat dropped again. The crowd cheered at my note and I smiled as I finished the song off. I felt my cheeks heat up at the whistles and cheers of the crowd before thanking them and waiting for them to quiet down.

"That was mirrors, from our album, White Noise. We have copies with us so if you want a cd, you can happily have one. Our next song is from this album too, and it's called smoke" I smiled, just as Cole began drumming the beginning.

"This isn't violence this is just a war in my head, I give it time but it never seems to end. I feel a fire in the back of my throat, so let's get covered in flames and play some games with the smoke," I sang, moving my hips to the words and the beat of the song. Jeremy and Lucas jamming out on their instrument, even though Lucas' was simply a computer with weird technology button things. I may be in the band, but I still didn't understand what he did. I ran around the gym, smoothly reciting the lyrics, "Oh, you're killing me right now. I think it's time you burn me down."

We performed for the next 8 or so minutes, performing two other songs before ending the set. The students filling the gym stood from their seats and applauded the loudest I've heard them in a while. I smiled at the sight, absolutely loving the attention for our band and absorbing it all in. Jeremy, Cole, Lucas and I all returned to our seats when things died down, but I couldn't keep the smile off of my face as the assembly concluded. As soon as everyone cleared out I was tackled in a victory group hug. a smile spread across my face at the realization that we just performed in front of the biggest crowd we've ever done.

"we did awesome!" Lucas screeched, causing us and anyone around us to laugh at his excitement.

"That you guys did," the familiar voice cut in. my eyes widened and I didn't dare turn around just yet, not wanting to freak out. I heard footsteps approaching us before I turned around slowly.

"oh my god," I whispered as I focused on the three men in front of me.

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So, i'm going to have it where Emily's band is basically Pvris the band because their lyrics are great and their genre kind of just fits!

I'll be getting somewhere within the next few chapters, so just hold up!

Much Love,

Brittney

(Twitter: @crybabyftdun )