His Sister

Chapter 5.

         "Situation. No Motivation. Destination. Permanent vacation." The song plays.

Luke screams the lyrics into the microphone as he moves his fingers against the guitar strings. Michael jumps almost every off beat and Calum picks on his electric. Ashton is poured in sweat in the background, flinging his arms to the drums.

Ivy and I are sitting down, watching Them. We hoot and holler and sing along. The boys are practicing for a performance they have coming up. Ivy has her camera out and occasionally goes up to the foot of the stage and takes some shots.

Luke nods at me to come up to stage, and I race up. I come up and harmonize or sing when they practice, but never actually do it during performances. I start singing into Luke's microphone, as he backs off, focusing on guitar.

I see Ivy take some pictures and smile. It's always so much fun. Calum and Luke stand next to me, backs touching both of my arms as they shred on the guitar. I see Ivy pull out her phone and hold it up. I hope she's not taking a video. I don't want anyone to see me sing.

When the song is over, Ivy pulls her phone down and smiles, looking at it. Luke high fives me,

"That was awesome! Great as always!" I giggle and hear Michael exclaim,

"I hope Ivy got my good side." He does a couple poses and we all laugh. Ivy nods,

"Oh! I got some great ones. Don't worry." She smiles and Luke sets down his guitar. Calum does the same, popping his earbuds out and laying them on his neck. He is sweaty and his black cut tank top is wrinkled and frayed. Michael rousles his damp blue hair. Ashton combs through his hair as well, breathing heavy.

Ashton then throws his drumsticks up in the air and catches them, then drums on the snare. Michael then adds in on his electric as they start to play "Barracuda". Michael faces Ashton as they play the familiar rocking song and I start to clap. Calum presses his mouth to the microphone and screams the lyrics to the song.

We laugh and I walk off stage, joining Ivy again. She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear as she skips through her photos, picking out the good ones. I check my phone and slump. No new notifications. I take a quick picture of the set up, the four boys jamming out to Barracuda, and post it. Hopefully that'll get something.

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After band practice we decide to go to Greasy Greens. We order our tacos and all take a seat. Ashton and Ivy are sitting by each other and they both seem pretty content. I smile as I sit by Michael in the booth, but I blush when Calum slides next to me, smiling. I'm in the middle of the two boys but who cares. Calum's presence lightens me up.

I take a sip of my root beer and talk with the boys and Ivy. Suddenly, I hear my phone buzz. I look at it and see its from Ivy on Instagram.

"Ivy Pippa tagged you in a video" Oh no. This isn't what I think it is...is it?

I click on it and Instagram opens up. My heart pounds.

It's a video of me singing. Me singing Permanent Vacation. It's in a black and white filter and clear as day. Calum and Luke are leaning against me playing their guitars as I sing.

She must've tagged the boys in it too because they're all listening to it on their phones, and exclaiming,

"Wow!" (Michael)
"That was so good!" (Luke)
"You sound amazing!" (Calum)
"Pickles on tacos are good!" (Ashton as he takes a bite of his taco) I gulp and watch the video, knowing I'll regret it. I notice something unbelievable.

It already has 200 views.

And I thought this was the worse it could be. But no, it has to have 200 views.

the views go up by the minute, and I'm shaking. Likes and comments barrel in, and I become paranoid.

"No. No, no, no." I start to freak out, and I can't stop shaking. I'm shaking so badly, Calum takes my arm,

"Allie! Allie! Stop! It's okay!" Everything is blurry and I hear Ivy says she's sorry. Calum turns me towards him. I snap out of my panic attack when I see him. His chocolate eyes and wispy hair distracts me from panic. He says calmly,

"It's going to be okay. I promise." I take deep breaths, and he smiles. "See?" I sheepishly smile and then bury my face in my lemonade, trying to hide myself.

Even though I've known these boys all my life, that was the most embarrassing thing in my life.