Braids

5.3K 162 25
                                    

A/N: I don't speak Spanish, and just used Google Translate for when I needed it. Please just ignore any mistakes you see, and I will put the English translations below the Spanish

NO ONE'S POV

Vic trudged out of the bunk area, drowsy and with soundcheck in a hour. The bus was pretty messy, as you'd expect a bunch of guys to be. However, he didn't expect to see Mike and Katrina both passed out on the couch.

"The fuck?" he muttered before spotting a bottle of whiskey and sighing.

Mike had absolutely no grasp on the fact that Katrina was 16. How the hell could he be her father with his brother supplying her with booze? Vic snatched the bottle and kicked Mike's leg gently to wake him up. He groaned like Vic was their mother waking them up for school, and raised an eyebrow when he saw who was in front of him.

"What the fuck, Mike!" Vic whispered, holding up the whiskey "You think this is how she's gonna get better?"

"And you think she's gonna just come up to you and pour out her soul?"

Without doing so purposefully, the brothers started arguing in Spanish, like when they were little.

"¿Usted quiere que yo vierto alcohol por las gargantas de sus hijos?!" Vic hissed at his brother, a bit harsher than he probably should have "Porque eso es exactamente lo que estás haciendo!"

(Do you want me to pour alcohol down your kids throats?! - Because that's exactly what you're doing!)

"Usted y yo sabemos que ella habría conseguido por sí misma
" Mike retorted quickly

(You and I both know she would have gotten it herself)

"Ese es el problema!
"

(That's the problem!")

Just as Vic yelled those words, Katrina sleepily yawned and mumbled "Pueden ustedes callarte?"

(Can you guys just shut up?)

Both brothers froze and stared at her like she'd grown four extra heads.

"Since when did you speak Spanish?" Vic asked, sounding confused and surprised

"You never asked, and I had to take it all through school"

"Public schools do that?" Mike sounded doubtful

"It was the ghetto-est school you could find, and not too far from the border. Think about it"

Neither of them spoke, as they didn't understand what she meant.

"Seriously? Guys, drugs"

"Oh yeah"

There was more silence for a moment, until Cara drifted in from the bunk area. It was 8 am, but not a single blonde hair fell in her face from her preppy ponytail and there wasn't a smudge in her eyeliner.

"Hey!" she chirped, as if they were all excited to see her

Mumbled greetings enticed as a response, and Vic wrapped an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. Cara let out a schoolgirl giggle and Katrina rolled her eyes. To continue with the trail of people waking up, the merch girl walked in as well. This was the same girl with white blond wavy shoulder-length hair that Katrina had seen when she first came to Warped. Her name was Chelsea, and Katrina liked her well enough.

Chelsea started a pot of coffee for herself and everyone else on the bus, much unlike anything Cara would have done. Her short hair was gathered into a low ponytail with the aid of many bobby pins, and all she wore were baggy sweatpants rolled at the waist and a ratty black tank top. She sat down on the couch next to Katrina and picked up a strand of her hair.

"I'll get the hairbrush" Katrina muttered and walked back into the bunk area

When the two had been formally introduced, Chelsea begged Katrina to let her do her hair. Now it had become a daily routine for her to put different types of braids in Katrina's long hair.

When Katrina returned, she gave Chelsea two hair bands and hairbrush, then sat on the floor in front of her. She immediately got to work, first brushing out her hair and then doing two French braids. By the time Chelsea finished, Tony, Jaime and the tour manager had all woken up as well.

This was how mornings usually were, but everyday at Warped was different and today would be no exception.

KATRINA'S POV

Just as Chelsea tied off my two braids with hair bands, I heard a small shriek. If you guessed that it was Cara, you're totally correct. Was the cause an axe murderer? Nope. It was a fucking spider. I rolled my eyes yet again at her, then plucked it up and placed it in my palm. At least three people stopped what they were doing to stare at me letting the spider crawl on my hand.

"Damn, Cara. You're right. This fucker is scary as hell" I kept my tone serious, but could have just as easily laughed my ass off

Her mouth literally fell to the ground and her eyes were wide with shock. It was fun and all to see how she would react, but I got bored. Smirking, I stood up and walked over to the door, lightly tossing the spider outside. By now, mostly everybody had gone back to whatever they were doing before, so I was able to go to the bunk area and get dressed without seven pairs of eyes on me.

Once I was alone, I tugged on a pair of faded and ripped denim shorts to go with a dark blue long sleeve shirt, scuffed black combat boots and a black Neff beanie. Per usual, I completely skipped makeup and any other kind of primping. It just wasn't worth it anymore, and I had no one to impress. And for no particular reason other than habit, I slipped my tiny blade in one of my boots. I just felt safer with some kind of defense other than my fists. It has come in handy, so you can shut up before making any jokes. Slipping my all-access pass around my neck and pulling one braid over each shoulder, I started to walk out the bus.

"Wait!" Cara called

She was still fiddling with the straps of her gold sandals, no doubt expecting to spend the entire day with me.

"Actually..." I started "I was hoping to go out by myself"

"What? You're only-"

"Sixteen"

She was silent for a moment, and I took that as my cue to leave. Snatching an unopened bottle of Evian from the counter, I walked right out the door and into the crowds of Warped Tour.

-----

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just wanted to spend some time over Christmas with my family. O went to Kentucky (I'm from Milwaukee) to visit my grandparents, who've both had surgeries recently. Me and my brother had to help them a lot of odd jobs and cooking, so I didn't have much time to write. I hope you guys understand and have a good New Years.

Much love,
Rachel

(Also, I'm almost always on my tumblr, if you want to follow/get a hold of me, check it out. Feel free to send me messages on there, I love replying! basementxsoul.tumblr.com)

The New National Anthem (Vic Fuentes fanfic)Where stories live. Discover now