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Austin
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"Well, we'll just have to make do." Phil sighed after getting off the phone with Rise Records. "Just...Make it seem like we meant to do it."
Austin sighed heavily through his nose and rolled his eyes.
"Fine." He glanced over at his daughter who was lying on her back in her bunk, her feet swinging and the only thing visible from the bunk. "How are the reviews so far?"
"They like it." Aaron laughed, scrolling through the YouTube comments. "Awe! They said I had a lovely singing voice."
Austin smirked and rolled his eyes again. He heard a soft sigh from in front of him and he glanced up to see Alex and Rian standing there.
"Heyyo!" Rian smiled, winking at Austin. Alex waved and plopped down next to Alan and winked at Alex from across from him.
"So, we listened to your new song..." Alex said happily. "And we love it!"
"I'm glad." Tino grinned. Mark looked up from over his laptop and sighed.
"Well, Rise 'released' it on their YouTube channel." Austin nodded and crossed his arms over his chest.
"How could it have gotten out?"
They all shrugged including Austin. They didn't know. He heard a grunt and looked up to see Sienna jumping from her bunk.
"Hey, Austin, can I talk to you real quick?" She asked, timidly. Austin nodded and stood up to walk to the bunks, leaving his spot on the couch to be wrestled for by Alex and Rian.
"What's up?" He asked gently. She gave him a small smile and crawled into his bunk vertically so her feet were sticking out. Austin smirked and then followed her actions. "What's up?" He asked again.
She gave a heavy sigh. She looked like she was pained, or deep in thought. He wondered what she could be thinking about that would cause her all of this worry. Finally she turned her head and looked at him.
"...I need some help with writing this essay." She admitted. "And it's a sucky essay about a pet...or something. Something that means a lot to me." Austin smiled.
"I can help you with that."
"But I've never had a pet." She sighed.
"You've never had a pet?!" Austin exclaimed, staring down at his daughter. "Are you serious?"
"We didn't have time for a pet." Sienna replied, giving him a glare. "And we didn't have the money,"
"When's this essay due?" He asked, remembering something that could be vital for her essay.
"In four weeks." She sighed. Austin grinned.
"I have an idea." He said happily. "And I already know they're gonna say yes."
ÿ=‹3ÿ=‹3ÿ=‹3ÿ=‹3ÿ=‹3ÿ=‹3
"Make sure to feed it every day." Tony said, hanging Austin grapes and lettuce. "And you only have to clean it's tank, like, once every two weeks."
"It eats grapes and lettuce?" Austin asked, his eyebrows raised. Tony laughed.
"Yeah. Look." He opened the top of the small tank and slowly put a grape in front of the small painted turtle. Tony The Tour Turtle lifted his head and slowly but surely took the grape in its beak like mouth and brought his head back into his shell, munching happily. Tony squealed happily and cooed at the turtle.
"Gawd," he grinned, "I love our fans."
Austin chuckled and pressed his nose against the turtle's habitat. "It's perfect. Thanks, Tone."
Tony smiled and waved Austin off.
"Have fun with him!"
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Sienna
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common pets to have. Dog. Cat. Fish. Plant
"Plant?" She murmured to herself. "What the actual fuck?" She kept scrolling through the results wondering which animal she could bullshit about.
I used to have a cat named Snowflake. She got hit by a car when I was ten
She shook her head at the made up story and kept searching. She was sitting on the steps of the bus, her leg jiggling. Alan had told her to leave the door open while he went out to take a dump because sometimes he was forgetful of the bus PIN and one time he accidentally broke into someone else's bus. Pleasant.
Sienna didn't mind though, as she kept searching for fake animal stories.
"Sienna?" Asked Austin's voice seeming closer than he really was. She looked up in curiosity at the tank in Austin's hands.
"What's that?" She questioned, putting her phone in her pocket.
"It's your temporary pet." Austin said cheerily. "His name is Tony The Tour Turtle, or T-Cubed."
"...temporary pet?" She laughed, rolling her eyes. Austin nodded energetically.
"Feed him every day and clean his tank once every two weeks." Austin said, holding up a bag of grapes. Sienna smiled.
"So, this is my project?"
"Hey, we can write the essay while looking out for the little guy." He then furrowed his brow. "What are you doing out here?" He laughed.
"Ah, Alan told me to hold the door for him." She said, standing and stretching her long legs. "Said something about not remembering the PIN code."
"Well, he's gotta learn somehow." Austin chuckled, pushing Sienna lightly onto the bus, shutting the door behind him. Sienna's eyes widened but didn't question Austin's actions. Austin set the turtle on the table and Sienna leaned down to peer into the tank.
T-Cubed was still slowly munching on a grape that was given to him. Sienna took her phone and snapped a picture of the turtle and then grabbed her notebook and pen.
"Ugh, I hate this." She muttered, tapping the pen against the paper.
"Hey!" Austin poked at her head. "You're a leftie too?"
"Yeah." Sienna laughed, setting the pen down. "But my hand writing sucks."
"Yeah, mines chicken scratch." Austin snickered and rested his head in his hands which reminded her of a young child. "What do you hate?"
"This essay." She sighed, rolling her eyes, picking the pen back up. "It's dumb."
"Well, start on day one." Austin grinned leaning closer. "The sun was shining, the air was smooth aside from the occasional cigarettes." Austin rambled on as Sienna's eyes grew wide. She scribbled down some notes as he spoke. "Tony had received a little reptile from a fan of PTV and instantly became the tour's pet. Everyone's pet. Including mine." Austin glanced down at her notes and smiled. "See? It's not that hard."
Sienna was about to say something, but a loud rapping on the door made her jump.
"Sienna!" Shouted Alan's voice, sounding betrayed. "You promised!"
"Take this as a lesson!" Austin shouted back as he looked back into the tank. Sienna snickered as she heard Alan's failed attempts at the pass code.
"AAAUUUSSSTTTIIIINNN!" Alan wailed. Sienna closed her eyes and covered her face.
"8-3-6-7-1-2!" She shouted, shrinking back from Austin's false gasp of hurt. Alan gave a girly squeal and opened the bus.
"Hey, Austin!" Alan chirped. "You SUCK!" Sienna screamed as Alan swooped down and kissed her on her cheek. "Olive you, Si-en-ah!" He told her seriously before marching to the back lounge.
Sienna looked up at Austin who was giggling so hard, he was wiping tears away.
"He's so fucking...I can't...he's just-" he broke off giggling again, making Sienna shake her head.
"I swear." She mumbled. "Austlan Cashby is real."
"WHO SAID IT WASN'T?" Screamed Alan's voice making Sienna laugh and Austin blush.
"I can't help it." Austin told her seriously. "He's my ginger princess."
"Awe, you don't mean that!" Alan giggled and walked back into the room. He grabbed some chips and looked into the tank. "AWE! A little turtle!"
"That's Sienna's project," Austin said, making Sienna glance up at him. She was currently doodling on a paper. She also wrote down some lyrics that were on her mind. Austin cleared his throat.
"Hey, Si, that song," he said, tapping the paper. "How do you know it?"
Sienna glanced down at the writing. 'Here in this world in awakes with mistakes, but it's love that keeps fueling me'. She shrugged.
"I was gonna ask you the same question." She looked up at him. "When Alan played it, I was surprised he knew it."
"How do you know it?" Austin repeated. Sienna sighed.
"Mom said it was my lullaby. She'd sing it every night to me to make me go to sleep." She squinted slightly at her father. "How do you know it?"
Austin looked confused and he shook his head.
"Uh, Shayley wrote it."