“You guys did great!” Brian said, high-fiving all of the guys as we made our way off the stage. “Nice job picking up on that riff, Blake.”

Blake smiled. “Thanks, I thought I almost lost it for a moment there.”

“Nah, you were fine. Chelsea!” Brian exclaimed as he saw me walking toward him and the rest of the guys. He ran over and hugged me tightly, picking me up and spinning me around even though he was almost as tall as I was.

“What? What?” I shrieked back in the same tone, almost choking on my words as he squeezed me. He put me back down on the ground and I exhaled.

“Sorry,” He laughed. “Don’t know my own strength.”

“It’s cool,” I smiled. “So? How did I do? How did we sound?” I asked, weary of his answer, even though I knew he wasn’t going to be putting us down any time soon.

“You guys were amazing, especially for your first show!” He said, still in excitement. “Man I wish I was that good when I was in a band.”

The guys and I shared the same expression. “Wait, you were in a band?” Cody asked. “When?”

Brian laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. “In high school, but it was nothing special. We only played in my mom’s garage a few times and once at a skate park, no big deal. We didn’t even really sound that good to be honest.”

Will laughed. “What did you play?”

Brian turned red for a moment. “Well I auditioned to be the singer but they didn’t think I was good enough so they stuck me on the rhythm guitar.”

The guys laughed but I was in disbelief. “So you sing?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Like I said, I wasn’t all that, but I've always wanted to. I just never really tried too hard to become a singer. Besides, I think I rock a guitar pretty hard.”

We all laughed then. “So are you still feeling bad?” Will asked me.

I lied and shook my head. My head was spinning a little, but I felt okay enough to where I could still hang out and walk around with the guys. “I'm good,”

The rest of the guys shrugged it off and finished loading up the equipment, but Blake was the one who looked at me as if he knew something was wrong, he just wasn’t sure of what.

“I'm okay,” I smiled at him, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

He only gave me a half-hearted smile and put up his guitars. Even though he stopped asking me about it, I knew in his mind he wasn’t going to let it go. I was just glad he didn’t continue to question me or the guys about it.

After we finished putting our stuff away, we went straight for stage 7, following the map to find our way so we could see the band Paramore. I was kind of sad when I didn’t see them after our show. I couldn’t tell if they were there during, but I at least expected them to be there waiting to greet us afterwards. That’s what the guys and I were going to do, watch them play, then go and meet them officially after their show.

“So?” Brian asked, coming up to walk beside me, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “It wasn’t as bad as it seems, now is it?” He said, shaking me back and forth gently.

I laughed and faked a sigh, rolling my eyes. “No, I guess not, but it was still scary as hell to have all of those people watching me.”

Cody snorted. “You really think they were watching you? Please, all eyes were on me, baby!” He said, kissing his right bicep.

I rolled my eyes. “Now look who’s being the conceited one.”

“For the love of God Cody, please do not turn into Kyle. We don’t need another one of those.” Blake said playfully. We all laughed as Kyle glared at us.

“I'm not conceited. Fuck, how many times do I have to tell you all that?” He said, getting aggravated.

I threw my arm around his waist since I was too short to reach his shoulders and continued to walk with Brian still wrapped around me. “Aw, poor Kyle, everyone’s being so mean to him.” I mocked, talking to him like he was a baby.

He just rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. Brian laughed and dropped his arm as did I on Kyle. “Alright guys, I think I see stage 7 up ahead.” He said, pointing it out from looking off the map after taking it from me.

“Cool, let's go!” Cody said, running off from the rest of us up to where we were heading.

I looked over at Will as we shared the same expression. I knew by the look he returned to me, he had agreed. We both shot off at the same time towards the stage and ran after Cody. I knew Will would win, there was no competition, especially with those long legs he had compared to my short little ones. We finally reached Cody after our short race, and soon the rest of the guys reached us. Will and I laughed, barely able to breathe.

It didn’t help me with how I was feeling, and the heat of the sun beating down on us was no picnic either. Maybe running and having a race wasn’t such a good idea. I know I had to sit down soon, but I really didn’t want the guys noticing that I was in pain. I wanted them to think that I didn’t need special attention and that I was able to do this tour. I was breathing harder than Will, doubling over and resting my hands on my knees from the sharp pains in my stomach, but I tried to keep up the act that I was only trying to catch my breath. I stood up straight and looked around at the guys. All eyes were on me. I cracked a fake smile and patted Will’s shoulder. “You beat me this time, William.”

He gave me a quick glare for calling him that but then flashed a smile, forgetting about how I looked for a second. “Knew I would.”

“You okay, Chelsea?” Blake asked, standing in front of me, holding onto my shoulders. His eyes held so much seriousness and concern I just couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.

“Yeah, I'm fine. I just got my ass kicked though.” I said, throwing a smile at Will.

Will stole me away from Blake, without noticing the look Blake was giving me and picked me up in a hug. “And I'll kick your ass any day, metaphorically speaking, anyway.”

I laughed and patted his back. “You’re on…Wilfred.”I mumbled that last part into his chest. He instantly left go and dropped me to my feet, scowling. “How many damn times do I have to tell you…” He said through clenched teeth. I laughed and mumbled an apology.

“Aw, how sweet, you’ve had your moment, now can we please get going? I don’t want to miss the damn show!” Cody pleaded to us all. I swear he was one of the most impatient people I have ever met.

“Yes, we’re going now. The stage is just right there.” Kyle said, sounding annoyed. “Hey Will, what time is it?”

Will looked at his wristwatch. “It’s almost time. They should be starting their show soon.”

Blake nodded. “Hey guys, do you want to go up there and see if they need any help setting up?” Leave it to Blake for wanting to be the nice one and help out someone that he doesn’t even know. He and I both shared that kindness, but unlike me, he didn’t let people walk all over him and take advantage of it.

I shrugged and smiled. “Why not? You guys want to help?” I asked the others. They all nodded and agreed. I smiled and grabbed Will and Cody by the arms and drug them along with me, trying to keep up the charade that I was okay. “Let’s go!”

They both laughed as I ran towards the front of the stage they should be playing on with them both at my side. I could see the red headed girl named Hayley on stage, messing with the center microphone stand. We all got the side of the stage. There wasn’t many people yet, just a handful that waited for the show to begin.

Blake started waving his hand and shouted at a guy up on stage as he passed by, plugging a guitar into an amp. The guy looked over, seeing us all and waved back, smiling. He walked up the edge to come and talk to us. He was somewhat cute, with brown hair, brown eyes and a lip piercing. I didn’t remember what Hayley said his name was last night, but I knew he was one of the guitar players.

“Hey, you guys are here!” He said as he got closer to us.

“Yeah, we just finished our set and decided to come and check you guys out. We thought maybe you needed a hand setting up.” Blake called up to him.

He smiled. “Yeah, thanks. We could definitely use some help. Come on up!” He waved us up the stage.

All six of us walked up the back steps and on to the platform. The guy we were talking to came and greeted us, taking each of our hands and shaking them. “Hi, I'm Josh.” He stated, smiling at each one of us. I tried to remember his last name when we all shook his hand and smiled back, stating each of our names as he got to us.

“I'm Chelsea Daniels. It’s nice to meet you.” I said as he got to me while I stood last in line.

“Nice to meet you, too. So, you guys are Vanity Release, huh?” Josh said, looking at us all.

Blake nodded. “Yeah, we are. Did you guys catch the show?” He asked.

Josh nodded. “Yeah, but we had to leave a little early so we could come set up for our show. Sorry about that. You guys are good, by the way.”

I smiled. “Thanks, so are you.”

“Oh, so you saw us play last night?” He asked as another boy, who looked a lot like him came up from behind the drums to greet us.

Will nodded. “Yeah, it was great. So how are you guys liking the tour so far?”

“Oh, we’re having a blast. Yeah it’s awesome, free tans and lots of great music.” The other guy said, laughing. “I'm Zac, Josh’s brother.” He greeted us with a wave.

“Oh yeah, you’re the drummer aren’t you?” Cody asked him. Zac nodded. “It’s nice to meet you. I also destroy the drums.”

Zac laughed. “Nice,” He said, shaking his hand. “How old are you?” He asked Cody.

“I'm 21. Aren’t you only fifteen?” Zac nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiled. “Damn, you’re a young one, aren’t you?”

They both laughed and carried on with their conversation. I ignored them and looked around for Hayley, hoping that maybe I could talk to her, even become friends with her, which is if I end up liking her. She seemed nice enough, though.

Just when I spotted her, about to walk over there, Josh stood in my way and started speaking to me. “So, Chelsea, right?” He asked. I nodded. “How long have you all been in a band?”

I smiled politely. “Well we’ve been friends for about two years now. I met them through a good friend who also worked in music, and we decided to put a band together.”

He smiled. “Cool. We were all really good friends and went to high school together.”

Blake nodded. “I went to school with the guys but we met Chelsea later on after we all graduated.”

Suddenly Hayley and the rest of their band came up to us to say hello, each one of them greeting us. They all said hello, shaking our hands and told us their names.

“Hi, I'm Hayley.” She said shaking my hand once she got to me.

“Hey, I'm Chelsea. Are you guys having fun here on warped tour just as much as we are?” I asked smiling, trying to make good conversation.

She smiled. “Oh definitely. We saw some good shows and met some of the new bands here on tour. They all seem to be really cool.”

I smiled back. “Oh yeah, we went to go see Underoath yesterday. Did you guys catch that show?”

The person who introduced himself as Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, Josh and I did. We’re the only ones who really listen to them, but that’s just because we’ve got good taste.” He said, joking around. Hayley playfully pushed him.

“So do you guys need any help setting up your equipment?” Blake asked.

Josh looked behind them at all of their stuff, still cluttered around the stage and then back at us. “Yeah, that would be great actually. We don’t really know what we’re doing yet.” He laughed.

“Okay, cool. Will and I can help you set up your guitar. Kyle, you can help Jeremy, Cody, go ahead and help Zack out.” Blake directed everybody. Cody saluted him before they all walked off to their areas to help them set up. Blake looked over at Hayley. “Do you need any help?”

She shook her head. “Nah, I was just about to do warm ups.” She looked at me then. “I love the sound of your voice. You did really great today.” She smiled at me, walking over to her microphone stand.

I smiled back. “Thanks, so did you last night.”

She spun to face me after fixing the chord on the mic. “Oh, you saw our performance last night?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Josh and the rest of us were just talking about it. Were you…nervous at all?” I asked, twiddling my fingers.

She looked at me, clearly confused. “About what?”

I lowered my head and looked away. I was afraid to admit that I was afraid to be on stage and to sing in front of people. I didn’t want to show that I was weak and was too much of a coward to sing with an audience. Sure, I was used to having the guys hear me sing for them all of the time, but it was different when there was more than six people watching…judging me on how I looked or sounded.

I hated to admit it, but I would absolutely hate it if a girl who was only sixteen could do this and I couldn’t, if she were able to get up on stage in front of more than twenty people and sing, without having to worry about passing out or even thinking she would sound bad. I always let my fears get the best of me and stop me from achieving my goals.

In fact, just thinking about all of this was making my head swirl. I started to feel the dizziness take over my body and my eyes became blurry. My medication didn’t seem to help me as I still felt the sharp pains in my stomach. Suddenly I couldn’t see anything in front of me and every word that was now being shouted sounded as if I was under water. Something hard hit my entire backside and I seemed to slip under unconsciousness.

*Blake’s P.O.V
I hooked up one of Josh’s guitars into its rig and handed it to him so he could tune it to its proper sound. Will was checking out all of the guitars on the rack, and Kyle was by Jeremy talking about something that I couldn’t really hear. Cody was messing around with Zac’s drum set, not even setting it up, just playing heavily but apparently, Zac was okay with it, laughing away at his craziness.

I looked behind me, checking up on Chelsea to see if she was doing okay. She was standing there, talking to Hayley. I knew there was something going on with her. She didn’t seem fine, even after telling me she was. I didn’t buy it but I left it alone, not wanting to upset her if I brought it up again. I was always on her case about taking her medications on time or for her to tell us if she was feeling bad She always seemed to try and hide it, though.

I know she thought of herself as a burden to us, always having to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s okay, but truth is I don’t know what I would do without her. She was one of my best friends, and I couldn’t stand to see anything bad happen to her. I hated to see that she was letting her disease control her life, always limiting her on what she was able to do and not do. She couldn’t even go walking around with the rest of us, or was even able to stand up for more than two minutes straight without having to take her medication so she could continue to do those kinds of things without passing out. It must have been hard for her, especially being out on tour.

Suddenly someone from behind me screamed, one of the girls, cutting me from my thoughts. I quickly spun around, seeing Chelsea lying on the ground lifelessly. I ran over to her as fast as I could and bent down in front of her. Brian had joined me and was already at my side.

“What happened?” He shouted up at Hayley.

She started to panic, throwing her arms up as if she didn’t know what to do, just like the rest of us. “I don’t know. We were talking one minute, and the next…she passed out!” Zack got to her side and made her move to get the rest of us some space around Chelsea.

“What do we do?” Will asked Brian, standing beside the others.

He shrugged as if he were unsure. “Someone call an ambulance. She may have had a heat stroke or something.” Kyle took out his cell phone and quickly dialed 911.

I knew something like this was going to happen. I should have kept asking her about it. Maybe she would’ve finally told me she was feeling bad and I would have been able to get her some help or even medical attention on time before anything like this happened. I shook my head. “No, it’s not heat stroke. I saw that look in her eyes. She wasn’t feeling good since the beginning of our show. It’s her medical condition. I should have said something. It’s all of my fault.” I said looking away from everyone’s staring.

“It is not your fault, Blake. You couldn’t help that she has medical issues. There’s nothing you could have done.” Brian said, trying to comfort me.

“Yes it is!” I almost shouted at him. “I knew she wasn’t feeling good and yet I kept my fucking mouth shut and let her continue to be in pain.”

“Calm down, Blake. We can't have two people passing out on us. Now, someone help me pick her up. We need to get her off the stage so no one will see her and that the band can play their show.” Brian said, grabbing her upper torso with Will while Kyle and I grabbed her feet. It felt weir d to be carrying her off like this but there was nothing else we could do.

“Is she going to be okay?” I heard Hayley ask as she followed after us down the stairs.

Brain shook his head. “I don’t know. Can we put her in your trailer, just for now at least until the ambulance gets here?” He asked her.

She nodded and opened the door. We all set her on Will’s lap as he sat on a crate that was in there.

I kneeled down and stuck to her side the entire time we were in there, not even letting go of her hand as I held on tightly as if I could lose her at any minute. Even though I wanted to stay with her the whole time, Brian was the one who rode with her to the hospital. He lied and said he was her older brother so they would let him in while the guys and I called a cab to the St. Marks hospital that was here in Tampa.

We were only supposed to be here for two days and now we may have to stay longer if Chelsea doesn’t pull through by the end of the night. I really hoped that she was okay. I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.

Notes