Welcome to the Family

The next few weeks proved to be very uneventful. The guys went to the studio in the afternoons and spent a lot of time in the gym downstairs in the mornings. Larry had advised Matt and me to stay out of the public as he didn’t want M Shadows’ fans to be disappointed at the fact that he wasn’t single anymore.
Especially when in fact, he was, and only had been for such a short time. Larry also achieved that the trial would be held excluding the public, so Matt and I wouldn’t have to announce our “relationship” anyway.

The weather finally improved and an abnormally warm spring came.
One day, Brian came up to me and told me they would shoot a video for their first single since the Rev had died, Nightmare.

Finally, in mid-April, the day of the shooting had arrived. I could tell how nervous the guys were. Brian, who I’d thought wouldn’t have any problems with being in the lime light at all, proved to be the most excited of the four guys. He barely touched his breakfast and scoffed at everyone for trying to loosen up the situation with hoaxes.

“So, Brian, why don’t you tell me what the video is about?” I asked him, trying not to sound bored as Zacky had already explained everything to me. “So we are going to shoot in a sanatorium and Matt here is the one they strap to a stretcher and he sees a couple of crazy shit like me pounding my sexy forehead against a glass door until it bleeds or two little girls playing ball in a puddle of blood.

"What he sees gets crazier and spookier toward the end of the video and the very last thing he sees is Jimmy’s drum set,” Brian explained, and his voice steadied itself with every sentence. I took a mental note to thank my psychology teachers once again for this awesome way of ridding someone of the jitters.

Like every morning, Matt was the last one of the guys to join us for breakfast, and I was done already. That was why we never talked much in the mornings. I quickly got up from his seat and started preparing their lunch while Matt started hungrily devouring his breakfast. “We’ll be back late tonight I guess,” Matt smacked while chewing. “Matt, please only talk when your mouth’s not full of food, okay?” I asked and from the guys' looks, I immediately regretted it.

Zacky made some parroting sounds while Brian snorted with laughter. “Come on, honeybee, listen to your giiiiirlfriend,” Zacky laughed and Brian proceeded to make kissing sounds. Matt tried to sternly stare into his plate, but the corners of his mouth disclosed that he was about to laugh, too.

Right after the guys left, I called Michelle to ask her if she wanted to spend the day shopping. Luckily, she said yes and we agreed to meet in front of Huntington Beach’s biggest mall an hour later. That gave me plenty of time to shower and get changed.


The first thing I told Michelle about was Brian's funny behavior from earlier. “Awww, my little Bri’s got the jitters,” Michelle laughed when we pulled up in the mall's parking lot and I joined her. Once again I started wondering how Val’s twin sister could be so nice when she herself was such a bitch.

“Do you yourself have a boyfriend?” Michelle suddenly asked out of the blue. Well, what was I going to respond? I mean, technically, I was somehow dating Matt for the public as in the people from the trial, but not for the public as in Avenged Sevenfold fans or any other civilians. God, this was so complicated.

“Vicky?” Michelle sounded concerned now. “What? Sorry I was just…,” I started, but Michelle interrupted me. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to. Besides, it’s not a problem for me if you’re single. You’re confusing me with my sister,” she reassured me.
“Listen, actually I do want to tell you, just… Don’t freak out okay?” I heard myself say, and she looked a little confused but interested now.

“Look you probably know about Matt and Val getting divorced, don’t you? Well, when he told her she said she knew it was about me and threatened to kill me. So he shoved her aside and she decided to press charges for domestic violence. So when the policemen came I don’t know why but… Matt told them I was his girlfriend. And his lawyer said if he was protecting his girlfriend and not just his employee he’s more likely to win acquittal…” Michelle started laughing hysterically.

What was up with her? Why was she laughing like a moron here? Was she going to want to kill me, too? I raised my eyebrow questioningly. “Sorry, it’s just ridiculous what my sister did,” Michelle grinned, “I don’t know about you but I do think you two would make such a cute couple. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up together anyway.” Wait what? The two of us together? For real?

“Yeah sure,” I tried to chuckle, “that’s about as unlikely as snow in hell…” No matter how hard I tried, of course it got me thinking. What if she knew him better than I thought? Only time would tell.

When I was about to drive home again after our long shopping tour, my phone rang. “Zacky V” the display said. I quickly showed it to Michelle and put Zacky on speaker. “Hey Vicca, it’s me, Zacky,” he said. “Zacky, what’s up?” “Uhm, can you come? We need a nurse. Our actress isn’t coming and we can’t wait much longer…”

Wait, so he wanted me to play in a music video? Hell yeah, I thought. “Send me the directions, I’m coming,” I stated with a steady voice, feeling tiny waves of anticipation in my body. “Thanks a million, you’re the best!” he replied and hung up.

“You coming, too?” I asked Michelle, but she said she already had plans for the evening. “Alright, thank you for today, I really enjoyed it.” She smirked and then hugged me. “See you soon,” she smiled and then drove away in her Volkswagen Beetle.

As my van neared its destination, I felt my anticipation grow. I didn’t know what expected me. When I pulled up next to a bus on the parking lot of Linda Vista Community Hospital, the first thing I saw were two children in white dresses, all covered in blood. They were really giving me the creeps.

I shuttered and then got out of the car. I was so amazed by how many fans were there just to catch a single glimpse at their favorite musicians that I didn’t notice someone approaching me. “Miss?” a voice said behind me.

I quickly turned around and came face to face with a really tall, really fat black woman around my mother’s age. “Damn, look who we got here, if that ain’t the fan. Better late than never I’d say,” she mockingly slurred in a heavy slang. I wasn’t sure what she meant. Why would I be a fan? Many curious fans got closer and closer, trying to overhear our conversation.

“S-sorry, I’m Vicca. The guys’ d-dietician?” I stuttered, whispering. “Vicca!” a familiar voice behind me shouted. I whirled around. “Matt!” He was wearing a long hospital gown with no shoes. I bit my lip to prevent me from bursting out laughing since he had a thick layer of make-up all over his face. The group of fans tried to get closer but was eventually asked to leave by three big security guys.

“Helen, that’s Vicca. She’s replacing the fan that was supposed to be the nurse. I want her to wear a wig, okay?” He commanded. “Sure, Mr. Sanders. That we can do,” she replied, pulling me behind her. Matt followed us closely. Helen gestured me to sit down and pulled my hair in a neat ponytail before adjusting a wig with brown, short hair and starting to apply concealer to my face.

“Thanks Vicca, you’re really saving us. You know, we had this contest where fans would draw us and the reward was playing in this music video, but she just didn’t come. Anyway, that will be one of the last scenes, so once we’re done we wanna head to a club. Wanna join us?” I didn’t have to think twice about his proposal. “Sure!”

When we entered the “Sanatorium” about half an hour later, a scene was about to be shot. Zacky, whose hair was dyed red, was the only one in a “hospital” room. He was holding a fake skeleton in his arms and grinned as he saw us approach. “Damn Vicca, why didn’t you tell us you were a stripper, too?”

I knew he was referring to my rather sexy nurse outfit. I blushed and stared down at the ground, but he seemed not to mind or not to care. “You know, Shads, you’re one lucky motherfucker,” he added, causing Matt to bite his lip and roll his eyes. “Alright, sorry it took me so long,” an athletic figure made his way toward the camera. “Hey, you must be Vicca. Thanks for stepping in. I’m James, the camera guy,” he politely introduced himself.

A second later, another man approached us. “The nurse?” he asked Matt. When he nodded, the other man scoffed, “about damn time.” Matt explained silently while he walked off to the camera, “that’s Wayne Isham, he’s worked for numerous famous bands including Metallica and Bon Jovi before.”

“Well,” I replied silently, “that doesn’t really give him permission to act like a douche.” “You’re right,” he responded. “Okay, Zachary, ready or not, start dancing with the damn skeleton,” Mr. Isham ordered loudly, picking up the camera and Zack positioned the skeleton between his arms.

“Four, three, two,…” Instead of saying “one”, he just moved his hand in the direction of Zack. He started dancing and Mr. Isham proceeded to move around with the camera, filming him from every possible angle. After about twenty minutes he explained that he was done and sent Zacky back to the bus. “You nervous?” Matt grinned and I seriously thought about hitting him before I focused all my attention on Wayne Isham.

Notes

Yay, everything's going great and she will even be starring in their music video! But how long are things going to stay that way?