For the fifteenth time that night, a deep voice boomed through the TV speakers.

“Fatality. Flawless victory.”

I looked to Ashley with a sly grin and I waved him off, hearing a satisfying groan in disappointment, as he got up and shoved Andy in my direction.

“It’s your turn, bro, I can’t beat her,” he said. He incoherently grumbled some more as he grabbed the Jack Daniels out of the freezer and poured himself a glass. Ashley sat at the table in the kitchen and glared at me, his drink gone within two seconds.

“So, Miss-I-Can-Beat-Anyone, it’s my turn,” Andy said, his smirk evident in his voice, as he picked Batman for the fourth time that night.

“So, Mr.-Hugs-A-Lot, you met your youngest fan today. How did that feel? Oh, and by the way, I’m going to beat you. Again.” I selected Sub-Zero as my character and we appeared in the fighting ring, surrounded with fire and rocks. As I kicked and punched, Andy was fighting just as hard, almost breaking the controller with how hard he was pressing the buttons. Suddenly, Sub-Zero had Batman pinned against a building, and the deep voice said “Test your might.” I instantly pressed all four lettered buttons as Sub-Zero pushed Batman through about ten walls.

“Shit, kid, you won’t let anyone win, will you?” Jake asked from the couch. I grinned and kept fighting, as I beat Andy for the fourth time. I tossed the controller on the ground and laid backward, stretching out my tired spine.

"God dammit it Des, I can’t keep doing this,” Andy said, launching the game controller onto the couch next to Jake. The guitarist threw it back, defeated, and joined Ashley for a round of Jack.

A cloud of steam hit my face as Acid emerged from the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. I picked up Player 2’s controller and tossed it at Aid, who caught it and smiled deviously

“I beat you every time, Blade, why do you keep trying?” The bus jolted forward and Acid fell on her butt, conveniently right next to me. Andy slowly pulled me into his lap as Acid and I selected our characters and began fighting. Of course, I let it happen, and Acid kicked my ass, the towel staying perfectly in place in the center of her head. She stuck her tongue out and pile-drove me into the ground, killing my character.

“Fuck,” I said, throwing the controller onto the carpet. I saw Ashley’s head whip up from the table when my controller hit the ground, and his eyes widened.

“The champion has been defeated,” he said quietly. The five band members started to cheer and I rolled my eyes as Andy tried to kiss my cheek. I dodged his lips and got up, playfully stomping to my bunk. I heard satisfying footsteps after me and I closed the curtain quickly before I could see who had followed me. I rolled over, my back facing the curtain, and I tried to contain my laughter.

“Des, come on, don’t be like this,” I heard Andy say, his deep voice echoing slightly in the bunk. He swiped the curtain back and caressed my shoulder, trying to coax me into turning over.

“You guys made fun of me,” I said in my best pouting voice. “I feel bad now.”

“Des…”

I turned over with an evil grin on my face and I watched as Andy’s eyes went from sad, to almost angry.

“Gotchya.”

“Yeah, well, you know what, you pissed me off, for the last time tonight.” His baby blue eyes turned cold and he marched to his bunk, climbed up, and aggressively closed the curtain. I slowly climbed down, thinking I had done something wrong, and I shuffled to Andy’s bunk, cautiously opening the curtain.

“What.” He looked to me with a fierce expression, almost causing me to shrink away and never speak to him again. He immediately went straight back to scrolling, on what I assumed was Twitter, on his phone.

“I-I’m sorry,” I said, my voice small and shaky.

He looked up from his phone and gave me the same devious smile I gave him, and he whispered, “Gotchya.”

“You. Bastard. I hate you!” I screamed, taking his pillow and hitting him over the face with it. He looked at me in shock and grabbed the pillow back and hit me in the head.

Soon, the entire bus was in a huge pillow fight, fluff flying everywhere, and eventually, we all fell to the ground, exhausted, and defeated.

I collapsed onto the floor of the bus, panting, with my pillow still tightly clutched in my hand. Acid laid down next to me, her red hair finally drying. She smiled at me and waved her pillow in the air, signifying her surrender. I felt a pair of eyes on me from behind, and I turned my head, trying to control my breathing.

Sure enough, Andy’s blue eyes were all over my body, taking in every curve and detail. His eyes wandered back up to mine and he smiled, getting up and sitting next to me. He stared at my lips and licked his own, slightly, and he bit his lower lip, playing with the silver ring that was looped through it.

“Something tells me either you really want to kiss me or you think my lips are pretty,” I said, playfully shoving my pillow in his face.

“Not just your lips are pretty. You’re pretty, no, beautiful. And yes, I want to kiss you.” He leaned down and pecked his lips on mine, leaving a cool spot where the ring was.

“Where we heading now?” I asked, sitting up and throwing my pillow towards my bunk.

“LA baby!” I heard Ashley yell from the kitchen table.

“Ohmygod! We’re going to LA?! I need to call Amanda!” CC screamed, and he ran to his bunk, grabbed his phone, and locked himself in the bathroom.

“Amanda?” Acid asked, confused as to who she was.

“CC’s little cousin,” Andy explained. “Every chance he gets, when we go to LA, he wants to see her and make sure she’s doing okay. She suffers from MPD, but we love her, nonetheless. She’s so sweet, you guys will love her.”

“She sounds amazing,” I said, and I tried to imagine what she looked like. Blonde with brown eyes? Maybe, CC has brown eyes. Maybe brunette with green eyes? Nah, I couldn’t picture it. I would just have to wait and see at tomorrow’s concert.

---

“And then, maybe three or four years ago, at my house, CC was practicing twirling his drumsticks right? He was tossing them in the air, doing all sorts of fancy tricks with them and he tossed one up, and it came down and landed right on his eye. He had a black eye for almost a month.”

Acid and I burst into fits of laughter when Amanda told us this one. We had heard many stories about CC and the band from side stage as the guys played their show. Our merch shift was over early today, and we got to see the rest of the show from stage left.

Amanda was a lot different than I had expected. She had red hair, not artificial red like Acid’s, real ginger red hair. She had loads of freckles, lining her cheeks, nose, forehead, and even some on her arms and hands. She also had crystal blue eyes, just like me and Andy.

Black Veil Brides finished their set with Perfect Weapon, one of my personal favorite songs. They exited the stage, hot, sweaty, and smelly. CC ran towards his cousin, his arms open wide, and engulfed her into a bear hug.

“I haven’t seen you in so long Manda Panda!” His eyes were bright, and even though he was exhausted, the enthusiasm on his face was brilliant and he smiled as Amanda hugged him back, just as tight.

“Things have gotten worse, ‘C,” she said, and she continued to hug him.

“Is Amber still bothering you?”

“She’s taken over,” I heard her say. I looked to Andy, confused, and he pulled me aside.

“MPD. Multiple personality disorder. Her alter ego, Amber, makes her hurt herself. We’ve been trying to get her help and stuff but nothing seems to be working. It’s so sad, I feel horrible.” His facial expressions said everything he didn’t, and I looked to Amanda. She had stopped hugging CC and was hugging the rest of the guys, her face bright and happy as she got to, lastly, but definitely not least, Jinxx. I stepped away from Andy and pulled Amanda over, out of the way of the next band going on stage.

“Amanda, I wanted to show you these.” I pulled back my abundance of bracelets revealing all of my old scars and the new ones. She did the same, except hers were fresher than mine, and looked angrier than mine. I pushed my bracelets back down and hugged her, letting her collapse onto my shoulder.

“You’re not alone, Amanda. And Amber can’t control you. You’re beautiful, and smart, and extremely funny. You never have to go through this alone. You just gotta pick your head up and say “Hey, fuck you bitches. You don’t like me? Guess who doesn’t care?” Flip ‘em off, you should be good to go.” This got a laugh and some sniffles from Amanda, who had barely started to cry.

“You’re okay. No-one can hurt you. You’re an amazing person, and people should see you that way. Okay?” She nodded and I brought her back to CC who enveloped her in another hug.

“I love what this band does to people,” I told Ashley as I stood by the guys while Amanda and CC talked. Acid walked over and smiled, saying “She really is an amazing person. I wish I was this cool when I was 14.”

Ashley wrapped an arm around Acid and kissed her forehead, making her blush.

“What’s going on here?!” I asked, poking at Acid’s ribs.

“Shut up dickface.”

Notes

Here it is Pinjas! <3 Stay strong for me!

This is for you Amanda(: