Chapter 1

Andy's POV
“WHAT? WHAT?! AW COME ON I CAN’T BE DEAD!” CC was screaming at the TV. He and Jake were playing COD, the rest of us (Ashley, Jinxx & I) laughing at their antics which were priceless. “Hey guys I’m gonna go for a walk outside” I said, standing up, putting my phone in my pocket and grabbing my cigarettes and lighter and heading towards the door of the bus where we were hanging out in on a day off.

We were currently on the last week of a Kerrang! tour in the states. “Ok Andy!” the guys all called back, Jake cursing CC into next week for something. I just shook my head and walked out of the bus chuckling softly, shutting the door behind me.

I sighed as I walked along the sidewalk, pulling out a cigarette, lighting it and putting it between my teeth and taking a drag out of it. I sighed, exhaling the smoke and sitting at a bench.

Last night’s show was insane, probably will be tonight as well I thought, finishing my cigarette and disposing the butt.

I had been sitting there for a bit, reflecting on the fun me and the guys had this tour when my phone suddenly rang, startling me out of the reminiscing trance I’d slipped into.

Quickly pulling it out of my pocket I didn’t recognise the number, but I answered it anyway.

Me: hello?
Unknown: hello, is this Andrew Biersack, lead vocalist of Black Veil Brides?
Me: yes, but I prefer to be called Andy. Anyway who is this?
Unknown: oh my apologies, I’m Dr Steve Patel from the Three Wishes foundation
Me: three wishes foundation? What's that?
Dr Patel: it’s a foundation that helps looks after seriously ill children and teens, we help to keep them as healthy as we can with the various conditions they have and help them achieve their three greatest wishes
Me: ah that makes sense. But why are you calling me?
Dr Patel: well one of the teens that we’re currently looking after wants to meet her favourite band and if at all possible go on a tour with them
Me: and I take it we’re this kid’s favourite band?
Dr Patel: yes, just above five others. Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Sixx: AM, Blood On The Dance Floor, and ABBA if I remember correctly from one of her appointments with me
Me: so she’s a bit of a metalhead
Dr Patel: pretty much, she’s loved your music since the videos for two of your songs; Knives & Pens and Perfect Weapon I believe they were came out on YouTube in 2008
Me: oh wow a BVB veteran
Dr Patel: the other bands too, she connects to your music more than the others though, and then there's the fact that ABBA disbanded in the early 1980's
Me: awesome. So she wants to meet us, is that correct?
Dr Patel: yes and go on tour with you if at all possible
Me: well meeting her wouldn’t be a problem; we’re just on the tail end of a Kerrang! Tour so we’ll be back in Los Angeles next week. As for the tour I'm not entirely sure, I’ll have to talk to the rest of my band about that. Is there anything specific that we need to know about this girl?
Dr Patel: there is but there’s a lot about her you will need to know. Is there an email address I can send her profile to you? It has her information on there including her medical needs
Me: yeah it’s bvbarmynews@gmail.com
Dr Patel: *writes email down* thank you. For now I can give you a brief overview, Leia prefers to tell people about her condition herself for personal reasons
Me: is Leia this kid’s name?
Dr Patel: yes, her last name is Montez. Anyway she is almost 18, and is currently fighting cancer
Me: holy shit
Dr Patel: yeah she’s been battling this for several years. She has to get PET and CT scans periodically and has medication she has to take twice a day. The rest of her information is in the profile, if you guys want to talk to her, her number is xxx xxx-xxxx

I quickly write that on my hand with a sharpie I had in my pocket so I wouldn’t forget it.

Me: thanks doc, we’ll let you know our decision in about a week?
Dr Patel: that’s fine, just call this number back and my secretary will put you through to me
Me: ok I’ll go tell the guys
Dr Patel: ok, have a good day
Me: you too
*END OF CONVERSATION*

I exhaled as I sat my phone on my leg as I thought over the conversation that just took place.

“Well I guess I’d better tell the guys” I said to myself, getting up, putting my phone in my pocket.

I quickly stopped at a corner store to get a few drinks (for me and for all the guys) before making my way back to the bus to see that Ashley & Jinxx were now taking a turn at COD.

The sound of me shutting the door of the bus got their attention as they paused the game and their heads all swivelled around to me as I put the bag of drinks I’d gotten (various kinds of monsters and coke) on the table and I grabbed my laptop that had a Batman case on it (I love Batman) and sat at the table with it.

“Whatcha doin Andy?” I heard Ashley ask as he and the guys walked over to claim a drink.

“I’m checking to see if there is an email from this person I was on the phone to earlier” I replied, adding the number on my hand into my phone under ‘Leia Montez – cancer kid’.

“Dude whose number did you score?” asked CC, seeing the phone number I had written on my hand. “I’ll explain that shortly, once these however-many-hundred emails finish flooding in for now” I said, opening the email program on my laptop and seeing a bunch of emails coming in, fan art, fan inks, cover etc. then I found what I was looking for.

“Aha! Found ya” I exclaimed opening the email once I found it among all the fan emails and saving the attachment that came with it after reading through the email.

“‘Mr. Biersack, attached to this email is the aforementioned profile on Leia Montez. She also attends weekly support groups (which she hates with a passion) and has a small group of her own. She is also very much into video games as well as music and plays guitar, bass & keyboard as well as drums (drums only on those Guitar Hero games). Please contact us soon, Dr Patel.’ What is that all about?” CC asked, reading the email out loud over my shoulder after snagging a can of monster.

“Yeah Andy what's going on? Whose phone number is that?” said Jake, pointing to the number on my hand. I sipped my chosen drink (I grabbed a coke instead of monster) and said “Do any of you know about the Three Wishes foundation?” I asked, noticing their curious expressions.

They all shook their heads as though to say ‘no’. “Nope, what do they do?” Jake asked, sitting on the edge of the couch, his drink held loosely in his hand.

“They help look after seriously ill kids and teens and also help them get their three greatest wishes” I started to explain. “Oh, that makes sense. I’m guessing one of their patients made a wish to do with us?” said Ashley, I nodded, “Yeah one of the teens wanted to meet her favourite band which is us by a close margin over five others according to the doctor I spoke with and maybe go on a tour with us” I said, emphasising the word maybe.

“Who are the other 5?” CC asked curiously. “Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Sixx: AM, ABBA & Blood On The Dance Floor” I replied, drinking a few mouthfuls of coke and opening the attachment and choking on my mouthful of soda that I was swallowing as my eyes darted down to what her condition was, though I couldn’t understand all the medical terminology, I could tell she was in bad shape and had been for years.

“Andy!” Jinxx exclaimed, putting down his drink and clapping me on the back until my throat cleared.

I gasped for air as I put my drink on the table (with the lid on) and kept reading the profile. “You alright Andy?” Ashley asked me, a concerned expression on his face. I nodded, “Yeah” I croaked out, my expression saddening as I read through Leia’s health report.

“What's wrong?” asked Jake, also looking at me with a concerned face. I turned the laptop screen so the four of them could read the report.

“Read this and make sure you’re not drinking anything, though its bit tricky to understand, it’s all in medical talk but I understood enough to know she’s in bad shape” I said, texting the girl’s number to the guys so they had it if they wanted to talk to her.

Knowing Jinxx as the ‘mama’ figure of the group he most likely would, probably the other guys too. “Oh my god” said CC a few minutes later as the guys finished reading through the report. “Sad isn't it” I said, a small half-smile on my face. “She’s very sick” said Jake, looking like he was going to cry.

“She would definitely be needing support from her friends when she has to live with that” said CC, getting a bit choked up. “So what did the doctor guy say to you?” Ashley asked, giving CC a comforting hug.

I sighed “He said she wanted to meet her fave band and possibly go on tour with them. He also said she has to get PET and CT scans from time to time, has medication she has to take twice a day, another daily for the rest of her life and that she prefers to tell people of her condition for personal reasons”

“She?” “Yeah she... and her name is Leia Montez and she’s been sick for years” “Shit, that’s gotta suck” “Don't they only do PET and CT scans for really serious conditions?” Jake spoke up, a hint of alarm in his voice.

“Not sure” I said, deciding to Google it. I found an article that said what PET and CT scans were for, my jaw dropping further as I read on. “What is it Andy?” Jinxx asked.

“Well according to this website, a CT scan literally scans your entire body while you’re lying on this table as this rotating scanner thing, taking anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour or more and you have to stay extremely still. It’s mostly used for: assessment of a body part’s structure or shape, diagnosis of disease; particularly cancer, diagnosis of trauma or injury, diagnosis of vascular disease, aid to planning particular surgeries, aid to planning radiotherapy, visual aid to radiotherapy administration, visual aid to certain interventional procedures (going inside the body) such as biopsy or needle aspiration, measurement of bone strength and an alternative to some types of exploratory or diagnostic surgery” I read off the website.

“Yikes!” the guys all said at once, a hint of alarm in their voices.

“PET scans are pretty similar; they monitor a certain part of you, again for things like cancer, neurological conditions etc.” I said, surprised by what I found. “Blimey that girl has to go through a lot, the poor thing” said Ashley, saddened at the thought of a young girl having to go through that as often as she does.

“Yeah she does. I can't imagine what it’s like to live like that” said Jake, wiping his eyes. “Can’t be very comfy, whatever kind of cancer she’s got” I said, sitting with my hands on my knees. “I’m gonna try and talk to her” said Jinxx, going to the bunk room. “Ok” we all replied, going to play video games to try and get our minds off it for the time being.

Jinxx POV
Blimey, living with cancer, that must be awful, no matter what age or gender you are I thought as I sat in my bunk, my thumb hovering over the number I’d saved into my phone after Andy had texted it to us.

I sighed and called the girl. After a few moments she didn't pick up, maybe she’s at the support group that she supposedly hates I thought as I texted her saying ‘hello, is this Leia Montez?’ She quickly responded.

Leia: yep, who’s this?
Me: Jeremy Ferguson
Leia: Jinxx?
Me: you a BVB fan?
Leia: hell to the yeah, you guys are my favourite band, closely followed by Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Blood On The Dance Floor, ABBA and Sixx: AM
Me: awesome! Anyway did I catch you at a bad time?
Leia: sort of, just at a support group my parents made me go to, I’m dead bored... no pun intended. Plus I had to fight with my clothes to dig my phone out of my pocket so that’s why I missed your call, the downside to skinny jeans
Me: ah that makes sense... wait, what you mean when you say ‘I’m dead bored no pun intended’?
Leia: didn't anyone tell you about my current health?
Me: not in detail, enough to know that you were in bad shape or something like that, that’s what Andy relayed to us (Jake, CC, Ashley & I) from what someone called Dr Patel told him
Leia: oh. Well then I’m a stage 4 lung cancer patient, who is slowly dying, the meds I'm on are only slowing down the tumour growth, not killing them. Dr Patel is the doctor looking after me and he’s a jerk, even though he does take good care of me and his other patients
Me: holy fuck that wouldn’t be very comfy
Leia: oh it’s not, I’m on permanent oxygenisation 24/7 and a fancy machine called BiPAP overnight just so I can BREATHE.......
Me: Jesus Christ I am so goddamn sorry
Leia: don't worry about it Jinxx, though it would be nice if people would stop saying that almost all the time when they find out how fucked my health is.. Anyway could we continue this convo in around 45 minutes or so?
Me: yeah of course, let me know when you get home safely ok?
Leia: will do, call you later, I’m getting hungry and support group is FINALLY almost done, then there’s a CKC meeting/sleepover later this arvo
Me: CKC?
Leia: Cancer Kid Club, it’s what me and my close friends call ourselves cos we all have some form of cancer, lung in my case
Me: ah, talk to you later
Leia: ok :) say hi to the guys and Ashley for me would you? And tell CC & Jake I welcome the text wars, just if you guys do spam me with texts (which I don't mind, I could use more people to talk to – the majority of CKC sleep a LOT) make sure they add their names to the end of the first texts they send so I know which text threads are from who and also for CC & Jake that I can't wait to hand their asses to them in Call Of Duty, it’s payback time

I got a good laugh out of that, maybe she’s the reason why Jake and CC swear at the TV a lot

Me: hahahaha ok then :)
Leia: :)

Then I lay back in my bunk with my phone on my chest only for it to vibrate again a few minutes later with another message from Leia with a photo attachment.

I opened the photo to see it was one of her. She had bright blue eyes, like a mix between royal blue and blue topaz if that makes any sense.

Her hair was black and styled like Nikki Sixx (style cut AND teased), she wore a black studded biker choker around her neck, had a Mötley Crüe t-shirt on, a ‘Girls Girls Girls’ one from what I gathered, leather gloves and skinny jeans – I couldn’t tell what sort of shoes she had on.

She had ringed her eyes in heavy black eyeliner and left her full pinkie-red lips alone.

Her expression mimicked one Ashley would pull a lot, then I noticed the tube in her nose that wraps around her ears and comes together at her neck. Maybe that helps her breathe... anyway I texted her asking her about it.

Me: What's the tube thingo in your nose? Epic outfit by the way and your expression looks like one Ashley pulls off a lot’

Shortly afterwards she replied

Leia: Ah that’s called a cannula, it’s attached to my oxygen tank, delivers around 2 litres of oxygen a minute into my screwed up lungs. And thanks, Girls Girls Girls is one of my favourite songs of Mötley Crüe. And yeah Ash is awesome :) (plus my MCM every week)
Me: what does MCM stand for? We’re often being mentioned in those sort of tweets
Leia: *jaw drop emoji* how the hell can you five NOT know what that stands for when you’re mentioned in it a lot?! Lol it stands for ‘Man Crush Monday’
Me: oh lovely...
Leia: you should be honoured Jinxx! Lol I also have a few piercings but I only had a small pair of black studs in my ears today, I have snakebites (basically what Andy has but on both sides of my bottom lip in case you weren’t aware of what they are – NO I don't have a nose piercing like him and have no intention of getting one), plus I may or may not have a few tattoos and Ow my head hurts
Me: sweet, and tattoos eh? Wait, aren’t you only 17? Why’s your head hurting?
Leia: yes, yes only for 2 more months, at hairdressers getting a new style and my stylist is battling with the amount of hairspray I have in my hair!! She may as well wash it out and save me from a headache *3 crying with laughter emoji’s*
Me: ok cool, sneak peek when it’s done?
Leia: sure thing Mystic :P

I chuckled to myself before locking my phone and putting it in my pocket, and rejoining the guys in the lounge, sitting next to Jake who was focused intently on the screen, muttering about incompetent teammates and how he'd rather have someone known as ‘LeiaBVBRainbow’ on his team.

“Gotten your asses kicked yet?” I asked, finally getting their attention as they tore their eyes off the screen and looked toward me. “More than I’d like to admit!” CC complained. “So did you talk to the girl?” Jake asked, setting his controller down.

I nodded, “Not via a call though. I tried to call her but she couldn’t get to her phone in time, something about fighting with her clothes and being the downside to skinny jeans, and her name is Leia Jake” I told them. They all laughed, knowing how annoying skinny jeans could be if you needed to grab something out of them in a hurry.

“So how is she doing?” Andy asked. “Pretty good at the moment, just ‘dead bored’ as she put it at that support group her parents make her go to. Then we talked for a bit and she told me that she has stage 4 lung cancer” I began to explain, using air quotes for dead bored, my expression saddening as I told the guys what she has.

They all gasped in shock, horror in some cases, particularly Andy. “She’s on permanent oxygenisation 24/7, meaning she has to be on an oxygen tank all the time and this machine called BiPAP overnight just so she can breathe”

“Holy shit” Jake breathed, his jaw hanging open until Ashley shut it for him, earning a playful glare. “That’d be a pain in the ass” said Andy. “Probably would be, I mean having to cart around an oxygen tank all the time” I said, trailing off at the end of my sentence.

“She also hates it when people always say that they’re sorry for her. Her group of friends that she prefers to hang out with over the support group is called Cancer Kid Club because they all have cancer of some sort, lung in Leia’s case. She also said to say hi to all of you, especially Ashley” Ashley laughed at that, so did CC, Jake and Andy.

“And to you two,” I said, pointing at CC & Jake, “She welcomes the text wars but you all have to put your name on the end of the first text you send her so she knows which text thread is from who and apparently most of the CKC sleeps a lot so she wanted more people to talk to. She also can't wait........” I said, deliberately trailing off to see what Jake & CC would do.

“Wait for what?” they said in unison. “‘To hand their asses to them in Call Of Duty, it’s payback time’” I read off my phone and joined Ash & Andy when they burst out laughing at Jake & CC’s expressions of shock.

“Is this the kid the reason why we keep cursing at the TV every time we play against LeiaBVBRainbow?! But cheer when they’re on our team?” CC cried out, Jake shrugging.

I quickly shot off a text to her asking what her COD name was.

‘My gamertag (that’s the term you’re lookin for Jinxxy) is LeiaBVBRainbow. Yes Jinxx, I am the reason they get pissed at the TV and why you guys often replace the guitar and drum controllers for Guitar Hero MWAHAHAHAHAHA! *5 purple devil smiley emoji’s*’ she replied then I cracked up laughing, attracting weird looks from the guys, I just handed my phone to Ashley who showed Andy and they burst out laughing too.

“Ok guys, what's so funny?” Jake asked, hands on his hips which only made us all laugh harder (what? Jake looks hilarious doing that).

“R-r-read th-this!” Ashley managed to get out between bouts of laughter, holding my phone to them. Jake and CC took my phone and read the message Leia sent, then their faces paled.

“So, this Leia Montez either kicks our asses or earns epic victories?!” they yelled. I nodded, amused at their faces. When I got my phone back I opened the photo of her that she sent and told the guys “This is her, she sent it to me before going to the mall earlier in whatever town she lives in” I said, showing them. “Damn she sure is a Mötley fan, going by the Girls Girls Girls tee she’s wearing” said Andy.

“Nice job with the eyeliner too, her hair looks like Nikki Sixx’s when he teases it” “Damn her eyes are a gorgeous shade of blue” “Love the accessories” “What’s the thing in her nose?” asked CC. “She said that’s a cannula, it’s attached to her oxygen tank and delivers 2 litres of oxygen a minute into her lungs. She also said Girls Girls Girls is one of her favourite Mötley Crüe songs” I said, relaying to them what she told me. “Ah” they all said.

“She also said that Ash is her MCM every week” I said, fighting not to burst out laughing. “Huh?” said Ashley; Andy, Jake & CC all had confused expressions on their faces. We all get mentioned in MCM tweets but we didn’t know what it meant.

“It stands for ‘Man Crush Monday’” I said, to the amusement of everyone else as Ashley grinned. “She also has a few piercings but only had those little black earrings in” “What others does she have?” Andy asked curiously.

“Snakebites, she even gave me a definition of what they were in case I didn’t know” I said, chuckling before continuing my sentence, “And supposedly has a few tattoos, no I don't know what they are or how many she has” “Isn’t she underage?”

“That’s what I asked and she’s 2 months away from her 18th birthday, she was also getting a new hairstyle at the time she sent that so she probably won’t have her Nikki Sixx hairdo anymore. She also had a slight headache from the stylist battling the hairspray in her hair and said they may as well wash the spray out to save her from a headache” I finished, all of us laughing at the thought.

After that we just sat around, playing various video games including Guitar Hero.

I somehow managed to beat Ashley’s high score for ‘Cherry Bomb’ on bass in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, but he couldn't beat mine on guitar, both of us playing on hard, we all got a laugh out of that.

Jake was filming the whole thing on his phone to send to Leia later on, commentating on our performance and on how we missed notes, me & Ashley more than Andy & CC.

CC was playing expert drums and Andy was on medium vocals, surprisingly doing pretty well for something that wasn’t our usual style, particularly vocals.

Then we finished the song, CC getting 85% – Jake deliberately breaking his concentration for the hell of it. Andy got 80% which was pretty good for him, I think Psychosocial was his best song on this particular game... I got 90% and Ashley got 76% – mostly cos he missed a bunch of notes, especially in the solos and when the chords were particularly close together or at the other end of the fret buttons.

Then Jake sent the video to Leia. About 5 minutes later she replied:

Leia: ...............is that seriously the best you can do on that? But then again Jinxx & Ashley swapped for the song and that’s not the sort of thing you guys usually do…

We laughed at what she said but before we had a chance to reply she sent another message.

Andy: for someone with a voice that deep that was pretty good, despite it not being the style you do for BVB. Ashley: Ash... no offence mate that wasn’t too good. Good job for the 76% you did get, go into practise mode and downgrade from hard to say medium or easy, beginner is best if you’ve never played these sorts of games before. Also practise bits of the song at a time and slow them down and when you can play them flawlessly, speed them up. When you can play all the sections perfectly at full speed, then try the whole song slowed down then gradually speed it up. Then when you can play the whole song at full speed (it sounds weird without bass & vocal *scared face emoji* or without guitar or without drums, depending on what you’re practising) then up the difficulty on your chosen instrument/mic – that goes for all of you, not just Ash. CC: great drumming bro, but even my best score on expert is higher than that, distracted or no. Jake, excellent job filming, however don't disturb drummers – it takes longer for them to pick up where they left off – believe me I know. Ah let’s see... oh yeah Jinxx: for someone who’s a guitarist/violinist/pianist, you did pretty well at beating Ashley’s high score on bass.... HOWEVER...

“Hmm that sounds like pretty good advice” Ashley said, Jake nodding in agreement. “That’s really the best way to learn a song, regardless of the instrument, in real life or Guitar Hero” he said. “She has a point with your criticism Andy, for someone with a deep voice that was pretty good” said CC, clapping Andy on the shoulder. “Thanks guys” “How the hell would she get a higher score than CC? He was playing on expert” said Ashley. “Yeah but Ash, Jake distracted him” Andy pointed out. “Wait a minute.... there’s a ‘however’” said Jake, reading the end of her message. We all looked at eachother and gulped. Then Jake’s phone beeped signalling a new message from Leia.

Leia: I have you ALL beat on ‘Cherry Bomb’ hehehehe
Jake: oh really? Then what’s your best score?
Leia: 120’084 expert bass – 139’020 hard guitar – 463’791 expert drums – 89’753 hard vocals
Jake: *20 jaw dropped emoji’s* that’s higher than what these guys all got
Leia: remember, those are my top scores from a MONTH ago – I don't play this particular Guitar Hero as often as the others I have
Jake: then what would your current scores be? Which one do you play more often?
Leia: well if you give me about 30mins I can put together a video for ya, but for now I’ll leave you with Guitar Hero: Metallica. It’s much more challenging and more up Andy’s alley for vocals, maybe Jake & Jinxx for guitar – Kirk Hammett comes up with insane riffs. Ashley you have time to shine in ‘Orion’ – that’s an 8 minute long song (not the longest there is – Suicide & Redemption takes the cake for that as far as I know, clocking in at 9:57) with a distorted bass intro that goes for a minute, drums fading in at around 30secs. Then you have 3 guitar solos (broken into 2 or 3 sectors, the third one into about 4) and 2 bass solos (also broken down). Though if you want to challenge yourself, GHM style, I recommend Frantic, Cyanide & All Nightmare Long
Jake: awesome, but why half an hour?
Leia: because genius I have to film all 4 instrument things then carefully piece them together so it’s in sync and doesn’t blast your ears to pieces, unlike perfect weapon, sweet blasphemy, all your hate, we stitch these wounds, beautiful remains and children surrender
Jake: ok ok :)

“Orion sounds like a pretty good song” said Andy just as another message came through. “‘Oh almost forgot – Orion and Suicide & Redemption don't have lyrics’” CC read, Andy just pouted. Then Leia texted again, saying she’d email the video and to look out for her address ‘leiabvbrainbow@gmail.com’ and ‘GHWOR – Cherry Bomb’ in the subject line.

Soon after we opened the email and saved the movie then watched it. “Shit this kid is good. Wait a minute, she’s adding in drum fills here and there, that explains how she topped my score aside from the full combo” CC exclaimed, us nodding in agreement.

“Damn she got 100% on all of them!” Andy said, a surprised expression on his face. After that my phone went off again.

Leia: quick question, do any of you guys have Skype??? Plus I want to battle you guys, GHM if you have it

“Hey CC do we have Guitar Hero: Metallica? Leia wants to battle us in it” “I’ll go look” CC went to the CD wallet thing that we store games in and flipped through it. “We have it! What instrument is she gonna do” he called out

Me: yep we all have Skype, CC wants to know what instrument you’re gonna be playing and yes we have GHM
Leia: I’m gonna go on drums, and I have plenty of time to kill before my friends come over, they’ll be a bit late today
Me: sweet. You gonna be hosting?
Leia: you can bet your sweet ass I am! (I’d personally prefer Ashley’s *sunglasses smiley emoji*)
Me: you have the hots for Ashley don't you
Leia...yes (DON'T TELL HIM OR ANY OF THE OTHER GUYS!)
Me: I won’t :) so what did you want to know our Skype names for?
Leia: so we can talk while playing duh *tongue poke emoji* and to keep in touch as well. I just won’t be able to make eye contact while playing, not that I do very often anyway
Me: ok we’ll get set up, you want Ashley, Jake & Andy on bass, guitar & vocals?
Leia: sure, feel free to shuffle it around, my Skype name is LeiaRDM

“Ash, she wants you on bass, Jake on guitar & Andy on vocals but we’re free to shuffle it around if we want to” “Cool, what's her Skype name?” “LeiaRDM” “Wonder what the RDM stands for” “Don't know”

Then we all added her as a contact with her accepting pretty much straight away.

As we connected the guitars and mic to the game thing then with Leia I heard the laptop go off with an IM on Skype. Clicking on it (I was signed in at the moment) I saw her asking if we were ready to go, both in the game and video chat. I moved the laptop to where CC and I were gonna sit and typed out,

Me: yep we’re ready
Leia: ok, I’ll set up the song, have you guys ever played this particular guitar hero?’
Me: No we haven’t
Leia: ok I’ll start you lot off on medium for Jake, for Ash we’ll start on say… medium as well but don’t let the intro fool you! Andy you should start on medium so you can get a feel for the song if you catch my meaning

I read through the message and CC relayed the info. “Aww what” they all whined. I sighed, shaking my head.

Me: They aren’t too happy about being on medium
Leia: …idiots... they’ll know why I put them on those difficulties soon, Andy could go on hard if he wanted to. Tell them to listen to the song as it progresses then they should see why I started them on medium. If they feel cocky about it afterwards then we can play Orion on hard, well expert in my case

“She says you’ll know why you’re on medium when you get started and that if you listen to the song as it goes then you’ll see why you started where you are. She also said if you feel like trying something harder, then you can play Orion on hard, with her on expert” “Why does she get to be the one on expert?” asked Andy, a sour tone to his voice.

Me: Andy wants to know why you get to be on expert’
Leia: well one, cos I’m pretty damn good at this game and two, to quote my namesake (seeing as we’ll be playing in band mode where you have to work TOGETHER) ‘someone has to save our skins’

“She says that one she’s pretty damn good at the game and two to quote her namesake seeing as your gonna be playing in band mode ‘someone has to save our skins’” I read off the screen before the video call from Leia came up, then I accepted it, Leia coming onto the screen which I made full.

“Ready?” Leia asked. “Yep” “Yes” “Mmhm” Ashley, Jake & Andy replied. Then she hit something with a drumstick controller and the song got underway. “Shit” Jake muttered under his breath as he, Ashley & Leia started playing.

Then once they got to the pre-chorus, both of them were muttering various curses under their breath. “Told you so” she said as they ended the song. “That was a little tricky but still pretty damn fun” said Ashley.

“It is isn’t it... why don’t you and CC have a go next Jinxx?” “I’m up for it” I said, taking the guitar controller from Jake, putting it around me and adjusting it. “Sure why not” CC said, taking the bass (even though it looked exactly the same as the guitar) from Ashley, putting the strap around himself and adjusting it.

“Ok, you two want to give Orion a go? Or a different song altogether?” “What else is there?” “Well there’s 21/22 guest acts like there always is on a GH like this” “Let’s stick to Metallica” “Ok, since this is sorted by year after I sorted the songs by artist, Whiplash is the first song” Andy, CC & I looked at each other and shook our heads.

“Not this song” “Seek & Destroy?” “Maybe later” “Hit The Lights?” “Nope” “Fade To Black?” “That sounds ok” “Yeah it does then, but the guitar riffs get a little crazy towards the end” “We’ll save that for later then” “What songs can you recommend then?” Andy asked. We heard a few small taps (from Leia scrolling through the list by tapping the drum pads with the sticks) before she spoke again.

“For Whom The Bell Tolls, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Orion, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam and The Unforgiven – personal favourite of mine actually… that’s what would be good to start with, those 8 songs” she said, allowing us to hear the previews of each song before moving onto the next ones. We had a little chat among ourselves then picked The Unforgiven.

“We pick The Unforgiven” “Ok then, Andy you don’t have a lot to do in this, CC you don’t come in for a little while” “OK” we said, Jake & Ashley looking on with interest as Leia selected the song, keeping us on our current difficulty levels (LM – expert, AB – hard, J – medium & CC – medium).

Then the song started with Leia doing a little drum fill-in at the start and I began playing, Leia hitting a cymbal from time to time until CC started playing, then she got a beat going. Eventually Andy started singing, Leia providing backups with Ashley. After the song we all stared at the laptop screen, and Leia noticed.

“What?” she said, a small frown on her face. “Nothing” we all mumbled, looking away. “DO you want to do any more songs?” “Fade To Black then Orion” said CC as we got a drink while we still could.

Leia nodded and got the song going. After Fade To Black we played Orion then Leia had to go, seeing as her friends were on their way there and that she’d talk to us tomorrow. “OK Leia, seeya!” said CC, waving to her before walking into the kitchen.

“Bye Leia, hope to verse you on COD sometime soon” said Jake “Prepare to get your ass kicked Pitts” she said, laughing while walking around somewhere in her room, trailing her tank behind her.

“Seeya” said Andy, walking to the bunk room. “Bye Biersack” Leia muttered, digging in her chest of drawers for something. “See ya Leia, talk to you tomorrow” said Ashley, waving at the webcam. “Bye Ashley” Leia said, smiling at him and laughing softly. Oh yeah she soooo has a crush on him.

“Bye Leia” I said, grinning. “See ya Jinxx” she said waving as I ended the video call. A little while later after we’d put on some fresh clothes we decided to go out for dinner and ended up at a Subway.

After that we came back to the bus with snacks and decided to have a movie night in, and Andy was allowed only one Batman movie which added to his already pissed mood. I wonder had him all riled up… I thought as we put in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jake’s pick) and grabbed bowls for the snacks we picked up as Jake set the movie up.

The Lord of the Rings is pretty cool, remind me to ask her what sorts of movies she likes… then after LOTR we watched Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (CC’s pick) then The Matrix: Reloaded (Ashley’s pick).

After we watched Batman, well more like sat through it in mine, CC’s, Ashley’s & Jake’s cases we put in Avatar, the one directed by James Cameron rather than the anime series of the same name.

It was when we were up to the scene when Jake (the movie character, not my bandmate) bonded to his ikran for the first time that I got a text that terrified me. I heard my phone go off with the text tone I’d set for Leia’s number so knew it was her. But when I read the message the contents of it made my heart go into my mouth. The message read:

Hi Jinxx, I’m Zelda one of Leia’s CKC friends. I texted you to say that she can’t breathe and we had to rush her to hospital immediately, given that she’s a lung cancer patient. We told you because one, Leia managed to gasp out ‘tell…Jinxx’ before losing consciousness, and because she trusts you which is a huge thing for her. We just pulled up so I will text you when she’s stable from my phone. I won't tell you what happened to her, she'll be mega pissed at me if I do. She'll explain when she wakes up

“Oh my god” I said, covering my mouth with my hand as I read what her friend Zelda texted me with Leia’s phone. “What is it Jinxx?” asked Andy who’d paused the movie when my phone beeped. “It’s Leia. She had to be rushed to hospital” “What happened?” Jake asked.

“She couldn't breathe and lost consciousness on the way there, they just got in and Zelda – she’s one of Leia’s CKC friends – texted me just now. Leia managed to tell her to let me know because Leia trusts me which is a big thing for her. They’re gonna let us know when she’s stable, Zelda also said Leia would explain what happened when she wakes up. She hates it when other people do it for her”

“Holy shit this could be deadly serious” said Ashley, covering his mouth like me. “Yeah” I said, staring at the screen of my phone, waiting for another message to come through. “God I hope she’ll be ok” said CC. About 15 minutes later my phone went off saying that Leia was stable and sleeping as peacefully as she could be. We all sighed in relief.

Notes

ok people thats chapter one done! readers of 'take your hand in mine' i have an idea set out for chapter 3, just need to make a basic plot then write it out. 'so this is love?' readers, chapter 8 is about 2/3 done. 'hollywood on the gold coast' readers, i've hit a roadblock so no updates there for a while. i also have a few new stories in progress, some that will also be on fanfiction.net as well as here because they feature the worlds of 'harry potter', 'the vampire diaries', 'percy jackson' etc. so they'll be on there and maybe here too