Are We Losing, or Beginning?

"Guys you're on in twenty minutes" a guy called Mick informed us. I nodded in reply and headed over to Tony who was struggling to tape himself up. Jaime was bouncing around in the corner, if it was anybody else I'd have said 'if you carry on like that, you're not going to have any energy for the actual set' but this was Jaime and I knew better than anybody that he has Mike, Tony and I's energy put together (and then some)

"Jamie will you stand fucking still" Mike snapped impatiently.

"Can't. So pumped" Jaime replied still jumping up and down.

"Here, let me do it" I laughed approaching Tony who was still struggling.

"No, I got this" he persisted stepping away from me, I shrugged and folded my arms, enjoying watching his struggle to tape the wire to the back of his neck. When he finally did it, he did it wrong and I couldn't control my laughter. "Fine, you do it" he rolled his eyes, threw the tape my way and turned his back on me so I could tape him up.

"It's okay, Tone. Arms aren't supposed to bend that way anyway" I laughed and he held up his middle finger. I taped him up and patted his back "There you go, padawan" I smiled, he abruptly turned around and folded his arms, canting his head to the side and piercing me with his gaze.

"I'm a storm trooper. You know that" he said matter-of-factly. I was about to respond but something caught my eye, well, more like someone. I smiled as I saw her, she wasn't looking my way, she looked a little lost, looking left and right like she didn't know where to start with this place—I knew the feeling.

"Savannah!" I shouted to get her attention, as soon as I yelled her, that was it, Jaime was off.

"Savvie!" He yelled excitedly bouncing up and down, her head snapped up in our direction but I don't think she saw us because she began looking around again as if she couldn't find the source of the voice, I headed towards the steps.

"Savannah!" I tried again and this time she saw me, she waved and headed in my direction "You made it!" I wanted to frown at how happy that made me but I didn't.

"Hi" she said shyly as she finally reached me.

"Come on" I motioned her to come up the stairs and she grabbed her friends hand and pulled her up the stairs with her.

"Passes please" the security guard said sternly. (backstage isn't very private so he had to stand there)

She patted her pockets with wide eyes "Um..." She looked nervous and I wondered if she'd maybe forgot her pass or something "Just kidding" she laughed and pulled it out of her back pocket, clipping it to her belt loop on her shorts after showing the security guard it.

I laughed too and grabbed her hand, pulling her over to where the other guys were stood, getting ready to go on stage.

"Ten minutes guys" Mick informed us again.

"Hi" Savannah said shyly "This is my friend, Casey" she introduced the red haired girl next to her, her excitement was visible on her face and that made me smile.

"Hey you!" Jaime shoved his guitar at Mike and grabbed Savannah, hugging her tightly, she looked a little terrified, as if he'd caught her well and truly off guard—or maybe she just wasn't used to such affection, I don't know.

"So good to see you!" He shouted eagerly then hugged Casey, a little less eagerly but just as friendly.

"Jesus, Himes, she's still recovering you know?" I shook my head, not really mad at him but concerned for Savannah. His mouth fell open as if he'd never considered that. "Just slap him, he doesn't know the concept of personal space" I directed this at Casey—trying to make her feel as welcome and part of the group as possible—and she laughed.

"Shit, I f-forgot! Are you okay?" Jaime put his hand over his mouth, shocked. Savannah nodded her head.

"It's okay, I'm almost as good as new" she giggled and blushed a little.

"Where are you watching the set from?" Mike asked joining the little huddle, along with Tony.

"Um, I-I don't know" she blushed and looked at her friend

"You can watch it from the stage or the crowd, its up to you guys" Tony smiled.

"Hey, that's the first time you've spoken to me, Tony" she smiled from ear to ear as if it meant a lot to her that he had spoken. He blushed a little, awkwardly shrugging as if he didn't know what to say or do next.

"We'll watch from the stage, if that's okay?" Casey spoke up, shattering the awkwardness, thank god. It was obvious who the more confident one of those two was—Casey.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine" I nod

"Two minutes guys" Mick returned, popping out of nowhere for the third time, I honestly wondered where he kept coming from.

"Right lets go" I yelled, getting pumped, I threw my phone on the table at the side and put my guitar on, putting my pic in my mouth and I began clapping.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap

The guys joined in "This ones for me guys" I said awkwardly because of the pic in my mouth. We kept clapping.

"Hey Vic" Jaime, Mike and Tony said in unison

"What?" I replied, all of us still clapping

"The devil"

"Here we go now" I replied again.

"The devil is everywhere"

"Hey Jaime"

"Uh-huh"

"The devil"

"What?"

"The Devil is everywhere"

"Hey Tony"

"Yeah?"

"The Devil"

"Who?"

"The Devil is everywhere"

"Hey Mike"

"Ooh"

"The Devil"

"Ahhh"

"The Devil is everywhere"

Then in unison we all shouted

"PEE — TEE — VEE"

Savannah and Casey stood staring at as, with their mouths open.

"W-wow" Casey stuttered and we all laughed. I gave them both a high five and headed out onto the stage feeling so pumped up.

Half way through the set I looked to where Savannah and Casey were standing, to the left. They both had huge grins on their faces and looked like they were really enjoying it. Nothing could beat the feeling inside me right then, there's this sudden internal, deep satisfaction when someone enjoys your music, I guess if you're not a musician you couldn't possible understand but right then I felt that deep satisfaction. Which carried me through the rest of the set.

"Thank you for coming and listening to us guys, there are so many great bands here at Warped Tour and it means a lot to me personally and I know it means a lot to these three ugly mother fuckers behind me that you came and listened to us right now instead of somebody else. We're just really grateful guys. Thank you!" There were more cheers than I expected which lifted me even higher as we all headed off stage.

"That was amazing" Savannah cooed as soon as we got backstage, her eyes were a little watery and her smile looked like it couldn't possibly ever fade.

"Yeah, those Mexicans are rad" Jaime winked and the started jumping up and down "Damn, I could go again" he beamed, the sweat pouring off him contradicted whether or not he could actually do another set without dying from exhaustion. The guy has serious energy though, props to him.

"Whatever he's on, I want some!" Casey laughed pointing to Jaime.

"Guys we have meet and greets in an hour" Tony informed us, oh god I had almost forgotten, thank god Tony knew what we had going on.

"I think that means we have time to go watch Between The Trees' set, right?" I chirped, still on a massive high

"Sure we have, let's go ladies" Mike says grinning, I imagined his eyes are doing that seductive thing they have a way of doing when females are present but he was wearing sunglasses so I couldn't be sure. Both girls hooked their arms through his and they walked forward laughing and smiling at Mike's dumbass jokes. Me, Jaime and Tony followed behind, equally as happy.

As we reached the Ernie Ball Stage I realized Between The Trees' set started earlier than I anticipated, however they just started the intro of one of my favorite songs of theirs; The Way She Feels.

"This is my favorite song" I gasped excitedly

"What is it?" Savannah took a few steps back—so she was at my side—and asked.

"The Way She Feels" I replied "Listen to the lyrics, they're incredibly powerful" and as if on cue Ryan Kirkland began to sing.

She's upset,
Bad day,
Heads for the dresser draw to drive her pain away,
Nothing good could come of this,

All of sudden, almost everyone in the crowd began to cry, as if they understood the lyrics on a personal level, as if they could relate beyond belief—the thought broke my heart.

She opens it, there's nothing there,
There's only left over tears,
Mom and Dad had no right she screams,
As the anger runs down both of her cheeks.

I felt like my chest was being stabbed repeatedly, it was one of those songs that no matter whether you could actually relate what it was about or not the lyrics were so powerful they affected you anyway.

Then she closed her eyes,
Found relief in a knife,
The blood flows as she cries,

Some girl at the front screamed I love you between hysterical sobs and I couldn't wait for the day that people would do that at the front of the crowd at our sets.

All alone the way she feels,
Left alone to deal with all the pain-drenched sorrow relief,
Bite the lip, just forget the bleeding,

The deeper you cut,
The deeper I hurt,
The deeper you cut,
It only gets worse,
The deeper you cut,
The deeper I hurt,
The deeper you cut,
It only gets worse,

I looked at Savannah and saw she was crying too, her eyes transfixed on the stage and I wondered what part of the song affected her so much. Was it the lyrics? Could she relate to it? Or did she just find it powerful and deep?

She opened her life,
And found relief through His eyes,
And put down,
She put down her knife,

His voice cracked on the last note and the crowd went absolutely wild, honestly I've never ever seen so many people be touched by one single song—I actually felt pretty jealous, I wished it was a song I'd written that everyone was getting so emotional over.

Savannah turned to me, wiping away her tears, embarrassed she'd cried in public—that's how it seemed anyway—and said "You were right, that was so powerful, how did they come up with that? It was perfect" she looked truly astounded.

I guess that's what music does, it brings people together, touches them in a way words can't, connects you in a way nothing else in the world can. It's truly phenomenal.

"To the meet and greets!" Jaime screamed, ruining the euphoric moment you experience after hearing such a beautiful song and all of your emotions and feelings are muddled up.

Trust him.

Notes

Fuentits here :)
Excuse my limited knowledge of Warped Tour and what goes on at such events (I'm British and shit ok)
The 'These three ugly mother fuckers behind me' thing is something Vic actually said when I saw ptv live.
The pre-show warm up is an actual warm up they do before shows (I'm too lazy to link you. It's 2:15am)
If you haven't already heard The Way She Feels by Between The Trees I strongly suggest you go check it out, it's an amazing song. Very powerful. I love it!
Thanks for reading!

Over to you, Claire you wee devil <3