The New Member
The Exercise
Noortje’s POV
I seriously had no idea where we were anymore. I was guessing we were still somewhere in Germany… or at least everything around us was in German. It would actually make sense, since it’s such a large country and it was only our third day here. We were only in our second week of tour and I was already disoriented and had no idea which day of the week it was. I should probably check my calendar.
Apparently we had a day off today, but Jay being Jay, had decided that we were going to do a group activity. Sure, it would be fun… If it weren’t a sports activity. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sports, I even go running quite often (less now that we are one tour), but I had been so tired the last couple of days. I would start falling asleep as soon as we were back on the bus and couldn’t seem to get rested. I was starting to be scared of falling asleep during one of the shows. I know, how do you fall asleep during a show; there’s flashing lights and loud music? Well, let that prove how tired I was.
We were stood in a large grass field with different area’s. Two supervisors were standing in front of us, explaining what we were going to do.
“Ok, so you are going to work in groups of 2!” The really buff one of the two screamed out, “Go stand in your groups now!”
Tony and I naturally went with each other while the other’s were scrambling around to find someone. Eventually Vic and Jaime partnered up, Mike and Casey found each other, and various crew members made groups. There were 8 groups in total… This will be fun, right?
“So first we are going to warm up!” The female supervisor explained, “We are going to jog around this field, but there’s a catch. You and your partner have to link arms and your legs are going to be tied up together.”
Everybody nodded and some cheered. We all grabbed a rope and went to tie our legs together. I stood to the left on Tony and allowed him to tie us together. I helped him back up and he grinned at me. I beamed back and we slowly managed to hobble over to the starting line.
“To make it extra fun, we are going to turn it into a small competition, so get ready!” The man said.
I heard people cheer and holler as they all got ready, positioning themselves on either side of Tony and I.
“We are going to go slow,” Tony whispered, “We won’t fall over and be able to walk past anybody that thought going fast was the way to go.”
I smirked, agreeing with his plan and one of the supervisors screamed ‘go’. All the groups around us started running and some had already fallen over while Tony and I were slowly but surely making our way to the end. We overtook everyone, but a team made out of crew members, as they were all on the floor.
“Let’s go a bit faster.” I suggested.
We sped up our footing slightly and inched closer and closer to the team in front of us. I looked behind us and saw other teams trying to use our method. The team ahead saw us coming closer and tried to speed up, but they made a wrong move and face planted into the slightly damp grass. Tony and I burst out laughing and crossed the finish line. We screamed out in glee and high-fived each other.
“And that is a prime example of teamwork! You will need that a lot today!” The girl, who’s name was Laura, boasted.
“One point for team 6!” The other supervisor, called Carl, exclaimed.
-----
We had done many more activities, including tennis, basketball, and football. For some of them we had to group up with other teams, creating secret alliances. However, the supervisors were smart enough to go against that and made sure we also had to play against the people we teamed up with. It was like our own little hunger games.
Now, we had finally gotten a break. There were picnic tables scattered around one end of the field, just enough to seat everyone. Jaime, Mike, Vic, Tony, Casey, and I were all sharing one table. I was leaning against Tony, who was to the left of me, and had my feet up next to Casey, who was to my left. I had taken out my phone to check the comments on the selfie I had posted on twitter and Instagram with the caption ‘Dis team, best team’. I seriously hated misspellings of words, but this one time was an exception. The fans were all freaking out because Tony was kissing my cheek in the photo… Little did they know that what they were freaking out about was actually true.
Casey suddenly started talking to me, “You know, we never really got to know each other.”
“I know.” I said looking up from my phone.
“Maybe we should go out sometime.”
Vic, Jaime, and Mike chuckled and Casey joined. Tony seemed to be distracted by something on his phone. I don’t blame him, I often zone out too when I’m checking social media or playing a game.
“Maybe not.” I countered.
“What about just a kiss then?”
“I think that would be considered cheating.”
“Wait, what?” Vic interrupted, “You have a boyfriend?”
I shrugged. I actually wasn’t sure if Tony was actually my boyfriend. Sure, I kept referring to him as my boyfriend… but we never really made it official. I had never asked if he wanted to be my boyfriend, and he never asked me to be his girlfriend. Maybe he didn’t want to be official?
“Tony, did you know about this?” Vic interrogated.
“Sorry, what?” Tony snapped his head towards Vic, clearly not having heard any of the conversation.
“Do you know that Noortje has a boyfriend?”
“Umm… yeah?” Tony said and looked at me, confused with what was happening.
“Have you met him? Does he seem nice?”
“I guess…”
Vic gave him an apologizing look and sighed. Tony answered by glancing back and making the most confused face ever, shaking his head a bit as if asking Vic why he was apologizing.
“Back to work!” Carl joked.
Groans were mixed with cheers.
“We’re doing a wheel barrow race! Why? Cause it’s fun, obviously.”
I laughed a bit and listened to the instructions.
Tony decided to be the wheelbarrow while I was to carry him. There was no way I would have been able to keep myself up with my arms, I was never the one that could do push ups and had strength in their arms. Tony got down on the floor and I grabbed his legs. This wasn’t going to be too hard.
We left the starting line and quickly made our way to the end. But I think we were going a bit too fast. Tony misplaced his hand and tumbled so he was laying on his back. I couldn’t stop on time and fell on top of him. We both burst out laughing and I rolled off of him. People looked at us weirdly while we were both dying of laughter. Why was it so funny? We had no clue, but it was hilarious.
----
“For the next couple of activities on one member of each team is needed. Without knowing what the next activities are, I want you to determine who’s going first and who’s going second.” Laura commanded.
I turned to Tony and raised my hand, “I’ll go first!”
“Ok great, I see that everybody has decided. So, Number 1s come over here, and number 2s can encourage their partners.”
I walked over and saw it was just a simple race. Ok, I can do this. If there is one thing I’m good at it’s running. I should be able to easily pass a few of these people. My goal was to be at least 5th to finish, but winning is always better.
Carl shouted, “Go!” and we all took off.
I quickly passed everybody and was first. I stepped on the far line and started my way back to the first one. Tony cheered for me and it encouraged me to go even faster. That’s when it hit me. I couldn’t breathe anymore. My lungs wouldn’t allow any air into them and I came to a halt. Before I could register what happened I heard somebody scream out my name and I collapsed.
----
Tony’s POV
Noortje was doing so well in the race. It was amazing to see her flash through the track. Nobody had expected her to be so fast. I suddenly saw her slow down. Something wasn’t right. I was just able to scream out her name before the fell the the ground. I ran over to her and kneeled in front of her. Her eyes were shut and she was completely limp. I tried shaking her awake and softly slapping her cheeks, but got no response. A crew member came running over to us and picked Noortje up by her arms while I held her feet. We placed her in some shade and I moved so she could rest her head in my lap. The crew member went to grab some water and I saw everybody watching from afar, Carl talking to someone on the phone. I looked back down at Noortje. Her eyes were starting to open up and she squinted. She tried sitting up, but I pushed her back down.
“Just stay laying down.” I whispered.
“What happened?” Noortje asked confused.
“You fainted, so please don’t move too much.”
Carl jogged up to us, “An ambulance is coming, is there anything you need?”
I shook my head and Noortje looked around with glassy eyes.
Not even a few minutes later we could hear sirens coming in our direction. The paramedics sprinted towards us with different equipment. They took out a blood pressure meter and wrapped it around Noortje’s arm.
“We are going to measure your blood pressure.” The paramedic said in a thick German accent.
Noortje squirmed a bit as the machine tightened around her. It made a few beeping noises and loosened again.
“Everything seems fine. Just make sure you lie down for 15 more minutes and don’t make any sudden movements.”
I thanked them and Noortje nodded still a bit dazed. The paramedics walked back to the ambulance and left.
“Are you ok?” I asked what felt like the millionth time this week.
“Yea, I’m fine. That was really weird.” Noortje mumbled.
I smiled down at her.
There was something up, but she kept insisting that she was fine. I guess I’ll take her word for it. It’s like she doesn’t know that I realise that she’s been a lot more tired and that she barely eats anymore. Was she trying to starve herself? No, she wouldn’t do that… Right? Yes, she knew better.
But was I sure about that, or was I just denying it?
I seriously had no idea where we were anymore. I was guessing we were still somewhere in Germany… or at least everything around us was in German. It would actually make sense, since it’s such a large country and it was only our third day here. We were only in our second week of tour and I was already disoriented and had no idea which day of the week it was. I should probably check my calendar.
Apparently we had a day off today, but Jay being Jay, had decided that we were going to do a group activity. Sure, it would be fun… If it weren’t a sports activity. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sports, I even go running quite often (less now that we are one tour), but I had been so tired the last couple of days. I would start falling asleep as soon as we were back on the bus and couldn’t seem to get rested. I was starting to be scared of falling asleep during one of the shows. I know, how do you fall asleep during a show; there’s flashing lights and loud music? Well, let that prove how tired I was.
We were stood in a large grass field with different area’s. Two supervisors were standing in front of us, explaining what we were going to do.
“Ok, so you are going to work in groups of 2!” The really buff one of the two screamed out, “Go stand in your groups now!”
Tony and I naturally went with each other while the other’s were scrambling around to find someone. Eventually Vic and Jaime partnered up, Mike and Casey found each other, and various crew members made groups. There were 8 groups in total… This will be fun, right?
“So first we are going to warm up!” The female supervisor explained, “We are going to jog around this field, but there’s a catch. You and your partner have to link arms and your legs are going to be tied up together.”
Everybody nodded and some cheered. We all grabbed a rope and went to tie our legs together. I stood to the left on Tony and allowed him to tie us together. I helped him back up and he grinned at me. I beamed back and we slowly managed to hobble over to the starting line.
“To make it extra fun, we are going to turn it into a small competition, so get ready!” The man said.
I heard people cheer and holler as they all got ready, positioning themselves on either side of Tony and I.
“We are going to go slow,” Tony whispered, “We won’t fall over and be able to walk past anybody that thought going fast was the way to go.”
I smirked, agreeing with his plan and one of the supervisors screamed ‘go’. All the groups around us started running and some had already fallen over while Tony and I were slowly but surely making our way to the end. We overtook everyone, but a team made out of crew members, as they were all on the floor.
“Let’s go a bit faster.” I suggested.
We sped up our footing slightly and inched closer and closer to the team in front of us. I looked behind us and saw other teams trying to use our method. The team ahead saw us coming closer and tried to speed up, but they made a wrong move and face planted into the slightly damp grass. Tony and I burst out laughing and crossed the finish line. We screamed out in glee and high-fived each other.
“And that is a prime example of teamwork! You will need that a lot today!” The girl, who’s name was Laura, boasted.
“One point for team 6!” The other supervisor, called Carl, exclaimed.
-----
We had done many more activities, including tennis, basketball, and football. For some of them we had to group up with other teams, creating secret alliances. However, the supervisors were smart enough to go against that and made sure we also had to play against the people we teamed up with. It was like our own little hunger games.
Now, we had finally gotten a break. There were picnic tables scattered around one end of the field, just enough to seat everyone. Jaime, Mike, Vic, Tony, Casey, and I were all sharing one table. I was leaning against Tony, who was to the left of me, and had my feet up next to Casey, who was to my left. I had taken out my phone to check the comments on the selfie I had posted on twitter and Instagram with the caption ‘Dis team, best team’. I seriously hated misspellings of words, but this one time was an exception. The fans were all freaking out because Tony was kissing my cheek in the photo… Little did they know that what they were freaking out about was actually true.
Casey suddenly started talking to me, “You know, we never really got to know each other.”
“I know.” I said looking up from my phone.
“Maybe we should go out sometime.”
Vic, Jaime, and Mike chuckled and Casey joined. Tony seemed to be distracted by something on his phone. I don’t blame him, I often zone out too when I’m checking social media or playing a game.
“Maybe not.” I countered.
“What about just a kiss then?”
“I think that would be considered cheating.”
“Wait, what?” Vic interrupted, “You have a boyfriend?”
I shrugged. I actually wasn’t sure if Tony was actually my boyfriend. Sure, I kept referring to him as my boyfriend… but we never really made it official. I had never asked if he wanted to be my boyfriend, and he never asked me to be his girlfriend. Maybe he didn’t want to be official?
“Tony, did you know about this?” Vic interrogated.
“Sorry, what?” Tony snapped his head towards Vic, clearly not having heard any of the conversation.
“Do you know that Noortje has a boyfriend?”
“Umm… yeah?” Tony said and looked at me, confused with what was happening.
“Have you met him? Does he seem nice?”
“I guess…”
Vic gave him an apologizing look and sighed. Tony answered by glancing back and making the most confused face ever, shaking his head a bit as if asking Vic why he was apologizing.
“Back to work!” Carl joked.
Groans were mixed with cheers.
“We’re doing a wheel barrow race! Why? Cause it’s fun, obviously.”
I laughed a bit and listened to the instructions.
Tony decided to be the wheelbarrow while I was to carry him. There was no way I would have been able to keep myself up with my arms, I was never the one that could do push ups and had strength in their arms. Tony got down on the floor and I grabbed his legs. This wasn’t going to be too hard.
We left the starting line and quickly made our way to the end. But I think we were going a bit too fast. Tony misplaced his hand and tumbled so he was laying on his back. I couldn’t stop on time and fell on top of him. We both burst out laughing and I rolled off of him. People looked at us weirdly while we were both dying of laughter. Why was it so funny? We had no clue, but it was hilarious.
----
“For the next couple of activities on one member of each team is needed. Without knowing what the next activities are, I want you to determine who’s going first and who’s going second.” Laura commanded.
I turned to Tony and raised my hand, “I’ll go first!”
“Ok great, I see that everybody has decided. So, Number 1s come over here, and number 2s can encourage their partners.”
I walked over and saw it was just a simple race. Ok, I can do this. If there is one thing I’m good at it’s running. I should be able to easily pass a few of these people. My goal was to be at least 5th to finish, but winning is always better.
Carl shouted, “Go!” and we all took off.
I quickly passed everybody and was first. I stepped on the far line and started my way back to the first one. Tony cheered for me and it encouraged me to go even faster. That’s when it hit me. I couldn’t breathe anymore. My lungs wouldn’t allow any air into them and I came to a halt. Before I could register what happened I heard somebody scream out my name and I collapsed.
----
Tony’s POV
Noortje was doing so well in the race. It was amazing to see her flash through the track. Nobody had expected her to be so fast. I suddenly saw her slow down. Something wasn’t right. I was just able to scream out her name before the fell the the ground. I ran over to her and kneeled in front of her. Her eyes were shut and she was completely limp. I tried shaking her awake and softly slapping her cheeks, but got no response. A crew member came running over to us and picked Noortje up by her arms while I held her feet. We placed her in some shade and I moved so she could rest her head in my lap. The crew member went to grab some water and I saw everybody watching from afar, Carl talking to someone on the phone. I looked back down at Noortje. Her eyes were starting to open up and she squinted. She tried sitting up, but I pushed her back down.
“Just stay laying down.” I whispered.
“What happened?” Noortje asked confused.
“You fainted, so please don’t move too much.”
Carl jogged up to us, “An ambulance is coming, is there anything you need?”
I shook my head and Noortje looked around with glassy eyes.
Not even a few minutes later we could hear sirens coming in our direction. The paramedics sprinted towards us with different equipment. They took out a blood pressure meter and wrapped it around Noortje’s arm.
“We are going to measure your blood pressure.” The paramedic said in a thick German accent.
Noortje squirmed a bit as the machine tightened around her. It made a few beeping noises and loosened again.
“Everything seems fine. Just make sure you lie down for 15 more minutes and don’t make any sudden movements.”
I thanked them and Noortje nodded still a bit dazed. The paramedics walked back to the ambulance and left.
“Are you ok?” I asked what felt like the millionth time this week.
“Yea, I’m fine. That was really weird.” Noortje mumbled.
I smiled down at her.
There was something up, but she kept insisting that she was fine. I guess I’ll take her word for it. It’s like she doesn’t know that I realise that she’s been a lot more tired and that she barely eats anymore. Was she trying to starve herself? No, she wouldn’t do that… Right? Yes, she knew better.
But was I sure about that, or was I just denying it?
Notes
I feel so bad. My updating will probably be a lot more irregular. School is becoming way too much. I seriously feel like I'm losing my sanity. But I will update whenever I can. I try to work on the story everyday, but that sometimes means only 10 minutes. Please don't hate me for this.
- DSN
@Nickyvlxx
Hahaha, thank you. You can totally see how my writing has developed in this story; the first chapters are written so bad. I'm excited for our story as well.
4/10/16