The next night, as promised, Mack called us.
"Hey guys!" Mack had just finished talking to our Mom, and was now talking to Jerry and I. I was on the extension in my room, and Jerry was on the main phone in the front hall.
"Hi Mackie!" Jerry exclaimed happily.
"Hey bro’, how’re you doing?"
"Oh man, you have to see our tour bus! It’s so cool! It has a satellite dish on the outside so that we can get all the channels, it has an almost spacious bathroom, it has eight bunk-beds, it has a kitchen…you name it, it’s got it!"
"Wow!" Jerry cried. Mack and I laughed.
"Have you met everyone else from the tour?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I’ve met most of them."
"Who did you like the most?" Jerry asked, Mack and I laughing once more.
"Well…B*Witched are pretty cool. They’re Irish. And 5ive are a cool bunch of guys, they’re English. The Backstreet Boys are really nice, I guess we talk to them the most. And Aaron, Nick’s brother."
"Oh yeah, he’s Nick’s little bro’." I realised. "So you’ve been hanging with the Backstreet Boys and 5ive and B*Witched?"
"Yeah, we all get along. Aaron’s been hanging around with Backstreet Boys and Take Five; and Steps, Britney Spears and ‘N Sync have all been hanging out with each other. Everyone seems to get along."
"That’s cool." I told him. "Mack, we miss you already, when can we see you?"
"Oh, I have some news for you there!" he exclaimed.
"What?!" Jerry and I asked at the same time.
"How would you two like to come on tour with us…for the whole thing?"
"Oh my gosh, are you serious?!" I cried.
"Yes! If Mom and Dad will let you, and I’m sure they will ‘cos I can look after you guys, you can tour with us as soon as school is out!"
"Yay!" Jerry exclaimed, and put down her end of the phone. She was obviously running off to tell Mom and Dad.
"She’s desperate to meet Aaron Carter." I informed Mack, laughing slightly.
"Well it’ll be cool to have you along. Jamie’s girlfriend is gonna be there too, as soon as school is out for her."
"Oh, cool!" Jamie’s girlfriend is really, really nice. She’s called Lisa, and she’s in her final year at high school. She’s been dating Jamie for around two years, and we all get along really well with her.
"I thought you’d like that." Mack replied.
"When will she be touring with you guys?"
"From next weekend - in one week’s time. Her school is out before yours."
"No fair!" Mack and I continued to chat for a little while longer, before Jerry returned with Mom and Dad.
"Can we talk to Mack, please?" Dad asked me.
"Yeah, you want me to go on the extension downstairs?"
"No, don’t worry, you stay here and we’ll use the phone in our room." Mom smiled at me as she and Dad left my room. Our mom and dad are very reasonable people.
"Hey, Mack, Jerry has told us that you want the girls to tour with you." Mom spoke to Mack.
"Yeah, that’s right Mom. It’d be so nice to have them with me, I wouldn’t get so home sick, and I’d take real good care of them."
"We know you would, son, but are you sure you can handle that responsibility with all your touring?"
"Yes, and Hallie is more than capable of looking after Jerry." Mack pointed out.
"Well…" Mom started, but was interrupted by Jerry who was yelling down the phone in my room.
"Please Mom, please say yes, oh please!" she whined.
"Jerry, get off my phone!" I called out. Once I’d rescued it from Jerry’s hands, I spoke to my parents. "She’s right Mom, please let us go. We already miss Mack, and it’d be a wonderful experience!"
"Okay then, you can tour." Dad gave in.
"YES!" Jerry, Mack and I all cried out.
"But…we have to know all the dates and destinations and venues and hotels. Understood, Mack?"
"Definitely, Mom, I’ll fax them to you tonight."
"Where are you going to meet the girls?"
"Well on the Saturday after school is out, we’re playing in Savannah Georgia, so you could meet us there, see us play, then leave the girls with me."
"Okay, that sounds fair enough…" And it all got sorted out!
We arrived in Savannah Georgia on a glorious day. Mack had sent our parents special passes so that they’d be allowed to park in the venue parking lot. The lot was full of huge, shiny, silver buses, and masses and masses of trucks. There were loads of people milling about, carrying lighting equipment, and pieces of the set, and also ferrying cups of coffee to some of the buses.
Mom, Dad, Jerry and I, all got out of our car once we’d been directed to what looked to be the only space left in the entire parking lot.
"Excuse me," Mom asked the guy who’d shown us where to park. "We’re looking for the Kitsch tour bus, or at least some members of the band."
"You have your passes?" Mom and Dad were holding theirs, and Jerry and I took out ours.
"Yup." Jerry told the guy, grinning up at him. The guy smiled back down at Jerry and kneeled down beside her.
"You know someone in Kitsch, do you sweetie?" he asked her amiably.
"Yup! Mackie’s my big brother!" she cried, making us all laugh.
"She’s talking about Mackenzie." I pointed out to the guy, who just nodded and smiled.
"The Kitsch bus is just over here." The guy led us over to one of the shiny new buses, and left us to it. We all clambered up the steps and onto the bus.
"Hi!" Mom called as she entered the bus. The members of Kitsch and some other people turned around and smiled at us.
"Hey you guys!" Mack grinned and ran over to us.
"Mackie!" Jerry exclaimed, pushing between Dad and Mom, and hugging Mack tightly around his waist (Jerry’s not very tall!).
"Hey Jerry-berry! Hey Hallie!" I went over to Mack and picked up Jerry from his knees and we had a mini group-hug. The other people on the bus obviously thought Jerry was really sweet and cute...and, well, she was. Jerry and I soon let Mack go and talk to our parents, and we spoke to the other people on the bus.
"Hiya, Lisa." I grinned at Jamie’s girlfriend who’d gotten up to greet us.
"It’s good to see you again, Hallie." She gave me a quick hug, and then she hugged Jerry.
The other members of Kitsch were all getting up to say hi to us.
"Hey, Hallie, my main man! Or should I say girl." Josh always made that joke when he saw me.
"What up, Josh?!" I always replied with that, and I gave him a high-five. Then I gave Sam a high-five, before Mack made his way down the bus to introduce us to Kitsch’s stylist, wardrobe manager, tour manager, and make-up assistant.
"You wear make-up?!" Jerry asked Mack incredulously, and we all cracked up.
"Only a little bit, Jerry." Mack explained to her, with a grin.
"When can I see Aaron? I wanna see Aaron!" Jerry cried, making us all laugh some more.
"Okay, okay, we’ll go find Aaron." Mack rolled his eyes and ushered Jerry and I off the bus, leaving Mom and Dad to talk to the tour manager. He would be filling them in on the other details they needed, and answering any questions they had about the tour.
"So do you spend all day on the bus when you’re at a venue?" I asked Mack curiously.
"No, not at all. We usually play basketball, or baseball, or soccer with 5ive and the Backstreet Boys. Sometimes ‘N Sync join in too, but they’re not exactly best friends with the other two guy-bands." Mack led us into the huge venue building, and hunted out the guys he wanted to introduce us to. He was holding Jerry’s left hand, and I was holding her right.
"Are we nearly there yet?" Jerry whined. Mack and I both rolled our eyes.
"We’ve been walking for two minutes, Jerry." I told her, laughing. As I was so much taller than Jerry (I was around 5’8) I mouthed silently to Mack over her head, "She’s sweet on Aaron." Mack nodded and grinned, and we continued our walk through the building. After a couple more minutes, Mack led us into a sports hall, and I could see some guys playing basketball.
"Hey guys!" Mack called to a bunch of guys who were sitting on the bleachers.
"Hey, Mack!" one of them called back, and gestured for us to go over to them. We approached the group of guys and sat down near them on the bleachers.
"Who’ve you got with you?" one of them asked Mack.
"This is my little sister Jerry, she’s seven." Jerry went slightly shy and hid her face in Mack’s shoulder, making us all laugh.
"And is she your girlfriend?" another one asked, gesturing to me.
"What?! No way! This is my other sister, Hallie, she’s sixteen."
"Oh, sorry man! Sorry Hallie!" I just smiled at them all. I gathered they were the Backstreet Boys, but I just couldn’t put names to their faces.
"Hallie and Jerry…this is Brian…he’s twenty-three and he’s a total ace at basketball." Brian held out his hand and I shook it. Jerry, although still feeling a little shy, also shook his hand.
"Hey you guys, I’m Brian’s cousin, Kevin." We all shook hands with Kevin.
I forgot to mention - Jerry looked especially cute that day because she had her blonde hair tied up in little bunches, and was wearing baggy denim shorts and an over-sized Kitsch t-shirt. I was wearing big baggy jeans, and a Kitsch vest-top (hey, we had to support our brother and his friends!), and my hair (which was also blonde) was hanging loosely over my shoulders.
"This is AJ, he’s twenty, and he’s real crazy." Mack laughed and gave AJ a high-five, and then Jerry and I shook hands with him. "This is Nick, he’s eighteen." Mack continued. Nick smiled kinda shyly and shook hands with me. Then he turned to Jerry.
"Heya Jerry. Mack tells me you like to listen to my brother’s music." Nick smiled at her.
"Yeah! Your brother’s really cool!" We all laughed.
"Well I think you and him could become friends. I’ll introduce him to you later."
"You will? Wow, thanks!" Jerry had obviously already taken a liking to Nick.
"I’m Howie, I’m almost twenty-five." The last Backstreet Boy held out his hand for Jerry and I to shake.
"It’s really nice to meet you all." I smiled at them all, feeling a little bit star-struck.
"Mack’s been telling us quite a lot about you." Kevin commented. "He hasn’t shut up about his two little sisters since we started the tour." Mack laughed.
"That’s not true. I only talk about you some of the time. I missed you guys." I gave Mack another hug.
"We missed you too, Mack."
"I missed you most, Mackie!" Jerry cried, flinging her arms around Mack’s neck.
"Mackie?!" AJ asked incredulously, grinning at Mack.
"It’s just her name for me!" he protested. "I call her Jerry-berry." We all cracked up then, and talked for a little while. Then a cute blonde boy, who wasn’t that much taller than Jerry (okay, okay, he was quite a bit taller), ran into the hall.
"Nick! Nick! Where’ve you been?!" Aaron ran right up to Nick and gave his brother a big hug. "I thought we were gonna play video games."
"Oh, man, I’m sorry Aaron. I’ve been meeting Mack’s sisters." Aaron turned around then and faced Jerry and I.
"Oh, sorry. It’s nice to meet you." I smiled at Aaron, but Jerry went completely shy, and started blushing as soon as Aaron smiled at her.
"I’m Hallie, and this is Jerry."
"Hi Hallie, hi Jerry." Aaron smiled at us both.
"H-hi." Jerry whispered. Aaron just smiled at her again.
"You wanna play video games with me and Nick?" Aaron offered, sitting next to Jerry who was now sitting in my lap.
"Video games?!" Jerry instantly perked up and forgot her shyness. "Sure!"
"Great!" Jerry leaped out of my lap and ran off with Aaron.
"She seems to have found a friend." I commented, smiling as I watched them leave the hall together, excitedly talking about which video games they were gonna play.
"It’s nice for Aaron to have someone of his own age around." Nick told me. "You wanna play video games too?"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks." I got up from the bleachers and dusted off my jeans. "I’ll see you later, okay Mack?"
"Sure Hal, have fun. Oh, and Nick?" Nick stopped walking off the bleachers and turned to face my brother.
"What?"
"Hallie’s very good at video games." Mack grinned and Nick grinned back.
"Thanks for the warning, bro’. See ya." Nick and I left the hall then, and Nick started telling me about his new video games. I was kinda into Nintendo, so we just basically talked about new releases, highest scores, etc.
"I’m glad Hallie’s found someone she can get on with too." Mack commented, smiling.
"Yeah, Nick needs a fresh Nintendo opponent. Things get way too intense when it’s me or Aaron playing him." Brian told Mack with a laugh.
A Frantic Night
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