Chapter 11

"Danny, get up." Tom pounded on my door, "Big show tonight. We have to be there to rehearse by 1."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, "Five more minutes," I groaned like I did when my mum woke me up for school. Tom had kind of taken over that responsibility now.

"Get up!" Harry shouted diving on top of me. I shoved him off and laughed, "Okay, okay. I'm up." I crawled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get in the shower. When I got out I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt then headed downstairs to make some breakfast. Dougie was already eating which meant the other two were probably in the shower.

"Morning, Doug." I said sitting next to him.

"Good morning," he said with his mouth full.

"You excited for tonight?" I asked him. It was out first show where we weren't the opening band. It was our concert so it was a big deal to us but I was also a little nervous.

"Yeah," he nodded, "A little scared though,"

"Same," I said, "We'll be alright though."

"Let's go," Tom said walking down the stairs. Harry was behind him still trying to fix his hair. We all piled into Tom's car and headed to the gas station to buy a few packs of red bulls and Tom wanted some Starbucks for the ride there. After a few hours we were finally at the venue. I couldn't wait to see the stage. It was finally our show, no one else's.

We all stood speechless when we saw the stage. It had a massive light up sign that said McFLY

"Wicked…" I said just staring at it. Dougie looked at me, "I hate it!" he joked. I laughed and punched him in the arm and the four of us headed backstage rehearse then just chill in our dressing room until it was time to go on. Dougie ran up to me a few hours before the show, "Mate, come here I have something for you."

I got up off the couch, "What is it?"

He made me close my eyes then he put something in my hands. "Open," he said and I looked down and laughed, "What's this?" I laughed.

"Remember when we first met you said, 'Promise me when your band gets really big I get front row seats and backstage passes.' So there you go."

I looked down at the ticket and VIP pass in my hand and laughed, "I see you are a man of your word then."

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up." Dougie told me right as we were about to go on stage. He was messing with the strap on his bass trying to think of something to do to get over his nerves. The sound of the crowd cheering was ridiculous. I had heard it before when we opened for other bands but knowing they were cheering for us, not the band we were opening for, was amazing.

"Do it now, then," I laughed, "Because the show is starting."

The four of us ran onstage and started the show off with That Girl. Towards the end of the concert Tom leaned into the microphone, breathless, "You guys having fun?" Everyone cheered.

"Thanks so much for coming out tonight!" he said. More cheers.

"I didn't know we had this many fans," I laughed. "I know," Tom said, "Me either."

"Look at all your banners!" I laughed, "This is wicked. Look there's one for Harry."

"What's it say?" Harry asked.

"You guys want me to read out all your banners?" I shouted. They all cheered and held them up as high as they could.

"Okay, okay," I laughed, "'Harry Judd will you marry me?' You hear that Haz? Do you want to marry her?"

"Yeah." He said, "Whoever is holding that sign, my answer is yes!"

I laughed and watched as the girl and her friend jumped up and down.

"Here's another one," I said, "This one's for Doug. 'Dougie show us your Poynter.',?"

Dougie turned bright red and Harry Tom and I cracked up. "Whoever wrote that, you are my hero! That is hilarious." I said, and then turned to Dougie, "I'm going to be saying that to you all week, mate."

We spent the next few minutes reading out some more banners then ended the show with "Five Colours."

"Thanks!" I shouted, "You guys rock! Hope too see you all soon and goodnight!"

We all ran off stage and each grabbed a water bottle. We were all sweating but we didn't care. The show was amazing and we were so excited to play again. "That was so wicked," I said breathlessly. We decided to go home after that instead of going to dinner or something to celebrate. Dougie crashed with his iPod in his ears on the car ride home.

When we got home we all sat around on the couch listening to the radio and eating whatever was left in our fridge. "Turn the radio up, mate." I said to Harry. He leaned over and turned up the volume. The four of us stopped when we heard the familiar guitar intro and "Do do do do do, do!"

We all looked at each other doubtfully. This couldn't be what we thought.

"She's got a lip ring and five colours in her hair."

"No way!" we all jumped up and danced, laughing and singing. This was the first time we'd ever heard any of our songs on the radio before. When the song ended we all fell back to our seats and laughed, out of breath.

"That was McFLY with their new single Five Colours in her Hair, which has been climbing to the top of the charts all week and might even make #1" the radio host said.

""Number 1! No way!" Tom shouted. "This is unreal!"

"Wicked," I agreed. I heard Blink 182's Family Reunion and laughed knowing it was Dougie's ringtone. He laughed then picked up his cell and looked at the caller ID. The color drained from his face and he squeezed his eyes shut, "Not now…" he groaned.

Tom gave me a worried look. I just shrugged and we turned our attention back to Dougie as his opened his phone. "H-hello?" he stuttered into the phone.

"You were there?" he asked, his eyes lighting up, "Wait…why?"

He listened and I watched him go from excited to angry in a split second, "You leave us with nothing but a note and then decide you want to see my band play? I don't think it works that way, Dad!" He stopped and listened again, "That's your problem!" he shouted into the phone, "But don't tell me all this, tell her! Right now I want nothing to do with you!" He slammed his phone shut then ran up to his room.

"Oh no," Tom said, "Wonder what happened now?"

"I dunno," Harry shrugged, "Want me to go see if he's alright?"

"Yeah," I said, "That's probably a good idea."

Tom and I watched Harry disappear up the stairs, then Tom looked at me, "The poor kid. He's only 15 and his family's falling apart."

"Tell me about it," I sighed, "It sucks. I feel so bad for him."

"Wonder what happened." Tom said, "He sounded so upset. How does he hate his father that much?"

"I don't blame him," I said, "I know what it's like. I remember it seemed impossible to hate my dad a few years ago but now…" my voice trailed off and Harry came back downstairs.

"Any luck?" Tom asked. He shook his head, "He won't talk to me. You should try, Danny. He'll listen to you..."

"Me?" I asked getting up, "Alright." I headed up the stairs and gently knocked on Dougie's door.

"Dougie?" I asked pushing the door open. He was laying face-down on his bed with a pillow on top of his head. "What?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"What happened?" I asked softly as I sat down on the edge of his bed. He rolled over and faced the wall. "Dougie, please talk to me. The guys are worried and so am I. Just tell me what happened."

"My dad's an asshole, that's what happened," he mumbled.

"Well we kind of established that already," I said smiling, "What did he say to you on the phone?"

"He was at the show tonight," Dougie said sitting up and hugging his knees to his chest. He pulled the bottom of his shirt up and wiped his eyes with it.

"Really? That's great." I said, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well yeah," he said, "But it wasn't for me. He wants to, quote, make things right with my mum."

"Oh…"

"And he thought he'd find her there. Only she must have left early because he didn't see her and then he went on and on telling me how bad he wanted to make things better with her. I swear if she forgives him I'm gonna…" He shook his head then ran his hands through his hair. His cell phone started vibrating and he picked it up off his nightstand table. He read the text then chucked it at the wall, "Fuck everyone right now!" he shouted falling face down back on his bed. I got up and picked his phone up off the ground. I looked at the screen.

We probably shouldn't see each other anymore. Sorry.
-Stephanie.

"Ouch…" I whispered. I watched Dougie laying there, shaking from crying so hard. Everything seemed to be happening at once and he didn't know how to deal with it. Even worse, I didn't know what to say.

"Dougie…" I began.

"Go away," he told me, his voice muffled again, "I wanna be left alone. Please just go away."

I sat back down, "I'm not going away until I know you're going to be okay. Come on, cheer up a little. We just played a show in front of a massive crowd. We were on the radio! We might make it to number 1 this week."

"It doesn't matter," he said flatly, "This is the reason my dad left, because I dropped out, moved out and joined this band."

"Doug, he should be proud of you and if he's isn't then he's not worth your time. He isn't worth worrying about," I told him, "And forget about Steph. You've got your friends, there will be other girls."

"It's not so much Stephanie I'm upset about," he said, "It's just my dad, Stephanie, everything. It's all happening at once."

"That's why you've got us," I told him, "Mate, you've got your friends to talk to."

"You're right," he sighed and picked up his phone. "I don't need Stephanie."

"Exactly," I said picking up his phone. I hit delete but the screen was frozen. It must have broken when he threw it at the wall.

"Uh, I hate to add one more thing to your list, but your phone is kind of busted," I told him. He grabbed it from me and looked at the cracked screen. Instead of getting even more angry he started laughing, "This is just great!" he laughed, "Time to start looking at the Brightside of things… I needed a new phone anyway."

I stood up and grabbed his arm and helped him up. He put his arm around me and smiled, "Thanks, mate."