CHAPTER 4: CLAIRE: Ben and I packed our things and walked off the bus to a crowd of fans. The myriad of people was buzzing; everyone was wondering what was going on, or what was going to happen next. Danny and Abbi were standing just in front of the bus; Sam and James were off to the side, looking guilty. The fans appeared to have forgotten about autographs and were just focused on the drama at hand. I hadn't planned on speaking to either Danny or Abbi before leaving, but Ben was leading me over to them. What could he possibly have to say to them? "I have one question," Ben said. "Wait, are you leaving, too?" Danny asked. "I didn't think you were serious." "Of course I'm serious." Danny glanced down at Abbi, who shrugged. "Well, what do you expect me to do about a guitar player?" Ben scoffed. "I don't give a fuck. I told you I was leaving if you made Claire leave." "Claire did this to herself," Abbi put her two cents in. Ugh. "No one gives a shit about your opinion," I said. "Come on, Ben. Let's go." "Hold on. I'm not done here." I gaped at him. "What more could you possibly have to say to them?" I asked. Ben ignored me. "I can't believe you ruined our friendship over something this stupid," he said to Danny, poking his finger at Danny's chest. "And I'm not just talking about your and mine friendship; I mean all of us—me, you, Claire, James and Sam." "You and Claire ruined our friendships when you decided to do me wrong," Danny replied, feeling really hurt for the first time. "And you couldn't even tell me the truth about it." "Okay, fine. You wanna know the truth?" Oh, God. "The truth is that we kissed. That's it." "How many times?" Abbi asked. "Twice, I think." Abbi glanced over at Danny. "You guys can go now," Danny said calmly and headed for the bus. Abbi smirked at Ben and I. "Thanks." "For what?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "For making it too easy to get rid of you," Abbi snarled and left Ben and I standing in a crowd of confused and annoyed fans. BEN: "For making it too easy to get rid of you," Abbi snarled and left Claire and I standing in a crowd of confused and annoyed fans. "That bitch planned this," I said. "Hey, Claire," a fan said from behind us. We turned and saw a guy with purple streaks in his hair. "Are you going to kick her ass? You totally should." "No," Claire said and started making her way out of the crowd. I followed her. CLAIRE: I walked away from the crowd of fans, across the street and around the corner. I didn't realize I was crying until I glanced up at my reflection in the window of an abandoned shop. There was graffiti all of the outside and some of the glass was broken out. This just made me homesick. I longed to be back in the country, surrounded by trees. Ben came up behind me and took me into his arms. For a while, we just stood there, me crying and Ben holding me. People were staring, but we didn't care. We had both just lost everything. Our friends, our passion, our living. All because we had had feelings for one another and had been stupid enough to act on them. And Abbi had been smart enough to realize it. And diabolical enough to tell everyone. Eventually, Ben pulled away and made me look at him. He wiped my tears away and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Love, you have got to hang in there," he said. I sniffled and fought the urge to cry again. "She took everything from me," I replied, my voice cracking. "Hey. Look at me." I made myself look at him. "We are together. We will make it. With or without them." DANNY: "Maybe I shouldn't have made them leave," I said. Sam, James, Abbi and I were all sitting in the back room. Everyone was tense, except Abbi. "Of course you should have made them leave," Abbi said. "Look how much they've hurt you." "Has anyone else noticed that we're now short a guitar player?" James said. "What are we going to do?" I asked them. "I really fucked everything up." Sam said, "Well, first, we should probably call our manager and tell him what happened. Maybe he'll know what to do." "Good idea." Apparently, our manager knew a guy in town and had him join the band. He was skinny, kind of lanky, with shoulder-length dark hair. "Hi, I'm Cam," he said, shaking our hands one by one.