Babysitting the Band

4 CHAPTER

4 CHAPTER

​"You look tired," Parker said as he sat down beside me at lunch. "Is everything okay?"

​I didn't lift my head from the table, only grunting as a response. I was tired, and I could have fallen asleep right then and there. I hadn't had one good night of sleep in over a week, and it was driving me absolutely nuts.

​"I thought that babysitting teenagers would be a little easier, you know?" I started, closing my eyes when the light was beginning to be too much. "I thought that they wouldn't have as much energy as little kids do, but I was wrong. They have so much more."

​Parker grinned at me. "Babysitting four famous boys can get really tiring, huh?"

​I merely grunted.

​"Everyone in school thinks you're the luckiest girl to ever live," Parker shrugged. "No one seems to notice how tired you really are."

​"Because all anyone can ever think about is that stupid band," I couldn't help but snap, lifting my head only for a moment to say this before lying it back down on my arms afterwards.

​"Hello, Aria!" I heard a person call out to me before Parker could say anything else, and I nearly groaned at what they had said. I also nearly groaned because I knew who that voice belonged to.

​"Hey, Mae," I greeted the blonde as I lifted my head up, trying my hardest to look like I could actually stand her. I had never liked her, ever since I had met her in sixth grade. She was loud and annoying. She also liked to think that she was my friend.

​"I was really hoping that you'd join the debate team this year, Aria," Mae smiled at me, a few of her just-as-annoying friends standing behind her as she spoke to me. "Since Zoey joined, I thought you might as well. It would have been really fun to hang out with you some more."

​"Oh..." was all I was able to say at first, since I didn't want to be mean to her when she hadn't ever done anything too horrible to me. I honestly just found her annoying. "Well, the debate team just isn't my sort of thing. I don't really like talking in front of people at all."

​Mae giggled. "Aw, that's too bad. A lot of different kinds of people have been on the debate team though. I'm sure we'd find the perfect spot for you!"

​This girl just couldn't take no for an answer, could she? I already had enough to deal with, what with babysitting those damn boys and whatnot. I did not want to join a club that I didn't even like in the first place, even if one of my best friends was a part of it.

​"Sorry," I apologized again. "I've been really busy lately. I just wouldn't have any time to join the debate team."

​I just wanted her to go away and leave me alone. I didn't want to waste my time on the debate team when I had Hello Aria to deal with.

​"Oh, yeah!" Mae seemed to remember now. "You have that job watching the boys of Hello Aria, right?"

​I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from making a face at her as I said, "Yep."

​She giggled, and it was probably one of the most annoying sounds I had ever heard in my entire life. I didn't understand why she was as popular with boys as she was. She had had about fifteen boyfriends while I had only had two, and one of them had only been for three weeks in the seventh grade.

​"So you get to spend time with all of them?" she gushed now, clasping her hands under her chin as she giggled again. I only nodded. "Which one's the cutest up close?”

​I blinked at her flatly. "I don't know."

​"I bet it's Ben, right?" she guessed, and Parker continued to sit awkwardly next to me since he knew how irritable I was. "He has such a cute baby face compared to the other three! Ash is rugged, while Grim is handsome and Sawyer is smooth. You're so lucky to have the chance to be around them so much."

​"Yeah," I agreed, even though I didn't mean it. I forced a smile at her. "I guess I'm just the luckiest girl in the world."

​She giggled again. She couldn't tell I wasn't being serious as she said, "You're right! You are!"

​If only she knew how these boys really were. All four of them were immature and thought money was going to get them everything they've ever wanted. Three out of the four of them might have been nice to me, but that didn't change the fact that they still acted like children.

​Luckily, I was then saved by the bell. I quickly dismissed myself before yankying Parker up from his seat and pulling him to our next class as quickly as possible. The next few classes then went by quickly, and once school was over, I then began to walk home as quickly as I possibly could.

​When I saw the limo down the street, I knew who was inside. As much as I wanted to run away and never look back, I couldn't.

​"You guys don't have to pick me up from school every day," I informed them as I got into the back of the limo. "At least you guys are smart enough to park a few blocks away and not get out of the car anymore."

​Sawyer shrugged. "Annabelle told us to come pick you up today, so we did. It's not that big of a deal."

​"Since none of you are the ones driving," I couldn't help but mutter, my eyes sliding to the new limo driver.

​"Anyway, we have a concert tonight," Grim informed me with his usual sour expression. "You have to be backstage with us to make sure we aren't causing trouble."

​I couldn't help but make a face. I might have only been backstage at one concert before, but that hadn't been the best experience.

​"Shameless Thinking is opening for us again." Ash rolled his eyes, and I could tell that the four boys didn't like this band very much, though I wasn't about to ask why. "They all want to meet you.”

​I felt myself blanch at the thought of meeting three other famous teenagers. I just hoped they weren't as rotten as Grim was.

​"You have to change your clothes before you go to the concert, though," Grim informed me with a scowl. "There's no way we're going to let you go anywhere while you're wearing something like that."

​I looked down at my normal blue jeans and sweater, glaring back up at Grim afterwards. What I was wearing wasn't bad; it was just like what I always wore. Just because I was wearing a tight dress when they first met me didn't mean I was going to wear one every single freaking day.

​But instead of fighting with him, I decided I'd clean myself up anyways, since I was going to be meeting people. I'd find something that was more comfortable than that horrible dress that I had to wear last time, but I'd make sure it wasn't too comfortable so they wouldn't flip out on me.

​They dropped me off at my house after that, and I didn't understand why they had even picked me up. I guess they were just trying to make my life harder by seemingly making it easier.

​"Aria, are you going to the Hello Aria concert tonight?" was the first thing Sophie asked me once I got inside the house, and I wasn't surprised at all. "If you are, is there any way you can take me with you? I want to see the guys again!"

​I told her that I was going to go to the concert tonight, but I couldn't take her with me. She was upset about it, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with her moods.

​As I changed out of my comfortable clothes, I couldn't believe I was actually doing this. Eventually, I saw that I didn't have any clothes that the boys would have found acceptable, so I asked Sophie if I could borrow clothes from her.

​Instead of having the Hello Aria boys pick me up, I had my mom drive me to the concert. Showing one of the bouncers my backstage pass, they let me backstage without a second thought.

​Someone who recognized me as their babysitter pointed me toward the boys' dressing room, so I quickly made my way to it so this whole situation would be over with quicker. Since they were going to be on stage most of the time, I wasn't going to have to be around them that much.

​When I pushed open the door to their dressing room, I was surprised to see Ash without his shirt on right in the middle of the room. I let out a yelp, and this caused the boys to laugh as I quickly covered my eyes so I wouldn't see anything else.

​"It's fine, it's fine," Ash assured with a laugh, yanking a shirt over his bare chest. "I'm decent, Aria. You can look now."

​"Sorry..." I apologized. "I shouldn't have opened the door without knocking. Sorry..."

​Ash, Sawyer, and Ben continued to laugh, though I didn't find this funny at all. Grim didn't seem to think it was very funny either, because he was now glaring at me like he always did. I said nothing, so he took the liberty of speaking first.

​"What the hell are you wearing?"

​I looked down at the black pullover hoodie and skinny jeans, not thinking that it looked bad at all as I asked Grim, "What?"

​I was wearing a hoodie with their band logo on it, which I had borrowed from Sophie, and I figured that this would be perfectly fine for me to wear to their concert.

​I shoved my hands into the pockets of the hoodie, my hands meeting in the middle of it like I knew it would. Little did he know, I had nothing but a bra on underneath I did say I was going to dress comfortably, and I had never felt more comfortable in my life.

​"You look like you're a fan," Grim informed me, his nose wrinkling now as he looked me up and down. "You don't look like someone who works for us; you look like someone who just follows us around."

​I kind of was someone that just followed them around, but I didn't say this because I wasn't in the mood to fight with him. What I normally wore wasn't good enough, and now neither was this? Would I ever be able to do anything that made Grim happy?

​"I think she looks cute," Sawyer interrupted before I could say anything back to Grim, winking at me when he saw me look over to him. "Don't be mean to her, Grim. At least she showed up, right? She could have not come at all."

​"I wish she didn't come," I heard Grim mutter as he now turned away. "She would have been fired if she didn't."

​And that was the only reason why I did go. If I didn't do what I was told, I knew that I'd either get fired or get into some kind of trouble. And as much as these guys got on my nerves, I wasn't going to get fired after only a few weeks.

​Before Grim could leave the dressing room, all five of us heard a shrill voice shout out, "Grim!"

​He groaned, running his hands over his eyes as the door burst open to reveal a grinning blonde girl, a boy and a girl standing right behind her. It took me a moment, but I then realized that it was the band Shameless Thinking.

​Ash rolled his eyes, and I wanted to ask why he reacted this way. I'd been able to tell that there was something about this band that he didn't like, but I never had the time to ask him what.

​"So, are you going to introduce me to her or not?" the blonde girl asked as she made her way up to Grim, a large grin still on her face. "Annabelle's already told us a bit about her, but I want to hear it from you guys!"

​"This is Aria Slater," Sawyer introduced, motioning to me with his hand. "She's our babysitter."

​"Can we please find something else to call her?" Grim snapped at his friend now, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him.

​"Why, is there a problem with calling her your babysitter?" the blonde now asked him. I said nothing, since I didn't know what I was supposed to say. "I think it's cute."

​"It's not," Grim disagreed.

​The blonde puffed out her chest. "It is."

​I had a feeling these two had experience fighting with each other, so I knew it was probably the best not to interrupt them. I didn't know how long they knew each other, but I could tell that it had been for a while just by the way they were acting. They were bickering, but it wasn't the same type of bickering as Grim and I did. He didn't seem to absolutely hate her.

​As they continued to bicker with each other, I noticed the guitarist of the band as he made his way toward me, and I couldn't help but feel a little nervous when I saw how good looking he was up close.

​"I'm Shane," the guitarist of the band grinned at me, taking my hand and kissing it. I was surprised, not sure of how to even react to this. "I'm the guitarist of Shameless Thinking, but you probably already know that."

​For some reason, I felt my cheeks heat up. Grim's eyebrows furrowed at me when he noticed it, too. "I'm, uh... I'm Aria," I introduced myself now, swallowing when I realized that I had stammered for no reason.

​"So you're the girl that Annabelle was talking about," Shane smirked at me, leaning forward closer to me to get a better look leaning forward closer to me to get a better look. "Well, she was right when she said that you were gorgeous."

​I felt my cheeks turn even redder, and this time Ash looked just as displeased as Grim did. I assumed that this was because of Shane, since they didn't show this much disdain toward the other two members of Shameless Thinking. I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with him, but I made the decision not to ask right then and there in front of Shane.

​"I'm Gwen," the blonde girl now introduced as she slid in front of me with a wide grin on her face, sticking her hand out for me to shake. "You must be the Aria girl that Grim was complaining about when I saw him the other day."

​I made a face at the blonde boy beside me as I shook Gwen's hand. "Yeah, I guess."

​Grim merely shrugged, an uncaring look on his face like always. I chose to ignore him. Nothing good would have come out of fighting with him, though I really did want to say something rude to him.

​"Well, well, well... You two definitely look like you've been getting along," Gwen smirked at us when she noticed how the two of us glared at each other. She then wrapped an arm around the blonde boy's neck. "Don't take him too seriously, Aria. He's actually a really good guy and all, once you give him a chance and get to know him. I would know, since I've been friends with him ever since we were little kids."

​Grim rolled his eyes, pushing the girl off him. "Don't remind me."

​"Are you embarrassed by me?"

​"Yeah, you're like a mother."

​"Am I worse than Annabelle?"

​Grim said nothing to this, and even I knew the answer. I could tell that Grim didn't think anyone was worse than his mother, except maybe for me.

​I now turned toward the singer of the group who had been talking to Ash, since she was the only one of Shameless Thinking that I hadn't met yet. Now that I was closer to her, I noticed how her brown hair was streaked with pinks, purples, and blues. Her eyes were lined with thick, black eyeliner and her lips were covered in a bright pink lipstick, which matched with the pink and black outfit she was wearing. She definitely looked different from her other band members.

​"Hi," I greeted, holding out my hand for her. "I'm Aria. And you are?"

​"Humph!" The girl sneered and crossed her arms over her chest before turning away from me.

​"That's Fiona," Ash sighed. "She's not exactly the friendliest person you'll ever meet."

​I kept my mouth shut and didn't tell him that this was what I was expecting. Obviously, Fiona's personality matched her dressing style, which was dark and brooding. I was sure I was not going to want to get to know her any time soon. Or ever, to be completely honest.

​Fiona continued to glare at me, and I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Even under all her makeup, she was really pretty. She looked so uncaring and rude, and I knew she wasn't the kind of person I wanted to have a conversation with. I thought she might have been different, since looks weren't everything, but I guess I was wrong.

​"You need to get a haircut," Gwen informed her childhood friend suddenly, reaching up and ruffling his blonde hair with her fingers.

​Grim slapped her hand away. "I'll do what I want."

​"Don't make me give you another haircut like I did when we were seven, Gregory."

"Like I'd ever let you get near me with scissors again after that, Gwendolyn."

​Gwen lifted her fist at Grim and shook it. "You know not to call me that!"

​Grim took a step back as he grabbed onto her wrist, stopping her from hitting him. "And you know not to call me Gregory!"

​This was going to be a long concert, I knew. I didn't think it was going to be so fun sitting in the back while the guys were up on the stage, especially when I barely knew the three teens of Shameless Thinking.

​"We're going to have a lot of fun tonight, Aria!" Gwen giggled, looping her arm around mine, much to Grim's chagrin. "We'll spend all night gossiping and swapping embarrassing stories about Grim!"

​The blonde drummer—Grim, not Gwen—did not seem happy about this in the slightest. But just as he was about to follow us out of his dressing room, a new voice stopped him from going anywhere. "Gregory!"

​I never thought I'd be so happy to see Annabelle.