FicWad

“Ok,” Rachel said, tugging at her black and red striped shirt. “We’re ready.”

Winter’s hair was perfectly straight and much longer. She seemed a lot happier. “Thanks for letting us borrow your flat iron Mikey,” she said, handing it to him.

“No problem,” Mikey said.

“We’re here,” Gerard said, looking out the window. He handed the girls their backstage passes. “The show doesn’t start until a couple of hours though, so we’re just gonna have to chill backstage.”

“Let’s go,” Ray said.

Rachel pulled on her black hoodie and zipped it up. On the front it said My Chemical Romance in white letters. Winter’s was exactly the same except the letters were black and the hoodie was white. “We have to blend in with the crowd,” she said, laughing.

“Aw, you two look so cute, all matching together,” Frank teased, before walking out the door. “Best friends forever!”

Rachel and Winter laughed and followed him outside.

“Gerard!”

Rachel turned around to see a woman about twenty-five years or older walking towards them. Gerard smiled and put his arm around her. “Hey,” he said. “Rachel, this is my girlfriend, Jess. Jess, this is Rachel and her friend, Winter.

Rachel looked at Jess. Her straight brown hair with blonde streaks came down past her shoulders. She was wearing a white fitted tee with black designs scrawled on it, a studded belt, black skinny jeans, and converse shoes. She was really pretty. Rachel thought she seemed really nice. “Hi,” she said, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” Rachel smiled.

“Nice to meet you too,” Jess said. She turned to Gerard. “You guys are late, you know. The show starts in an hour. I’m gonna go get my spot.”

“Shit,” Gerard said. “I didn’t know we were late. Ok, I’ll see you after the show.” He gave her a kiss before she walked inside the theater.

“Rachel and I are gonna go get our spots too,” Winter said. “We’ll see you later.”

“Ok,” Gerard said. “Be careful, alright?”

“Alright,” Rachel called back as she followed Winter inside.




RACHEL’S POV
“So what do you think of Jess?” Winter asked me as we walked inside. We somehow managed to get in the front.

“She’s cool,” I said. “I really like her. I just hope that she doesn’t like Gerard only for his looks. He looks so happy when she’s around.”

“Me too,” Winter said. “I want Gerard to be happy. He’s my idol after all.” We laughed. Winter pulled some skittles out of her purse. “Thou shall eat skittles,” she said, reciting Frank Iero’s 3rd commandment. “Do you want some?”

I shook my head. “No thanks, I’m not hungry.”

Winter looked worried. “Rachel,” she said. “You’re not having that problem again, are you?”

“To be honest, I don’t know.” I said. “I haven’t really eaten at all this week.”

“Rachel, I don’t want you to get sick again,” Winter said. “You have to eat. Your anorexia might come back.”

“But I’m really not hungry,” I lied. The truth was, I was starving.

“I don’t care,” Winter said. “Rachel, I want you to know, you’re not fat. I don’t want you to starve yourself again. Besides,” she said. “You can’t hide it forever. What will Gerard and the others do when they find out?”

“That’s not going to happen,” I said. “Because I’m not going to starve myself again.”

“I know that you are,” Winter said. “Rachel, if you keep doing this to yourself, I’m gonna have to tell someone. I might even tell Gerard tonight. Eat. I know you’re hungry.”

I sighed and took the skittles. “You’re right. I have a problem.” I forced a skittle in my mouth and chewed it.

“Well at least you’re admitting it,” Winter said. “You’re gonna get better Rachel, don’t worry.”

I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I had eaten that one skittle. Now almost half the bag was gone. Winter thrust her bag at me. “You can eat everything I have in here. Just promise me you’ll eat some real food tonight, ok?”

“Ok,” I said hugging her. I was so hungry. It felt so good to eat. For the next hour we talked and ate. All the snacks were gone by the time the lights turned off. We cheered as the band walked onstage.

Gerard walked up to the microphone. “I wanna thank you all, for coming to see us play tonight,” he said. The crowd cheered. When they were done, he continued, “Me and the rest of the band, we wanna dedicate this concert tonight, to our friend Rachel.”

Winter turned to me. “Oh my gosh Rachel!” She said, as the crowd cheered again. I blushed.

Gerard’s voice softened. “Her mom was killed yesterday, by a drunk driver.”

Everyone went silent.

“So I just wanna remind you guys,” he continued. “That if you ever get drunk, anywhere, don’t get into your car and drive home. Call a fuckin taxi, or get a fuckin ride home alright?”

The crowd cheered.

“And if you have a friend,” he said, “That thinks that they can drive home when their wasted, don’t get in the car with them. Don’t let them drive home. Take away their fuckin keys, and you do whatever it takes to make sure that they don’t drive home drunk!”

The crowd cheered again, and I blushed even more. It was sad, thinking about how my mom was killed by a drunk driver, but I was glad that Gerard was telling them about it, because I didn’t want anyone else to be hurt by one.

“But I think you guys should thank Rachel,” Gerard said. “Because we were gonna cancel our show tonight, so we could be with her, but she wouldn’t let us.” The crowd cheered some more. “So on the count of three,” Gerard said, “We’re gonna thank Rachel all right? One, two, THREE!” He held his microphone up in the air.

“THANK YOU RACHEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Everyone screamed. Winter laughed as the crowd cheered my name. I was so embarrassed. Gerard looked down at me and smiled.

“I think we embarrassed her enough,” he said. “Ok, let’s get this show started!” Winter and I cheered with the rest of the crowd as the band started playing.

















“I swear Rachel, I’m not gonna be able to talk tomorrow,” Winter said when the concert ended.

“Me either,” I laughed. “I practically screamed along to every song. Poor Gerard. His voice must be wrecked after every show. Everyone’s gonna be really tired tomorrow,” I said as we started to walk out.

Someone grabbed my shoulder. I spun around and saw Jess. “Hey,” she said. “I didn’t know that your mother just passed away. I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’m just so happy that Gerard and everyone are letting me stay with them.”

“Hey,” Winter said. “You’re Gerard’s girlfriend right? You don’t like him for just his looks do you?”

Winter never beats around the bush. I admire her for it, but sometimes it really is bothersome.

Jess laughed. “Well, Gerard is really good looking,” she said. “But he’s just so sweet and caring. There’s not a lot of guys like that, you know?”

Winter nodded. “I’m just glad you like him for other reasons too. Gerard doesn’t deserve a girl who only cares about how he looks. You’re cool in my book.”

Jess laughed. “You guys are so cool. I was afraid you wouldn’t like me.”

“No,” I said. “You’re so nice, how could we not like you?”

“Well I’m glad that we’re gonna get along,” Jess said.

When we walked backstage, Gerard greeted Jess with a kiss. “You guys did great as usual,” Jess said.

“How cute,” Winter said. “So how long have you guys been together?”

“About two months,” Gerard said, putting his arm around Jess.

Winter nodded and went back into fan girl mode. Running over to Frank and hugging him, she screamed, “You guys were so awesome! I love your music it rocks so much I freakin love you to death!” I smiled, shaking my head at Winter’s spazziness. Frank laughed uncomfortably. She was obviously hugging him so hard to the point where he couldn’t breathe.

Ray came over and hugged me. “Tired?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly feeling like I could just fall asleep on the ground. “You?”

“I’m beat,” he said.

“When do we go back inside?” I asked.
“In about an hour or two,” Ray said. “We have to go outside and sign stuff and whatnot.”

“That kinda sucks,” I said.

“Yeah,” Ray replied. “But it makes people happy, you know?”

“Yeah,” I said. “So we’re going outside?”

“Yep,” Ray said, looking back and noticing that everyone was walking outside. We followed them. I was so tired that I could barely walk.

Outside, there were fans screaming so loud that I woke up instantly. Gerard and Frank were already signing things, Winter had reluctantly left Frank’s side so he could write. I walked behind them, watching the screaming fans. It was weird thinking that if my mom had not died, I’d be screaming and hoping for an autograph too.

“Oh my gosh, are you Rachel?” A girl asked.

“Uh, yeah.” I said. My voice sounded so wrecked!

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry about what happened to your mom,” the girl said. “But that was really cool of you to not let them cancel the show tonight.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I was planning on going, so I knew how it would have sucked to have it canceled.”

“It would have sucked so much! I would have been pissed,” she said. “Hey, can you sign this?” She asked, handing me a notebook and pen.

I was pretty shocked. I saw all five of the member’s names, and the girl wanted me to sign it too? She looked like she was older than me! “Uh, sure,” I said, signing the paper.

After following the band around and signing some more papers, Winter and I got cold, so we went backstage where it was warm. I collapsed on a couch next to Winter. “I’m so tired!” I said.

“Me too,” Winter replied. We kind of just sat there, not saying anything. Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep.























Winter looked at Rachel. She had fallen asleep. Now was her chance. “Rachel’s gonna kill me,” She said to herself, “But I have to do this. She’s gonna get hurt, I know it.” Winter walked outside and looked for the band. She found them and walked up.

“Hey Gerard,” She said. “I need to talk to you for a minute.”

She motioned for him to walk with her. “What’s up?” He asked.

“I want you to make sure that Rachel eats, ok?”

“Ok,” He said confused.

“I think you should know,” Winter said. “Rachel used to be anorexic. I’m worried that her mom’s death will be an excuse to stop eating again.”

Gerard’s eyes widened in shock. “Wow, I never knew. I thought she was just too upset to eat.”

Winter nodded. “I already talked to her about it, and I got her to eat a little, but if she stops eating, call me ok? My numbers on her phone.”

Gerard nodded. “I will. Don’t worry.”

“I just really care about Rachel. I don’t want her to get hurt again,” Winter said.

“I care about her too,” Gerard said. “I want her to be safe. I promise, I’ll make sure she eats.”

“Thanks Gerard.” Winter said, giving him a hug and walking back inside.

Gerard thought about the information he just heard. So that’s why she wouldn’t eat, he thought to himself. He jogged back to the band. “Hey,” he said. “I gotta talk to you guys.”























Rachel woke up in Frank’s arms. “Hey…” She said sleepily, looking around. Then she realized where she was. “Hey! Put me down!” She yelled. Frank just laughed. “I don’t like being picked up!” She yelled. “I thought you knew that!”

Frank laughed. “Yeah I know.”

“Pick up Winter, she’ll be happy,” I said.

Winter laughed. Looking over, she saw that Ray was carrying her to the van. Rachel sighed. “Am I gonna have to get used to being picked up like this all the time?” She asked.

“Yes,” Frank said. Everyone laughed. Finally, he put her down. Rachel adjusted her shirt, annoyed, and walked inside with Winter.

“I swear, he can be really annoying,” Rachel said.

“I’d be happy,” Winter said.

“You’d be,” Rachel said. “But I don’t like being lifted off the ground. You know that.”

Winter laughed. “Yeah…” She strolled over to the bathroom and studied her reflection. “Wow I look like crap. My eyeliner is a mess.” She used some water to wipe it off, then reapplied it.






















“Ok Winter, we’re here,” Gerard said, gently shaking her. She had fallen asleep.

Winter sat up sleepily. “Rachel wake up,” she said. “I’m leaving.”

“Wow,” Rachel muttered. “You didn’t even ask for autographs or pictures. I’m impressed.”

“Oh yeah!” Winter said. She turned to Gerard. “Could I get some autographs and pictures?” She asked. Rachel laughed in her sleep.

“Sure, why not?” Gerard said, laughing.













Twenty minutes later, Rachel walked Winter to her door. “Thank you so much Rachel!” Winter said. “This is like a freakin dream I still can’t believe it happened to me!” Winter gave her a hug.

Rachel laughed. “Thanks for coming, I needed a friend with me today.”

“Remember if you ever need to come over, you can, at any time,” Winter said. “Just call.” She gave her a bag filled with clothes and personal hygiene needs. “You might want these.”

“Thanks so much,” Rachel said. “Bye Winter.”

“Bye Rachel.” Winter walked inside and Rachel trudged back to the van.

“I’m tired,” Rachel said. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight guys.”

“Hey, don’t you wanna eat something before you go to bed?” Gerard asked.

Rachel climbed into her bunk and shook her head. “I’m not hungry,” She said.