Girl Online: On Tour (10 page)

I stand up and hug Tom from behind as he taps away at his computer, changing the last of my log-in details. “Thanks, bro. I love you.”

He pats my arms. “I’m proud of you for not freaking out, Penny.” He spins round in his chair. “And be careful in Europe. If anything happens, I’ll be on the first plane out.”

“I know.” As I leave, I take a deep breath and finally feel like I am actually going. And I can’t wait.

•  •  •

When Noah picks me up the next morning, my adrenaline is still running high from the previous night. I tell him all about TheRealTruth and he doesn’t even flinch. Instead, he grabs my hand.

“Remember what I said, Autumn Girl. I’m here for you. Sounds like you and Tom got things sorted, but if anything else from this creep comes up we’ll face it together. You and me against the world, all right?”

“All right,” I say, and my heart lifts as I realize that whoever is trying to . . . blackmail me? Scare me? Trigger my anxiety? Whatever it is they’re trying to do, I won’t have to face it alone. If anything, our chat about TheRealTruth ends up being a welcome distraction from the short plane journey because, before I know it, we’ve landed and Noah is taking my hand and escorting me through the airport, into the car park, and up to the tour bus.

It is just as I had imagined: a great big black bus, with huge, tinted windows. It’s super shiny and swish. Noah’s face is lit up with excitement and he squeezes my hand so tight I feel my bones crush together.

“This is really happening, Pen! Look at this absolute beauty.” He skips ahead and stands in front of it, attempting to take a tour-bus selfie—but of course he only manages to get his face and a tiny bit of black behind him.

“Let me take it, you doofus.” I snatch the phone from his hand and take a much better shot with his arms outstretched and the bus behind him.

Larry pops his head out of the door and waves us in. “Oh, good. You’re here!” he says. As we step inside, I realize how much of a boys’ paradise this is. There are several mini fridges, games consoles, and TV screens everywhere. The rest of Noah’s band starts filing in and, surprisingly, I don’t feel claustrophobic. It’s a lot roomier than I could ever have expected. There are two sofa areas, a small kitchen, a shower with a toilet, and at the back of the bus there are a few caravan-style beds in case anyone feels the need for a quick snooze.

I feel a hand slide behind my back and a husky voice in my ear.

“Wanna play?” I turn to see Blake gesturing towards the Xbox.

“Oh, I’m not very good really!” I say modestly, although secretly I’m an absolute whiz at
Sonic the Hedgehog
and
Mario Kart
. Having an older brother means that the majority of the time I’ve spent bonding with him has been over lengthy gaming sessions. A lot of my fondest memories with
Tom are of the days and weeks we used to spend trying to complete various games together, snacking on handfuls of cereal and leaving the room only for the occasional toilet break.

What is he doing right now?
That’s not hard—he’s probably on his computer, playing
Halo.
I bet Mum is cleaning the kitchen, wearing her dusting shoes, flapping around with a feather duster and singing along to eighties classics. My dad, on the other hand, is probably playing solitaire on his computer, or pretending to do the crossword in the paper. He never does them properly; he just tries to think of the most immature words he can to fill the spaces, then leaves the crossword out for my mum to find on one of her cleaning sprees. She will usually laugh uncontrollably and they’ll end up smooching like teenagers in a heap on the sofa. I shudder and quickly snap out of my daydreaming.

“That’s not true, Penny!” Noah laughs. “I seem to remember you kicking my butt at
Mario Kart
last time I saw you!”

“Aha! I knew it,” snaps Blake. “No excuses!” He shoves a controller into my hand and stretches out in a chair in front of a TV, placing a bottle of beer on the table and burping out of the side of his mouth.

“You’re on,” I say, sitting down beside Blake and putting on my best smirk as he starts a game of
Forza Motorsport
. I can’t say car racing is my forte, but I’ll give my best shot.

“Prepare to lose,” he chimes back, with a strange smile on his face. He takes a sip of his beer, holding eye contact with me until I feel uncomfortable and turn towards the screen and select my car. Blake stretches out with one leg up on the table, burping and swearing at his racing car. I might actually
beat him! I can hear the rest of the guys laughing behind us, and Noah is improvising an entire song about bratwurst.

“Hey, so your friend Megan is something else,” Blake says without taking his eyes off the screen.

“What?” I’m so shocked I almost drop the controller, and my on-screen vehicle crashes dramatically into a concrete barrier.

Blake zooms past me and pumps both fists up in the air when he crosses the finish line. “Oh yeah! I knew this little girlie couldn’t beat me. Better luck next time.”

I don’t care about the car—but I do care about this new piece of information. “So, you and Megan talked then?”

Blake winks at me. “Why, you jealous?”

“Leave her alone, dude,” says Noah.

I look over at Blake, who is frowning in concentration at the screen. He’s a really strange character; I have no friends like him, no one to compare him to. He is so different from Noah that I find it hard to think of them being close friends for so long. Noah is caring, gentle, and funny, while Blake seems very unaware of other people and somewhat cold. I can’t place my finger on it, but something about him makes me feel uneasy. One thing I know for sure is that Noah wouldn’t be drinking beer at two in the afternoon while swearing profusely at an animated car.

I want to know more about Blake and Megan, but I don’t know how to ask. As the bus starts to crawl forward Blake throws his arms up in the air again.

“We’re OFF!” he yells, and my thoughts of Megan are lost in the infectious cheers of excitement that ripple across the bus.

Chapter Thirteen

Larry emerges from the front of the bus, a large German flag draped on his shoulders.

“All right, you party animals, we should arrive in the city within forty minutes. Use this bus as your base. A lot of the crew will be staying here, but I want you to feel as though you can come here for some peace, or a game against me on the Xbox. That includes you, Penny!” He gives me a little wink. “It’ll be hotels for the night in each city and then the travelling will continue in the bus or by plane to each country and city that we go to.”

“How much are we paying you to be our tour guide?” Noah shouts, and everyone else laughs.

“Nothing, you silly fool.” Larry throws the flag in Noah’s direction and he wraps it round himself. It’s nice seeing Noah in his element, laughing and joking with his friends and being so excited. It’s a whole other level of attractive, and I honestly just want to smooch him right then and there.

“That’s another forty minutes of me whipping your butt at racing then,” Blake says.

“I guess so,” I say, almost sighing. I take out the replacement phone that Tom has given me (his older, less cool one, which he doesn’t mind me losing or breaking) and I text Elliot.

I immediately get a reply from Elliot.

I smile down at my phone and go to reply when Blake takes it out of my hand and places it on the table in front of us.

“How am I supposed to beat you if you’re not even playing? Put that away.”

“Rude!” I say, picking it back up and putting it in my pocket.

“It’s not rude. That’s just how you’ve chosen to feel.” He smiles and hands the controller back to me.

Noah stands up and stretches, throwing his arms high above his head and yawning dramatically. “I’m beat after last night and the early start. I’m gonna grab a quick nap in the back. Penny, is that cool?”

“Of course,” I say. Even as I say the words, I stare up at Noah, trying to communicate
Please don’t leave me alone with your creepy friend
with my eyes, but he isn’t as good at decoding my secret messages as Elliot is. He just smiles and heads into the back of the bus.

In an attempt to enjoy the next half an hour, I ask Blake a few questions about the tour, Noah, the drums . . . anything I can think of. His answers consist mostly of grunts and mumbles, but altogether it about amounts to a conversation. It’s not overly stimulating and not very enjoyable, but it makes the journey go a little faster and, since he’s not concentrating so hard on racing, I actually manage to beat him a few times (much to his horror).

“So, you’ve been with Noah how long now?” he asks.

“Oh . . . a bit over six months? It’s gone so quickly.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a lifetime! You know, this tour is a big thing for Noah. It’s his dream come true.”

Even though I’m not sure how to take the “lifetime” comment, I’m shocked that we are actually having a nice conversation. It worked! I softened Blake the grump. Playing car games was totally worth it to realize I had the wrong impression of him and he just needed to wind down. I’d always hoped I’d get on well with Noah’s friends and finally it’s happening.

I smile. “I know. I kind of wish I’d known him before he achieved his dream. I bet he never thought it would take off how it has. His music is amazing, though. He’s a great songwriter. I mean, I don’t know a lot about songwriting or the music industry but—”

“See, that’s the thing, Penny,” Blake interrupts. “You
don’t
know anything about the music industry at all.” His tone changes. My throat feels suddenly tight and my face starts getting hot. Blake is still looking at the screen and racing his car round the track. “I’m sure you’re great, Penny. Noah obviously thinks so. I’m just not sure he thought about the consequences of having a girlfriend as his career kicks off.”

He puts down his controller and pulls out a packet of tobacco, then puts a filter in his mouth as he rolls a cigarette. I watch him and feel the horror of what he’s just said creep over me like a rash. I stay silent, waiting for him to say something, anything that would redeem him and this conversation.