(And Warped Tour Continues!!… Thanks to those of you who have reviewed. It means a TON!)

 

“Wow. That show was great, wasn’t it?” Stephen commented, pretending he had seen the whole thing. The group had met up in the spot they had designated before Social Distortion’s set.

 

“Heck ya! Oh my gosh that was so cool!” Emma replied, ecstatic. “Too bad you couldn’t get back up front.”

 

Benji noticed the lack of excitement in Stephen’s face and could sense something suspicious. What is was though, he couldn’t quite pinpoint. 

 

“So, where to next?” Joel asked the group. He could see the look Benji was giving Stephen and tried to catch his attention before another fight broke out between the two.

 

“I wanna go check out The Offspring.” Roxi mentioned.

 

(thanks Leia for a band name!)

 

“Oooo yeah!” Paul agreed.

 

“Alright. Offspring everyone?” inquired Joel.

 

They all concurred to go see The Offspring and set off for the stage. They visited merch booths and random bands for the next few hours. Benji continued to watch Stephen throughout the day and noticed he was really jittery and didn’t seem to be paying much attention towards Emma. The girls went into the bathroom and as the guys were standing in a line to get some water a tall, skinny girl who looked to be about 15 walked by and waved to Stephen. He nervously smiled back and turned around before anyone could notice. The girl continued to walk by, her long brown hair flowing behind her.

 

“Who was that?” Benji whispered to Stephen.

 

“Huh? What? Who?” he nervously questioned, glancing around to see if anyone else had noticed the girl.

 

“I’m just gonna tell you this once and you’d better listen,” Benji began; gripping Stephens arm harder than necessary. “If you hurt Emma, I swear I will break your neck.”

 

Stephen shrugged his arm off and backed away. “Dude. Whatever. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Emma walked out of the bathroom and Stephen walked up to her, holding her hand as they walked back to the other guys. He glimpsed at Benji and Benji gave him an ‘I’m-not-joking’ look. Stephen walked past him and kept his eyes focused straight ahead.

 

“Ugh. It’s getting hotter.” Emma complained. It was true. The midday sun was at it’s hottest.

 

Stephen had grabbed his drink off of the counter it was placed on and took a drink of it. Emma noticed the cup and asked Stephen for a drink. Stephen looked irritated but glanced over at Benji, he was still glaring at him. Stephen rolled his eyes and handed over the cup.

 

As the group stood there, people began rushing past them towards the main stage. Green Day was about to start. Even with her persisting headache, Emma ran towards the stage with everyone else. There were already many people around the stage but they were somehow able to make their way to the front few rows.

 

“Hey everybody!! How’s it going?!” Billie Joe screamed into the microphone. He stood back as the crowd roared. “That’s great! It’s good to be here tonight for Warped Tour in Maryland! We are gonna start the show with ‘Minority’.” More screams followed as the band launched into their set. There were a lot more people in the mosh pit than there was for Social Distortion and all the body heat was really getting to Emma. Stephen noticed that Emma was exhausted so he took this opportunity as an excuse to leave the group.

 

“I’ll go get ya some water. Stay here.” He told her. With that he vanished into the swarm of bodies.

 

Benji, Joel, and Paul were too busy jumping around and running into people that they hadn’t noticed Stephen’s departure. Roxi was transfixed by the music and hadn’t noticed either.

 

The scorching sun hammered down on Emma and she began feeling dizzy once again. She felt as if her stomach would soon object to anything and everything she had permitted to go in it. Everything around her started to spin and blur together as the music faded into a soft buzz. Chills ran up and down her spine and her knees felt weak. She knew that at any moment they would buckle and she would fall to the feet of the crazed mass. The heat overtook her and she fell backwards, everything seemed to go in slow motion as she felt her head hit the ground. Nobody seemed to notice at the moment until the song had ended and Roxi leaned over to talk to Emma, only to find she wasn’t there.

 

“OH MY GOSH!!! EMMA!!!” Roxi screeched. Joel, Benji, and Paul turned to see what the commotion was and Benji noticed Emma lying on the ground. The guys made their way to the girls and Benji kneeled beside Emma, not moving her incase she could have broken anything. Joel was trying to calm the frantic Roxi and Paul ran to find the closest Security Guard. As Benji knelt down beside her, he searched the nearby crowd for any sign of Stephen. Not seeing him, Benji could feel the rage growing inside of him. Billie Joe had noticed the small group forming over the fallen figure and took it upon himself to call for the paramedics over the sound system. Help soon arrived and carried Emma away to the First Aid Center set up in the venue.

 

Roxi stayed by Emma, seated in the chair beside the cot and the boys were told to wait outside. After a few minutes of standing there, Benji grew restless and began walking away. Joel ran up behind him, swinging him around by the arm. “Hey, where ya going Benj?”

 

“Just… just let me go Joel. I’ll be right back.” Joel could sense Benji’s fury and let him go on with what he had set out to do.

 

(Oooo where is Benji going?! ... I was hoping for more ‘elaboration’ with this chapter but I got lazy and decided just to make ANOTHER warped tour chapter! How exciting… haha anyways- I’ve been coming up with a lot of new ideas so- expect this story to go on forever!!!! Yay… ok… review please?!? Thanks to those who have!)