Chapter One.

Authors Note:*some of the things that happen are kinda mixed up and not in order, k? And the ages arent right either! But that’s just for the fic, like*

“Thank you Doncaster! We’ll see you guys soon!” Mark yelled to the crowd of adoring fans in front of him. He was almost 6 foot tall; he had green eyes and a warm, friendly smile. Girls screamed, posters were being waved and presenters were trying to introduce the next act without laughing at the insanity of the fans before them.

“Yes! That was a1 with their excusive performance of their next single Caught in the Middle!! Next up...”

Once he and the boys had reached backstage, they all let out a breath of relief.

“They’re mental!” Paul commented. He was the oldest of the band, at 23 years of age, but also the shortest. He had dark spiky hair, hazel-green eyes and a smile to die for.

“I know! They’re almost as crazy as those girls from Norway!” Christian added. He was the only non-British member of the group. He had blonde hair, cropped neatly into half a Mohican type thing, his green eyes dazzled and his smile was cute.

“They’re worse than them, mate! Look at how many are out there! If we had a signing with all those girls, I doubt we’d get out alive!” Ben replied, laughing. Being the youngest member of the group, at 19 years old, he was known to say very stupid things. The boys glared at him and there was an awkward silence.

“What?” Ben asked innocently. He had dark brown hair, cut into curtains with gorgeous blue eyes and a baby-face with a shy little smile.

“Did you have to go there?” Paul asked, rather moodily, storming off into his trailer.

“What?” Ben asked again, aiming his question at Mark this time.

“Jakarta, Ben...” Mark whispered. Ben thought for a second.

“Ohh...Shit!” he then replied. Christian shook his head, and also made his way to the trailer. Ben had forgotten about the incident in Jakarta, where three a1 fans were crushed in a stampede of girls rushing to a signing they were doing in a record store. Paul had been particularly hurt by this, those feelings clearly shown in one of many pictures of a1 printed in magazines, telling the story of the incident.

“I should go and say something to him shouldn’t I?” Ben asked Mark, the only person left standing with him at the time.

“No. Let him cool off you know how he gets when that’s bought up” Mark replied, putting a hand on Ben’s shoulder and almost steering him to their trailer, opposite Christians and Paul’s.

“Okay” Ben replied. He felt truly gutted that he’d forgotten such a major thing in their career.

“That fuckin’ twat! How the fuck could he say something like that and LAUGH about it afterwards? How insensitive is he! Jesus, that arrogant DICKHEAD!” Paul yelled after Christian had entered the trailer, chucking a pillow given to him by a fan on the floor in rage.

“Paul calm down. He didn’t do it on purpose! Something like that can easily be blocked from someone’s mind!” Christian replied.

“Then why isn’t it blocked from mine?” Paul asked. Christian gave no answer, simply because he didn’t know. Paul breathed heavily, almost sighing.

“Why us? It’s not like we’ve been around for that long...” he then asked himself. Christian sat down beside him on the sofa that had been provided. Paul looked in his direction and Christian gave him a reassuring smile.

“Paul. Things like this happen, alright? Don’t go blaming yourself for it, okay? It’s not your fault, it’s not my fault, it’s not anyone’s fault. It just happened and no matter how hard it is, you’re going to have to try and deal with it, man...” he said. Paul continued looked at him for a second.

“But it’s just so God Damn fuckin’ hard...” He explained, getting a little upset.

“You’ll be alright, Paul. Trust me” Christian reassured.

“I just keep thinking that this is all getting a bit too much for me, y’know?” Paul asked.

“No. What do you mean?” Christian replied.

“Never mind. I’ll have a good long sleep and I’ll be fine...” Paul answered, not wanting to go into that.

“Yeah, tomorrow night’ll be heaven for you” Christian said smiling. Paul looked at him in confusion.

“What? Tomorrow night? What’s wrong with tonight?” He asked.

“We’ve got those awards to go to...remember?” Christian replied a little guiltily.

“Ohh right...So we’re leaving in a bit?” Paul asked. Christian nodded.

“Fuckin’ great...” Paul replied.

*

“I really wanna go in there and apologise!” Ben whined as he and Mark got ready to leave.

“Please, just don’t alright? Once we’re in the car say something but don’t sound like you’re snapping, you know how he gets” Mark suggested, pulling a white t-shirt over his six-packed body. Ben found a nice warm, woolly fleece in his suitcase and pulled it over his navy blue t-shirt.

“Okay” he replied. Immediately, after realising that he quite possibly could have messed his hair up, he rushed to the bathroom and in front of the mirror.

“Maaaaark? Have you got any geeeeeel?” He yelled.

“No. You’ve got plenty in there!” Mark replied.

“It’s gone! What am I gonna do? I can’t be seen at an awards ceremony with hair like THIS!” Ben moaned, walking back into the main room of the trailer. Mark sighed.

“It’s just a little flick of hair, Ben! That was there when you were on stage just now! And I doubt anyone noticed!” he then replied.

“What!! And you didn’t tell me?!” Ben asked grumpily. Mark sighed again, then sat on his chair and pulled on his trainers.

“No. Come on you look fine. And there’s bound to be gel or hairspray in our dressing rooms!” He said.

“But there’ll be fans by our car when we get there! I can’t have them seeing me in this state!” Ben replied, running back into the bathroom. Mark rolled his eyes.

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the trailer door.

“Yeah?” Mark shouted. It opened and Tim came in.

“Time to go boys...Where’s Ben?” Tim asked.

“He’s fussing over his hair again” Mark replied. It was Tim’s’ turn to sigh.

“Bathroom yeah?” he asked. Mark nodded. Tim marched from the door to the bathroom, a couple of seconds later re-emerging, pulling Ben by his hair.

“Tim get off! You’re gonna mess it up even more!! TIIIIIIIIM!!” Ben squealed. Tim let go and laughed along with Mark.

“You girl!” he said.

“Is it so wrong to wanna look good?” Ben asked, rubbing his head where the hair had been pulled and placing it back into position as best as he could without a mirror.

“No it’s not wrong. What’s wrong is that you spend all DAY in front of the mirror, and take longer than any woman in the WORLD to get ready!” Mark replied as Tim was in stitches.

“Do not...” Ben snapped huffily, folding his arms.

“Whatever, man. C’mon lets go” Mark then said, still laughing a bit. Tim managed to calm himself down and they all walked over to Christian and Paul’s’ trailer. Tim knocked.

“What?” Paul answered moodily. Tim cautiously stepped in.

“Time to go” he said once he’d gotten inside and shut the door behind him.

“K” Paul replied, just as moodily. He grabbed the pillow he’d thrown earlier from the floor and carried it with him towards the door. He opened it angrily and stormed past Ben and Mark, straight to the car and waited.

“He’s STILL in a mood?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, he’s not the only one!” Mark replied, smirking as he and Tim began walking away.

“I’m SOOOO not in a mood anymore, God! Everyone picks on me, it’s so unfair!!” Ben said, throwing a mini tantrum on the spot. He saw that Tim and Mark had walked way ahead of him.

“Hey! Wait for me!!” He yelled, sounding scared, making Tim and Mark laugh even more. They reached the car, an out of breath Ben arriving a couple of seconds later. Tim unlocked the car and the boys piled in, Paul taking the front seat, strapping himself in and folding his arms around the pillow.

“You alright?” Tim asked quietly. Paul nodded looking at Tim from the corner of his eye for a second, and then shook his head.

“I’m just well tired. I’ll be fine tomorrow” he then said.

“Okay” Tim replied. They drove in silence to the awards ceremony and got out of the car. After being let in through the doors, a1 found their table and sat down. Paul opened the little menu that had been left there for them and had a little read through.

“Paul?” Ben whispered. Paul looked up at him from the menu as if to say “yeah?”

“I’m sorry...” Ben apologised, looking down then back up. He really did mean it and Paul could tell. After all they’d become best friends over the last 4 years.

“Its okay” Paul replied with a smile. Ben smiled back. Before the conversation could go any further, a loud voice filled the room.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! Are you READY for the biggest, the best, the most fantastic awards ceremony in the world? The LONG awaited....DISNEY CHANNEL KIDS AWARDS 2002!” it boomed. Paul rolled his eyes. He was getting sick and tired of having to do Disney road shows, and the fact that this award ceremony looked all grown up and professional, like the BRITS, he knew that there’d be screaming kids and Mickey Mouse on stage and there’s be ‘fun’ games to play.

‘Woo fuckin hoo’ he thought as Nigel Mitchell stepped on stage.