Mike and Chester then said with an excitement tone in their voices “We’re flying off to LA!”
Claudia, Antigoni, Janv and Eva found themselves looking around unable to believe they were actually going to LA, with LP! Suddenly they started jumping around from their excitement and Chester said “Calm down girls, I know it sounds cool but seriously you need to calm down”. Claudia replied to him saying “Calm down? How could we? What’s happening is a dream coming true!”
Before anyone replied Phoenix told everyone that the plans had changed and they had to leave for LA the next night because the upcoming week they’re having a concert for KROQ’s locals only show. That meant that the guys had to head back to their hotel to pack and so did Claudia, Janv, Antigoni and Eva.
The next day LP went for some sight-seeing around town while the girls met at Eva’s house so that they could pack together. They were very excited and couldn’t believe this was actually happening. They were flying to LA the same night. As they were imagining what was going to happen while they were in LA, Janv told ‘em she had a similar dream a few months back. The rest of girls wanted to hear it so they begged Janv to tell them the dream. She began by saying that LP offered her and her friends a trip to LA so that they can see the studio. The next thing she remembers was sitting right next to Joe in the plane, while both of them were asleep. Mike and Chester thought that was cute and took a picture of them sleeping. Then Janv said “I wish this was true!” and Claudia replied “Aw don’t worry. Who knows what’s going to happen in that plane!” After that the girls continued packing .Time passed by fast and it was around 8pm... The girls left to go to the airport where they were going to meet with LP. It was a rainy summer night, just perfect for a long 15hour flight.
As they got to the airport and walked in, they saw Brad waving to ‘em. They headed towards him but he was alone. When they asked him where the other guys were he said they’re waiting for them at the plane. Antigoni gave the girls the weird look implying she didn’t understand. Neither did the 3 other girls. Then Claudia asked Brad: “Ehm sorry Brad but what do you mean they’re waiting? Isn’t the plane leaving at 10pm?” Brad replied “Yeah it does, only that we forgot to mention we’re flying with Chester’s private plane”. The moment he said it Eva thought out loud and said “This is definitely going to be the awesomest week of our lives!!!”
Brad helped the girls carry their luggage to the plane. When they got inside they were amazed by the luxury. Big, comfortable leather seats, a 4 person table and a mini bar. Chester welcomed the girls to the plane and before he even got the chance to say anything else Joe pointed at Janv’s t-shirt and said “Look! We’re wearing the same t-shirt! We’re like twins!” Dave and Rob tried to hold their tears from laughing while Mike was in his own world. The flight attendant asked everyone to close their cells and fasten their seatbelts. The plane was ready for take off. Claudia and Eva found themselves a seat right next to Mike, while Janv sat next to her “twin bro” Joe. Brad called Antigoni over to sit next to him and Dave. Now everyone was on their seats ready for take off.
3, 2, 1... The plane has taken off!!! Claudia and Antigoni can’t hide their excitement. They’re shouting “We are so going to LA!” Suddenly the plane starts to shake and as Claudia is staring out the little window Chester assures everyone that these are just air blocks. A few minutes later the pilot announces that it might be a shaky flight because of the bad weather but assures everyone that it’s completely safe because they’re flying above the clouds, above the thunderstorm.
The flight is now in a normal rate and it seems like most of the people are asleep. Janv’s head seems to be resting on Joe’s shoulder and he’s trying not to move so he won’t wake her up. Chester has fallen asleep and Brad, Phoenix and Antigoni are the only ones talking. Mike gets his computer out and asks Claudia and Eva if they don’t mind if he’ll update his blog. With one voice the 2 girls say to him “No it’s ok”, and they lean over him, as he is sitting between them, to see the magic behind his blog posts.
Meanwhile Antigoni seems to be having a pretty interesting conversation with Brad about music and they found out that they actually like almost the same style of music. Phoenix has fallen asleep and so have Claudia and Eva. Mike tries to put his computer away without waking the girls up and checks his watch. (Mike to himself) *ok we still got like 14 hours of flight so I’ll take a nap* and so he does. The pilot lowers the lights inside the cabin so that everyone can rest. Antigoni yawns and gets herself comfortable in order to sleep and Brad puts his headphones on, closes his eyes and goes to sleep too.
You can only hear the sound of the plane and music coming from Brad’s headphones. The flight attendant makes sure everyone’s comfortable and finds herself resting at the back of the plane. Everyone is now sleeping…resting for an upcoming week full of awesomeness, concerts, studio and a lot more.
Almost 3 hours have passed and suddenly Joe starts screaming in his sleep. Everyone wakes up and goes to check on him. He’s talking about loosing his froggy and then finding it dead in an alley! Suddenly he screams again and scares Brad off. He runs to the pilot and accidentally falls over the wheel. The plane dives and everyone is terrified. The pilot manages to get the plane straight again while Phoenix yells at Brad “Well done dude! Thank you for scaring everyone off.” Brad feels sorry and excuses himself. Meanwhile Mike is trying to calm Joe down and explain him that none of this was real and Eva is searching for Joe’s froggy doll. Phoenix and Chester are talking bullshit and Antigoni, Janv and Claudia are staring at Mike’s ass. His boxers are visible from his pants because he has kneeled down to help Joe. Claudia calls Eva and she runs immediately. “Look!” says Claudia as she points at Mike. “Holy Shinoda!!!” she says. After a couple of minutes Brad asks if someone has seen Rob. Chester and Dave stop arguing, Mike gets up and then Antigoni says “Oh there you are Bourdie! We thought we lost you. Where were you?” Rob replies “Relax guys, I wanted to get my laptop so I asked the flight attendant to take me down, where our luggage is”
With Joe having realized all of it was just a nightmare, the chaos stopped. Claudia, Janv and Antigoni are chatting with Chester about his tattoos and the story that hides behind each one. Brad is listening to music again on his big “in the end” headphones Mike designed for him, Phi is sleeping and Joe and Rob are playing backgammon.
Eva goes back to her seat and takes her iPhone out in order to listen to music. Mike sees it and asks her “Hey is that your iPhone?”
Eva: Yeap it is
Mike: Cool, do you mind if I check out your music library?
Eva: Be my guest! (connects her iPhone to Mike’s laptop)
Mike: Ok, let’s see….You got some pretty dope tracks in here. We actually like the same music. I never thought someone would listen to the stuff I do.
Eva: Why? (scrolls down the music list)
Mike: I don’t know…I guess because this stuff is so old and a kid at your age wouldn’t even know about.
Eva: You’ll be surprised! (punches Mike in the back, like bros do)
Mike: Ha! I gotcha ya! You have the whole album of Get Busy Committee in here. (looks surprised)
Eva: Yes I like them a lot! You were right when you said that someone’s life is incomplete if they haven’t heard this album. The guys totally rock!”
Mike: Ok then, I’ll tell you what. Listen up: As you probably know I’m really close with these guys and they invited me to their concert this Friday…”
Eva: (interrupts him) And you’re telling me this because you want to make me jealous?”
Mike: No no! In fact I’m asking if you want to come with me
Eva: (in a tone full of excitement) If? If? Dude!!! Of course I want to come with you! Thank you so much!
Mike: Nice, it’s a deal then. But promise me you won’t tell anyone else. It’ll be our little secret ok? (blinks his eye)
Eva: Sure sure! Thanks a lot bro!
And they continue chatting as they realized they have a lot in common, not just in music but art too.
Suddenly Chester laughs out loud and says “Guys! Stop tickling me!” and continues laughing…Claudia nods her head to Antigoni and Janv and tells them “Let’s take him down!!!” *evil laugh* Then the girls start tickling Chester even harder and Janv grabs a sharpie, which is on the table, and starts writing on Chester’s back. Rob and Joe are cracking up and Mike says “Great idea! Let’s all paint on Chester” and grabs another sharpie.
Janv drew a little froggy holding the letter J and tells Chester this is the way you’ll remember me, the girl with the Hahn t-shirt. Then Antigoni writes her name with graffiti style so that Chester can remember her as the “cool” girl. Last but not least Claudia decides to make him a heart with the initials of all of them in it and says to him “This is the way I want you to remember us. The 4 girls that threw the dopest parties ever for their amazing friends, you!”
Chester: Aw C, that’s so sweet. Thank you guys! And you know what? (points at Mike) Dude, remember when I told you I wanted to get a new tattoo? I think this is it.
Mike: Awesome! Should I make that little skullie you wanted me to the other day too?
Chester: Sure go ahead
Mike: (draws the skullie) There you go. Now you just have to get those inked.
Chester: I will as soon as we get home, promise
Antigoni: Are you seriously getting those inked? (looks surprised)
Chester: Yeah why not? Besides I want to have something from our biggest fans.
Claudia: Aw Chaz, you don’t need to do that…you know we’ll be there (points at Chester’s heart) forever.
Janv: You know, Claudia is right. I feel bad now because we kinda made you have those inked.
Chester: No guys! I want to have them inked! I really do, believe me! Mike knows.
Mike: Yeah! He’s been talking about this new tattoo idea for ages. You girls gave him the chance to have it.
Janv: Ok then, I’m glad you like them.
Suddenly Joe pops in the conversation and says with a sad face “Aw what? Chester is the only one getting tattoos here? What about me?”
Antigoni: ” Aw Joey…here you go. (grabs the sharpie Mike is holding and draws a heart on Joe’s hand)
Joe: Cool, thanks! I’m not getting it inked though…Do you guys promise me to draw me something on a piece of paper before you leave?
Claudia: We definitely will!
Rob: Ok now that we’re all fine with the tattoos and all, I want to make a special announcement. Sort of, at least.
Everyone gathers near Rob, except from Phoenix and Eva. They are both sleeping and nobody wants to wake them up. After all Rob can tell them what he wants later.
Brad: Ok dude, TALK! I hope I didn’t take off my headphones for nothing. I want to hear what you have to say.
Rob: I didn’t tell you this earlier because you would get way too excited. Since we’re arriving in LA in like the next couple of hours and it’s going to be dark already, I’ve booked a table at “Planet Hollywood” for dinner. A little present for you girls, because I think it’s the best way to start your stay in LA.
Janv: Planet Hollywood, like for real????
Antigoni: Yeah Rob are you serious?
Rob: Hell yeah I am!
Claudia: Awesome awesome AWESOME!!!
Mike: Haha, this week is going to be amazing with you guys.
Chester: Yes it sure will.
Brad: That’s what you wanted to tell us? LOL dude, I knew it already!
Rob: How? (Suprises)
Brad: I overheard you talking on the phone and booking the table, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.
Rob: Thanks for not mentioning anything.
Antigoni calls Janv and Claudia and tells them to look out the window. Street lights, cars driving by and buildings can be seen from above the plane. They are now flying over Texas. That means they are really close to LA.
Mike: Come on girls; go back to your seats.
Claudia: But I want to see this!
Antigoni: Yeah please, just let us see it.
Mike: You’ll have plenty of time to see everything tomorrow don’t worry, just go back to your seats.
Chester: Yeah go ahead…We want to do something with Mike here.
Claudia: Hmm ok (sits down)
Chester: Ready Mike?
Mike: Hold on…I need to make some adjustments.
Antigoni: What the hell are you guys up to?
Chester: Wait and see! (helps Mike connect the camera to his laptop)
Mike: Ok, we’re ready to roll!
Mike and Chester carefully walk up to Dave, who’s sleeping peacefully. Mike holds the camera and starts shooting Dave as he sleeps. Chester is trying not to laugh and the girls are watching. Mike approaches Dave’s face with the camera and shoots a big vein that’s on his forehead. “This is the “Phoenix vein”, that vein appears every time Phoenix sleeps in planes. It’s a masterpiece, don’t you think?” Mike says, making fun of Dave. The 3 girls are cracking up and as Chester and Mike are walking back to their seats after shooting this one time only thing, Mike trips and the camera fells on Phoenix’s face and wakes him up.
Phoenix: You just ruined my sleep, dorks!
Chester: Dude, that was awesome! You should have seen your vein, Priceless.
Mike: You know what’s the best thing? We got it all on camera!
Mike saves the footage on his laptop in order to give it to Fiore. He may find it useful for an LPTV episode or something. After that, Rob, Brad and Joe go back to their seats. Chester asks Mike if they should wake Eva up, after all they’re really close to LA. The moment he said it, the flight attendant asks everyone to fasten their seatbelts and straighten up their seats. Mike, instead of sitting, goes to wake Eva up. He smoothly taps her on the shoulder, so he won’t scare her, and tells her it’s time to wake up. She opens her eyes and asks where they are and then Antigoni tells her in Greek that they arrived in LA!!! Mike goes back on his seat to get ready for landing.
Not a minute later, the captain announced they will be landing in LAX soon. He informed everyone that the weather is nice and there’s a slight chance of raining later that night. Each one of the girls had taken a spot next to a window to admire the awesomeness of LA from above. The view was sick! Big high ways lighting up, lots of cars driving…They even managed to see China Town! Antigoni with a ton of excitement said “There it is! I can see the airport!” and pointed out the little window. Then Mike looked Chester and told him “We’re home dude”.
Someone may wonder why Mike said that to Chester, but being a member of a famous rock band has its disadvantages. Being away from home for touring is really difficult because you leave behind the people you love: family, friends, everyone. Thank God though, Linkin Park are a family. They’re all buddies and this way they feel they’re not alone when they’re away from their own families.
And….Touchdown!!!! The plane landed in LAX. The girls couldn’t believe their eyes! Their dream came true. It was already 9pm and the guys rushed to take their luggage and head to the parking lot. When they got there they had to figure out a way to go to Planet Hollywood without being pulled over because of the amount of people in one car. They decided to split up. Rob took all 4 girls with his car and Mike and the others went with his. On their way to the restaurant, the 4 girls couldn’t believe their eyes! Everything seemed so different from their countries. It was like being in paradise. Eva, as she was looking out the car’s window, said a big “WOW” and the other girls nodded their heads to show her they agree. Then Rob replied back by saying “You’ve seen nothing yet, guys! Wait till tomorrow to be surprised”.
A few minutes later Rob said to himself “Oh boy, here we go” and Claudia asked him what’s wrong. “We’re here but we have a parking situation apparently” Rob replied. Antigoni laughed and said “Yeah seems like that’s the only common thing between all the countries and the US”. After wandering around for a couple of minutes they finally found a parking spot. Apparently though, the other guys weren’t anywhere near so Rob called Mike on his cell.
Mike: Yeah, Mike here.
Rob: Dude, where are you?
Mike: What do you mean? We just walked in Planet Hollywood and we’re waiting for you guys.
Claudia: (grabs the phone from Rob) Yo Mike, C here.
Mike: Hey…everything’s ok?
Claudia: Yeah yeah I just need to tell you this.
Mike: Can’t it wait 2 minutes?
Claudia: No! Listen!
Mike: Ok ok.
Claudia: Please do us all a favor and don’t eat all the cookies until we get there.
Mike: Hahahaha! No don’t worry, I’m waiting for you.
Claudia: Cool, cya in a bit. (hangs up)
Janv: I can’t believe you told him that! Brilliant!
Rob: Come on guys, lets move because I think he won’t hold himself for too long.
Antigoni: Hahaha! Ok let’s go.
Meanwhile, the guys had already sat on their table and they are waiting for the rest. Dave and Joe are trying to make Mike eat a cookie as they see he can’t restrain himself anymore. Brad and Joe are with Mike’s side and they’re telling him to stop thinking about the cookies.
Brad: You seriously need to stop doing that!
Mike: Why? You know much I love cookies guys.
Joe: Dude, they’re just cookies. You can have cookies whenever you want.
Mike: There! You said it! Whenever. I want them NOW!
Chester: Oh little cookie is crying. Little cookie wants to get inside Mike’s mouth.
Dave: Hahahaha dude! Look he’s melting.
Mike: Enough with this crap! I’m not eating a cookie until the guys get here.
Chester: (continues messing around with Mike) Aww little cookie is sad now.
Rob and the girls are right outside the restaurant staring at it and Rob is trying to make them get in.
Rob: Girls, stop staring! Let’s get inside.
Eva: I’m in heaven. *hallucinates*
Rob: No you’re not. This is real. Come on!
And they walk in. Brad sees them and waves at them so they can see him. Claudia shouts “Oh there they are!” and walks towards their table.
“You finally found the way huh?” Dave said ironically. Everyone laughed in a weird way and then Claudia gave clearance to Mike to eat the cookies. Time passed by and everyone seemed to be having an amazing time despite being tired from the long flight. The guys asked the girls to share with them their little stories on how they got familiar with LP and their music. Each girl described in a few words their story and the guys listened carefully. Antigoni started first
“I started listening to you guys in 2004 and the first song I heard was Somewhere I Belong. I liked it a lot and I did a little bit of research about you and your story till then. Then I decided to buy all your records till that time to know some more about your music. That was the big hit. I totally loved every song, every lyric! Your music sounded so awesome in my ears. After a couple of years Minutes to Midnight was released and I admit that was the album that made me fell for you guys even more. I also started listening to Fort Minor and now in 2009, Dead By Sunrise. Finally though, my dream came true when I got the chance to see you live. I was on both concerts you did in Greece and I have to say they were awesome!!! The only thing that’s left to do is join the LPU…I’m not sure when that’s going to happen though, hopefully soon. That’s pretty much it.”
After Antigoni’s story, Claudia continued with hers:
“In late 2000-early 2001, my cousin Donatas came to my house one day. He had a lot of CD's with him with all sorts of bands, starting from Limp Bizkit ending with Bon Jovi. At the time I was only 5 years old, so at first I did not understand what he was planning to do. We were both listening to music. He was telling me about the bands, their formation, ect. Suddenly we came across Linkin Park’s "Hybrid Theory". The cover art amazed me; I had never seen anything like that sketch before. It looked simple but yet so great. My cousin asked me, if I had ever heard of "Linkin Park". I replied "no". Just when my cousin was ready to put on the CD, a video showed up on MTV. It was Linkin Park's One Step Closer. My cousin's first reaction was: "That's Linkin Park!!!", me: "Wow!!!" What amazed me first was the very beginning of the video. I felt frightened but I really wanted to see what the big fuss was about. I thought that Chester was this "crazy/weird blond guy who has a devilish voice", I thought Mike was like "a dragon" with the hair, Joe's face kind of made me smile, I thought that Brad and Rob were the only ones who were normal in that "party of hell". After the song was over, I did not know how to react but saying "it was amazing". My cousin said he can play the CD itself. After a couple of hours, even though I did not understand the lyrics at the time, I really really enjoyed the album. My cousin explained what they mean, and I was amazed. I really was.
Though only in 2001-2002 could I sing the lyrics and say each band member’s name. Soon it became an addiction to me.
In 2006, when I got a computer and when my English knowledge was considered "decent" I started doing some LP Street Team work. I am still a member of it today. In 2003 I was so close to attending a Projekt Revolution show, but I couldn't because I was only 8 years old back then. But in 2008 I finally saw you guys live, and I'll never forget that day. You have really become a part of me, without you I wouldn't be myself. Life wouldn't be life....”
Now it was Janv’s turn to tell her story:
“It was February of 2007 andThere was a farewell bash in my old high school for the seniors. Kids organized & performed everything from dances to songs to stand-up comedy acts. But, one performance stood out and would remain in everyone’s memory for a long, long time. A group of 6 boys from my grade grabbed various instruments, went on stage & pretended to play ‘In The End’ by you guys, a band I had never heard of since I wasn’t into English music (until then). One boy, Himanshu, lip-synced to the rap of the song by you Mike, and he did it so well that people congratulated him for it for a very long time. I liked the song so much that I couldn’t get it out of my head for hours. I finally reached home and searched for information about the song, artist, and so on. I watched it on youtube multiple times, and finally downloaded it (illegally; I bought it later) and learnt the lyrics within 2 days of listening to it for the very first time and that’s when my obsession with you begun.
A few months later, in August to be exact, it was Sports time in school. The guys were playing handball when all of a sudden, Himanshu, he guy who lip-synced Mike’s rap some months ago, collapsed and fainted. I saw him being carried to the reception area and assured my friends that he’ll be all right and maybe it was just a migraine attack or something like that. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He died couple of minutes later while on his way to the hospital. It was later found to be a rare respiratory disease that nobody knew he had.
The next day, school seemed like a cemetery. Everybody, including teachers, cried their hearts out. The Principal let us have a day of mourning because nobody was in a state to concentrate on anything. As a tribute to Himanshu, the rest of the fake ‘LP’ sang ‘In The End’ on the school speaker system. Even those who had stopped crying started all over again. Since then, that song was a strict no-no in school because it brought back memories of a deceased friend.
Till this day, I am grateful to Himanshu & his buddies for performing that song on stage. If it weren’t for them, I probably never would have heard of you guys or your awesome songs. Even today, every time I hear ‘In The End’ playing, a tiny part of me whispers ‘R.I.P Himanshu.’”
Mike: Oh my God. I’m so sorry to hear that.
Chester: It’s tragic.
Janv: Please guys don’t be, besides we’re telling you the stories so you know how we became your fans, not ruin the atmosphere or something.
Brad: Yeah Janv is right. Let’s hear Eva’s story now.
And so Eva started recounting her story:
“It all started back in ’99. My dad was just getting familiar with the internet, since it was just discovered, and he was doing a research on various artists. He came across with your site and thought to listen to your songs. No need to say he loved them of course and he started following you. A couple years later Hybrid Theory was released and he was one of the first who bought it. I was really young that time, like 6-7 years old, so I was listening to whatever my dad was listening. I basically grew up listening to your music. Years passed and it was March 25th 2003, my name’s day and Meteora’s release date. My dad bought me Meteora as a gift and I rushed to listen to it. Needless to say how amazed I was by the music. It sounded so powerful, full of passion and energy; simply huge! When I first heard Numb though, I felt this song was written for me because I used to be like the girl on the video. I had a few friends, and I wasn’t as cool as the others kids to hang out with them. At times I tried to change, be like everyone else in order to fit in but the moment I heard the song I realised I had to me! That’s why I think the line “I’m tired of being what you want me to be” represents who I was back then. Since then everything changed in my life in a better way and I owe it to you! The only thing left was to see you guys live. Finally that day arrived. I couldn’t be more excited about it. My dream came true….”
Dave: Ok, WOW! Your stories guys are amazing!
Joe: I agree…Our fans are definitely the best in the world!
Mike: And the most loyal ones.
Eva: You got that right.
After they told their stories, everyone stopped talking and fell to deep thought. Each story was so unique that made the guys realise how important the fans, and their stories, are to them and how important THEY are to the fans. Then Mike broke the silence and said it was pretty late so they should get home. His comment made Claudia wonder where their hotel was. Mike though assured her that everything is scheduled and she doesn’t need to worry about that.
A while later, after getting the cheque, they went to the cars. Mike and Chester transferred the girls’ luggage into Mike’s car and then Dave, Brad, Joe and Chester boarded Rob’s car. Antigoni asked why they switched cars and Mike replied to her that he’s driving them to their hotel.
Half an hour later, Mike pulled over at a house and that made Janv ask him “Is that our hotel? Cause it looks like a house to me.” and he replied “That’s my house actually”. Then Claudia with a rather exciting tone in her voice asked him “What are we doing here? I thought you were driving us to the hotel”. “Yes, that is your hotel” Mike replied with a big smile on his face and he started to get the luggage out of the car.
Eva: I don’t get it. Why this?
Mike: Because…
Antigoni: (interrupts him) We don’t want to be any trouble, why did you do this?
Mike: Relax guys; we have empty rooms in the house so I figured it’d be better to stay here. Besides Anna was the one who insisted on it.
Janv: Anna? Oh my God! I want to meet her so bad!
Claudia: *thinks* That also means that we’re going to see Otis?
Mike: Yeah you’re going to meet my little man. Promise though you won’t tease him all the time. (laughs)
Mike takes out his keys and unlocks the house’s door. Anna runs towards the door to welcome her lovely husband and the girls and help them get the luggage inside. Before everyone says a word, she asks them to be as quite as possible because it’s really late and little Otis is sleeping upstairs. The 4 girls with one voice tell her how nice it is to meet her and thank her for letting them stay in their house.
Anna: It’s our pleasure to have you girls here. Make yourself at home.
Mike: We should show the girls their rooms. It’s late and they might want to rest.
Anna: Absolutely, yeah. I thought to split you guys in two rooms so that you can be together.
Antigoni: Wow, thank you so much.
Anna: No need to thank me dear, it’s my pleasure. Now come on, let’s go upstairs.
Anna and the girls went upstairs to their rooms and Mike went to kiss his son goodnight. The girls decided that it’d be better if Antigoni and Eva stayed in one room, because they were both Greek and can communicate in their language and Claudia and Janv, could stay in the other room next door. Anna made sure the girls were comfortable and went downstairs again to see Mike.
The day was coming to an end and the girls decided to go to sleep because there was a long day waiting for them the next day. So did Mike, being tired from the trip and the awesome parties, he had to get some rest for tomorrow.
Its 7am in the morning and Mike has already waken up. He’s sitting in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone. Anna walks in and kisses him saying “Good morning” and tells him that Otis will probably wake up in a while so she’ll make him his milk. A few minutes later they hear Otis crying from the baby monitor. Mike runs upstairs to get him, so he won’t wake up the girls from his crying. He holds him tight and as he takes him downstairs to Anna he tells him not to cry because daddy’s here. Anna passes the milk to Mike and he carefully gives it to Otis.
Anna: Aw look at you!
Mike: What?
Anna: It’s so cute…Otis looks so much like you.
Mike: Yeah he does, that’s my boy!
A couple of hours later, Mike went to wake up the girls. He first went to Janv and Claudia’s room. He gently tapped their shoulders and opened the curtains. Then he walked to the room next door and did the same in order to wake Antigoni and Eva up. As he saw nobody was getting out of bed, he shouted “I’m leaving for the studio in an hour. Whoever wants to come, better be ready soon!” That made the girls jump out of their beds like cats jumping around when they’re wet. Mike laughed so hard seeing that and said “Haha, I knew that could made you wake up.” and went downstairs again. Eva being sleepy she made a comment “You may don’t like to sleep Mike, but I do” and went to sleep again. Antigoni started pulling the shits off of her and told her “Come on! Wake up! We’re going to the studio today!”. As she said it Eva popped out of bed. “Oh yeah studio. I didn’t get that memo”. Meanwhile Claudia and Janv were already ready and went downstairs to have breakfast.
Anna: Good morning girls. Did you sleep well?
Janv: Yes! Thank you.
Mike: Where are Antigoni and Eva?
Claudia: They’re coming in a bit.
Not 5 minutes later, everyone was in the dining room having breakfast. As they were talking, Anna reminded Mike to get home early from the studio because they had to make preparations.
Janv: Preparations for what?
Anna: Honey! You didn’t tell them?
Mike: (eats a cookie) Oh I totally forgot! Sorry…It’s barbeque night tonight.
Antigoni: Really? Wow!!!
Eva: Awesome!
Mike: You know what’s awesome?
Claudia: What?
Anna: The guys are coming too, with their families.
Janv: Joey?
Mike: Yeah Joe too.
Claudia: And Chester, with Talinda? And Tyler?
Mike: Yeah he’ll bring Tyler too. He likes playing with Otis.
Antigoni: It’s going to be a blast!
Anna: Yes, and I may need your help tonight girls.
Eva: For sure, whatever you need.
Mike: Ok leave that for now. We better get going. We must be in the studio in an hour. Let’s go.
Mike and the girls got in the car and drove to the studio. As they were in the highway on their way to North Hollywood, where the studio was, the girls were quit quite in the car. All of them were looking out the car’s windows enjoying the view. LA seemed so big to their eyes as they weren’t used at that kind of magnificence and awesomeness.
When they arrived at the studio and walked in the front door, the first thing they noticed was a big Hybrid Theory frame hanging on the wall. Mike told them that Jay, the studio owner, put it up there to honor and thank them for choosing his studio. Then Mike took the lead and walked in a big hallway with frames of famous artists hanging on the walls. He stopped in front of a door that has a sign on it saying “Studio 1”. He asked the girls to sign their names on a big agenda right next to the door. “What’s that?” Claudia asked Mike. “Every visitor has to sign in here. Even our own family members. It’s just the policy.” Mike replied.
When they walked in the actual studio, a wide room with 2 big sofas, an Xbox set, a big pool table and a small kitchen appeared right in front of the girls’ eyes. “This is where we chill when we’re tired or we want to take a break” Chester said as he walked in that mini living room from the control room. “Good morning dude” Mike said and high fived with Chester. “You still got the Christmas lights on?” Janv said with a tone of excitement and run into the control room. The other girls followed her in and found Brad editing some stuff on the computer. “Yo!” he said to welcome them. Then Mike and Chaz walked in and had a little conversation with the other guys to discuss what they had to do that day. Phoenix had the greatest idea of all. He suggested to start searching for tittles for the new album and since the girls were there, they could help them with their ideas. Besides 10 brains are better than 6. They all went to sit in the living room because the control room was way too small for 10 people to sit in and discuss such an important matter. Everyone got comfortable in the sofas and started shooting different ideas. Joe and Brad were writing them down in a piece of paper and Mike was keeping a file in his computer in case they lost the paper in the studio chaos.
About half an hour later, they had approximately 5-7 possible album titles. Rob though asked each of the girls to tell them a title.
Eva: How could we possible think of a title? We don’t even know how the album sounds like.
Antogoni: I agree. It’s pretty hard to think one right now.
Joe: Come on! Just a title, you can rely your idea on how you think the album might sound like.
Chester: Seriously guys, I don’t know what’s harder: Making a record or trying to name it.
Mike: Yes I agree. I believe though it’s harder naming it because we guys disagree on almost everything. (laughs)
A few minutes passed and one of the girls had the courage to speak up first and express her opinion on the album title.
Eva: Ok, it may be a stupid title but that’s what I came up with. Try not to laugh ok? I think the album’s title could be “Energy, Soul, Passion” because I believe that these 3 words represent who you guys are. You’re full of energy, you make music according to your feelings and you are totally passionate about what you do. So I think these 3 words could make an album title and since I can’t visualise how the sound of the new record will be, that’s all I have.
Brad: Cool, I like that. (writes it down)
Claudia: Ehm ok. I can think about the album just being…ground breaking, something to rock the world for originality so I’d say “Linkin Park” because I think that the title says it all!
Phoenix: Nice guys. Keep going!
Mike: You have some pretty good ideas!
Chester: Yeah way better than ours! (laughs)
Antigoni: “Unrevealed Past”. That’s what I’d suggest.
Janv: And I’d say “Paradigm” would be a nice album title because you guys have caused a paradigm shift in the music industry.
Joe: Wow! Seems like we’ve got some pretty nice stuff in here. Mike did you write down all of them?
Mike: Yes don’t worry I did. It’s all in here.
Chester: This “thinking of an album title” thing got me a bit sleepy. Mike are you in for a pool game?
Mike: Hell yeah I am! I’ll kick your beautiful, bitten by a spider, ass!
Eva: I have to see this! (laughs)
Then Mike and Chester started playing pool as the rest of the guys and the 4 girls were watching the match carefully. Chester was the lucky one to start playing first. He has already hit the 6 balls on the table and Mike is thinking how he can beat him. Chester loses his 7th hit so the ball passes to Mike.
Mike: I’ll tell you what. It’s a tie if I can get all 6 balls in.
Chester: Ok, let’s go.
Mike: (thinks loudly) *I have to get all 6 in…so how do I do this?*
Chester: In one shot!
And everyone started laughing at Chester’s remarkable comment. Mike started hitting them all and he had already got 5 of them in. One more was left to tie the game! Everyone, including Chester, was trying to encourage him by saying “You can do it!!!”. Then Mike looked carefully at the pool table and took the shot. It was a really bad ass corner shot. Pretty difficult to get the ball in. Unfortunately though the ball stopped right before the hole.
Mike: Aw man!
Chester: We’ll call it a tie. It was a valiant effort.
Mike walks to that side of the table where the ball stopped before the hole and blows it into to the hole. He then shouts full excitement “Tiiiieeee!!!” and high fives with Chester.
“So this is how you spend your day in the studio: playing pool and messing around with each other. That’s why it takes so long for the album to come out” Claudia said laughing. “She’s just kidding. We know how hard you work guys.” Antogini replied. “Yeah and you’re about to witness some of the awesomeness that’s happening in the studio” Rob said and everyone walked in the control room. Mike sat in front of the computer with Brad and Chester right next to him and Dave, Rob and Joe went into the recording room. They started jamming on their instruments playing whatever came to their minds. It actually sounded amazing! The girls were just sitting in a small couch behind the control board nodding their heads and tapping their feet to the ground, following the music. A few minutes later, Mike started backing up the computer and the rest of the guys started to leave one by one. Besides there’s was a barbeque being held later the same night at Mike’s house and they had to go get ready. Mike assured the girls that he’ll be done with the backing up in a couple of minutes and then they could head back home.
About an hour and a half later Mike and the girls got back home. Anna had already started the preparations. She had watered all the plants at the backyard and made some room for everyone to chill. All that was left to do was take out the dishes and the plastic cups and clean the grill. The girls helped her carry outside the dinnerware set and Mike cleaned the grill. Then everyone got upstairs to change and the girls took Otis with them in order to let mommy get ready without having to take care of Otis. Not later than 9pm the guests started to come. Brad and his wife were the first. Then Rob, Joe and Dave followed and last were Chester with Talinda and Tyler. The minute they walked in the house Tyler rushed to go play with Otis. “Hey Tyler, won’t you give a kiss to uncle Mike?” Chester told him. Then Tyler went to kiss Mike who was outside sitting with everyone and told him “Thank you uncle Mike for inviting us come to your party” and he gave him a big kiss.
Everyone seemed to be having an amazing time. Phoenix had taken over the grill and the rest of the boys were either talking about basketball or bullshit. The girls were sitting with Anna, Talinda and Elisa talking about whatever came to their minds while Otis, Tyler and Jonah, Brad’s son, were playing right next to them with Jasper, Mike and Anna’s dog. A couple of minutes later Mike brought out a big bottle of champagne.
Mike: I think we need to celebrate the completion of the new record and these girls for still being our friends even with everything we’ve done to them. I know the parties and all were crazy but that’s just us. This is who we are and we’re not going to change that.
Eva: If you dare to change, I’ll come to change you back with my own hands I’m telling you!
Antigoni: We like you just the way you are guys.
Chester: Give me that bottle!!! (grabs the champagne from Mike’s hands)
Rob: Cover yourselves! Chester is not good at opening champagne bottles!
Talinda: The kids! We need to get the kids inside!
BOOM!!!!!!!! Chester opened the bottle of champagne and filled everyone’s glasses.
Joe: That was one of your best Chester.
Brad: Yes, it truly was.
Chester: Thanks guys. Now let’s enjoy this beautiful night.
Mike: To us and our awesome friends! *cheers*.
The night went smoothly and everyone had a great time.
The next morning, Mike and the girls met with Chester downtown to give the girls a small tour around “The City of Angels”. Mike and Chester decided to go the girls to their favourite place. Mike took the lead and took them to Little Tokyo. Little Tokyo is a Japanese American district in the LA area and it means a lot to Mike and his family as he is half Japanese and his family actually lived the chaos in WWII. One of the coolest and most important museums there is The Japanese National American Museum, in which Mike also did his Glorious Excess shows. The guys took a small walk around Little Tokyo and then headed to The Walt Disney Concert Hall, Chester’s favourite place. It is located downtown LA and what Chester finds amazing about it, is the construction. It is a huge building with weird shapes that curve around and the whole exterior is made of stainless steel and highly polished mirror-panels. That’s what actually makes it so extraordinary. “So guys, where would like to go now?” Mike asked. “I don’t know about you but I’m dying to see the Hollywood Walk Of Fame” Antigoni said. “Yes!!! I agree lets go there!!!” Janv and Claudia shouted. “Ok, let’s go then” Chester replied.
As they reached Sunset Boulevard, the girls started acting like crazy. They walked down the whole street and the girls went over almost every of the stars on the pavement. So many famous people had left their marks there starting from the ‘60s till today. It was simply awesome. On their way back home, the passed by LA’s City Hall, a tall, white building located downtown and of course The Staples Center! “Oh look! This is where we kicked the Suns’ ass” Mike said laughing at Chester. “Hell yeah! Go Lakers!!!” Eva started shouting. “Oh God! I can’t believe you are one of them too, damn! I thought I had you on my side.” Chester and replied. “Sorry dude but seems like we all the support the Lakers here” Claudia added.
A couple of hours later, after they all had lunch at Mike’s house, Chester and Mike went to his home studio to go through some of the new songs and make some changes. The girls went with them to learn some secrets about producing music and maybe even have the chance to listen to some of the new stuff the guys had been working on. They sat on a big comfy couch behind the big computer screen that was hanging on the wall. All kinds of instruments were in there. Guitars, basses, a drum set and a bunch of different kind of keyboards. All of them knew Mike’s passion about piano anyways. Also, some of Mike’s art was hanging on the walls including a big painting by Futura, one of Mike’s favourite artists. Chester and Mike started working on a song that needed a couple of changes and Janv had the greatest idea ever! She had Eva draw Mike and Chester as they were working. She actually started doing it and couldn’t help herself but laughing. It was so funny drawing them under their noses. Meanwhile, Antigoni, Claudia and Janv had taken over Mike’s iPad and iPhone and were playing “8 Bit Rebellion”.
Chester: Hey, what are you writing? (looks at Eva)
Eva: Ehm…Nothing! (tries to cover the piece of the paper)
Chester: Come on! Let me see! (sits next to her) … Wow! This is fucking awesome! You’re really good at this! And Mike’s back looks awesome.
Mike: My back? What about my back?
Chester: You have to see this dude.
Eva: No please don’t show it to him! It’s not good!
Mike: (takes the piece of paper and gives it a careful look) Seriously, you drew this? It’s amazing! Claudia was right; you are a hell of a painter.
Eva: Thanks I guess.
Mike: I didn’t have the time to ask you back at Janv’s place when we were painting her bathroom, tell me: which are your favourite artists?
Eva: You mean besides you and Joe huh?
Mike: Yes. (cracks up and blushes)
Eva: I really like a Greek painter, his name is Alexandros Vasmoulakis and he tends to draw on building mostly.
Mike: Yeah I know him…his work is pretty dope.
Eva: Who else? (thinks)… Ron English, Gary Baseman, Alex Pardee, Delta and some others.
Mike: Nice, seems like you know a lot.
Eva: Yeah right. I can’t even draw right!
Mike: No, that’s not true. You can draw pretty well. I saw it on Janv’s bathroom wall. You can work your magic. (blinks his eye)
Meanwhile, the three other girls had already finished “8 Bit Rebellion” on both the iPad and iPhone. They were talking with Chester about tomorrow’s concert. He was telling them what’s the plan. They would go over to NRG and then leave all together for KROQ’s concert. He also told the girls not to worry about the tickets and all and Mike suddenly popped in the conversation saying that they have made a special room backstage for them to watch the concert from there. “Dude, I need to get going. Tal is waiting for me to have dinner. Besides it’s getting pretty late” Chester said. “Yeah sure, we’ll see you tomorrow at the studio.” Mike replied and walked Chester out.
“Can you girls do me a favour?” Anna asked. “Can you watch Otis for a while? I need to take a bath”. And so the girls sat around Otis in the living room and started playing with him like they were little kids. Meanwhile Mike was making dinner for everyone. A special home made pizza recipe. The whole house had this bacon smell and made everyone hungry. Before they sat for dinner, it was bed time for Otis so Mike took him upstairs. Then they all enjoyed a nice Shinodalicious style dinner. The girls wanted to leave the couple alone so they said good night and went to their rooms. After putting their pyjamas on, they gathered to Claudia and Janv’s room to hang out for a while. One thing led to another and they started playing pillow fight!
Antigoni: Eat that! (throws pillow)
Claudia: Haha I’m coming to get you!!!
Janv: No you won’t!
Eva: Guyyyys! In your faces!!! (throws a super big pillow on all 3 of them)
Claudia: Oh you won’t get away that easily!
Antigoni: Let’s go! Everyone throw a pillow on Eva!
And the real fight began! They were jumping around the room, up and down the beds throwing pillows at each other. At some point they all just laid on the beds, being tired from the pillow fight, and chatted themselves to sleep.
The first two days in LA had already passed. Studio awesomeness with lots of work like trying to name the new record, a pretty exciting and funny pool game and some of the magic that lies behind the band called Linkin Park. An amazing tour around the City Of Angels by Chester and Mike and a whole afternoon in Mike’s home studio, playing “8 Bit Rebellion” and trying to draw them while working. That was only a small taste of what was about to happen the next days. The girls couldn’t imagine what was coming.
The next morning the girls went out shopping with Anna in Beverly Hills and left the boys alone at home. Besides what could go wrong? Mike can take care of Otis and a dog right? After a long day of shopping therapy the girls decided to take break and have a bite at a small café there. Meanwhile Mike was working on his Alice in Wonderland painting in the house’s basement, where his art studio is, and Otis was right to next him playing with his toy cars. Suddenly Mike started screaming at his dog “No no!!! Don’t eat that! That’s not food!” but it was too late. Jasper had already eaten half of Mike’s acrylic paints. As Otis was playing he started laughing at his daddy because he was trying to clean the colour off the flour while blaming himself for leaving the paints there. “Oh you’re laughing?” Mike said to Otis and cuddled him. He then started tickling him as he was holding him. “Hahaha…See? We don’t need mommy to have fun, do we?” he told him again laughing. Then Otis with his little cute voice replied “Yeeea…Iove you daddy” and kissed Mike.
A while later the girls returned back home to get ready to leave with Mike and go to the studio. “Would it be ironic if I wear my LP t-shirt?” Claudia asked the girls. “Ehm no, why would it?” Janv said. “I don’t know…because we are with the guys…” Claudia replied. “Yeah but that doesn’t mean we can’t support our favourite band from backstage. Besides we are going to be jumping up and down right?” Antigoni said with a tone of excitement. “Hell yeah we will” Eva replied and putted on her LPU9 t-shirt. Suddenly the girls heard Mike calling them from downstairs “Girls come on, we’re going to be late!”. The minute the girls went downstairs, all wearing their awesome LP t-shirts and bracelets, Mike said “Nice, that’s the spirit! I love your t-shirts guys”.
On their way to the studio Mike told the girls to call Chester and tell him that they might be a little late because of the traffic.
Claudia: (calls Chester) Hey Chester!
Chester: Hey C, what’s up?
Claudia: Nothing, Mike wanted us to call you, because we may be a little late.
Antigoni: (grabs the phone from Claudia) Chester, is Joe there yet?
Chester: Yeah he is, why? Do you want me to put him through?
Antigoni: No it’s ok. Just tell him not to forget his froggy.
Janv: (grabs phone from Antigoni) Yeah we don’t want the “froggy is lost” incident to happen again.
Chester: Oh yeah I remember; first it was at your house and then the plane. I’ll keep it in mind. Cya in a while.
When they arrived at the studio, they saw Brad waving at them. As soon as Mike parked his car, they rushed into the mini vans because they were supposed to be at the venue in half an hour. Mike, Chester, Phoenix, Antigoni and Eva were in the first van and the rest were in the second one. On their way to the concert area, Antigoni asked Chester if he took care of the “froggy” problem. Meanwhile in the other van, Joe started acting like crazy. “Where’s froggy???? Tell me you didn’t miss it again guys!”. “Seriously now Joe, you need to calm down, remember what happened the last time you lost him right?” Janv tried to chill him. “Oh no!” Brad said suddenly. “What’s wrong dude?” Brad asked. “We forgot to change the bags. These are not our bags. These are Mike, Chester and Dave’s stuff”. “Oh no! That means that froggy is in the other van!”….
At the same time, in van number one, Mike started acting weird. “I can’t fucking find my laptop” and he continued searching. “Look carefully dude, it’s there with our bags.” Chester told him. “Oh shit!!!” Mike said after a couple of minutes searching. “These are not our bags!”. “What do you mean not YOUR bags?” Antigoni asked. “Tell please we didn’t get in the wrong van” Eva thought out loud. “Apparently we did” Mike replied. “And I told you to take care of the froggy problem Chester. Now Joe must be freaking out!” Antigoni said to Chester. Meanwhile, back at van number two, Rob called Dave on the phone to tell him about the froggy situation.
Phoenix: Hey dude! Thank God you called!
Rob: Yeah I know…the bags!
Phoenix: Is Joe ok?
Brad: Brad here. We wouldn’t be calling if Joe was ok!
Phoenix: Hey Brad. Yeah I know sorry.
Claudia: Pass Chester the phone Phi.
Chester: What’s up C.?
Claudia: Please you need to watch out for froggy next time. We almost lost Joe here.
Chester: I know I’m sorry…
Claudia: It’s ok…He’s calm now. Janv is sitting with him.
Chester: Thank God. Anyways…
Claudia: Cya at the venue in a while. (hangs up)
When they got to the venue, a huge line of kids was waiting backstage for the concert to start. The guys rushed to the dressing rooms for their pre-show ritual.
Eva: So guys, what’s your pre-show ritual?
Mike: I just drink coffee. A strong cup of coffee to keep me full of energy for the show.
Rob: I just like playing with my drumsticks.
Before any of the other guys replied, Jim the tech engineer, interrupted them and told them it was time for the meet and greet. The guys decided that Joe and Phoenix would do that meet and greet and headed off to a room down the hall where the kids were waiting.
Meanwhile Chester seemed to be having fun and making the girls laugh so hard. He was playing “Unicorns and Lollipops” on an acoustic guitar. Mike and Brad were cranking up and Rob was trying to follow the rhythm with the drumsticks while tapping the coffee table. “You like unicorns and I like lollipops oh yeah…you like unicorns and I like lollipops oh yeah, oh yeah…” Chester was singing. Time passed by fast and a while later Joe and Dave were back from the meet and greet. It was time to start getting ready to hot the stage. Jim, the tech guy, had the guys wear their in ear monitors and asked the girls not to go on stage just yet. They had to wear some themselves because the sound on stage is freaking loud. When they were done, they walked to the stage. The guys had made sure there was a perfect spot for the girls to sit and enjoy the show from there. Before they went out on stage, as they always do, the guys hugged each other and prepared their selves to go out and rock!!!
First song on the setlist was One Step Closer. The moment the intro started the girls could see the excitement of the fans. LP ran to the stage jumping up and down. By the time they got to the part where Chester is screaming out loud “Shut up when I’m talking to you”, the girls could see the moshpits forming from backstage. Everyone was screaming and jumping. Second song was Lying From You. Mike seemed to be enjoying it so much. His rapping is absolutely awesome. A few more songs followed including From The Inside, Somewhere I Belong, No More Sorrow and Given Up. Before the next song started, Mike took a moment to say “You guys sound freaking loud tonight! Keep it up!”. Then he started rapping the verse of Petrified over the intro to Points Of Authority. He also rapped the first verse of A Place For My Head over the outro.
The lights went out for a couple of seconds in order for the crew to take Mike’s keyboard on stage. The girls were witnessing everything! The whole action that was happening backstage. It was pretty intense. A few minutes later Leave Out All The Rest and Shadow Of The Day were played. Before the next song started, Chester said “We want to dedicate this next song to our amazing friends who are here with us today…” (the spotlight shined backstage where the girls were sitting) …and thank them for everything. You guys are awesome.” And Mike started playing Numb. The girls went crazy. They couldn’t believe he actually said that! That brought tears to their eyes and made them sit back and enjoy this beautiful song as much as possible. After Numb, all lights went off except one. The only visible person on stage was Mike. He started playing a piano melody. Even the guys admitted that this is their favourite part of the concert. Mike’s playing is amazing. It was so magical. He then started playing the piano intro of Breaking The Habit and then the studio version started. After that, they played Little Things and took a 3 minutes break before the hit the stage again.
During this short break the only thing the guys did was wipe off their sweat from their face and drink tons of water! Mike asked everyone to sing along with Chester on this song, In The End. Then Crawling and Bleed It Out were played. During Bleed It Out it was like a huge party. Everyone was singing along dancing around. Even the girls backstage were singing the “oeo” part with Chester and of course the amazing drum solo of Rob got everyone super excited. A quick guitar switch after the song made Brad hit his lip. Fortunately it wasn’t anything serious. Joe started messing around with his turntables and Mike started playing the intro of New Divide on his synthesizer. The crowd went crazy including the girls. Janv especially was so happy. It was her first Linkin Park concert ever. New Divide ended with an extended guitar outro by Brad accompanied with a bass tone by Phoenix. Then, Joe started playing some gunshots and sirens while messing around and What I’ve Done began. An amazing song with a deep meaning, really hard to play live, especially for Mike who has to play both the keyboard and a guitar part. After taking a quick breath, Mike said “This is our last song. If you want to rock with us, this is your last chance. Lets Go!!!”. The girls started jumping up and down backstage and so did the crowd. Faint was the last song. In the part where Chester screams out loud “No, hear me out now…” everyone went crazy. The biggest moshpits were created. Everyone’s adrenaline has reached the highest point. After an amazing and extended outro, the band as always, chilled for another 5-7 minutes on stage throwing picks, drumsticks and water bottles on the crowd and thanking them for being awesome.
When they finished, they left the stage in a hurry and rushed to the busses. The girls were already there waiting for them.
Janv: That was awesome!!!! You guys nailed it!
Brad: Thanks. It was your first one right?
Janv: Yes and it was the best! No doubt.
Rob: I messed up the drum solo though.
Claudia: No you didn’t. It was awesome.
Rob: I actually missed a note. But you guys couldn’t tell.
Brad: Rob is always worried about any mistakes.
Rob: Dude, I am because it’s a mistake.
Brad: Yeah dude, but they can’t even understand it. We cover it up.
Rob: Yes, true but…
Janv: No but! (interrupts him). You were simply awesome. End of discussion.
Meanwhile, in the other van, everything is so quite. Antigoni and Eva have fallen asleep, Mike is messing around with his iPhone and Dave is resting. They’re arriving back at the studio where they left the cars and Mike wants to wake up the girls. He puts on one of his favourite songs and approaches his iPhone to the girls. Antigoni suddenly opens her eyes and starts shouting “GBC GBC”. Mike has hidden his iPhone. Eva wakes up from Antigoni’s screams and tries to understand what happened.
Antigoni: Can’t you hear it?
Eva: Yes, music. It’s Get Busy.
Mike: I didn’t know you’d be that crazy with the song.
Antigoni: Are you kidding me? The guys rock!!!
Eva: He knows it.
Mike: Yeah they do. Wait till Friday, surprise coming.
Eva: Oh yes. I know!
Antigoni: Know what? TELL ME!!! (pokes Eva)
Mike: Don’t tell her. It’s a secret.
And so Mike and Eva left Antigoni wondering what they were talking about.
The next day, they all met at the studio again to discuss on the album artwork and throw some ideas on what to do about Hybrid Theory’s 10th anniversary. They all sat at the comfy couches and started wondering about what they could do for the anniversary. They wanted to do something special for the LPU and something general for every LP fan. The main idea was doing a 6members chat on the LPU, something that hadn’t happened before, and organising a contest with the prize being a signed Hybrid Theory placket. Other than that, Joe had talked with Fiore about releasing a special 20 minutes LPTV episode with the best moments of the band in Hybrid Theory time. The footage was never seen before neither in old LPTV episodes nor at Frat Party At The Pancake Festival.
Time was passing by fast and Mike and Joe were already late at the album artwork conference. Dave suggested splitting up in groups so they can cover more issues. Mike asked Eva to join him and Joe at he conference because he thought she could help them with ideas. The rest of the guys could stay at the studio and continue working on the songs. Chester though disagreed and had a brilliant idea. He said he and Anigoni could go and get some lunch, since it was already late, and the rest of them could continue doing what they were doing. And so it happened. The guys stayed at the studio to work, Mike, Joe and Eva went to discuss about the album artwork and Chester and Antigoni went to get lunch.
Rob went into the recording room to record some drums while Phoenix was showing the girls how to play the bass. He showed them the right way to hold the bass and some basic notes. As they were trying to do what Phoenix had showed them, Rob was drummin’ so freaking awesome that Brad decided to record it. Meanwhile, a couple of rooms away, Mike, Joe, Eva and a bunch of other guys were trying to figure out the album cover. A guy named James, who happens to do all the photoshoots of LP, suggested having a particular picture of the six of them facing at each other as the cover. Joe disagreed and suggested adding another picture with the LP logo on it surrounding by weird things Mike had drawn.
At the same time Chester and Antigoni were outside a pizza place near the studio. When they walked in, a guy at the counters shouted at Chester and told him that his order was ready. Chester explained to Antigoni that the guy knows what they’re eating because they are ordering food from here all the time. As the guy passed the pizza to Chester, a lady fell over him causing the pizza to land on Chester’s t-shirt.
Lady: Oh I’m so sorry! I was in a hurry that didn’t see you.
Chester: It’s ok mam, just watch were you’re going next time.
Antigoni: Are you ok? Your t-shirt is covered with tomato sauce.
Chester: Let’s get out of here. We’ll figure out what we’ll eat for lunch.
When they got back to the car, he took off his full of tomato sauce t-shirt and stayed shirtless until they got to the studio.
Antigoni: OMG! Your tattoos are amazing! I want one too!
Chester: Haha thanks. And see that? It’s the drawings you guys did on me on the plane. I had them inked last night before the concert.
Antigoni: Wow! They look pretty good. I’m glad you like them.
Chester: How could I not like them? They’re awesome! Now come on, lets go back to the studio. I’ve a feeling the guys are hungry and must figure out what we’ll eat.
Antigoni: We can have MacDonald’s. Is there a story nearby?
Chester: Why didn’t I think of that earlier? Brilliant idea! Lets go!
Back at the studio, Claudia had taken over one of Phoenix’s bass and she was trying to play it. Janv on the other hand, was over one of Joe’s turntables and she was trying to figure out how they work. She started pushing different buttons and suddenly gunshots were heard. Brad popped out of his chair and asked Rob to stop because something was wrong. Claudia and Phoenix walked in the room Janv was and asked her what happened.
Janv: I’m sorry. I was just pressing these buttons.
Phoenix: Isn’t it amazing? I wish Joe could show me how this thing works.
Claudia: Haha why? So you can make weird noises all the time?
Brad: (walks in the room terrified) Are you guys ok? We heard something like a gunshot.
Janv: That would be me messing around with Joe’s equipment.
Rob: I’ve an idea. Why don’t you continue messing with these, Phoenix and Claudia can jam on the bass, Brad on guitar and I’ll try to keep up on the drums.
Claudia: You mean like do a little jam session?
Rob: Yeah!
Phoenix: I’m in for sure!
Brad: Lets do it! (grabs the Hybrid Theory PRS)
As the guys were having fun jamming on the instruments, the artwork conference was almost finished and they were all discussing about some minor details. Chester and Antigoni were on their way back to the studio as they had already stopped by MacDonald’s to grab lunch.
Chester: We’re back!!! (he shouted as he walked in the studio)
Janv: It was about time! I’m so hungry!
Claudia: Me too. Lets eat.
Antigoni: No wait! We should call Mike, Eva and Joe.
Brad: I’m sure they’ll be done in a few so we can wait a little more.
Rob: I hope they will.
A few minutes later Joe, Eva and Mike walked in and informed the rest of the guys that the album cover is almost done and it’s great! Then they all sat and enjoyed a beautiful meal. It was already 5pm when they had lunch. They didn’t realize how fast time passed by because when you’re in a studio you loose track of hours. You’re closed in a small area and you can’t understand how the day progresses.
Joe: Would it be ok if we came at around 11am tomorrow Mike?
Brad: Oh yeah I meant to ask the same question too.
Mike: Yeah guys its fine.
Eva: What are they talking about? (looks at Chester)
Chester: We’re gathering at Mike’s house tomorrow morning to review the songs.
Claudia: That must be awesome.
Chester: It sounds this way but believe me it’s not.
Antigoni: Why?
Chester: Because we always disagree on everything. (laughs)
Janv: Aww…I’m sure despite all that you get at the point you want to get.
Chester: That’s true.
The next morning they all gathered at Mike’s house to review the songs and discuss about the promotion of the new record. All the tracks sounded ground-breaking and they were ready to be sent at the Warner Bros for review. A more serious matter seemed to be bugging the guys though.
Brad: We need to find a way to tell our fans the album is almost ready.
Antigoni: You can start by announcing tour dates.
Rob: Yeah only that we don’t know exactly where we’re touring at this point.
Claudia: Then why don’t you just make a post saying the album is almost ready and all that?
Chester: We could, but it’s too cheap. The fans need something more.
Eva: What then?
Mike: I’ve the perfect idea!
Janv: Lets hear it.
Mike: We can make a couple of puzzles for the fans to solve and each answer of each puzzle will be a clue for the album.
Phoenix: Ok…explain how we’re going to do that.
Mike: Well for starters we’ll have a weird black and white encrypted message appear to them. They will need to look closely at each frame to get the clue for the next message.
Joe: Hold on there genius! This may not be easy for everyone.
Claudia: Yeah some people may not be able to solve this kind of stuff your mind can solve.
Mike: Maybe, maybe not. But these messages will motivate our fans to work together in the message boards to get the right solution. Believe me it’ll be worth it.
Brad: Ok lets say we do it. What next?
Mike: The first message will contain the words “More messages coming soon” at the last frame.
Antigoni: What’s the point? That is not a clue for the album.
Mike: Listen listen! Then we’ll give them a binary code that consists of zeros and ones. They will have to encrypt it to get the result.
Eva: Oh hold on! That sounds way too complicated.
Mike: Well it’s not. There are a lot of sites that convert binary codes to texts. But here’s the best part. The text will be in different languages and they will have to translate it and put it in the right order to get the solution.
Chester: Now that you mention it, it sounds fun and yeah they could work together to figure it out.
Janv: So lets say they got the result and all…what’s next?
Mike: Oh wait! The result is going to be a sentence that will re-direct them to the saying “A thousand suns”.
Eva: What’s that supposed to mean?
Rob: Ha! You’ll need to figure it out.
Joe: Ah nice. I see your point Mike.
Brad: Yes! Lets do it.
Claudia: A thousand suns? You got me thinking now guys!
Mike: See? That’s what I’m talking about. We’ll let them make assumptions and we’ll keep hooking them up with secret messages till they get where we want them to get.
Phoenix: Ok lets make it happen.
Antigoni: And what if they can’t figure it out?
Mike: I’ll be there to give away some hints, don’t worry.
Janv: If you say so. I trust you.
Time passed by and the guys left. Now Mike and Eva had to tell the other girls about the big secret they were talking about the other day. Mike started by saying “I know you guys like GBC as much as I do so I figured we can go to a concert together.” … “Yeah that was the big secret. We’re going to GBC’s concert tonight!!!!!” Eva added with a tone of excitement. Antigoni couldn’t believe it at first! She was so happy she was going to finally see GBC perform live after the blood sweat and tears she and Eva put through to try to bring them in Greece. Janv and Claudia were as excited as everyone else. They couldn’t wait for that night. It was going to be epic.
As soon as they reached the Viper Room, downtown LA, Mike warned them that they were kinda early because they were invited to the pre-show party backstage. That made the girls even more excited and they were all looking forward to meet the guys. When they got backstage Antigoni pointed at Ryu and said “Wow! Ryu is huge!”. “Yeah he is bigger than what he looks in the pics” Eva added. Claudia and Janc saw DjCheapshot at the back and run towards him to greet him, while Mike and the other 2 girls headed where Ryu was.
Ryu: Yo my man Mike! Glad you made it.
Mike: What’s up dude?
Ryu: Good, u?
Mike: Couldn’t be better. I brought a couple of guests with me. I’d like you to meet two of your biggest fans Antigoni and Eva. (points at them)
Eva: You can’t believe how nice it is to finally meet you!
Antigoni: Me too! I feel like I’m in heaven.
Ryu: Do I know you guys from somewhere? You both look so familiar.
Mike: Maybe you know ‘em from facebook or twitter.
Eva: Yes! You do! I’m the one who contacted MTV Greece and asked them to book you for a concert in Greece and Antigoni helped me.
Antigoni: Yes! Do you remember now?
Eva: Please say you do!!! We also talk about the Lakers at times.
Ryu: Of course!!! Our two most valuable fans! Thanks for the support guys.
Mike: Seriously? You’ve been talking about the Lakers? I didn’t know you guys were fans.
Ryu: Are you serious dude? Eva woke up at 4am to watch each game! That’s dedication!
Eva: Proud to be one. (smiles widely)
Antigoni: So, I hope you’re going to play a lot of songs tonight.
Ryu: Don’t worry we got it covered. It’s going to be a blast for sure.
Mike: I’m glad you guys get along so good. I’m going to check what Claudia and Janv are doing.
Ruy: I’ll take the girls to go greet the rest of the guys.
At the same time Janv and Claudia were over Cheashot’s turntables messing around with them. Janv was trying to figure out where was the gunshot button. She seemed to like it so much for a reason. A while later Mike went there too to say hi to his buddy.
Mike: What’s up bro?
Cheapshot: Great dude! What’s up with you?
Mike: Just here with the girls getting ready to enjoy the show.
Cheapshot: I bet you’re having an awesome time together.
Mike: Yeah we do! They’re great.
Janv: Hey I saw Apathy…I’m going to say hi ok?
Mike: Ok, just don’t get lost guys!
Claudia: I’m going with her. Nice to see you Cheap. And thanks for letting us mess with your turntables.
By the time the girls strolled around to greet everyone from the band and have a little chat with them, it was time to go get a nice spot at the arena because the show was about to begin. Mike was already there and he had found themselves a really good spot. Not really far from the stage with great optical space for the girls and him to enjoy the show as much as possible.
Not a long later the show began. The crowd was going crazy and so did they. It was really exciting for them to see their second favourite band in the world live. After the first few songs GBC took a small break and to everyone’s surprise Ryu actually took advantage of it and said “We want to thank our very special friends who are here today to support us. Mike, dude thanks a lot for your help it means a lot. Eva, Antigoni thanks for everything you’ve done for us we really appreciate it. Last but not least, Claudia and Janv you guys are awesome. Keep doing your thing”.
Eva: Oh my God!!! Did he actually say that? (freaks out)
Claudia: He did!!!! (joins Eva)
Antigoni: Did you, tell him to say that Mike?
Mike: No I swear! I didn’t know. I am as surprised as you are.
Janv: That’s simply awesome.
After singing almost all the tracks on their album including “I Don’t Care About You”, “Uzi Does It” and “Say Whaaat” they sang a brand new song which title is kind of inappropriate. By the end of the show they girls didn’t stop jumping up and down for not even a single second. They enjoyed the show so much. Later, they returned back to Mike’s house to rest because it was a long and tiring day full of excitement.
Back at the house, despite being really late, the girls had gathered at Janv and Claudia’s room to chill for a while. Antigoni though was sitting by herself in the room next door so the girls decided to go get her. They knocked the door and walked in. Antigoni was sitting in bed looking at some pictures.
Claudia: Hey what are you doing here all alone?
Antigoni: I’m looking at the pictures we took with the guys. I can’t believe tomorrow is our last day here. (gives the girls the sad face)
Janv: Yeah I know, I don’t want to it to be over either. We’re having the time of our lives right now.
Claudia: It’s a dream coming true. I hope it never ended.
Eva: Come on guys! Get your shit together! I know it’s our last day but we must enjoy it as much as possible and not be sad it’s ending.
Antigoni: How could we not be sad?
Claudia: Yeah it’s…
Eva: We can save the tears and all for Sunday when we’ll be at the airport waving the guys goodbye. All we need to do now is focus!
Janv: Yeah I agree! It’s our last day and we have to spend it as fun as possible.
The girls fell to deep thought and starting looking at the pictures. Some of them were actually really funny like the one with Mike jumping with a snowboard from Janv’s staircase or the one with Phoenix running around like crazy at Janv’s backyard right after he defeated Brad. Some others were full of emotions like the one at Janv’s place right after everyone apologized to each other for what they’ve done. That group-hug photo was everyone’s favourite one. There were others too! The one with Joe and Janv sleeping on the plane, Claudia drawing on Chester’s back, Antigoni and Eva sleeping while Mike was blogging as quite as possible so he wouldn’t wake them up, Mike and Eva painting Janv’s bathroom walls and of course the priceless picture of Mike trying to steal Rob’s cookie at the Planet Hollywood! Amazing moments…moments that will be engraved in the girls’ hearts forever.
Claudia: Can I say something random, to break the ice?
Eva: What is it?
Claudia: Have you thought what we’ll give to LP before we go?
Antigoni: Excellent question. It has to be something unique and special.
Janv: I’ve an idea. We should write a letter to them for starters, thanking them for all they’ve done and stuff like that.
Claudia: Yeap, that’s what I thought too but what else can we give them?
Eva: How about if I drew a picture of all 10 of us, the amazing “Unbreakable people”?
Antigoni: Yeah! And they can have it framed!
Janv: Can you do it? I mean it’s already 2am and tomorrow we’ll be hanging with them so they might see it.
Eva: I’ll do my best to finish it tonight.
Claudia: Great! And we must steal some time tomorrow to write the letter so we can leave it at the studio for the guys to find on Monday.
Antigoni: Tomorrow at noon, before lunch.
Janv: And don’t forget! We promised Joe to draw him something like we did for Chester.
Eva: Yeah Joe knows we’ll do that so we can do it tomorrow at the studio or wherever we meet with the guys.
Claudia: Yes. So, we have our plan. Let’s make it happen. (hi-fives with the girls)
Antigoni: Oh and one last thing. We can make them a collage with the pictures we took together.
Janv: Awesome idea!!! Let’s do that too.
Eva: Great. So you guys finish the collage tonight and I’ll do my best on the drawing.
And so the girls started making the collage while Eva was working on the drawing. It was already 3am when they started making the presents and by 5am the collage was ready and the drawing was almost done. An hour and a half later, Eva found herself yawing so hard! She was feeling so sleepy but at last, the drawing was complete. She headed to bed to rest as much as possible in order not to feel sleepy all day long.
The next morning, Mike got worried because the girls were still sleeping and it was time to leave for the studio. He got upstairs and found all 4 of them sleeping in Eva and Antigonin’s room. He gently tried to wake them up without scaring them. Janv opened her eyes and said good morning with a weak voice. Mike nodded to Claudia who had just opened her eyes as well and said “You guys look dead tired! Didn’t you sleep well last night?”. “We had some issues.” Antigoni replied as she was waking up. “Issues?” Mike wondered. “None of your business dude” Eva said and half-opened her eyes. “Hm! You girls are hiding something…Anyways, get ready! We have to go to the studio” Mike said and left the room.
An hour and a half later they finally got to the studio. “You finally found the way huh?” Joe said ironically the moment they walked into the control room. “Sorry we overslept” Claudia replied feeling guilty. “Dude! You woke them up? Don’t you know sleeping is awesome?” Rob tried to defend the girls as he and Brad enjoy sleeping really much. “Someone who’s logical finally” Antigoni said excited. Then Mike took his place in front of the boards as Chester walked in the vocal booth to record some vocals. Phoenix and Brad were sitting in the control room next to Mike messing with the guitar, while Joe and Rob we’re trying to edit some stuff on Mike’s laptop. The girls grabbed this opportunity and went to the mini lounge of the studio to write the letter while everyone was busy.
Janv: How should we write it?
Antigoni: Each of us can write a little something about this amazing experience.
Claudia: Yeah, it’d be more personal this way.
Eva: Ok let’s do it and then we’ll paint those we promised to Joe.
Antigoni: Oh and don’t forget. We must hide the letter somewhere in here in order for them to find it later.
Janv: Yeah we will.
About an hour later Brad came in the lounge and said “There you are. We’ve been looking for you. What are you doing here?”. “We’re just talking, what happened?” Antigoni asked. “Nothing” Brad nodded and asked the girls to come in the control room. They sat in a small sofa behind the boards and Mike started playing a song on the computer. It was an instrumental and sounded more electronic than the other tracks they’ve done in the past. Claudia asked if this is a song of the new album and Chester told them it’s just a song they never finished, a song that never made it through. After a while, to everyone’s surprise Mike said it’s time to go home. The guys tried to look as convincing as they could to the girls’ eyes and asked him why he’s leaving so early, because he’s the one that usually leaves the studio last, but deep inside they knew what they had to do.
Mike took the girls home and left the guys behind and the studio to prepare the place for the surprise party they had been organising for the girls under their noses. They filled the recording room with all kinds of different colored balloons, added more Christmas lights to the control room and hanged a big piece of paper in the mini lounge that said “We’ll miss you”. Then they got in touch with Jay, the studio owner, telling him not to forget about the party that night and to be at the studio at 8pm in order to let them in. After everything was in order, they guys left and went home to rest a little bit and get ready for the party.
Back at Mike’s place, the girls were playing with Otis in his room while Mike and Anna were discussing how they’re going to tell the girls that they had to go to the studio the same night.
Mike: We need to find something to tell them to get them there.
Anna: How about telling you have a brilliant idea about a song and you and the guys are meeting at the studio?
Mike: That’s not going to work. I came up with an idea late at night and had everyone go to the studio late at night just for it? I could wait for tomorrow plus you’re coming too so they’d ask why you’re coming too.
Anna: True. Tell them we’re having dinner outside tonight. That way they won’t assume anything.
Mike: Right!!! That’s what we’re going to do. Thanks dear. (kisses Anna)
After having this conversation with Anna and solving the problem, Mike went upstairs to check on Otis and announce the girls they’re going to “dinner”.
Mike: Hey are you guys having fun?
Claudia: Your son is so cute and smart.
Antigoni: Just like his daddy!
Mike: Come on now, you make me blush.
Eva: It’s the truth.
Mike: Ok, leave Otis for a minute; I’ve an announcement to make.
Janv: Let’s hear it.
Mike: It’s your last night here so the guys and I are taking you out to dinner tonight.
Claudia: Thanks! But you shouldn’t. I feel bad.
Antigoni: Me too. You’ve done so much for us and what did we do? Nothing.
Mike: Wait a minute. You’ve done a lot already and we appreciate it.
Eva: Yeah, like what?
Mike: The parties, the fun we had together and most important of all you’re our top four fans!
Janv: Ok I won’t say otherwise but seriously you didn’t need to do that.
Mike: We felt like it so we’re doing it. Be ready by 7pm ok?
So the girls started getting ready for the dinner and Mike went downstairs to call the guys and ask them if everything is set up. He called Brad and he assured him that the studio is ready for the party and warned him not to be worried if he doesn’t see them anywhere because they will be hiding at the recording room.
It was around 7.30pm when Mike parked his car outside the studio. The girls didn’t know why they were here but acted like nothing was wrong. They thought Mike must have forgotten something and dropped by to get it before going for dinner. Mike walked in the studio alone to check everything and see if the guys were in their places. A big shock for the girls was about to happen. A few minutes later Mike returned to the car and asked Anna and the girls to come inside to help him find something he lost that morning because he couldn’t find it himself. They all walked in the control room and while Mike and Anna were pretending to be searching, Mike asked the girls to enter the recording room and search there to help them.
The lights were out and when all four of them walked in, Claudia turned them on. To their surprise the room was filled with multicoloured balloons. That would make their searching even harder. As they were walking down the keyboards, Mike who was standing behind them, gave the signal to the guys and they popped out of the balloons saying “SURPRISE!!!” The girls couldn’t believe what was happening. They were scared out of death at first but couldn’t hide their excitement.
Antigoni: You can’t imagine how happy I am right now.
Janv: That’s the coolest “dinner” we ever had!
Eva: I can’t believe you did this for us!
Claudia: Thank you so much! It means a lot.
“Yeah it’s our pleasure.” Rob replied and turned on the stereo. “Let’s have fun!!” Chester started shouting as soon as the music started playing.
An hour had already passed and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Anna and Talinda were sitting in one of the couches talking about various things. Mike was over the table with the snacks grabbing a bite and suddenly he heard Antigoni screaming because a huge trampoline was set up in the small backyard of the studio. No one could believe it so they run towards her. The moment he saw it Chester got onto it and started jumping around saying how awesome it is. Claudia and Eva looked and each other and joined Chester. Rob and Joe were still inside messing around and Phoenix was standing next to Mike watching the guys jump around. “I wonder who thought about putting this giant trampoline here. Idiot” he said. “Wasn’t it your idea Dave?” Mike recalled. “Oh, yeah it was indeed. Brilliant idea I have to say.” He tried to cover himself up.
Janv was hanging with Joe inside and were talking about SURU and stuff like that. A few minutes later, Mike walked in and told everyone to go outside and admire the guys jumping around. Joe was so amazed that he had an idea. He grabbed Rob’s drumsticks and a couple of tennis balls that were left inside. He then started throwing the balls at Chester who was trying to avoid them.
Rob: What the hell? Dude! Those are my drumsticks!
Joe: Oh yeah take them; I don’t need them after all.
Mike: Seriously, what’s that? “Basetennis”?
Phoenix: (craps up) Hahaha, that was hilarious dude! I thought I was the only one who came up with the best jokes ever.
“Watch out!!!!” Eva started yelling. Chester, while trying to throw the tennis ball back at Joe, accidentally smashed a window. Anna and Talinda who were still inside, run outside to see what was going on.
Claudia: That doesn’t look good.
Antigoni: Why can’t you stop breaking things all the time? (laughs out loud)
Phoenix: He can’t stop breaking things because it’s been a long time since he broke something on his body, so he needs to break stuff all the time.
Rob: Dude…
Phoenix: Do not interrupt me when I’m talking wisely.
Rob: But…
Phoenix: There’s not but! Now listen…
Mike: Oh fuck!!!
Phoenix: What now?!?!?
Mike: Apparently the ball after breaking the window it continued its route and broke one of my keyboards’ feet! Chester you’re a dead man!
Eva: I’ll help you fix it, come on.
Chester got off the trampoline feeling guilty. Phoenix was still making those cold jokes and Antigoni and Claudia were just staring at the whole situation with Rob. Screams were heard from inside the studio. Brad and Janv were chasing froggy in the control room while Joe was sitting in the middle of the room with a bucket full of water to save him.
Janv: You need to train froggy Joe.
Brad: Yes I agree, you have to! You can’t just leave him running around like that.
Joe: Sorry guys. (sad face)
Janv: What happened happened. Now, let’s catch him!
And they began trying to capture froggy. They put all their efforts into it and finally after 15 minutes they managed to catch him.
Meanwhile Mike was trying to somehow steer his keyboard and not let it fall because of the broken foot. Eva helped him move a small but heavy piece of equipment and put it in replacement of the keyboard’s foot. As soon as they were done with it, Mike started playing it to see if any of the strings were broken. Eva was sitting back watching him play. It sounded amazingly awesome. A few minutes later, after Mike was sure nothing else was broken, Chester walked in and apologized to him.
Chester: I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean it.
Mike: It’s ok dude. I know it was an accident.
Chester: So, no heart feelings?
Mike: Yeah, we’re cool! We’re bros after all. (smiles widely and hi-fives with Chaz)
By the time all of these happened, it was already 3am. Everyone was now in the lounge either playing pool, chatting or playing Halo on Xbox. Anna, Talinda and the 4 girls were just sitting on the sofas observing around. You could see in the girls’ eyes a small sign of sadness. They knew a few hours were only left for them to spend with their heroes, with the people they appreciate and admire the most in this world. Brad approached them and sat down on the floor and told them not to worry about anything. “Everything nice has to end sometime” he said and smiled. Eva crossed her arms and fell to deep thought, almost tried to hide the tears coming from her eyes. Antigoni couldn’t help it. She hugged Brad and told him she wants to stay in touch with him if possible. She doesn’t want to miss her buddy, her imaginary husband, as she likes to call him. (always in a good way, not like she wants to marry him or something)
After that, Brad tried calming her down and promised to stay in touch with all of them. The rest of the guys started coming towards them, sat down next to Brad and tried to cheer the girls up. Anna and Talinda decided to leave them alone for a while and went outside. Joe cuddled Janv and told her not to worry because he’ll never forget his twin sister. Chester assured Claudia they can always do this again and if they ever throw a big party like the ones the girls did, they are all definitely invited. Eva was still trying to hold her tears as she was starring at the floor, looking no one in the face. Mike grabbed her arm and gave her a big hug. He promised to make an art piece with her sometime and have it framed on his wall. She laughed at told him “I not even half good as you are. How are we supposed to do a collabo piece? “Aw come on, don’t say that. I saw what you can do and you’re pretty good.” Mike replied.
About half an hour later, the girls had finally calmed down. One by one, the guys started going back to their homes and assured the girls that they’ll be at the airport to say goodbye the following day. Then Mike and Anna took the girls and returned home. It was already 6am when they arrived and the girls’ flight was at noon so they started packing and preparing to leave for the airport. Despite being dead tired from the party, they still had some energy left for their last hours in LA. They made sure they hadn’t forgotten anything at Mike’s house and then they talked about how awesome it was being together with LP and spending a whole week with them.
It was already 10am when they arrived at the airport. After giving their luggage to the check in areas, they went to meet the rest of the guys. They sat in a coffee shop near the girls’ boarding exits. Claudia, Antigoni and Eva were to Germany first, where they had to switch planes, and Janv was flying straight back to India. It was the perfect opportunity for them to give Joe the drawing they promised to him and thank them for everything.
Joe: Hey that’s so sweet! I’ll have it framed.
Janv: I’m glad you like it.
Rob: You know, it’s been really awesome hanging with you guys. I hope we can do it again some day.
Chester: Hell yeah we are! We love our hardcore fans!
Antigoni: I’ll be waiting for that day to come.
Phoenix: So….
“The boarding of the Olympic Air flight 713 for Germany has begun. Also, the boarding of the India Airlines flight 459 for Mumbai has started as well. All passengers may now come to the boarding exits” an announcement was heard from the airport’s speakers. Everyone hugged each other and hi-fived, waved goodbye and promised to meet again in the future. As soon as the girls had boarded their planes, the guys left the airport and went back to the studio to continue working on the album.
About 2 hours later, Janv was thinking how awesome it was and was wondering if the guys had found the letter she and the other girls had written. In the other plane to Germany, Antigoni, Eva and Claudia were wondering the exact same thing. Back at the studio, Mike called everyone to the control room and told them he had found an envelop with the band’s name on it. Chester had his doubts at first and suggested giving it to management to open it. Joe had a different opinion. He said it was left here for a reason so they should open it. Everyone agreed.
“Dear Linkin Park,
This is Antigoni, Claudia, Janv and Eva speaking. When you first told us to come with you in LA we couldn’t believe it. It was a dream finally coming true and we thank you for that. But, the real excitement was because we were actually going to spend that week in LA with you; You took us to the studio, showed us how the magical music you create is made, toured us around LA and most important of all showed us how true friends are. So we decided to give you this as a gift: you will find a collage of the pictures we took together and a drawing of us Eva did. We hope you like them, thanks for everything you’ve done.
Claudia
All I wanted to say is this: thank you guys. These past few days were the best of my whole life. It was crazy, it was fun... It's a big shame we have to get back home. It sucks actually, because I want for every single day of my life to be like that... thank you guys again for everything. Someday we will all see each other again, I hope.
Antigoni
This experience was awesome and unique for me. I realised that you guys except from musicians you’re human beings that laugh and have fun. Thanks for everything… And dear Chaz, stay away from any kind of drinks! (LOL)
Janv
Linkin Park was always much more than just a band for me. You guys have inspired me to try things (rap, guitar) I would never have thought of on my own. Listening to your songs helped me follow the voice of my heart. You gave me the courage to tell the world "this is how I am whether you like it or not". And now, after having such a great time with you guys, I know my heroes much better. I thank you all of from the bottom of my heart for everything!
Eva
I could never imagine spending a single day with the people I admire the most but not only I did spent a whole week with them, we became friends as well. Yes, I’m talking about you guys! Thank you for everything you’ve done. It was an experience of a lifetime that will always be engraved in my heart. I do hope we can do this again some day. Thank you for being here for us and keep doing your thing. You know you rock the world with your music because your music is so deep and meaningful. Thank you again for making me who I am and for making feel I’m not alone. “
THE END
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That is awesome..
ReplyDeletei cry at that part ..it's like 'goodbye'
That envelope part .. I loooooooooveeee you guys!!!1