Chapter One

A security guard glanced down at his watch before shifting slightly, not moving from his position in front of the screaming crowd. It was only ten in the morning; the doors weren't going to be open to the public until six. He knew by the crowd in front of him that he and the other guards were going to have problems with everyone staying in line once the doors were open. When he had applied for the job, he couldn't wait to be able to see different bands perform. Free shows and a descent-sized paycheck had sounded like a good deal to him. It hadn't even taken him a week for him to realize that working security was nothing like he had thought. After working as a security guard for almost seven years, he couldn't name half the bands that had come through the place. He always complained about his job, about how he hated dealing with drunks and having to break up the occasional fights, but he knew he'd rather deal with these crowds rather than work in a cubicle at some office.

The security guard was drawn from his thoughts when a small group of teenagers wiggled their way to the front. There were two girls and a boy, their arms linked together as they laughed and joked among each other. They argued amongst themselves for a minute, trying to decide who was going to ask him something. He rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of the crowd, not really interested in anything that was going on around him. His attention was brought back to the three standing in front of him as one of the girls looked at him.

"Hey, can we get to go in first?" the girl asked as she smiled up at him. She kept her arms linked with her friends, not wanting to get separated, and the other girl leaned on her. "Can we?"

The security guard looked down at her, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't really care who got in first or last so long as they didn't sneak in or try anything funny. The girl looked at her friends before looking up at him again, hoping he would help move everyone else back so that they could stand in the front, but he didn't move. As directed by his boss, he didn't move from his spot; no one wanted to be the one to get yelled at for letting people get closer to the building before the doors opened. When their boss got mad, he got mad.

"If you can manage to stay in the front, sure," he answered. "But I'm not making any promises."

"Thanks!" the girl exclaimed, completely disregarding the last half of his statement.

She smiled to her friends, pulling them closer to her as she tried to wiggle her way in front of another small group of people. They glared at her, tensing as they refused to budge. The security guard inwardly sighed, rolling his eyes before looking up at the roofs of the buildings across the street. He had just under eight hours left to stand there, and he was already getting annoyed with those who stood before him. Another security guard came up to stand next to him, looking at the quarreling teens for a moment before turning his head to look at the first security guard, his eyebrow raising slightly in a silent question. The first security guard simply shrugged his shoulders; he wasn't about to deal with them. As far as he was concerned, it was too early to deal with anything. If everyone wanted to tire themselves out in their pointless struggles to stay in front, that was fine with him. It only made his job a little easier when dealing with everyone inside during the show.

The second security guard stood back and watched as the group of teens struggled to get in the front, all of them failing miserably as another bunch of kids took the opportunity to get in front of them. There was a lot of protest to this, resulting in the teenagers yelling at each other, arguing about who had been there first. Letting out a sigh, the security guards exchanged looks; if the kids got too carried away, they were going to have to intervene. Stupid policy, in some of their opinions. All their intervening ever led to was more people getting involved, occasionally fists flying if things got too out of hand. Both security guards just hoped there wouldn't be any cat-fights. Breaking up fights between a group of guys was never any fun, but they had found that it was even worse when two girls were fighting, ripping at each others throats. It was always over the tiniest things, too, they had noticed.

The security guards decided to ignore the teenagers for the time being, silently hoping that they would turn away from each other or tire themselves out. However, they both knew that the chances of either of those actually happening were extremely slim. It became clear that there were no chances of anyone calming down as the three groups started pushing more, sticking close to those that they were with so that they weren't as vulnerable to those they were fighting with. When other people started pushing back at the cluster of fighting teens, the guards finally decided that the "situation" wasn't about to solve itself like they had been silently hoping.

"Come on, Charlie," the second guard sighed.

"Sure thing, Earl," Charlie muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head.

They stepped forward, motioning to a couple others that were standing a few feet behind them. Two other guards stepped forward, taking their places at the front of the crowd while Earl and Charlie walked through the fighting teens, separating them from each other.

"It hasn't even been an hour yet and you kids are already getting on my nerves," Charlie said. "If all of you don't knock it off now, none of you are getting inside to see the show."

The group of teens looked up at him, glaring at each other once more before turning their heads away from each other. Letting out a heavy sigh, Earl pinched the bridge of his nose, his other hand resting on his hip as he listened to the teenagers start to try to defend themselves. The quarreling grew louder as the teens started arguing about who had been there first and who had started the fight, trying to be heard over the others. After a couple minutes of listening to their bickering, Earl held his hands up in front of him.

"Listen," he said with a heavy sigh. "I know you're all impatient to get inside, but the doors aren't even going to open for another seven hours. And that's if the doors get opened earlier than scheduled, but our boss won't open them early if he sees everyone out here fighting with each other like you all previously were."

Everyone exchanged a look before nodding or shrugging, shuffling on their feet. They all wanted to get inside as early as possible; the doors opening earlier meant the show would begin sooner, and that meant more time for the bands to perform their shows and encores.

"Just keep your jets cool until you're inside, would ya?" Charlie asked.

The group in front of them nodded again, deciding that fighting to get in first wasn't worth the risk of being banned from seeing Tokio Hotel perform. Not when they were all still toward the front, anyway. Charlie and Earl turned and went back to their spots at the very front of the crowd, looking everyone over again. Everyone that was close enough to see what had happened had seemed to calm down a bit, most likely for the same reason as those who had been in the quarrel, but everyone in the back were still trying to push their way to the front.

"This day is going to be a pain," Charlie said as he tilted his head back, squinting his eyes as he watched a plane fly over the buildings.

"Yeah, but at least we have jobs," Earl replied with a shrug.

Charlie simply grunted, not really feeling up to discussing the current issues of the economy to his coworker.

Much to everyone's relief, the next few hours went by fairly quickly. As many had hoped, the screaming crowd before them had tired themselves out, their throats hurting from yelling all day, their muscles weary from trying to push through the crowd but getting nowhere. Of course, the heat from the rising sun had helped tire out the crowd as well, but the security guards weren't exactly feeling any better and more energized than those before them. Letting out a sigh, Charlie turned to Earl.

"Hey, I'm gonna go and have myself a smoke," he said. "Want me to get you something to eat or drink on my way back?"

"You should really quit smoking," Earl sighed while shaking his head. "It's not good for you."

"Do you want something to eat or not?"

"Sure, whatever. I'd like something to drink."

Earl didn't know why he ever bothered trying to convince Charlie to quit smoking; the conversation always ended with Charlie going off to have another cigarette anyway.

"Anything in particular?" Charlie asked, already reaching in his pocket to grab his pack of cigarettes.

"Doesn't matter to me," Earl answered with a wave of his hand.

Charlie shrugged and walked off, putting a cigarette in his mouth before pulling out his lighter. He lit the cigarette as he leaned back on a nearby building, watching as the other security guards stood in their positions. The crowd went the length of the block, and from where Charlie was standing, it looked as if it continued around the corner. The corner of his mouth raised slightly as he laughed to himself. There was no way all those people were going to be getting in. Maybe about three-fourths of them, but definitely not all of them. He let out a sigh and continued smoking his cigarette, holding his breath each time he inhaled before slowly exhaling. It was a barely two minutes later that he noticed someone walk up to him, stopping to stand a few feet away. Charlie flicked the ash off his half-finished cigarette and looked at the person. It was a girl and he noticed a small book in her hands as she stared at the ground.

"May I help you?" he asked, not sounding the least bit interested in what the girl may have wanted.

----
The crowd had been growing all day, people willing to wait for hours to get inside. It truly was an amazing sight, knowing that one band, that four boys could have an impact like this on people all around the world. The only thing that seemed to ruin the moment was that almost all of the people waiting in line weren't always fans. How many true fans were actually there? Four? Ten? Eighteen? Out of the hundreds of people waiting, there was no doubt that less than a fraction of them were the fans that had dedicated themselves to Tokio Hotel.

A girl let out a quiet sigh as she sat on the hood of her car in a parking lot across the street. It was really her sisters car; she was simply borrowing it for the night. She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her slender arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. Her long, brown hair slid from behind her, falling around her knees; her blue-green eyes watched as the people across the street packed closer together. She didn't see the point in waiting in line; it wasn't like she was going to be able to get in without any money. Being the die-hard fan she was, despite the lack of money, she had been determined to get to this show. Maybe she'd be able to meet the band members when they came out after the show to sign posters and meet the crowd. The girl let out a heavy sigh; the chances of her being able to get close enough to meet the boys was only ever going to happen in her dreams.

As the hours slowly dragged by, the girl leaned back on the windshield. She had long since turned on the radio in the car. There was no doubt in her mind that her sister would yell at her for letting the car battery get so low, but she didn't really care. It wasn't like it was any worse than her mom and sister accidentally leaving the lights on every night.

The girl scanned the crowd for then hundredth time. It never ceased to amaze her how quickly Tokio Hotel shows sold out, but it disgusted her to know how many didn't really care for the boys and their efforts to get to where they were now. Couldn't people just appreciate the boys for what they were and not what the magazines and media made them out to be? Letting out a quiet sigh, the girl sat up and looked up and down the street. She could only imagine how far down the other block the line went.

"Guess I'm not the only one who won't see them perform tonight," she muttered to herself. She frowned as she acknowledged what she was saying.

It had taken a lot of persistence to convince her boss into giving her the night off of work, to convince her sister into letting her borrow the car. It had taken even more persistence to convince her mother that she was going to be fine on her own. After all, her sister did have a GPS in the car, so it wasn't like she was going to get lost or anything. To know that she was so close to seeing her boys perform but was inevitably stuck outside wasn't a very nice feeling. A few cars drove by, honking at people that were walking up the street in an attempt to get closer, and people were yelling, laughing and having fun waiting with their friends. The girl slid off the hood of the car as she went to turn off the radio, pausing as the final verse of the song played.

'Cuz if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me, and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be...

"You'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street," she quietly sang before turning off the radio.

She grabbed a small black journal from the passenger seat before closing the doors, locking the car. There was no way she was going to risk someone stealing her sisters car or anything inside, and there was definitely no way she was going to leave her journal unattended. Looking around, she searched the crowd for someone she had seen. She didn't know the man, but that was alright. Maybe he'd be able to help her; she simply needed to relocate him first. After a moment of peering into the crowd, she saw him. A smile flashed on her lips as she quickly walked across the street to him, but her smile quickly disappeared as she drew closer. What if he didn't want to help her? He didn't know her, after all, and it wasn't like she was going to be able to help him with anything in return.

The guy looked up at her as she stopped a few feet away, her fingers clutching tightly at the journal she held against her chest; her knuckles turned white as she thought about what to say. How was she going to convince him to help her? She was "just another fan" to everyone, so what would make her so different from the other people who had probably already asked him for help? He had probably been asked the same question multiple times, and for all she knew had said no every time. All her determination withered away at the fear of her request being rejected. She jumped slightly when the man suddenly spoke, flicking his cigarette to get the ash off the tip. The girl shifted slightly on her feet, thinking of how to word things right without sounding weird.

"May I help you?" Charlie repeated.

He sounded a little agitated, but she had expected that. She'd probably be annoyed if people kept coming up to her on a day like this.

"Um, I'm kind of hoping you can help me..." she replied. She didn't look up from the ground as she tried to find her voice.

"You are?" he asked, going back to smoking his cigarette.

"Oh, I'm Emi. You don't know me," she quickly said, finally looking up at him. "But I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"I can't guarantee you a ticket. You need to wait in line like everyone else."

"That's not what I wanted, actually..."

"Then what do you want?" Charlie asked, putting out his cigarette. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to enjoy his break after all.

Emi let out a heavy sigh. It was now or never.