My breath was unsteady, my palms were sweating, and I was absolutely terrified. Gripping my newly bought T-shirts in my left arm, I frantically looked to my left and to my right. But all I could see were the colorful blurs of girls dressed in bright colors, scurrying quickly past me. All I could hear was the distant chanting of fans eager to see their idol. I was totally screwed.

My sister, Morgan, sat in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel. “Are you excited?” she says to me, flicking her blinker on.

I grin widely, playing with the tattered hem on my shirt. “Of course I’m excited! I have gray hair from waiting so long!”

Morgan lets out a laugh and drifts into the left lane. We are on our way to the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Just a couple months before, in August, I was able to score two tickets to see Harry Styles on his tour, Love On Tour! Morgan swerves around a couple cars, trying to spot our next exit.

“I hate driving in big cities. Everyone is an army of ants, just swarming everywhere,” Morgan says as she moves her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

“Yeah, but it is interesting seeing this side of Wisconsin. We don’t see it much,” I respond, looking out of the window.

“I mean, I guess,” Morgan agrees and pulls onto our exit.

When we get into downtown Milwaukee, my jaw just drops. Traffic here was somehow worse than traffic on the highway. Many fans were already walking to the arena while Morgan and I were trying to find a place to park the car.

“How about there?” I pointed my index finger to a parking garage that was about a 5 minute walk to the arena.

Morgan pulls into the entrance of the garage and stops briefly to pay. After retrieving our parking slip, Morgan parks the car into a car slot.

“Alright let’s go!” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt and sliding my wallet into my pocket.

Morgan and I get out of the car and slam the doors shut. It was a chilly night, the wind seemed like it was against us. Pushing at us, so we couldn’t get to where we needed to be. Eventually, we did make it in line to the entrance. We were up next in line to get our vaccination cards checked. Pulling mine out, I showed it to the security guard.

¨Next!” She shouted.

The next step was getting our tickets scanned and checked. I pulled up both tickets on my phone and let a QR code scanner scan it. My body was filled with so much anxiety, my hands were shaking. Thankfully, the scanner turned green. Morgan and I were officially in! We both looked at each other excitedly and made our way to the escalator.

Inside of the Forum, fans were packed everywhere! Every single one of them were all dressed in very bright and radiant colors. Hot pink bell-bottoms, sparkly dresses, fluttery boas, and vibrant cardigans. One fan in front of me on the escalator, turned around and looked at the cardigan I was wearing.

“Oh my god! I love your cardigan!”

I looked at her and smiled with my eyes, “Thank you so much!”

“Did you make it yourself?” She asked.

I nodded my head, “I did! It took me about 3 months to make.”

“Wow! Good job!”

Finally, the escalator reached the top and Morgan and I started walking to find our section. Everywhere you looked, all you saw were the vibrant pools of fans talking excitedly. They were like parrots chirping excitedly with each other.

¨What section was it again?” Morgan asked me.

“Section 107, row 22, seats 1 and 2.” I relay to her.

“Noted. Okay, do you want to get any merch?” Morgan questions me.

I laugh a little, “Of course I do!”

We turn a corner and find four merchandise lines. “Wholey moley,” I say aloud.

“Are you okay to wait here by yourself? I’m just going to go get our seats,” Morgan says to me while I go into one of the lines.

“Yes, I’m sure. All I’m going to do is wait in line and then head to our seats.”

Morgan nods her head and makes her way over to our section. I look at my phone’s clock and I have about 20 minutes before the concert starts. I look ahead at the line and try not to panic. “I might not have enough time,” I think to myself. Crossing my fingers, the line slowly moves forward.

After about 10 minutes, I’m finally at the front of the line.

“What would you like, dear?” An older woman with charcoal gray hair asks me from behind the merchandise counter.

“Can I please have D12 and E10?” I say while pointing at the two shirts.

“Of course, what sizes?”

I think to myself, “I should probably get a size bigger just in case it shrinks.”

“Um, can I get them both in extra large?”

She nods and makes her way to go and grab them. I nervously pick at my nails while she rings both T-shirts up.

“That’ll be $90.”

My eyes felt like they were about to fall out of my head. 90 bucks?!’ I say on the inside. I pass over some cash and she hands me the t-shirts.

“Have a good time!”

I leave the line and look at the time again. I had about 5 minutes to get to my spot but I had the urge to use the bathroom before the concert started. Spotting the bathroom, I see that it’s a bit away from where I was. I quickly make my way over to the entrance of the bathrooms. After doing my thing, I wash my hands and leave. Standing on the outside of the bathroom entrance, my stomach drops. I don’t remember what my section looked like. I look at the time again and see that I have about 3 and a half minutes until the concert starts. Panicking, I grip my shirts in my arm and I try to find security to help take me to my section. But the problem is, fans are running past me and I cannot see past the blinding colors. I start to hear chanting from the stage and my hands break into a cold sweat. My breath hitches as I finally see a security guard leaning against a pillar.

I try to make my way over to him, but I can’t move through the crowd of fans. I see the guard walking away and I panic even more. My breathing goes uneven and I dart my eyes around. Luck seems to be on my side as I finally find another security guard. I start to make  my way over to him and I see that he is wearing a fluttery, lime green boa.

“Excuse me sir, can you please help me?” I frantically ask him.

“Sure ma’am, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t find my section. Section 107”

He nods and takes my arm to lead me through the crowd. “It should be right over here. What row are you in?”

I finally calmed my breathing a little, “I’m in row 22, seats 1 and 2.”

The security guard and I walk down some stairs and make our way into the arena. “Here you go, here is row 22.”

I spot Morgan and let out a huge sigh. “Thank you so much.”

“Just doin’ my job. Have a good time.” He nods and walks back up the stairs.

Morgan makes eye contact with me and I can see that she is filled with worry. “Where were you?! The show starts in like a minute!” She questions me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I had to use the bathroom and I got lost. So I tried to find security but couldn’t make my way over to one because of all the fans.”

Morgan sighs and then starts to laugh. “Mom would kill me if you got lost.”

I laughed along with her, “I know she would.”

The lights start to dim and the crowd erupts with shouts and cheers. Music starts to play and a deep voice calls out. “Hello Milwaukee!” My heart skips a beat. This is it, this is the moment that I’ve been waiting for.