Everyone says that meeting people on the internet is a dangerous thing to do. And of course, that is exactly what I did. Over the summer I went to a Justin Bieber concert. I saw someone tweeted about making a group chat for people going to the concert.  I asked to be in it, and I saw a few other people did too. Later that night I was added to the group and we talked about how excited we were to go and how long we had waited for it. We ended up talking all night and the next morning as we were getting ready. We all tried to see what section we were in to see if we could try to meet up either before or after the concert. Some of us did get to meet up. I ended up meeting Caitlin while she was on line and it was all very weird, but it was also amazing. The group chat ended up being about half the size it originally was after about a week or so. After that week there was sixteen of us and we continued to talk constantly every day.

At the end of July, Justin announced that he was releasing merch at Urban Outfitters. Obviously we were all very excited, and wanted to go. We had previously talked about meeting up, but that was the perfect excuse. Someone then mentioned that we should meet up at Garden State Plaza and get the merch. We all agreed and said we would talk about it more later on. Within the next few days only five of us were able to go, so we were going to make a day out of it. We were all very excited and couldn’t wait to meet each other. The day quickly came and I woke up eager to get ready and go out.

Of course I was nervous. I was meeting up with girls I had never even met. What if they end up not liking me, or what if it doesn’t go as well as I want it to? But even worse, what if there are long awkward silences? All of these thoughts were in my head as I was in the car. Now I was even more nervous than I was before. As I was on my way I was texting them to see where they were so we can meet up. I got a text from Carson saying that Annie, Randi, and herself were in Urban on the first floor. I got out of the car and walked into the mall, filled with that nervous but excited feeling. I then went in and ran down the stairs looking around to find them. I turned around and I saw the three of them, I then waved the them and ran over to give them all hugs. I thought about how crazy it was that I met them on Twitter and we were meeting in real life. After I hugged all of them we went up the stairs and decided we would be super cheesy and do photobooth pictures. We all tried to fit into the booth, laughing as we squeeze together. Two of us were basically squatting as the other two were pushed up against the back. When we finally could see all of us, we decided what pictures we wanted to take. After the photos were taken we each grabbed our copy and said how much we loved them. I looked at the pictures and it was funny how we have only been talking to each other for about a month online, and I’ve only known them for about maybe five minutes change wording, but it felt like we have been friends for a long time. I told them how I was going to put them in my room so I can always look at them.

We then went upstairs and out into the mall to see what we wanted to do. It was only around 2:00 and the merch didn’t come out until 6:00, so we had some time to kill. We all decided to walk around and see where we wanted to go. We walked through the mall and lucky for me, there were no awkward silences.We all kept a natural conversation going the whole time. We then made it to the Apple store and they decide that we should make videos of us singing our favorite Justin songs. Of course I agreed, and we went over to a computer pulled up a song we all wanted, even though we love all of his songs. Carson opened Photo Booth and started the video. We then started to sing as loud as we possibly could in front of the entire store. This was again very strange for me because I would never have done this with anyone else. I was comfortable around them. It didn’t even feel like people were watching or judging us, even though literally everyone was.

After we sang around five or six songs I checked the time and the rest of them said that we should probably start walking back to Urban to see if they had formed a line yet. We are walking and talking about how embarrassing the videos we just took were, but how much fun it was making it. We see a few stores down that Urban Outfitters were putting up a rope for a line that would soon start. We all look at each other with the same look and started running. The guy who was setting up the rope seemed startled and out of breath we ask him if the line was for the Purpose Tour merch. He responded with a simple yes and we then sat down, as the first ones in line. Only a few minutes later, Gabby texted us saying she was on her way. We then started to talk and got to know each other better. We were going to be sitting here for another two and a half hours, so there couldn’t have been a better time.

Gabby said that she was here and on her way in. The four of us were super excited to see her. She saw us on line and did a half run and gave us all hugs. Sitting in line we continued to talk and every once in awhile we would talk to one of the employees. As the time passed quickly we then only had thirty more minutes until the merch was released. We take out our photo booth pictures and mentioned again how we will be putting them in our rooms where we can always look at them if we need a smile. Soon enough there was only five minutes left until we sprint down the stairs and see the merch we waited all day for. We kept making jokes about how we would run down even though we hate running, or how we would trip and fall down the stairs.

It was now six o’clock and we were all anxious, holding hands waiting to sprint downstairs. The employee said we can go and we rushed down the stairs, extremely close to tripping. We then saw to the right was the merch and we all picked out what we wanted and got online to pay. Once we were all done we went back up, and took more pictures wearing the jackets and sweatshirts that we bought. After taking even more photos, we went and walked around for a little more. We saw in a store that there was a Justin Bieber cardboard cutout, and of course we had to take a picture with it. We then went back to the Apple store and made one more video with Gabby. It was by then pretty late, so I had to leave.

“Guys I have to leave now. I had so much fun, I love you all so much.” I said as I give each of them a hug. It was strange how much I was going to miss them, because we weren’t sure when the next time we would get to see each other. When I got home I went up to my room and put the photo booth pictures that we took and put them on my dresser. I immediately had a smile on my face. I knew these pictures would be a constant reminder of how much fun I had with Annie, Carson, Gabby, and Randi. And even though we don’t see each other much, we still have such a strong friendship.