Chronicles of an American Beauty and an American Psycho

The (After) Life Of The Party

The (After) Life Of The Party

It was finally October 29th and Fall Out Boy had a show. They couldn't exactly bring Viola along, so after exhausting every single other option, they decided to call me and asked me to babysit. I could tell that I was their last resort, but I said yes anyways. Why not? I could make this fun.

Since Pete and Patrick had to leave before Viola got home from school, I would have to pick her up. Patrick instructed me to take her back to their house and just make sure that she does her homework and goes to bed on time. That couldn't be too hard.

I got a little lost on my way to the elementary school, but I found it eventually. Viola was waiting outside the school with another girl who I later learned was her friend Jenny. Viola didn't see me, so I rolled down the window and waved to her. Viola then spotted me and climbed into the backseat. She waved goodbye to Jenny as I started driving away.

"Hey Viola," I said. "Your dads have a show tonight, so I guess you're stuck with me."

"Okay Uncle Brendon," Viola said as I turned on the radio.

"How was school today?" I asked her.

"Terrible," Viola said. "Mr. Benzedrine doesn't like me."

"That sucks. Wait, your teacher's name is Mr. Benzedrine?"

"Yes," Viola said.

I started laughing and singing 20 Dollar Nose Bleed. "That's just so funny," I said. "How could Mr. Benzedrine possibly be a bad teacher?"

"I just said. He hates me," Viola said. "He won't let me read what I want."

"It's okay. I had a few bad teachers too," I said as I pulled into the driveway. We got out of the car and I took out my key and opened the door. Viola ran inside and I collapsed on the couch. "Viola, make sure you do your homework at some point," I told her, knowing that I would be the one to get in trouble if she didn't.

"That's what I'm doing!" Viola exclaimed. I watched her unpack her backpack and take out her homework. She then went back to her room to get started on her homework.

Great. Now it was just me and Netflix until Viola finished her homework. I went to turn on the TV when my phone suddenly went off. I checked it and saw that I had gotten a text from Gerard Way.

"Hey Brendon! I'm going to have an AWESOME costume party at my house tonight! You're coming, right? :)"

Well, duh! Of course I wanted to go to Gerard's party! I did have to babysit Viola though. I had a tough decision: should I go to Gerard's party or stay home and watch Viola like I was supposed to?

So I did what any sensible person would do. I texted Gerard back saying, "Sounds dope! I'm totally coming!!! :D"

I went over to Viola's room and knocked on the door. "Change of plans," I said. "We're going to a party."

"But I'm not done with my homework!" Viola whined.

"You can finish it in the car," I said. "We need to get a costume for you though. Do you have a Halloween costume yet?"

"No," Viola said.

Dang it. We really didn't have time to buy one, since we would have to make a detour to pick up my costume too. I would have to find something in the house. I started looking around in Patrick's closet and found an extra guitar. Perfect. "I have an idea," I said. "Viola, we're going to make you into a rock star."

I looked around a little more and found a few more costume items. I took a cute jacket and a pair of skinny jeans from Viola's closet, a fedora and the guitar from Patrick's closet, and some eyeliner from Pete's closet. It was the perfect Halloween costume. "You look great," I said. "Now let's go."