A/N:
Hey ppls!!
So we're amazingly excited for everyone to read this chapter!!
We've seen a bunch of feeback, and we love that everyone loves this!!!
So, everything so far, was written by Anna.
This is my first chapter written (and we all know it won't be as amazing (thats a lie~Anna) because....hmmmm I dunno.....) *But she is Awesome ppl*
We've had a lot of fun writing this....
So I hope you enjoy! And highly anticipate the next chapter after this!
~Justina
Alayna's Perspective:
“Oh. Who’s Agnes?” was John’s quick response to my distress.
Normally when someone says her name I would seem amazingly happy. Well not at this moment, Agnes, my cat of almost twelve years, was at an animal hospital in Phoenix.
“A friend,” I said, speaking exactly what I was thinking almost moments before.
“What happened?”
Normally I would think that someone I just met could care less about my problems; maybe he was trying to make conversation.
I could feel the shaky- twitchy hell of feelings deep inside; the feeling of wanting to run away, and scream as loud as I could, no why me? “I’m not sure.”
Clearly I was getting worked up at this; I wasn’t doing such a good job of hiding it. “Well do you want me to take you to her?” he asked.
I shook my head “I’ll drive.”
He chuckled “No you won’t.”
“Why not?” I asked and I could feel my body shaking lightly.
“Because you’ll kill both of us,” He said, lightly taking my car keys from my hands.
“Both of us?” I said breathlessly, trying as hard as I could to keep myself from shaking further.
“Where are you going?” Chasity asked, coming up behind me.
“Agnes—” I started as her expression turned from content, to horrified.
“What happened?” She asked, finding her breath again.
“I don’t know,” I said, lowering my head.
“C’mon, I’ll drive you,” She said and held out her hands out for my car keys that John still possessed.
“Nah, I’m driving,” John added and waved over to Garrett “C’mon, we’re going to Phoenix.”
The car ride consisted basically of Chasity comforting me, Garrett’s usual silence, and for a while, John was silent too.
I expected him to ask where we were headed; I had forgotten to tell him that Agnes is my cat, not an actual person.
Somehow, after Chasity and John’s argument about how she believes that she should have driven, since she knew where we were headed, we ended up where we were supposed to be.
I took off into the large building, not bothering to look back. As soon as I knew that she was okay, I could be okay, and everything could be all normal again.
I was completely wrong.
My mother was huddled up in a chair, her black wavy hair was dangling completely over her arms, and her body jerked a little every other second. It was obvious that she was crying.
This was a really bad sign.
“Mom,” I said, trying to speak, failing to be very loud.
She didn’t quite hear me, so I tried a little louder this time “Mom.”
That was to no avail. She still hadn’t heard me, I knew it couldn’t be that she was listening to music, like I had used to do, I had it so loud, I couldn’t hear anything, my mom basically just didn’t listen to music.
Suddenly the rage arose “MOM!” I shouted as loud as I could.
She looked startled “Oh, A- hi sweetheart.”
“What’s the word?” I asked, not bothering to apologize for my outburst.
Her head instantly dropped “There really isn’t any.”
“Just tell me,” I begged. If I was going to hear this, I would appreciate if she would get on with it.
“Dead,” she flatly finished.
I nodded. This had happened to me once before.
I had once endured a pet death; it was my guinea pig. Her name was Brielle. I had gotten her as a Christmas present, and had her for almost five years, then she had a stroke or something and died. It was no one’s fault, although I had secretly blamed my mother for it for years. This time was probably going to be just the same.
After that had happened; I swore that I wouldn’t be able to bear another loss, though I still had a cat. The series of depression was just the reason I almost had given her a new home because I had thought that I wouldn’t be able to go through something so horrible again.
“I’m really sorry, Alayna,” she added.
Story of my life; “It wasn’t your fault,” I said, turning around to leave.
“Don’t run away all upset,” She said, suddenly getting a little louder.
I could never get away from her little ‘life lessons’ “I’m not running,” I said calmly, knowing that I had no way out of this. “I have people outside waiting for me.”
She sighed and stood up “Okay,” She hugged me “Remember to be safe, and remember that it’s not wrong to be upset, or cry. It’s totally normal.”
I recognized her normal facial expression; tired and quite depressed as we parted our ways, everything was the same, yet as different as it has ever be again.
***
John's Perspective:
Damn, she looked really upset about something.
I could tell when she came back out to the car; where we were all told to stay.
“What’s the word?” Chasity asked, throwing the playing cards onto the seat as she threw herself out of the vehicle.
I couldn’t exactly hear Alayna’s response, but I could tell that it probably wasn’t a very good one.
“What?!” Chasity yelled. That answered my question.
Alayna laid her head on Chasity’s shoulder; and I started waiting to hear the f**king hilarious way that girl’s friends try to cheer each other up.
Nothing was happening. All they were doing was standing there.
“Okay,” I said, slapping the cards down on the seat next to Chasity’s, I was losing eight to Garrett anyway, then getting out of the car “I couldn’t hear anything, so repeat?”
Chasity paused, then glared at me. “She doesn’t feel like talking right now.”
“Then can you at least get into the car; so we can go home, and you girls can get on with your girl; feeling better stuff,” I said, receiving another death glare from Chasity.
This is what I didn’t get the entire way back to Tempe, Alayna wasn’t crying.
What girl doesn’t cry?
Damn. I didn’t even know why she was upset.
“So what do we do now?” I asked Garrett who was texting someone with that blank expression of his; while Alayna and Chasity went back to get Chasity’s sister, who we totally forgot in the heat of the moment.
“We raised six thousand something today. Now Pat is throwing a party at his place. Drive,” Garrett answered, still glaring at his phone.
“Do you wanna take Chasity?” I teased.
“Just drive.”
I glanced over to see the girls making their way to their car, then back at Garrett “Seriously dude, do you wanna take her?”
He sat there blankly for a few moments, then opened the car door to see the girls getting into the car, then started running towards them.
I decided this would be an interesting conversation, so I followed him.
“So do you girls want to come to a party tonight?” Garrett asked.
“A party?” A small voice came loudly from the back of the car.
“Yeah,” Garrett said and looked back to the back seat.
“Yes! I’ll come!” The voice responded.
“She’s always up for a party,” Chasity said, smiling a little.
“Do you want to come?” I asked Alayna who still looked as blank as she did when she came out of the hospital.
She looked a little dazed “Sure, where is it?”
“Pats house,” Garrett answered.
She looked over to Chasity who nodded.
“Great,” I said opening her door “Then let’s go.”
“We can’t go to a party looking like this, can we?” Chasity asked, looking down at her clothes.
“It’s not a big dress up party,” I answered.
“But we still need to wear something presentable,” Chasity’s sister said.
“Fine,” I said, getting annoyed. “We’ll meet you here when you come back.”
They all smiled and got back into their car and drove away really quickly.
“Great,” Garrett said, then started to walk back to the car. “Now we’re going to be here until at least four in the morning.”
“Do you want to play cards?”
He smiled “So I can kick your ass again?”
“Game on,” I said and started to shuffle the cards.
***
Chasity's Perspective:
So, how do you dress for a party thrown by an indie band?
Do you dress indie?
Do you dress normally?
I guess if I dressed all indie some people would think that I’m a little more obsessive, not normal.
If I dressed normally, it won’t be fit for a party.
What was I going to do?
I guessed I’d just dress in between: some skinny jeans, converse, and a white tank top.
Alayna was basically just sitting there, wearing usual attire, a tank top and some leggings, with her signature layer, a mini skirt. This one was purple; it matched her purple streak down her blonde bangs.
“Are you ready?” I asked her while I pinned back my hair.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“Where’s Jacki?” I asked, then walked to the mirror in the hallway to make sure my outfit was ready.
“In my room looking for an outfit,” Alayna said, propping her head on her lap with her hand.
“Thanks for letting her borrow one,” I sincerely said.
“Sure,” she said; she seemed a little perkier after I said this.
“I’ll go help her out,” I said; then I turned around to go back to her light blue room that we had painted a few weeks ago.
We drove back to the festival grounds where John and Garrett were still (surprisingly) waiting.
“Okay let’s go,” I said quickly. I wanted to go badly enough and I knew we couldn’t wait too long.
John looked surprised “You’re back?”
“It was only almost an hour,” I said and planted my hands on my hips proudly.
“Okay, then let’s go,” Garrett said. Still his blue eyes were glued to his phone.
When we got to the party I noticed that Alayna was still just as numb as she was after she had gotten the news. Her eyes were pretty blank and bluntly hurt, her skin was definitely paler than usual. I wasn’t thinking that she would have gotten over it by now, but I started feeling guilty that I had brought her with me.
I sure wouldn’t have wanted to come to a party (of all places) after this term of events. It might be a good thing to keep people’s minds off of it, but it doesn’t take the heartbreak out of it. She’s going to be depressed about it (hopefully not for a long time) but she’s still going to get through this.
She had told me in the car that she wanted me to go off on my own and she’d find her own, in which John interrupted and said that he’d stay with her.
Well he wasn’t lying about it. He was staying with her. He gave her enough space to not be all in her face, but was close enough that he could see if she was starting to feel uncomfortable, and he’d take her outside.
I knew this because I sat by myself for most of the party. They had introduced me to the rest of the band, then they basically all went their separate ways. I had no idea where Garrett went.
I was sitting on a chair next to the front window, staring to the dark night, feeling content with the world, even if I was basically all by myself.
Just as I was about to start daydreaming I felt a tap on my shoulder, it was fairly soft, yet firm enough to be sure of him or herself, and not sure at all at the same time.
“You okay?” I hear Garrett’s voice.
I turned to see him, his hand moving away just as fast as I looked back. “Oh, yeah, it’s a fun party so far,”
“Don’t lie,” he said, then settled himself on his knees next to me.
“I wasn’t—” I started again.
“I told him to make it a costume party,” He added. “Now that,” He smiled a little “Would have been hilarious.”
“What would you have gone as?” I asked curiously.
I could see his mind processing all of this information “I would probably pay John to be a giraffe.”
I giggled, imagining John’s large, skinny frame, in a giraffe costume “I’d pay you to be a dragon.”
“Why?” he asked playfully.
“Because it’d be funny,” I smiled.
“Would you be a dragon slayer?” He asked.
“No,” I said “Maybe I’d be the dragon’s best friend.”
“Then we’ll make the next party a costume party,” he said and then looked out the window.
The silence that followed was just as awkward as any silence; but meant just as much. I had my best friend back.
***
Garrett's Perspective:
Just as the conversation seemed to begin again; it ran out, then this guy just about as huge as John walked by where we were sitting by the window. You can never have a normal conversation with anyone anymore.
“If only I could match that face with that ass,” He muttered to himself.
“What did you just say?” I said, standing up to tell him off.
“IF ONLY I COULD MATCH THAT FACE WITH THAT ASS!” He repeated.
“Wow, you’re just oozing respect for women aren’t you?” I said, raising higher on my toes.
“Well I have high respect for a sexy ass,” He said.
I raised my fist, ready to tell him how f**king stupid he was being, and to not talk f**king s**t about my best friend.
“No Garrett, please don’t” Chasity begged from behind me.
I knew damn well what I was doing.
My fist thrust forward, landing with high impact on his nose, triggering a loud crack as blood erupted from his face.
This has been a productive day, I thought. But it had all went downhill from that point in time…
Just as I was about to leave with my pride, he turned around and punched me back right in the eye. The pain literally could have knocked me over and an amount of blood at least equal to that which poured from his face began pouring from my own.
So in other words, it was pretty gory.
He ran into the kitchen, and grabbed a cookbook (which I have no idea why Pat would have), and came back and hit me right in the cheek with it. (Damn, now I know the pain cookbooks can cause).
I heard Chasity gasp next to me as blood poured from my mouth. Ugh, I hate the taste of iron.
I swung at him again, and missed. I probably didn’t help that my eye was bleeding.
He swung back with the cookbook and hit me several times in the head.
Chasity shrieked and tried to come between to block me from him, but I pushed her to the side; this was my s**t now.
He moved a little to the side and tried to swing this time at Chasity. This s**t just got real.
I sprinted in front of her and he hit me with the book in the other eye, so I took a step back before pouncing on him, mauling his hair like I did when I was like seven, saving the princess from the fire breathing dragon (otherwise known as this bastard on the beach who would try and wreck our sandcastle.)
He didn’t even seem to mind that I was tugging as hard as I could at his hair, basically pulling it completely out. He just flinched a little, then threw me off.
So at this point, there were two blood puddles under both of us, my mouth had stopped bleeding, and my eye had stopped flowing as quickly, as it was now throbbing.
He reached down, picked me off of the floor and made me stand, just so he could try and knock me down again, for his amusement.
Then my eye started bleeding again.
At this point you would have thought that someone would have tried to break this up, Chasity was loyally standing by my side, looking horrified. I could guess that she didn’t like blood…
“Awh, look at this little boy, who’s going to go home and cry to his mommy about his little boo-boos,” He taunted, since I hadn’t found the strength to pull myself up again.
That just pissed me off, so I jumped on him, not thinking enough to think that as soon as he knew this, he’d throw me off, and probably kill me if he had the chance.
So, like I said, he threw me off, but this time, John came up to him, and told him to f**k off (not in those exact words, even if he deserved it for how he talked about Chasity).
In return to John’s words he picked up a lamp, and swung…
Everything went black.