*Natasha’s PoV*
I woke up and looked around. I forgot I was at Jimmy’s. He had black walls that were covered in band posters. He had pretty awesome taste in music. I looked at the time. It was already 12. I found my backpack and quickly got into different clothes. I looked in his mirror and used my fingers as a hair brush to make it at least look acceptable.
I headed downstairs kind of awkwardly. I don’t know where Jimmy is but hopefully he’s awake.
To my disappointment, I found him fast asleep on the couch. He looked kind of ridiculous with his giant spiked hair and a cute My Little Pony Blanket only covering part of him.
That left me alone with his family. Alright all I have to do is not be awkward. .-. Yup that sounds like a good plan. I walked into the kitchen.
“Ah, Tosh you’re finally awake,” Jimmy’s dad, Joe, said to me.
I smiled and was absolutely clueless of what to say. “Hah, trust me, this is the time I normally wake up at.”
He smiled at me. “Oh by the way, this is Kelly and this is Katie,” he said motioning to a blonde girl and a brunette girl.
Kelly had blonde hair and was a bit taller than me. She was probably a year or two older than Jimmy. Katie had dark brunette hair and was shorter than me. She was probably two years younger than me.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” they both responded.
I could see them looking at every little detail about me. I didn’t mind though, they didn’t seem mean or judging.
“How’d you meet Jimmy?” Kelly asked.
“I was sitting in a park and he joined me. Now we go to school with each other,” I said.
“Oh okay, he would be going to a catholic school with Katie and me if he wasn’t an idiot and didn’t get kicked out in the second grade!” she yelled towards Jimmy but he was out cold on the couch.
I laughed. “How’d he get kicked out?”
She went into telling me everything and all the embarrassing stories about him she knew. By the time he woke up I practically knew all the crazy things he had ever done.
He sat up and I walked out to see him sitting there on the couch in his boxers. “Hey Tosh I forgot you were here,” he said, rubbing his eyes. Then he froze and looked down, realizing he was only in boxers. “Shit!” he said under his breath as he pulled the My Little Pony blanket over his lap. “I’ll be back,” he said running upstairs with the blanket around him.
His sisters and I were laughing. “Does he always sleep in his boxers?” I asked.
“Yup and nothing more,” Katie told me.
“You poor girl,” I joked. She laughed.
“Hey, wanna see my room?” she asked me.
Not wanting to turn down a 12 year old I said sure and followed her as she raced up the stairs to show me. For a 12 year old her room wasn’t bad at all. She’s probably way cooler than I was two years ago. Even she had Three Days Grace poster in her room. She had piles of stuffed animals and animal figurines all around. Her walls were painted purple with animal captioned pictures hanging on them.
“Wow,” I said. “Your rooms awesome. I can tell you like animals.”
“I want to be a vet when I grow up,” she told me.
“That’s awesome!”
“Really? Yay!” she said with a similar grin to Jimmy’s. “The thing is, is that I’m having this one guy that I really like over tomorrow and I don’t want my room to seem childish or anything.”
“Don’t worry, we just need to make your room a bit more unique. I’ve got a plan,” I told her.
We were on a mission. Jimmy came out of his room fully clothed in black jeans and a Rancid t-shirt.
“Awe I liked your batman boxers though,” I joked.
“Hey I could take my clothes off if you want.”
“No, no, no it’s okay, I’ll live without seeing them again,” I laughed.
He laughed. “What are you two up to?”
“She needed some help revamping her room so I’m assisting.”
“Awe man can I help?!” he asked excitedly.
“Okay,” Katie said.
“Sweet,” I said.
We searched for stuff to help. We ended up with a ton of Christmas lights, a lava lamp, and some crazy painting.
“Your garage is better than a thrift store,” I told them.
They laughed and then the work began. Jimmy and I worked on the lights and Katie cleared her floor and chose which stuffed animals she wanted on her bed. We put some of the plastic animal figures on her desk. We put the crazy colorful painting above her bed with all of her posters and pictures. Around her mirror we put all of her family and friend pictures and I turned the lava lamps base into one shaped like a rocket ship with cardboard and a lot of duct tape. Eventually we had finished and turned the whole room into a mash of crazy colors. Katie absolutely loved it.
She started playing the song Let You Down by Three Days Grace from her phone. All I could think about was Adam’s eyes from that horrible night and his eyes when we were singing that song outside just last night.
“Fuck,” I whispered quietly under my breath so neither one of them could hear me. I could feel the tears coming and I quickly bolted for their restroom.
I couldn’t stop the tears and I tried desperately to calm my breathing. “Stop it brain. Stop it, stop it, stop it!”
Eventually I heard a knock. Through the door I heard Jimmy ask if I was okay.
“Yeah, I’m fine! I’ll be out in a little.”
I splashed my face with water and tried to make it look like I wasn’t crying. As soon as I got my eyes to stop being red I got out and saw Jimmy and Katie staring at me.
“Sorry about that, I had to pee so flipping badly,” I said with a smile as Katie starting laughing but I could tell Jimmy knew something was wrong.
That night I made sure to eat dinner. I didn’t want to cause them any trouble or seem rude by not eating. I helped Mrs. Sullivan with cleaning the dishes afterwards and heard her tell Katie to go to bed at 9:30. Jimmy and Kelly could stay up till 10:30. I forgot it was a school night. Today was Monday but it was a teacher meeting day so the whole district had it off.
Jimmy and I watched t.v. till it was 10:30.
“I can sleep on the couch if you want,” I told him.
“No I’ll be fine on the couch, you’re my guest, you get the bed,” he told me.
“You sure?” I asked him.
“Positive!” he said with his dorky smile. “Do you just sleep in your normal clothes?”
“Yeah I don’t really have anything else.”
“That won’t do!” he said way too dramatically for something as simple as pajamas. “Follow me!” he ran upstairs to his room. He was digging around in his closet and pulled out one of his shirts.
It was another Rancid shirt with their “…and Out Come the Wolves” album artwork on it.
“I already have one, so would you like the other? I don’t know if you know the band…” he was rambling on awkwardly.
“I love that band and the shirt is perfect. Thanks,” I said interrupting him.
He smiled big and gave me the shirt. He was about to leave when he turned around and gave me a big hug. It came as a shock but I accepted it and hugged him back. I was fairly certain he was going to break my bones with how tight he was hugging me. He let go and his smile had grown even larger.
“Goodnight,” I said.
“Goodnight,” he responded and headed out the door.
I changed into the shirt and it went almost all the way down to my knees. The first thing I noticed was that it smelled like him. For some reason that made me really happy, I don’t know why though.
I climbed into bed and stared at his posters. I found one of Three Days Grace and it had all the guys on it. I saw Adam and tried to look away but I couldn’t stop staring. God this is killing me. I tried to stop the tears but to no avail. I knew they weren’t going to stop so I at least tried to cry as quietly as possibly.
I woke up to Jimmy’s alarm going off. I searched it for an off button. It was 6:40 in the morning. I dragged myself out of bed and changed into my own clothes. I put on my black skinny jeans, a Cage the Elephant shirt, and the black jacket Jimmy gave to me when we first met. I walked into their restroom and tried to get my hair to look good enough. I headed downstairs to find Jimmy still asleep on the couch. I shook him.
“Hey ya butt nugget wake up!” I yelled at him.
“Ughh do I have to?” he mumbled.
“Yes yes you do. I’m gonna make some coffee while you go get dressed because I know you’re in your boxers right now.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
I went into the kitchen and I heard him head upstairs. Kelly and his mom were eating breakfast.
“Would you like any breakfast Tosh?” Mrs. Sullivan offered handing me a plate with an egg and a slice of toast on it.
“Oh thanks,” I said grabbing it. This whole eating thing is going to be hard. I asked where the coffee was and she showed me how to make it and it was ready by the time Jimmy had joined us.
She handed him a plate with eggs and toast on it. He practically ate the plate. I forced myself to finish up. Jimmy’s hair fell flat rather than spiked up like normal.
“We need to fix your hair,” I told him.
“Hey I could say he same about yours!” he said.
We stared at each other for a couple seconds before Jimmy yelled “Let’s do this!” and I yelled “Away!” as we whooshed off upstairs to the restroom. We brought our coffee with us and jimmy got out every hair product he owned. We worked on each other’s hair at the same time. We both brushed each other’s hair and while I fluffed his with the hair blow drier, he did the same to mine. I straightened his hair straight upwards and sprayed it with dry conditioner. I used gel just on his roots make his hair still soft on top but spiked up. He made my hair incredibly fluffy and used gel to spike the tips of my hair to make it jagged.
We heard a knock and realized it was already 7:10.
“Shit, let’s go!” I said.
We rushed downstairs and he put on his converse as I slipped on my fabulous black shoes from Walmart. I emptied my backpack of clothes, money and food and only left my school stuff. We rushed into his mom’s car and she drove us to school. We got there a minute before the first bell and ran over to join Matt, Zacky, Johnny, and Brian.
“I’ve never seen you get here so late,” Brian said to Jimmy.
“Damn dude, your hair looks good for once,” Matt laughed.
“Man that’s a change,” Johnny joked.
“Oh shut up short shit,” Jimmy said. “I had a professional do my hair.”
“As did I,” I said.
“That explains it, your hair looks awesome today,” Zacky said to me.
I smiled. “Thanks. Yeah the professional was some weird guy named Jimmy Sullivan.”
“Psh you should’ve seen my hair stylist. She was some crazy chick name Tosh.”
“Oh trust me my hair stylist was much worse,” I said.
“Wanna go?” he asked me pretending to fighting.
“Bring it on,” I said.
I blocked all his fake punches and pretended to punch him while making the sound effect POW and BAM! Then he ran at me and picked me up over his shoulder and went running around while I shouted at him to put me down. It’s really hard to sound angry while laughing. I could see Zacky glaring at Jimmy when he finally put me down.
“So I was thinking I could continue teaching you guitar in instrumental today. Would you want to?” Zacky asked me as we all headed inside.
“Sure.” I smiled.
School was as boring as ever. During social studies (4th period) I sat in the very back corner with Jimmy and Matt. The teacher was cool enough to let us sit where ever we felt like. All I really did in that class was tip in my chair and draw all over Jimmy and Matt’s notebooks. As long as I kept A’s my teacher really didn’t give a shit. In the middle of the class the principal walked in and stopped and whispered something to my teacher while glancing at me. My teacher nodded.
“Hey Sparky the principal wants you,” he said to me.
I got up, grabbed my stuff, and headed out the door awkwardly with the principal. We headed towards the office.
“How’d you get the nickname Sparky?” he asked.
“Heh, well anytime I plug something in I get shocked.”
“Well that explains it. Anyway Natasha, your father is here,” he said.
I stopped dead. I looked over near the office and saw Adam through the glass. Straight ahead of me were the doors to get out. I bolted as fast as I could no matter what the principal yelled. There was no way I was going in there.
“Natasha Gontier! Come back here!” I heard him yelling but I kept going as fast as I could.
As soon as I got far enough away I decided I was safe and started walking. The cold air had messed up my throat and I coughed a bit while regaining my breath. I kept walking for about half an hour trying not to cry when I saw a car pull over near me. The window rolled down and I saw Jimmy’s dad Joe.
“Tosh, what are you doing? Are you okay?” he asked.
I couldn’t talk so I just shook my head. Him asking if I was okay sent me over the edge and I couldn’t hide the tears.
“Hop in,” he said unlocking the door.
I climbed in and tried to wipe away the tears. He drove home silently and once we got there he had me talk to him.
“We’re all alone here, if you talk to me no one else will hear,” he told me.
“You promise never to tell anyone?” I asked him, giving up on hiding it any longer.
“Pinkie promise,” he said.
I smiled but it didn’t last long. I told him about how Adam had gotten drunk and everything that happened. After I was done with my story I couldn’t stop the tears no matter how hard I tried. In my head I was yelling at myself to strengthen up and stop being so weak but I couldn’t help it. Joe hugged me.
“It’s okay, you can stay here as long as you want. I promise you’ll be safe and we’ll never see you staying here as a burden,” he told me.
Later on that afternoon Jimmy came home and run up and bear hugged me.
“Holy shit Tosh what happened?!” he asked.
“I saw Adam and bolted,” I told him flat out.
“I was worried as hell.”
“Sorry but your dad gave me a ride and I’ll be fine but I don’t think I can really go back to school for a while…”
“Yeah you’re right. This sucks, school will be hell without you there,” Jimmy said giving me his sad eyes.
“At least your dad said I could stay here as long as I needed.”
“Yay! I’ll have to invite the guys over as often as possible so they can hang out with you too,” he said looking a bit cheerier.
I had stayed there for almost more than two weeks. I was getting really close to his family. His mom let me start calling her Barbara rather than Mrs. Sullivan and I was constantly helping out with chores. Joe had a ’69 Camaro with 557 horse power in his garage and he was teaching me how to fix it up rather than just fangirl over it. Jimmy was teaching me how to play drums with his crazy drum set up in the basement. Katie wanted my help with her new boyfriend and Kelly seemed to really enjoy hanging out with a girl besides Katie for once. Slowly, Adam was driving me less and less crazy. Now I could hear his voice and not break down but I still have nightmares of him hurting me and him in my real dad’s place…
Jimmy’s last day of school before winter break was the 17th. When he came home he seemed super secretive and wanted to keep me out of the house. He kept taking me to different parks and places he liked. By 5:30 he decided to head back. When he opened the door an entire party was set up.
“Happy Birthday!!” everyone yelled to me.
I had totally forgotten it was my birthday. Holy shoot. I looked around. There were decorations everywhere and Joe, Barbara, Kelly, Katie, Zacky, Matt, Brian, Johnny, and some random friends from school were all standing around. I’ve never had my birthday get celebrated. This is crazy.
“Do you like it?” Jimmy asked me.
“I love it. How’d you know it was my birthday?” I asked him.
“They announced it on the intercoms today.”
Oh yeah, I forgot our school announces birthdays in the morning announcements.
“Wait, you got this whole thing organized in just one day?” I asked him.
“Yup, with the help of all these people,” he said while motioning to everyone there.
I smiled. “This is awesome!”
The party went on for quite a while and eventually people started leaving by 11:00 pm. It was an amazing party, there may not have been presents but there were friends and food so I was happy.
When everyone left Joe, Barbara, Kelly, and Katie all went to bed. Matt, Brian, Zacky, Johnny and Jimmy were still there though.
“Hey we have a surprise for you downstairs,” Brian told me.
We all headed down stairs and I found a bunch of things of Jack Daniels. I smiled.
“Do you like?” Johnny asked.
“I love it.”
We all started drinking. We had a full bottles for everyone to have their own. I turned on some music and all hell broke loose. The guys would wrestle and drag me into it and we’d all argue over things like whether or not the principal was secretly an alien who liked making people miserable. Jimmy instantly thought he was a ninja and was trying to show off his crazy moves. Matt was laughing too much to even stand. I was hyper as hell dancing and skipping and running all around showing off my ability to skip backwards and spin at the same time but I kept falling and laughing. Zacky was drunkenly trying to sing along to the music. Brian suddenly stopped.
“Guys I have the best plan ever! Let’s play truth or dare!!!” He yelled.
We all got in a circle and spun a bottle to pick who started. It landed on Zacky.
“Alright,” Zacky slurred. “Matt! Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Awe lameeee,” Johnny yelled.
“I don’t give a shit!” Matt said.
“What’s the weirdest fetish you’ve ever met someone with?” Zacky asked.
“I once met one girl who liked making peanut butter sandwiches but not with bread if you know what I mean,” he said and winked.
“Ewww,” I said. “That’s so gross.”
“Why do you think I literally ran away when she said that?” He laughed. “She got so pissed that she threw a bottle at me.”
We spun the bottle and it pointed to me.
“Jimmy! Truth or dare?!” I yelled.
“Dare!!”
“I dare you to run down the street in just your boxers while shouting batman’s theme song!”
“Psh I don’t have Batman boxers.”
“I know you do!”
“Fine!” He started stripping into just his boxers and we all ran outside.
He went for it and raced down the street shouting “DANANANANANANA BATMAN!!!” He couldn’t even run in a straight line.
He ran back up and yelled “I dare all of you guys to join me!”
The guys looked at each other and shrugged. They all stripped down into their boxers and went running down the street shouting whatever they felt like.
“HOLY SHITTTT I LOVE EVERYTHING!!!” Matt yelled.
“I FUCKING LOVE PROSTITUTES!” Johnny joked.
“I HATE EVERYONE! WHOOOOOOOO!” Brian yelled.
“WILE E COYOTE’S GONNA FLIPPIN EAT ME!!!” Zacky yelled.
“NOT TODAY WILE E!” I yelled tailing them.
We were all laughing by the end of the block. We heading back up and went back to the basement. The bottle was spun and it landed on Brian.
“Tosh! Truth or dare?!”
“Truth,” I said lamely.
“Why are you living with Jimmy?”
“Nevermind I choose dare!”
“Fine, you either have to answer the question or you have to…” He thought about it. “or you have to kiss Zacky on the lips!”
*Jimmy’s PoV*
I knew Brian was just doing this to make me pissed off. He had an evil grin on his face. Tosh just got up.
“Fuck if I care,” she said and went over and kissed him dead on the lips. Everyone laughed but me. The rest of the game seemed blurred to me. We put on a movie and I looked over to find Matt, Brian, and Johnny passed out on the floor. Next to me on the couch I saw Zacky passed out with Tosh asleep with her head in his lap.
All I could do is stare at her and Zacky. Why do my insides hurt? I don’t know why I feel sad…am I jealous? There’s no way I’m jealous, Tosh is just my friend and she’s like a sister but that’s all. Nothing more. I couldn’t sleep, all I could do was watch her sleep and try to ignore the empty feeling inside me.