A Series Of Life Changing Events

Chapter 23: Vacation Time

School is finally over. It's such a blessing. Like seriously I'm so glad it's over. I think I ended the school year pretty well. I gained three friends, one of them becoming my boyfriend, and I gained an enemy, Scarlett, aka the bitch queen. She's like a planters wart. Ugly, painful, and incredibly hard to get rid of, but the good news is I don't have to see her for three months! Yay! *insert streamers and party music while I dance around in a circle* I'm just kidding. I didn't actually party over it, but that is a good side to school being over. Another awesome side to this whole summer thing is vacations. I love exploring. This week we're flying to New Jersey. It's going to be Father's Day and it also just so happens to be on the same day as Gerard's mom's birthday who is technically like my grandma I guess. I never really had grandparents and if I did I don't remember them. They probably died when I was little. My sister used to tell me about them and I've seen pictures of them, but I don't think I've actually seen them in person. I wonder how my sister is doing. Good old Skylar. Gerard and I decided that after I get home I should go see my sister. We found out what hospital she's in. I'm just afraid of how she'll react to me. She probably thinks I'm dead. She's not a psychopath she's just a little fragile. She's way too fragile. She was like a butterfly, but she got her wing caught in a car crash. They're crumpled and burned, but they can still fly, just barley, but it's still something and something is better than nothing. She can still fly, but it'll never be the same.

Beep. Beep. Beep. I hear my alarm clock go off and I almost knock it off the stand when I go to hit the off button. Why the hell did I use an alarm clock if it's summer? I slid back under my blanket and close my eyes to try to get back to sleep. My eyes then shoot open when I suddenly remember that we're flying too New Jersey today. I jump out of bed and go through my bag to make sure I've packed everything. I've mostly packed band tees, but I had to pack a dress for Father's Day. I haven't worn a dress in God knows how long. After I have everything I zipper my bag and race down the stairs. I throw my bag in the car and help Lindsey help Bandit with her bag. Bandit absolutely loves to play dress up so it's no surprise she wouldn't allow us to close her suit case until she shoved a couple superhero costumes and princess dresses inside. Gerard packed everything else in the car and then we were off. "Are you excited?" Gerard asks. "A little." I respond as a put one ear bud in and leave the other one out so I can still keep up the conversation, but listen to music at the same time. "When was the last time you went on vacation?" He asks. "Besides camp and stuff I haven't really been on vacation. I've moved once, but I only changed towns and that was when I came to live with you guys. I've never been to the east coast." I answer shifting in my seat. To be honest I'm a little bit more than just a little excited. I'm actually a lotta bit excited. I'm just scared. I'm afraid to go on the plane and I'm afraid to meet my new grandparents and the rest of Gerard's family. What if they don't like me?! "I've seen that face before." He says in a strange tone of voice. "What face?!" I ask putting my arms up in defense. "You're scared." He says laughing. "Shut up." I say putting the other ear bud in and turning up the music. I ignore him until we get to the airport and I feel bad, but there's nothing I can do about it now. We're about to get on the plane, but something stops me. I can't do it. I can't leave. I just can't bring myself to step on the plane. Then I feel something grab my hand. I look down and Bandit is holding it. She looks up to me and gives me a big smile. "I love planes. They're pretty and they go zooom!" She says imitating. I quietly laugh at her and we step onto the plane together. We step onto the plane and prepare for takeoff. It takes longer than I expect, but then I find out why. An announcement comes over the intercom. "I'm sorry for any inconveniences, but we are having technical difficulties at the moment. We should begin to take off soon." The flight attendant says with sincerity in her voice. "Awesome." Gerard comments. "At least we don't have anything important to do today, but we might have to call your parents and tell them we won't be home in time for dinner." Lindsey says with a sigh. "Does that mean we get to spend more time on the plane?" Bandit asks excitement tinting her voice. "Yes, but hopefully only a little bit longer." Lindsey answers. "Yay!" Bandit cheers. "I wish we could just magically get there without the plane at all." I mumble quietly. Gerard somehow heard me because he responds, "You and I both" in the same quiet tone.

We eventually took off and had a fairly smooth flight filled with comic books and superhero movies. When we land it feels weird. I feel slightly colder and the people here have a little bit of an accent...or maybe I'm the one with the accent. I'm excited to meet my new family, but what will they think of me? It's one thing if you adopt a little kid because you get to watch them grow, but I'm a teenager. I'm just kind of...there. I don't know it's just so awkward. We get in sometime after midnight because of the technical difficulties. Gerard's parents are asleep, therefore unable to pick us up so Gerard called an "old friend" to pick us up. He told me that is was a surprise and I wasn't aloud to know who it was until they got here. About ten minuets pass and I see a short figure with longish black hair starting to approach us. My brain wakes up and I realize it's no one other than Mr. Frank Iero. "Frank!" I say with excitement as I quickly stand up and run over give him a hug. I attack him with the hug and then quickly let go remembering that I was most likely invading his space bubble. "Hey, what's up? I haven't seen you since your birthday!" Frank says happily. "Nothing much, just boring stuff like school." I say smiling. Gerard and Lindsey both hug Frank and we head out to the car with Gerard carrying a sleeping Bandit. "I call shot gun!" I sort of whisper yell, trying not to wake Bandit, as I run to Frank's car. We get to Gerard's old house and sneak in using an old key. We try not to wake up his parents so we just kinda try to figure out the sleeping situation on our own.

When I wake up instead of waking up to a stupid alarm clock I wake up to the smell of...what is that? Whatever it is it's good. I slip into the kitchen to see someone who I guess is Gerard's mom making French Toast and bacon. "That smells really good. Um...hi I'm Lily." I say quietly. "Oh Lily, I've heard so much about you!" She says smiling. I giggle slightly. "I hope you only heard the good things." I say my voice growing quieter by the second. "I don't believe there you could ever be something bad about you!" She says smiling and embracing me. It's feels strange, but nice at the same time. I don't feel comfortable hugging very many people. There are only a handful of select people I don't mind hugging. She is now one of them. "My son is now your dad so you can call me Grandma, but only if you're comfortable with that." She says and I let go a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I'm glad that I'm not being pressured on time with this whole grandparents thing. "Good morning." Gerard says with a smile on his face and bed head as he walks into the kitchen. "Good morning." His mom says giving him a kiss on the cheek as he embraces her. After a while the rest of the family walks in one after the other. "Grandma!" Bandit yells as she runs to hug her grandmother. "Hi Bandit! How has your year been?" Grandma says enthusiastically. "Great!" She says and then she starts to ramble on about things that happened since her last visit. There is still one person to walk into the kitchen...Grandpa. He walks in and immediately hugs everyone. "Hey kiddo!" He says picking up Bandit and swinging her around. I just kind of stand there awkwardly until he walks up to me. "Who is this?" He asks sweetly. "I'm Lily. Gerard and Lindsey just adopted me recently." I say smiling. "This is Lily?" He asks. Gerard nods. "Wow. I didn't expect her to be this beautiful young lady." Grandpa says smiling and hugging me. "Breakfast is ready." Grandma says turning off the stove and placing the food on plates for us. "Thanks Mom." Gerard says as we sit down with our breakfast. I'm not that hungry, but it's probably the best french toast I've eaten in my entire life.