Saved//Green Day

Chapter 21

Chelsea's POV

I talked with Billie for a bit and studied all the different ways my voiced scaled up and down. It was weird to talk again, but I was okay with it. Billie was happy with my decision to talk again, and so was Adrienne, Jakob, and Joey. Tré and Mike still had no clue that I had talked again and I had made plan to surprise them with it. In my personal opinion, it wasn't a big deal that I had spoken once more. Words weren't that important to me, but I assumed that it must be weird when someone never talked.

A doctor suddenly walked into the room and asked me to leave. Of course I obeyed him. After all, he was Billie's doctor and I was supposed to stay in my room. On my way back to my room, Joey caught up with me and asked me the question I didn't want to answer.

"Why did you stop talking?" he questioned kindly.

"Because right before my mom..." I trailed off as I remembered the whole shooting. The blood that poured out from my dad's mouth and the gory bullet hole in his chest. I remembered it like it was yesterday, but it was over a month ago. However, it was a vivid memory that kept me from sleeping at night. I remember my dad's death cry and my sister screaming with fear. And what did I do? I watched with worry, but didn't help him. I was a terrible human being.

"Chels? Are you okay?" Joey asked with concern.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," I gulped.

He shrugged his shoulders and guided me back into my room. Three guys about Joey's age crowded my room. One sat in a spin chair while another guy spun him around, and the other filmed them. "Guys?" Joey asked for their attention. They completely ignored him and continued to be ridiculous. "Guys!" Joey yelled for their attention. They all stopped in their tracks and observed Joey and I. "What are you guys doing, and why wasn't I invited?" Joey questioned.

"Hey, Joey. Who's she?" a tall, bleach blonde guy asked. "Oh...uh...well...she's erm..." Joey stammered. "I'm his adopted sister, but well, he's never really had to introduce me to anyone yet," I explained modestly. "Oh yeah! Joey told us! You're Chelsea, yeah?" another guy asked. I nodded and looked up at Joey, who was full of guilt. My eyes were apologetic.

It must've been weird for him to just, all of the sudden, get a new sister. I was sure he didn't even think of me as his sister, which was a hundred percent okay. I knew I would've felt weird if my parents just adopted a new brother or sister. It was easy to forgive him because I saw it from his point of view. I was a nuisance at that time.

"I'm Cole," a guy with dyed, green hair introduced himself. "I'm Max," the one in a leather jacket said. "And I'm Seb," the last guy waved. "And that's Joey if you didn't already know!" Cole joked. We laughed, but Joey's smile wasn't real. He was upset about something, but I didn't quite know what. Max walked over to Joey and asked to talk to him in the hallway. He left me alone with people who liked to ask questions.

"So did your parents die?" Seb asked. Cole elbowed him and rephrased the question. "What Seb means to ask is what happened to your parents, if that's even okay to ask?" I wanted to tell them, but I worried that they would see me as the next up to become a serial killer. "They got into a car crash," I lied. "Oh...sorry to hear..." Cole trailed off. "Yeah...it was pretty bad. A driver collided with them on a mountain road and their car toppled down," I said. Apparently I was a good liar because they believed me and asked more questions about the accident. Of course I felt terrible for lying to them, but I really didn't want to tell them the truth. I knew I was bound to regret lying later, but it was better than saying 'Hey! My mother killed my father in front of me and I haven't seen my sister since! Did I mention that I've only listened to classical music? Oh! And, I caused Billie to get into a car accident! Whoo hoo! Fun!'

Joey came back into the room and smiled at me nervously. "If you want, I can leave so you can all do whatever it is you do," I offered. "No, it's okay. You can stay if you wanna," Joey said. 'Why is Joey being nice to me all of the sudden?' I thought to myself. I sat down on the hospital bed and grabbed my phone from the table. An unknown number had texted me.

Unknown: are you ok??? I heard what happened to u! It's all over the news!

Me: Not to be rude, but who is this?

Unknown: it's Andy from therapy...so r u ok??

Me: Yeah, I'm fine. Little bruised up, but Billie is in a lot of pain.

Andy: sorry to hear...want me to come visit u? I don't mind! I have nothing planned for today and even if I did have plans, I would cancel them...that sounds creepy. I was trying to be caring...I understand if u don't wanna talk to me anymore. It happens a lot.

I smiled at Andy's worry that I wouldn't like him. Him and I were very similar; in the since that we both didn't have any friends. He was my only friend. Maybe Cole, Max, and Seb thought of me as a friend, but I really don't think that was the case. They were only friendly because Joey was there, and they didn't want to upset him. They pitied me and didn't want to hurt my feelings. That was it.

I conceded to Andy's want of seeing me and decided to text him back.

Me to Andy: You can come visit me if you'd like, but I'm a pretty boring person.

Andy: ok! And btw u arent a boring person ;)

I had to think about what 'btw' meant but I soon put together that it meant 'by the way.' I was a loser. I didn't even know basic texting acronyms.

"Who are you texting?" Joey asked. "This one guy I met at therapy," I bluntly answered. "I wouldn't trust him. Guys are a**holes," Joey said. My eyebrows furrowed together, as did Seb's, Cole's and Max's. "I'm not an a**hole!" they yelled in unison. "No, not you guys...I'm talking about other guys," Joey tried to explain further. "Andy's different. He's the only friend I've got, okay?" I snapped. There was a split second of 'ooh's' before Joey grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.

"No one is gonna be your friend once they find out about what your mom did! I wish it was different but it's true! I've learned over the years that most people are my friends just because of my dad.... I'm just warning you. Don't fall for Andy's bullsh*t," Joey said coldly. I stayed quiet for a moment, taking in everything he had said. Then, it occurred to me that Joey was grieving. He knew my dad, and then, once he was gone, he ended up with The Dead Guy's Daughter. I was a constant reminder that my dad was murdered. Not even second guessing myself, I hugged Joey even with his fight against it. "Joey, stop it. You need a hug more than anyone else. I know you loved my father, a lot of people did. But you need to stop looking at me as if I had killed him, okay? Just because my mother decided that she didn't want him around anymore, does not mean that I wanted him to leave," I said truthfully. Joey looked down at me and his eyes became watery. "I know you didn't want him to go," he began as he pulled out of my grasp. "It's just, why did she have to do it? He was my uncle and your dad. And she-she ruined it all." It was at that very moment that I knew it wasn't my fault for my father's death. It was completely my mother's fault. She was the one who pulled the trigger, not me whatsoever.

A/N: Heyyy beautiful people!!! How are all of u doing?? I hope u r all well! Btw I don't think Joey would react this way, but it was for characterization and stuff. I hope u liked that I finally introduced all of SWMRS in this chapter!!! Seb is my personal favorite, but feel free to like whoever you'd like!!! I hope u all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please comment and vote if u liked this one! Ilyasm!!! XOXO