In The End

12: Beanie Thief

The doorbell rings early in the morning, and I fall out of bed, sprinting out my bedroom door(or quickly penguin walking in my case), tripping down the stairs, slipping on a coffee spill while swiftly wobbling through the kitchen, and face plant right in front of the front door.
I sigh, the sleepiness slipping back in now that the adrenaline is fading. Dad is even worse when he's woken up too early in the morning.
I groan, slowly standing and peeling the door open with my eyes closed, leaning my head on the opened door.
"Cfhanhihelpfhu?" Is what comes out of my mouth, obviously not the average greeting phrase. Really Blade? Can you really not say 'can I help you?'
I hear a small laugh, and then a voice that could jolt me out of sleep faster than warped tour tickets and band merch says, "Actually, yeah, I was wondering if you could take a quick errand run with me. It's kind of important." I open my hazel eyes quickly, suddenly aware of my messy silver locks, old frayed Of Mice & Men crop top, and booty shorts that say 'Andy was here' in the front, and the BVB logo on my tush. I'm also wearing one of my Jack Skellington slippers. Andy gives me a head to toe glance, pausing when he sees my shorts, and smirks. I laugh nervously.
"Let me change, and I'll go with you. I have the rest of the week off as resting leave." I glance outside my house, only to see Dad's silver Porsche already gone. My jaw mentally drops. I could've been a normal person and simply walked down here? Ugh. "Want to come in?" I ask, and let him go in. I quickly hobble back up my stairs once the door closes, and quickly change in embarrassment.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Sliding out of the car, I'm surprised to see that I'm at Kaylee's hospital. What're we doing here?
I'd decided to wear my oversized white tank that says 'school sucks start a band' in the back, black ouija board leggings, a black beanie, my BVB rosary necklace, and a gothic buckle boot. I also brought the new tote bag I bought, which is a light cream pink with off white polka dots. In the bag is a pair of brown comfy ankle boots, or so the sales lady told me when Mason took me to the store yesterday, socks, some biker shorts, and a nice, simple off white sundress.

I also put in some lip gloss and jewelry. The jewelry consists of a braided black bracelet, and a feather sweater necklace. It's all for Kaylee, who told me her birthday was today when I first met her. I brought it because I was planning on asking Andy to drop me here after his errand, but I guess there's no need.
Finally grabbing my own black fringe purse with a sugar skull on it, I limp my way towards the hospital doors. Andy stops me, and offers me a piggy back ride.
"I can walk!" I whine, and he smiles.
"I know you can. But I can either carry you or give you a piggy back ride." I sigh, and motion for him to turn around. He smirks, and squats once he turns so I can reach im his back. I slide both bags onto my shoulder and hop on, while he carries me inside.
I expect him to go to a room that isn't Kaylee's, but that's exactly where we go. She's accompanied by Canon again, except Canon has someone with her. A tall, tall someone who happens to be in one of my favorite bands and OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!!
I make s weird noise that makes Andy laugh, catching the attention of the three people in the room. Kaylee grins brightly at me, calling out my name and patting the spot next to her once she spots me. I point at the man. "You're Austin Carlile." He laughs, and Canon nods, saying, "oh yeah! This is my boyfriend." My jaw drops, but I quickly recover. I shouldn't be surprised. Canon is gorgeous. Andy gently sets me down like yesterday, and once again I shiver. Andy smiles.
"Deja vu?" He asks, and I laugh. He pulls off his black hoodie and hands it to me, watching me shrug it on. He takes my beanie and slides it on his head, calling out, "I'll be right back." I stare at him, confused.
   "Beanie Thief," I mutter, earning me three laughs.
Before I think to hard on it, I turn to Kaylee.
"happy birthday, superstar!" I sing say, Making her smile. I extend the bag to her, and her face lights up happily. She takes it, glancing inside, and gasps.
"No!" She says, a huge smile on her face.
"Oh, but yes," I say, completely pleased with her reaction. She pulls the dress out and hugs it to her chest.
"It's mighty soft," she croones, making us all laugh. We all sit and talk, watching Kaylee open her presents until Andy gets back. But, he's not alone, and this is proven by the four other boys that flood into the room, one of them laughing and making incoherent noises. Yes, you guessed right folks, it's CC Mora.
   Kaylee gasps and covers her mouth, her face going beat red. CC 'awe's and skips towards us (literally) and hugs Kaylee, who blushes even more. She glances at me during the hug, and I wiggle it eyebrows at her. She rolls her eyes at me, reaching a hand out and shoving me lightly. I laugh, and I am very aware of Andy watching me in joy. I feel my cheeks tint a bit, but not enough to notice, unless you're up close, like Kaylee. She leans towards me and nudges me, wiggling her eyebrows, overly obvious. I grow and flick her forehead, making her giggle. Suddenly, someone else struts into the room, and I mentally--and probably physically--gulp.
Confidently striding towards Ashley is Nicole Harrow, aka Mason's ex girlfriend and my friend or what I call bully from when I still had to go to high school. Yeah, I graduated a year early. Anyway, I feel my horror deepen when she kisses Ashley, square on the mouth, and he kisses back.
   Nicole is a classic fake. Okay, maybe not classic, because she's fake in both "emo" and "popular" worlds. She tried really hard to get into popular groups, even tried doing drugs, and then she'd turn around and try to be an outcast at the same time. She wanted "losers" to be her followers, as she said once.
   She pretended to be into my favorite bands all the time. For instance, I would say, "you know, I'm really digging    the band Secrets lately" and she would try to play it off like she introduced me to Secrets, even though she hadn't listened to any of their songs. Ever. She would also hit me. Like all the time. But, don't worry, it was "playful."
   Nicole surveys the room, and when her eyes land on me, she squeals. "Oh. My. God. Blaze? Is that you? It's been, like, forever!"
   "It's not Blaze," I grumble, and she laughs obnoxiously, slapping her hand on my arm. Hard.
  "I know that, idiot, it's just cooler." I lower my eyes, knowing that most of the people in the room are observing quietly. Her eyes land on my foot. She gasps. "Oh my god? What happened? Are you okay? Gosh, I heard this means you might not be able to dance anymore. To be honest, that might not me so bad, cause it would save you from disappointment. You weren't really that good." I feel my throat tighten and start to burn. No, I refuse to cry. Suddenly she grabs a piece of my hair and 'awe's, her eyes sympathetic. "I went silver once. People say people with silver hair look fatter, but it looks great on you! Have you lost weight? Good, you were like, really chubby."
   I can see Kaylee watching our "conversation" silently, her eyes snapping from me to Nicole, and back. Her lips are pressed in a tight line.
   "No, Nicole, I haven't." I mutter.
  "Oh. Never mind. I mean it wasn't that bad, but...no you had to have lost some. I mean girl you had rolls. I would've never left my house if I'd had rolls." I train my eyes on the floor again, mortified. I wrap my arms slightly around my stomach.
   "That's called skin and muscle. God forbid I had that," I mutter under my breath. For god's sake, I weighed 79 pounds my junior/senior year. I was actually considered anorexic.
  "What was that?"
  "I didn't say anything."
  "Oh, okay. Hey so I would've gotten a gift, but I got a killer tan done Wednesday, and it was seriously expensive--"
"If you were goin' to come and talk about you this whole time and pass out back handed compliments like they were Christmas gifts, why'd ya even come?" Kaylee's voice rings out, making every head, whether they'd been listening or not, turn to her.
Nicole turns her now narrowed gaze on Kaylee, making her slightly uncomfortable. Nicole gives her a once over, a smirk growing on her face.
"Awe, is this the one with a disease? Poor thing. It must be your meds that are making you rude. At least you still have your hair. Did it grow back? It's a bit patchy. But don't worry, sweetie, you'll be in a better place where it won't matter." I gasp at Nicole's words. Kaylee closes her mouth, her bottom lip starting to tremble and her eyes water. She looks down, and it's apparent both her hair loss and her...future absence are kind of a touchy subject. First off, Kaylee's hair is only messy because Canon and Austin surprised her when she was sleeping. Her hair is fully grown back, and is not patchy. Secondly....
I slap Nicole across the face. She gasps, turning her surprised and angry eyes on me. I barely manage to stand.
"You can insult my dancing, call me fat, and make me feel shitty all you want. I can take it. I survived anorexia-- which is how I know that I wasn't ever fat by the way-- and it was much scarier than you and your insulting babble. You can make me feel like I'm three inches tall, since it's what you're good at, but you will not say a damned thing about Kaylee. She is beautiful, kind, smart, and the brightest soul I've ever met. She's the toughest person I know, and is way better company than you. You wanna make fun of her appearance? Get cancer, and then talk. But don't you ever bad mouth her again. So help me god if you do, you will get a taste of what I had to live with since day one of the seventh grade, friend."
Nicole juts her chin out defiantly, and struts towards the door, calling, "let's go, babe." Ashely starts to get flustered when she glares, due to the fact that he doesn't follow.
"I--I can't...I've got to stay with the band..." She screeches, stomping her foot and stomps out of the room.
Kaylee hugs me, saying, "thanks for that, Blade. And sorry you had to put up with her." I smile, hugging her back.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Besides, you actually know my name." She laughs, as do the rest of BVB.
Canon, Who's been on a rampage since Nicole left, is interrupted by Andy.
"I'm sorry to interrupt,
But we have a question for you three ladies." Canon, Kaylee, and I all stare at Andy blankly.
"We were wondering, would you like to go on the Blackmass Tour with us?"