My Chemical Family

Chapter 4

My New BFFs

"Are the pizzas done cooking yet?" I whined.

"No, shut up," Gerard said, annoyed.

"Well, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day."

"You didn't wanna eat anything! I told you to eat that leftover burrito, but you didn't listen!"

"Ok, calm the hell down."

"Um, I'm the adult here."

"You're absolutely sure about that?"

"Yeah, my birth certificate says so. What does yours say?"

My face fell. The joking around had gotten serious. I know it wasn't on purpose, of course. "I don't know, I've never seen it. I think my birth mom has it wherever she is in the world."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just..."

"I know, it's not your fault."

"I know, but I feel bad. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Gerard, it's fine! It happens all the time, so just let it go!" I snap unconsciously, immediately realizing, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm not mad at you, per say. I'm just... nevermind."

He came over and sat next to me on the counter. "You're what? It's ok, you can tell me. I'm always here if you just need someone to talk to."

I heard the doorbell ring. Saved by the bell; I hate talking about my emotions. "You better go get that. I'll be right back, I'm gonna go rebrush my hair, it looks horrible," I said as I ran my fingers through my short maroon hair.

Gerard nodded and hopped off the counter to go answer the door. I also hopped off the counter, heading upstairs to my room to brush my hair. After I did, I went back downstairs.

Halfway down the stairs, I realized that I was playing with the ring on my necklace, something I did subconsciously when I was nervous. The ring was the only connection I had to my family. When I was old enough, one of my foster parents quite rudely threw it at me, along with a note. The note said, basically, that I had a twin sister named Chloe, and I would be able to tell it was her because of the ring. I did wear it on my finger for a little bit, but once it started turning my finger green, I put it on a necklace I stole from one of my foster moms.

When I got downstairs, I heard Gerard call me from the kitchen. When I walked into the kitchen, I was almost immediately engulfed in a hug by a pretty girl with dark blue hair. "You must be Lily," I said, and she nodded as she pulled away, putting her hands on my shoulders.

"We're gonna be best friends, I can already tell," she said with a smile.

I made a weird face. I absolutely HATE people this perky. Usually. But, for some reason, I actually had a feeling I was gonna like this girl. "Ok... So, dinner should be ready. Hope you like Italian sausage," I said.

"Oh, you probably didn't know, but Gavin and I are vegetarians. We brought  salads. Thanks though, I appreciate the effort," Lily said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. If SOMEONE would've told me, I would've made you guys tofu ones, or just a regular cheese pizza," I said, directing the "someone" toward Gerard.

"Oh, you wouldn't have had to do that for us."

"I wouldn't have minded. Plus, Gerard did most of the cooking anyway."

"Ok, thanks anyway."

"No problem. Anyway, I'm starving, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna grab myself a mini pizza and head up to my room."

"No, please eat with us. Sorry, but hi, I'm Gavin. PLEEEEEEEEEASE eat with us. We really want to get to know you," a guy said from behind Lily.

I sighed. "If you guys wanna join me, that's fine, but just FYI, I blast the Emo Quartet like there's no tomorrow."

"That's ok. We both do too," Lily said, with a nod from Gavin for confirmation.

I nodded, taking the mini pizzas out of the oven and using a spatula to take two off the pan while Gavin and Lily both grabbed their salads. They followed me up to my room, where I plugged my phone into the stereo Gerard had bought for me and turned on my faves playlist, which consisted of My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty Øne Piløts, and a few songs off of Suicide Squad: The Album. When I turned it on, Without Me by Eminem came on. "So, Claire, how are you?" Lily asked.

"Um, good, I guess," I said.

"Where are you from?" Gavin asked.

"Um, Ohio originally, but I lived out by San Bernardino once I was forced to move out here. Until today, of course."

"Wow, I've always wanted to go to Ohio. Is it beautiful?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, especially during the winter with all the snow. Of course, now I get hot out here when it's, like, sixty-three degrees, but I liked the cold out there."

"I guess you get used to it after a while. So, what do you like to do?" Gavin asked.

"This feels like an interrogation, BTW. But, it's ok. I really like playing my sax, listening to music, scrolling through Instagram, and going to concerts. Last one I went to was a while ago, though. 2013, actually. Right before MCR broke up, I went to one of their concerts. That year I actually went to three. My foster parents were pretty rich. I also went to see Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco that year. It was really fun, even though I went alone," I said.

"Wow, that's really cool! Wait, what kind of saxophone do you play?" Lily asked.

"Tenor. Well, technically all of them, but tenor for class."

"Hey, me too! And I know we'll be stand buddies because we're the only two tenors in the whole band."

"Awesome! At least I'll know someone in band."

"Two people. I play alto," Gavin said.

So, until they had to leave, we talked a lot. It was really fun.