A Notch in Her Heart (A Pierce the Veil Fanfiction)

XII

Anne's POV

Halfway through the tour, the strangest thing happened. I got a phone call and when I looked at the name on the screen, it was one I hadn't seen in a while. I instantly picked it up.

"Moni, hey! Why haven't I heard from you?" She avoided the question and immediately got to business.

"Hey, Anne! Long time no see, huh? Well I just wanted to let you know, Brent and I are in New York visiting his grandparents. We're going to the guys' show tonight so be ready!" Without letting me get another word out, she transferred the call over to the dial tone. I looked at the phone with a funny face but shrugged my shoulders before excitedly rushing to go find my friends.

"Guys, Moni and Brent are coming to the show tonight!" Two elated girls squealed with a mix of shock, excitement, and glee. One angry Valerie stormed off the bus and slammed the door behind her. We all exchanged confused glances but shrugged it off a little. I ran into the lounge and saw the guys just watching t.v. and laughing about something random.

"Boys, Brent and Moni are coming to the show tonight! She just called, I swear!" The guys whooped and hollered and something in Vic's expression just wasn't right. He was half excited and half concerned and he rushed up. There was a little talking in the kitchen area and then the sound of a bus door slamming. Once again, the confused looks.

"Is she really coming!?" I had turned my back to leave, but Tony's voice stopped me and I immediately went bitter.

"Yeah, Tony. I just established that." I walked out the lounge, angrily sliding the door shy behind me, and heard the small chatter about what my 'problem' was.

Truth was, I was friends with Monica. We were cool once we got past the whole Tony thing. The boy drama was just silly and we were perfectly fine with each other. After Tony and Monica broke up, they became best friends, almost. Sure, there was the whole being cheated on thing, but that didn't apply to a friendship. They knew so muh about each other that they just gravitated toward each other and personally, I hated it.

Monica and Tony may've been friends but sometimes it didn't seem one hundred percent friendly. Monica had Tony wrapped around her finger and Tony couldn't help but jump to her side. Every time her and Brent broke up, Tony would drop everything he was doing to be by her side and help her. I would suddenly stop mattering and it hurt that she had such a hold on him that he couldn't seem to get over. It happened way too often. Every time Brent and Monica broke up, every time she had a pregnancy scare, every time they cheated on each other, every time Brent disappeared for days at a time, every time it just went wrong. Tony was there to pick up the pieces without a second thought. It was like every time her boyfriend wasn't there to be by her side, she could just steal mine and that isn't fair.

Needless to say, Tony was the most hurt when she disappeared so randomly.

~*~*~

On the stage, we all accepted our diplomas and took our appropriate seats. I grinned at the thought that it was finally time for me to leave Clairemont High and become an adult. To the sides of me, two complete strangers whom were only next to me because they had last names that fell alphabetically close to mine. I daydreamed while the last of the diplomas were passed out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you, this year's graduating class of 2006!" There was applause and cheering as we jumped out our seats and threw our caps into the air. I caught mine and all of us graduates dispersed amongst the crowd to find people we loved.

As I ran through the crowd, faces passed by and I got the feeling of freedom. I was free from the clutches of Jennifer Cara Lawson. I was free from the torment of Alexandra Michelle Prescott. I was free from not being able to make my own decisions and I was free from hell. I was free from Clairemont, may the memories forever stay.

Once I caught up with everyone, we stood outside the building, snapping pictures, having meltdowns, crying, fighting, and being happy. All our families were here with us, even my mother, and they all took photos with the graduates. All ten-... eight of them?

"Where are Brent and Monica?" Tony asked as he looked around the vicinity. We murmured a little but no one knew where they could've possibly went. Assuming they would catch up with us, we ignored it all and decided to move on.

No one knew it was going to be four years until we heard from them again. After a month, we finally realized they wweren't going to deliver the calls back, so we called it quits. Us girls went off to college while the boys focused on the band. Who had the time to keep chasing down people who didn't want to be found? No one had the time or the energy to put in that kind of effort.

But Tony was persistent. He wanted to get one of his closest friends back so he would always send the occasional text or make the weekly call in hopes of hearing from her. For four years she never got in touch. For those four years Tony kept trying. One of which was spent with me trying to rebuild his happiness from Rhode Island.

~*~*~

Laying down in my bunk, I closed the curtain just to have it ripped open again.

"Sorry to bother you, but did you finalize the design idea on the t-shirt?"

"The one with the skull head?"

"Yeah."

"No, almost." She nodded her head before walking away and I decided to finish the task and get my mind off things.

There was a cabinet that held a bunch of work supplies and I grabbed them down. Could I draw? Not as well as Belle. Could I do makeup? Hell yeah. For something like this, I needed to plan out the makeup I was going to use on Valerie due to the fact that she was going to be the model for this t-shirt.

I sloppily drew out a basic layout of her face and noted a few things in pencil. Once I was done, I came to the conclusion that we would be needing quite a few things from the store for this specific task. To keep myself from withering away the way I normally do when stressed, I threw my mind into crazy distractions and this t-shirt desgin, was one hell of a crazy distraction.

Valerie's POV

"Exactly how much time do we have for this?" I questioned Anne as we walked into a random local dance studio we borrowed in exchange for Pierce the Veil tickets for the night's show. These locals were chill...

"Three hours." We lugged in bags of materials we bought from Costco and placed down a tarp on the floor. Closing the blinds, Anne gave out instructions because her job came first.

"Okay Val, so I need you to strip completely from the waist up. Belle, please lock the door." I gave her a funny look before doing as I was told. Jayne pulled up a stool in the back of the room and set up while I sat.

While I just sat on this stool, Anne painted my face and a good amount of skin completely white. She did skull makeup on my face and then applied neon body paint designs all over my head and shoulders so that I looked like a feminine Day of the Dead skull that would glow in the dark. She even did my hair and applied exaggerated everyday makeup. After my top was done, she did my hands and portions of my arms.

As Anne finished up, Jayne cut the lights out and turned on the black light she set up above me.

"That's sick." The two girls admired their work and Belle sat, admiring it too. Belle unfolded a sheet that sat in a plastic Costco bag and handed it to me.

"Clutch this to your chest like you're trying to cover up and just relax." I nodded my head and Jayne began taking photos of me. Telling me to adjust my position when needed, Belle supervised, telling her which shots she liked best. Once we got the perfect photo, we packed up and left the studio.

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Belle used my laptop to process a design after she drew it out in a more animated way. It was me only my eyes were purple and my hair was black and silver. The fluorescent designs remained, as did the sheet, and the design was all finished. It was finally time for me to shower, and get ready for the guys' show.