Kill All Your Friends (My Chemical Romance)

N°1

"Juliet, come meet the neighbor!" My mom called from the kitchen. We had just moved to New Jersey and into a dusty old house on the street corner. I tried to go quickly down the stairs to meet the new neighbors so I could leave quickly (I wasn't interested in the fourth old couple on our street), but I didn't have much say.
As I walked into the parlour, yes, this house was old enough to have a parlour, I was met with a woman and her son who looked so remarkably like her, you could almost assume she cloned herself. Almost. The boy was tall with sharp features, and the woman was shorter with rounder features. Regardless, they had the same basic face structure and- that's enough of that.
"Letty, this is Donna Way." My mom introduced us, and I waved awkwardly. I wasn't keen on another handshake. "Donna tells me her son graduated Summerfield."
The boy was staring at me intently. He was standing in an odd way, his knees seemed to be bent slightly inward. He seemed intimidated.
"Say, Donna, would you like some tea?" My mother offered in her hostess manner. She seemed excited to have met someone her age, and for me to have done the same.
"Sure." Donna looked past my mother to me. "It was nice meeting you, Julie, was it?"
"Juliet." I corrected politely.
"Ah." She nodded.
Mother bustled her off, and left me with the boy unsure of what to do next. He decided to speak first. "So where's you're room?" I remained silent in shock before he added hurriedly, "I can help you unpack."
"Oh, right. This way." I walked up the stairs slowly, as I practiced doing for years.
"I'm Mikey, by the way." I found it odd how his mother didn't introduce him, but I didn't mention it. I simply nodded.
"Cool posters." Mikey nodded to the Green Day posters on my wall. I nodded in acknowledgement and wandered absently over to a box. I waved him to a chair that was in the room when we bought the house. It had a lot of furniture still inside it, which was good because dad kept ours with the divorce.
"So mom says you're starting at Summerfield?" Mikey asked already knowing the answer. I nodded. "I used to go there." He chuckled embarrassed of himself.
I raised an eyebrow as I pulled out my notebooks and put them on my desk. "You seem pretty shy."
"Yeah, I'm not very good with people." He laughed again trying to make himself seem less awkward.
I smiled. "That's okay. I'm not either."
He loosened up a bit, and his laugh was a little less awkward. "So what's your excuse?"
"Cancer." I shrugged. "Got it when I was eight; it went away when I was 14. I've been healthy ever since."
Mikey gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry-"
"Don't worry about it. I'm better now, and not all of it was bad." I pointed to my posters with a paintbrush. "I met Green Day."
"Woah! No way!" He jumped up and looked at the signed poster beside my bed.  They had vandalized their own faces and signed the bottom. "Okay, you're officially the coolest person I've ever met."
I smiled genuinely. "You're not so bad yourself, Mikey Way."
We unpacked my stuff with casual conversation until Mikey found an old stuffed dinosaur my dad gave me. "What's this?"
"Oh that's Dennis." I held out my hand and he tossed it to me. "My dad gave him to me when I was diagnosed. Said it would protect me." I smiled idly at the toy before my face fell. "I don't suppose that matters anymore anyway. The cancer went away, and he was never the same."
"He always acted as if I was still sick. He tried to control me, and mom didn't like it. Eventually she had had enough, and they started the divorce." I tossed Dennis to the bed. He was ragged, but I could still see the hospital's gift shop logo stitched across the foot.
"My dad left, too." Mikey said. "I was nine, and my brother was twelve."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Your life is way more difficult." Mikey shrugged.
"Doesn't mean yours isn't." I looked him in the eyes hoping he understood me.
He nodded. "It just feels selfish when people have it worse, and I complain about a weird family."
"Well, you can always complain to me." I extended a hand. "Friends?"
"Friends." He smiled, shaking my hand. He looked at the ground and saw my octopus stuffed animal, and in true male fashion, pretended it was eating his face. "Ah!" I laughed, causing him to break character and start laughing as well. He pulled the octopus away from his face, and I noticed how good he looks while laughing.
"Alright, so pal, what should I expect from Summerfield?" I asked when we had calmed down. By now I realized I wouldn't be unpacking much more, and was content to enjoy this moment with my new friend.
Mikey's face fell, and he groaned. "Well, I was kind of an outcast there, so my experience wasn't the best." He glanced at me quickly before looking at the star poster on my ceiling. "Tiffany Blew. She's the main bitch. Get in good with her and you'll be set for life. Get on her bad side..." he mimicked an explosion.
"So what did you do?" I propped myself on my elbows to look at him.
"Well, she doesn't like me, that's for sure. Gerard is the only reason I'm not a goner." Mikey laughed sarcastically. "He slept with her once and that's kind of how she became popular-Gee was an upperclassmen. I think she kind of still likes him. Oh, Gerard is my brother."
I nodded along. "Your brother seems to have gotten the better deal."
"Yeah well, he's not friends with you. I'd rather be your friend than be popular." He smiled up at me.
"You're delusional, Mikey Way." I rolled my eyes.
"So I've heard."