FicWad

It’s Friday afternoon and school has finished for the day. Jessica and I are waiting outside the school gates for her Mum.

“Can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait” Jessica sings softly.
“You’re really excited about that party aren’t you?” I say.
“Hell yeah” Jessica replies.

A bright blue Volkswagen Convertible pulls up, blasting out the sound of “Show Me The Money” by Petey Pablo.

“Jump in” says Marianne, her long blonde hair is down today, and her crystal blue eyes are hidden behind a huge pair of sunglasses.

Jessica walks around to the other side of the car and gets in, I get in behind Marianne. The car starts up again and “4 Ever” by The Veronicas blasts out of the stereo.

“Now Jess, your father and I are going away for the weekend, so you girls have the house to yourselves, I’m putting my trust in you, so be responsible alright?” says Marianne while she’s driving.
“Mum, you have nothing to worry about, I promise” says Jessica.
“Good then” replies Marianne.

Jessica turns to me with a cheeky smile and winks.

“C’mon baby we ain’t gonna live forever, let me show you all the things that we could do, I know you wanna be together, and I wanna spend the night with you” Jessica and I sing, joining in on the song playing from the stereo…

*

“See you on Sunday” says Jessica’s Dad, Max, kissing her on the forehead.
“Ergh Dad, I’m 16!” says Jessica, wiping her forehead with her sleeve.

We watch as Max and Marianne get into the car, and wave as they drive off. Jessica closes the front door,

“Woo!” she cheers, and grabs my hand, pulling me upstairs to her room.

She turns on the stereo, and puts a Blindside album on, and a song called “Pitiful” blasts out.
Jessica starts grabbing her clothes for the party, and so I decide to do the same and kneel down to get my own clothes out of my bag.

I pull out my yellow t-shirt with a small picture of Hello Kitty on it, a bright green pair of skinny legs and my black studded belt. I then crawl over to the corner of Jessica’s room and grab my brand new black converse sneakers with hot pink laces.

I walk out of Jessica’s room and down the hallway to get changed in the bathroom. I walk back into Jessica’s room when I’m done, and Jessica stops midway through doing her eyeliner to look at me.

“Now that’s more like it, here” she says, throwing me a white slide-in bow for my hair.

I join her in front of the mirror and separate the top three layers from the rest of my hair and tie it up. One at a time, I tease each layer and spray it into place, sliding the bow in when I’m done.

“Nice” says Jessica.
“You’re really getting the hang of that now aren’t you?” she adds. (Jessica is the one who taught me how to do this hairstyle)
“Yeah, it’s not that hard” I say.

I start on my makeup while Jessica does her own hair.

“Ok, how do I look?” Jessica asks me when she’s done.
“Great” I say.

Jessica is wearing an Escape The Fate t-shirt and bright blue skinny legs, her fluro green converses and a bright pink slide-in bow in her hair.

As “Where The Sun Never Dies” another Blindside song finishes on the stereo, we hear a car horn beep outside. We go over to the window and look outside. Down on the road, is Frank’s minivan, he’s poking his head out the window.

“You guys ready yet?” Frank yells up to us as we open the window doors.
“Nearly!” we shout back to them in unison.

We close the window and clean up the room, then grab our bags and a jacket each and go downstairs.

Jessica stops when we get outside the door.

“You go ahead, I gotta lock up the house” she says.

So I go over to the minivan and slide the door open. It’s squishy in there, Frank and Ray are occupying the two front seats, and Bob and Mikey are taking up the whole back seat, leaving space only in the back behind them where Gerard is sitting on the floor.

“Here Jackie” says Mikey, helping me over the seat.
“Thanks Mikey” I say.

I slide down and settle myself next to Gerard.

“Hey” he says with a smile.
“Hi” I say, face hidden behind my fringe, unable to meet his eye.

Suddenly I have to move to make way for Jessica who slides down to where I was sitting next to Gerard. Gerard smiles and beckons for me to join him on his other side. So I crawl over him and sit beside him again.

“Ready guys?” says Frank, turning on the stereo, a song called Weekend Warrior” blasts out.
“Fuck yeah Frank! Iron Maiden!” says Gerard.
“Here” says Ray, passing a Vodka Cruiser to each of us.
“Oh c’mon man, that shit is weak ass” says Gerard.
“Fuck up bro, it’s just for now, we’ll get better shit when we get there” Mikey says to his older brother.

Gerard rolls his eyes and takes it.

I watch as Gerard drinks deeply from it, and all the others enjoying theirs. Mikey lowers his bottle after he’s had a long swig from it and looks at me, sitting on the floor turning the bottle around in my hand, not entirely sure I want to drink it.

“Jackie” says Mikey.

I look up at him.

“You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to” he says.
“Thanks, here” I say, passing it back to him.
“That’s alright, it’s not for everyone” says Mikey.
“Hmm?” says Gerard, pausing his head banging and opening his eyes.
“Oh, nothing, Jackie just doesn’t wanna drink, that’s all” Mikey says.
“Oh, that’s alright” says Gerard, ruffling my hair.

I bite my lip and smile.

“Alright guys, we’re here” says Frank, stopping the engine.

Gerard growls as the stereo stops playing and I laugh.

“He turned fucking Iron Maiden off, who turns Iron Maiden off” he sulks.
“Haha, c’mon big boy, we got a party to get to” I say, helping him up.

Once Jessica, Gerard and myself are out of the car, we wait as Frank, Bob, Mikey and Ray get out, and then the seven of us walk up Danica’s driveway. You can already hear the music blasting out of what’s obviously one expensive stereo. Wouldn’t surprise me, Danica’s family are loaded.

“Aww man, are you fucking serious? She listens to this crap?” says Frank, commenting on Danica’s choice of music, which is “Killa” by Cherish.
“Hey, I used to listen to Cherish!” I argue.
“Yeah, but then you met us” says Ray.
“And we changed that” adds Bob.
“And thank god for that” says Mikey.
“Don’t worry, I’ll mess with the music” laughs Jessica, holding up an Escape The Fate CD.
“Jess, you’re fucking crazy, I love you” says Gerard, putting his arm around her and pulling her closer to him.

For reasons I can’t explain, the smile suddenly disappears from my face, and I look away.

Frank notices and grabs my hand.

“You alright?” he asks.
“Oh, yeah, sure, I’m fine” I say.
“Alright” says Frank, keeping hold of my hand.

We reach the backyard gate and Mikey pushes it open. Danica’s backyard is huge and has a massive swimming pool. There are already people that are wasted jumping off the roof into it.

“Alright, well I’m gonna go mess with that stereo” says Jessica, walking off.
“I want beer” Gerard says cheekily, heading over to the massive cooler.
“I’m gonna go find me a girl” laughs Bob, walking over to a couple of blondes by the pool.

Ray and Frank however stay.

“We’ll keep you company” says Ray.
“Yeah” adds Frank.
“Thanks guys” I say.
“C’mon, let’s go have some fun” says Frank, and the three of us head inside to Danica’s lounge room where surprisingly nobody is playing Guitar Hero.

“Guitar Hero fuck yeah!” says Ray, grabbing one of the controls, Frank picks up the other.

I look over in the corner, where a couple is making out on a single sofa, and turn my eyes away. But then I notice another cooler next to the couch, with a few more Cruisers sticking out of it.

One drink never hurt anyone right?

I grab one and crack it open, I take a swig.

“Damn that’s good shit!” I say with a laugh.
“Oh wow” says Frank, midway through their song.
“What?” asks Ray, pausing the game.
“Jackie’s drinking” laughs Frank.
“Haha, alright then” says Ray, unpausing the game.

They go back to playing. I keep watching them until my bottle is empty, and I grab another. I feel a little dizzy after I get halfway through the bottle, and put it down on the floor. Sean Walters comes stumbling in and flops down next to me on the couch.

“Hey” he says, slouching.
“Hey Sean” I say, and lean back too.
“Wassup?” he asks.
“Not much” I say.
“Same” Sean replies, slipping his arm around my shoulders.

He pulls me a little closer, and I settle myself down on his chest. The next thing I know, Sean’s mouth is covering mine in an intense kiss. I fall against him, running my fingers through his hair. His hands find their way to the hem of my t-shirt, and he tries to pull it up.

“JACKIE!” snaps Frank.

We suddenly pull away from one another.

“What?!” I snap back angrily.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Frank asks me.
“I dunno” I say.
“Exactly” Frank says.
“Yeah alright, Sean, get out man” says Ray.
“Nah, I think I‘ll stay here, I was enjoying that man, why’d you two have to interrupt?” snaps Sean.
“Nah, c’mon, outside buddy, now” says Ray, pulling Sean off the couch by his arms and leading him out the door.

“Jackie?” says Frank, kneeling down beside me.

I look up at him.

“Are you alright?” he asks me.
“Yeah I’m fine, just a little dizzy is all” I say, taking another swig from my bottle.
“Yeah, I think that’s enough, c’mon, give it” says Frank, taking the bottle out of my hand.
“It’s my second one!” I say.
“No Jackie, it’s your sixth, look” argues Frank, pointing to five other bottles lying on the floor.
“Sorry” I say.
“It’s alright, just, god, be careful alright? You’re not a big drinker, you don’t know how much you can handle yet, so no more ok?” says Frank.
“Okay” I say in a low voice.

Ray comes back inside.

“Everything alright now?” he asks.
“Yeah, I think so” says Frank.
“Hmm” I say.

The door flies open again.

“RAY! FRANK!” Gerard shouts, panicking.
“Whoa, Gerard! chill out, what’s wrong?” asks Ray.
“Jess, I can’t find her anywhere, you got any idea where she is?!” says Gerard.
“No” says Frank.
“Shit” says Gerard, running his hand through his sweaty hair, his shirt is damp, and it sure as hell doesn’t smell like water, water doesn’t smell.
“You’ve had a fair bit to drink tonight haven’t you?” Ray asks him.
“Yeah, but whatever, I’ve got no fucking clue where Jess is, now are you gonna help me or not?” he says.
“Yeah, alright man, we’ll help, relax” says Ray.
“You alright to walk?” Frank asks me.
“Yeah” I reply.

Frank helps me up, and keeps a hold of me to make sure I don’t stumble. We search the whole backyard, but there’s no sign of Jessica.

“God, where is she?” says Gerard, now really worried.
“Dude, I’m sure she’s fine” says Mikey, who’s joined in on the search.
“GERARD!” shouts Bob, running over to us.
“JESS’S ON THE ROOF! C’MON!” he shouts again, panicking.
“OH FUCK! NO!” freaks Gerard, running after Bob.

We all follow them back into the house and up the staircase until we reach the hallway that leads to another staircase, we climb that, open the hatch and find ourselves on the roof.

Jessica is balancing on the roof’s border, a bottle swinging from her hand.

“Jess!” gasps Gerard, running over and pulling her away from the edge by her waist.
“Let me go, let go of me!” squeals Jessica, kicking and punching him.

Gerard puts her down, and goes to hug her.

“FUCK OFF!” she snaps, hitting his arms and pushing him away.
“Jess, no, I’m just trying to help you” he says.
“Bullshit!” snaps Jessica.
“Jessica, I am, I love you, I’m scared for you” pleads Gerard.
“No you don’t!” Jessica wails.
“Yes I do!” says Gerard, choking back tears.
“No you don’t! You don’t! You want Jackie! You don’t love me!” snaps Jessica.
“What? Jess, no!” Gerard says.
“Yes you do! You nearly kissed her! Korey told me! He saw you guys in the street when you walked her home!” snaps Jessica.
“What?” I say.
“Fuck!” says Gerard, slapping his hand to his forehead.
“That was Korey Sullivan’s street!” he says.
“Who’s Korey Sullivan?” I ask.
“Don’t ask Jackie, now’s really not the time” says Ray.
“Sorry” I say.
“I HATE YOU!” shrieks Jessica, throwing her bottle at me.

I scream as it just barely misses and smashes at my feet. But it doesn’t end there, Jessica gets up, and lunges at me, kicking me, punching me, scratching me, pulling my hair.

“YOU. FILTHY. DIRTY. BOYFRIEND STEALING SLUT! I TRUSTED YOU! YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT OUR FRIENDSHIP JACKIE JAMES!” Jessica screams with every blow.
“JESSICA! THAT’S ENOUGH!” yells Bob, pulling her away from me.
“NO! LET ME GO! LET ME BE! LET ME GET HER! I’LL FUCKING KILL HER!” Jessica screams and hollers as Bob and Mikey try to hold her down.

We hear sirens and I look over the roof’s edge to see police cars pulling up. The next few moments seem to play in slow motion.

A couple of cops come upstairs, they cuff Jessica’s hands, and we follow them downstairs and out of the house. Jessica is put in the back of a pad wagon. The doors close, the car slowly drives away.

Everything then comes back into focus, and at it’s normal pace. Gerard is sitting in the gutter on the side of the road, crying. I sit down beside him, and take his hand. He throws his arms around me and cries, wailing like a helpless child. Ray and Mikey help me pull Gerard to his feet. Frank gets into his minivan and starts the engine. I help Ray and Mikey help a distraught Gerard into the van, and Bob gets in after us, sliding the door shut. Frank puts his foot down on the gas, and we slowly drive away.

A complete disaster…