Garage Grunge and Pubescent Pop

(Alix's Point of View)
I woke up this morning to the most obnoxious noise in the entire world; the generic alarm clock whaling. My alarm at home simply plays whatever is on the top twenty countdown to wake me up. It can still be annoying sometimes, depending on how many times I have heard the song, but nowhere near as annoying as the nails-on-a-chalk-board screeching that came from Joe's alarm clock.

I shimmied out of his arms and slammed my fist repetitively on the piece of Satan that had been screaming at me. Somehow, the boys didn't wake up. The Jonas's and I had all slept in their basement with much convincing to Mrs.Jonas who was worried we would stay up too late on Sunday and not wake up for today. She was half-right; I woke up but the boys were still asleep.

"Joeee." I groaned and shook him, slightly. His arms flung limply around his torso as I shook him. "Joe!" I called, louder. There was no response.

Finally, when I began to tickle him, he awoke, his giggles muffled by the pillow that was over his head. "I'm up! I'm up!" he cried and sat up abruptly, taking my hands in his so that I could no longer tickle him. "Good morning." he said, and pulled me into his lap to kiss me.

"Keep your pants on, Joe." Nick and Kevin said in unison, obviously waking up themselves. Joe and I giggled and stood up. Our eyes met in an intense, playful look. We both screamed, "I'm showering first!" and raced up the stairs. There were two bathrooms so Joe and I split, going to the separate ones while Nick and Kevin chased behind us, trying to beat us to the punch.

I wasn't at my bathroom before I heard a door slam and Nick go, "Oh, man!" That meant that Kevin was after my bathroom. I glanced behind me to see him jump over a couch with a determination I'd only seen in the track runners in short shorts at our high school. I inhaled a sharp breath and ran faster. I could see it in my view. So close...

Just then, I felt Kevin grab me from behind and turn me so that he was in front of me. When I turned around, he was in the doorway of the bathroom and shut the door, laughing. Damn his quick legs.

I took out my phone and found Jared's name in the address book. I smiled to myself that his name was right above Joe's, forcing them to, in a sense, be together like I had. I pressed, "call" and held it to my ear. It rang three times before I heard a, "Mmfgrf..." or something along those lines.

"Good morning!" I sang in a cheerful tone. I heard a slight movement and assumed he had moved his face out of his pillow because, when he spoke again, I could hear him clearly although it was a low mumble.

"Morning." he muttered. "How did you sleep?" he asked.

I smiled and thought of the warmth Joe had given me throughout the night. "I slept well. Will you meet me at the Jonas's when you are ready and drive me to school?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll be over in an hour. Love you." he mumbled into the receiver.

"Thanks. Love you, too. Bye." I said and hung up.

Kevin didn't take too long in the shower and neither did I so everyone was ready by the time Jared came to pick me up. Mrs.Jonas made us all breakfast although, from her curious glances at Jared, she didn't really know why her sweet boys would be hanging out with such a strange kid. I couldn't help but laugh at her innocence.

I got in Jared's van and the boys went in a different car. Getting to school from the Jonas's house only took ten minutes or so and we were there in no time. When we all got out of our vehicles and met up together, though, everyone completely froze. It was as if they all thought they were dreaming. They glanced around at each other quickly and, then, back to us, bewildered.

Joe looked a bit nervous and, oddly enough, so did my stone cold Jared. I smiled and took both of their hands in mine. "You guys have just got to learn to not care what they think of you. If you don't care what they think, they'll stop expressing it at all." I said and we walked, hand in hand into the building, ignoring the eyes of everyone else because, in the end, all that really mattered was us and our bond.