Life's Not A Fairytale

Friday afternoon I arrived at school, late (yeah hence the whole “afternoon” part). With Tiffany in my arms, her bag on my right shoulder and my bag on my left. Lugging a baby and a diaper bag and schoolbooks around is hard work! I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever cut it as a single mother.

I rushed in to stinky biology and looked around the smelly room. The whole class stopped what they were doing and stared at me. And of course there was one stare that was more piercing than the rest. Yeah, you guessed it. It was Nicholas’.

I chuckled awkwardly and sat between Jazmine and Alice. Their babies were tucked safely in their arms. Jazmine winked to me, while Alice nudged my shoulder. Mr. Gaskin, the biology teacher clasped his hands together.

“Thank you for joining us, Miss Mitchell.” He spoke in his excited I-am-way-too-enthusiastic-to-be-a-teacher voice. “We are all glad to have you back! Isn’t that correct Mr. Jonas?”

I rolled my eyes as I heard him clear his throat behind me and say “uh, yeah of course”. Mr. Gaskin –or “G” as he likes to be called— smiled at me and moved onto the frog he would demonstrate dissecting today. Yuck!

As the minutes rolled on by, I heard a “psst” come from behind me. I chose to ignore Nicholas, because I knew what he would say. He would go on and on about how I should come to school more often because I was so stupid, I would fail. Or whine about the fact that I haven’t changed my classes yet. Or something along those lines.

But after about twenty times of him sighing and saying “psst”, it got pretty annoying and Alice glared at me and whisper-yelled, “Would you please just answer him already?”

“Yeah,” Jazmine piped in. “He’s getting on my nerves.”

“I have nothing to say to him!” I said.

“If you don’t turn around and talk to him,” Alice growled. “I will—”
“Don’t threaten me.” I whispered. “Besides I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Psst!” came from behind me again.

“You know Gaskin isn’t even gonna care, Hails.” Jazmine said. “He wouldn’t want anyone to think he’s ‘not cool’ or he wouldn’t ‘ruin his rep’. Psh, he’s a teacher, he’s not cool by definition.”

“Just talk to him please?” Alice sighed.

“Psst! Psst!”

“Now?” she pleaded.

I sighed and turned in my chair. I tried to avoid his big brown pools of chocolate, but it was too hard. He was looking hopeful and smirked.

“What?” I whispered, slightly annoyed.

“Hey.” He smiled.

Hey? I thought. You have been annoying me for the past five minutes and all you have to say is “hey”?

“Oh really?” I snapped. “That’s all you had to say?”

“No!” he whispered as I started to turn around. “I was just wondering why you weren’t in school.”

“What does it matter?”

“Well education is important.” He replied. “And you’ve missed two and a half days of school.”

“So?” I asked. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t, but I mean… Well Tiffany probably isn’t used to me and probably doesn’t know who her own father is.”

I glared at him and turned in my seat. I bent down to get Tiffany out of her seat and then handed her to Nick, gently. He look taken aback, but cradled her in his arms anyway. I threw her diaper bag to him and glared into his eyes.

“There! Now you don’t have to worry about a thing.” I whipped back a round and looked to Mr. Gaskin who had a bright smile on his stinky face.

………………[][][][]……………

“Joe!” I laughed into the phone. “Hey it’s me, Nick.”

“Gee,” Joe replied back, sarcastically. “I had no idea! It’s not like I have caller ID or anything.”

“Very funny, Joe.” I said. “Listen, I was wondering, is Kevin around? I tried to call him earlier, but his phone was turned off or something.”

“Um… Uh… Hmmm, let me think… Where is Kevin?”
Whist Joe pondered his thought, Hailey walked by with her tray in her hands. She looked towards me and rolled her eyes. She’s so cute when she tries to be mean to me. And she is the most beautiful girl in her school uniform, here at East Christian. No one else can compare. I rolled my eyes back at her and snarled my lip.

“He’s helping Dad out today.” Joe finally said. “Church stuff. I don’t know where they are, but he said he’d be back in time to go to the movies. Why what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I said. “But considering Kevin isn’t around, I guess I have you to ask for help.”

“Oh, girl problems.” He chuckled. “Who is she?”

“Hailey Mitchell.” I said. “She’s new here.”

“H-Hailey Mitchell?” he questioned.

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Is she related to the devil herself, Lindsay Mitchell?”

“Uh, yeah, I think I heard Lindsay saying something about the two being cousins or something.” I said. “But Joe, what does this have to do with anything?”

“You know what happened last year!” he yelled in the phone. “That girl almost single-handedly ruined mine and Alice’s relationship!”

“Well that’s not my fault.” I sighed.

“Well, I don’t care! This Holly person—”

“Hailey!” I corrected.

“Whatever. She could be just as bad as Lindsay!” he cried.

“Hailey’s not like that,” I whined. “She’s… Different. She’s beautiful and nice and—”

“Well I do not approve!” Joe interrupted. “Not at all, I don’t care how pretty she is, I’m not helping you out. Bye.”

………………..[][][][]……………..

I waited for Alice to answer her phone. *Now it’s too late for you and your White Horse to come around*
I really wish she would change her damn ring back tone. She knows what Taylor said about me. Even though most of it was my fault, well it was hers too.

“Hey baby!” she answered in the phone.

“Are you friends with Hailey Mitchell?” I asked.

“Uh… Um, yeah, why?” she asked nervously. “We’re best friends.”

“How could you do this to me?” I yelled. “You know what Lindsay did.”

“Joe, baby, she’s not like Lindsay, not at all.” She answered quietly and calmly. This was shocking, because usually if I yell at her, she yells right back, only angrier and louder. “She’s dif—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” I yelled. “She’s different. Yeah right. Maybe to your face she is, but I bet behind your back she is cooking up schemes with Lindsay!”

There was a long silence. “Well, Joe, she’s really nice, you’ll like her.”

“I don’t care how nice she is! She could be just as horrible as the devil, but to you she acts all innocent!”

“You don’t even know her.”

“Is this the girl that is coming to the movies with us?” I questioned.

“Yes.” She sniffed.

I paused and looked around my room. The bed was unmade; the curtains were blowing by the fan and my computer screen had a picture of my butt on it. Not my naked butt or anything, just my butt in pants. Alice changed it from her and me to my butt. That girl was crazy.

And I’m pretty sure I made her cry. I don’t usually do that, so when I do, I feel so horrible. I heard her sniffle again and sighed.

“Are you crying?” I asked.

“I’ve got to go.” she said.

“Well, babe, don’t go.” I sighed. “I’m—”

“Love you.” Click.

I sighed and threw my phone on my bed, smacking my face. “What is wrong with me?”

Stupid Lindsay.

………………[][][][]………………..

“Alice are you okay?” I asked as I took a sip of my Diet Dr. Pepper.

“Yeah.” She said. “I just got into a fight with Joe.”

“Why?” Jazmine asked as she sat down beside her.

“Um… Because… Kevin told his mom that he caught us… Um… doing stuff.” She answered.

“Oh, wow…” I said. “That’s embarrassing. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m totally fine.” She smiled.

“Good!” Jazmine laughed. “You little perv.”

I laughed and chomped on my salad as Jazmine started talking about tonight. I’m glad they were my best friends. As we were talking and eating, Nick Jonas came up to me with Tiffany in his arms.

“Hello, wife.” He said.

“Ugh,” I replied. “I am not your wife, just simply the mother of your child. I mean fake child.”

“Hey!” he scowled as he covered up Tiffany’s ears. “Don’t say that! As far as she knows, we are husband and wife and happily together. Do you really want our child to grow up in the kind of environment where she has to go from house to house, she’s never at a stable place, and her parents constantly fight?”

“Dude,” Jazmine said. “You just described my life.”
“Mine too.” Alice said, sadly.

“Nicholas,” I sighed. “Tiffany is a project. Not a person. She doesn’t know if we’re married or not. She’s not real!”

He rolled his eyes. “Well she’s real to me.”

With that, he got up and left before quickly turning around and sitting beside me again. I rolled my eyes and looked to him. He had a big smirk on his face and was looking all weirdly at me.

“What?” I snapped.
“The only reason I came over here was to tell you that, A: I’ll be dropping Tiffany off at you house around six. So be ready for that.
And B: You have toilet paper on your shoe.”

Nick hopped out of his seat and walked away, laughing. I was seriously thinking about launching my fork at his head when I realized he said he was coming to my house tonight. And I also remembered him saying he was going out tonight… On a date, perhaps?

And that’s when I knew that I had to make myself look irresistible tonight. And to show him what he’s missing.

……………..[][][][]…………………

5:55 P.M.

Any minute now, Nicholas would be ringing my doorbell. I was nervous. The outfit I was wearing was not me at all. I’m the kind of girl, you usually see wearing skinny jeans and converse or a rocker tee and a vest. Not a mini skirt and a button up shirt that hugs all my upper body curves. I paced back and forth, and then turned on the radio.

“Love Bug again. Now I’m speechless. Over the edge I’m just breathless. I never thought that I’d get hit by this Love Bug again.”

What a soothing melody. Who are these guys? They sound so… familiar.

“NOW I’M…!” A guitar solo was in full effect as I paced the room, contemplating whether or not to wear this out fit or throw it in the garbage and slip on my usual attire. My legs were shaking and my hands were sweaty. I decided to listen to the awesome song and get my mind off of everything.

“Now I’m speechless,
Over the edge, I’m just breathless.
I never thought that I’d catch this
Love Bug again.
Hopeless,
Head over heels, in the moment.
I never thought that I’d get hit by this
Love bug again.
Oh whoa,
This Love Bug again…”

“That was the Jonas Brothers with “Love Bug” here on Star 102.1 here in Knoxville Tennessee. We are having an Open House Party and anyone around the world is aloud to call and request a song.” I heard the radio guy say. I think his name was Mark or something.

Wait! I thought. Did he just say the Jonas Brothers? But that’s Nick’s last name. Is that why he sounds so familiar? No! No, no, no it can’t be. I’m just nervous that’s all.

“So back to the um, Jonas Brothers Kim,” Mark said. “What have those guys been up to? They haven’t been in the spot light for a year, now. Because of personal issues with a close friend and co-star of theirs. The youngest brother, Nick, his girlfriend, Elizabeth Harden, died in a terrible car accident on January 1st. She was walking on the sidewalk in her neighborhood, when a car came out of nowhere and pinned her against a tree.”

“Oh goodness,” A woman said. She must be this Kim person. “I remember this, like it was yesterday. A crazed fan of the Jonas Brothers paid a man, by the name of Harold Logan, to run her over… Elizabeth also starred in Camp Rock 2 with Nick and his older brothers, Joe and Kevin, when the two teens met. Tragic, tragic.”

“Yeah,” Mark replied. “And it is said that the boys have been taking time off and went back to their home in Wyckoff New Jersey. They are attending a private school, um, East Christian Academy, I think, but come on. A whole year of taking a break? I mea—”

I froze. Nick. Older brothers. Kevin. Joe. Wyckoff. East Christian Academy. It all made sense now. I knew why he had seemed so familiar. I had seen him on my best friend Jaee Blair’s wall back in Florida. She had all their CD’s, their movies, their posters, hell I think even a book of them. Why hadn’t I ever noticed? She even offered me to go to a concert, but I had been grounded and couldn’t make it.

This is crazy.

Nick Jonas: The jerk.
Nick Jonas: The most popular guy in school.
Nick Jonas: The guy who I have to take care of a fake baby with.
Nick Jonas: The guy who I have a crush on.
Nick Jonas: The ROCKSTAR!

And that’s when I heard the doorbell ring.