A Messed-Up Heart

The remainder of June and the first half of July passed fairly quickly and on July 23rd, I flew down to Philadelphia so as to do as Betsy asked me to. My book tour was to start there in Philadelphia by going on the local news show, so as to talk about my book. Since Pennsylvania was my home state, I thought it best to first get interviewed about my book by the very same newscasters that I had watched for years prior to this. Following that interview, my intention was quite simple: to go to the Wachovia Center and watch the boys perform. It would then be followed by me joining my younger sister on the Jonas Brothers World Tour, promoting my book from there. I even intended on giving Joe a copy of the book for his twentieth birthday as his reading a copy of my book would be great publicity for me as an author, not to mention the fact that he was a good friend of mine, despite currently ignoring my younger sister, his ex-girlfriend for the past few months.

As I stepped out into Philadelphia, I wondered if Betsy and the boys were here at the moment. There was a chance that they were since the boys’ last concert happened to have been on July 20th in New York. So, there was a four day time span in which Betsy could have convinced the boys to come to Philadelphia in order to wait for me to arrive. I quickly hailed a cab and headed out to my hotel, arriving there to find that there were four people waiting in the lobby that I recognized: Nick, Karleigh, Betsy, and Garbo. Rather than checking in, I went over to speak with them, tapping my sister on the shoulder. “I’m here.”

Betsy, when she heard my voice, spun around. “The plan worked then?” she asked, hugging me. “Good. I thought that what Zora said was going to happen really would be true: that I’d never be able to see you ever again. I mean, despite the fact that we may have hated each other at this point last year, there is no way in hell that I would ever want this to happen.”

“True,” I nodded. “Neither Allison nor Zora seems to understand the fact that all of this stems from our first meeting with the boys last year. You’re my younger sister and I shouldn’t be separated from you, particularly when considering the fact that you’re fifteen. I’m your guardian at the moment. And, the only reason that you don’t have to live with me at the moment, but rather stay out in California with Demi is because she is on the list of people that I would trust your care with: Demi, Selena, or the Jonas family. That’s it. They’re the only people that I would trust with you, and the only people I’ve given permission to watch over you while I’m out in New York getting my book published.”

Betsy rolled her eyes. “They’re jealous.”

“Definitely,” I said.

Karleigh nodded. “Yeah, it took me all of the charm I had to convince Allison and Zora that you two should be permitted to come on this tour. Nick, Frankie, Denise, and Paul all agreed that you two should come, but Allison and Zora would not have it. And, since Allison wants me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, I used that to my advantage to get you two on tour. The only stipulations they had regarding you two being on tour were the fact that they didn’t want you at the Canadian concerts and that you had to stay away from Kevin and Joe. I was, unfortunately, overruled regarding that,” Karleigh explained to us.

“We appreciate it,” Betsy and I said.

“No problem,” Karleigh replied.

“The wedding?” Nick asked suddenly. “What exactly are we supposed to do about stopping my older brother’s wedding without Allison finding out what we’re doing?”

“That, I think, is my department,” Karleigh said with absolute certainty. “I’m part of the wedding and so are you, Nick. And, the thing about it is the fact that we’re the only ones that are allowed at the wedding, the only ones that can put a stop to the wedding. The Weimar girls can’t go to the wedding because of the fact that Allison despises the both of them.”

“But, how are we supposed to stop the wedding if Betsy and I aren’t even allowed to go?” I asked. “How are we supposed to fix our current situation when it’s not possible right now?”

“Not sure,” Karleigh said.

To everyone’s surprise, it was Garbo that came up with an idea that we might be to use. “Plus one,” Garbo stated. “Plus one is the key to getting you both in. One of you would be able to get in as someone’s date and use that as a way to get into the wedding and stop Kevin from marrying Allison. If you want to stop the wedding, that may be the only way.”

“How?” Karleigh asked.

“Have you not been to a wedding?” I asked, remembering the one wedding that I had ever attended during my twenty years of life. “During the wedding, the priest, or in this case, the boys’ father is going to ask if there is any reason for Kevin and Allison to not get married. That’s the reason that Betsy and I aren’t invited to the wedding; it’s because Allison knows that we would try to stop the wedding in such a way. There is no doubt in my mind of the fact that this will be our best shot at stopping the wedding in a month and a half. And, Betsy, I think that you’re going to have to be the one to go stop the Kallison wedding.”

“Me?” Betsy asked. “Why me? I mean, this is the boy that you’re still in love with. Therefore, it should be you that goes to the wedding, not me, in order to stop Kevin from marrying Allison. I just don’t see why I have to be the one that goes to stop the wedding.”

“I can’t go,” I explained.

“Why not?” Betsy asked.

“Because of my book,” I explained to my younger sister, remembering the list of cities I had to visit on my book tour. “See, the thing is that my book tour doesn’t end when the boys’ U.S. concerts end. Instead, my book tour extends through the middle of September. And, despite the fact that it’s a Saturday, I have an interview to give the day of the wedding. Therefore, I can’t go. You must. You must be the one to attend the wedding. Please, Betsy? Please do this for me and go stop the Kallison wedding since I can’t.”

Betsy sighed. “Fine, but who with?”

“Take a guess,” I said.

“Garbo?” Betsy asked.

I nodded. “Garbo.”

“You’re volunteering me for what now?” Garbo asked.

I sighed and explained the situation to him, knowing that this was the only way that he might agree to the plan I had concocted. “Well, since it was your idea, I think that it would be best for you to be the one to take my sister. You’re the one that can get my sister into the wedding.”

“Betsy has to come with me?” he asked.

“Yeah, I nodded. “It’s the only way that the wedding can be stopped. Betsy is the only one that can vouch for me one this. She was always the one to know exactly what I wanted, the one person in the world who knew I liked Kevin even before I did. Therefore, she is the only person other than me who might be able to stop the wedding. And, since it was your idea to use the plus one as a way to get Betsy in, she’s going to be your date to the wedding.”

He shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Greg,” I said.

“There’s one thing though,” he said.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, according to what Nick has mentioned before, Allison has a specific ability,” Garbo said, “If Allison is psychic, how are we supposed to hide all of this from her when Allison knows everything we’re going to do to stop the wedding before it’s even done?”