These Bright Lights Have Always Blinded Me

Ali, my new bestest guy friend Bill (he’s just one of many), and I were in Hot Topic looking at shirts. I was about to grab an Iron Maiden shirt when someone jumped on my back. I looked behind me and saw Frank. “Franklin Anthony Thomas Iero Jr. what the hell was that for?” I asked.

He cringed at his full name. “I just wanted to see my lil sis Chelsea Michelle Iero,” he said using my full name.

“Ten minutes Frankie-poo. And besides, I’m only younger because I took longer to perfect. You came out too soon.”

“Out of what? Frankie are you gay?” Ali asked.

Bill, who had been coincidentally drinking a bottle of water, started choking on it. “Ali, you made my new bestest guy friend choke! Apologize!” I said.

“And just for the record, I’m as straight as a line,” Frank said.

“Not all lines are straight,” Ali said.

He rolled his eyes. “And besides, what’s gay about blow-jobs anyway?” he asked.

“Okay. I did not need to know that!” I said before pushing him off my back.

“Oh well lil sis,” he said before kissing my cheek, “I see Jamia Nestor over there. I’m going to try for the umpteenth time to ask her out. Later sis.”

He walked out of Hot Topic and over to Jamia. Hmm. This could be interesting.

“Who’s Jamia?” Bill asked.

“Girl my brother wants. He’s asked her out and she’s turned him down every--was die Hölle?!” I suddenly asked when I saw Jamia nod and kiss Frank on the cheek.

“Oh yeah! Get some!” Ali said.

“Thank you Hopper,” I said. A guy in our class always says “Get some.” It’s annoying as hell.

Frank walked back over and said, “I just got a date with Jamia. Score one for Frank!”

“Out of what? Fifty tries?” I asked.

“Eh shush little one,” he said before walking out again.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on,” I said, “I’m gonna pay for this shirt and see where Bobert’s at. He owes me a container of Dippin’ Dots.”

“What’s that?” Bill asked.

“Only the coolest ice-cream ever!” Ali replied.

“I’ll let you have a bite of mine,” I said as I walked over to the register. I paid for my shirt and the three of us left Hot Topic.

I pulled out my phone and texted Bob.

Me: Bobert! Where are you?!

Bob: Sleeping.

Me: Where @?!

Bob: *shrugs*

Me: Well, you owe me a container of Dippin’ Dots. So pay up.

Bob: *sigh* meet me by Spencer’s.

Me: Kk. Later Bobert.

Bob: *laugh* later.

We walked to Spencer’s and saw Bob sitting on the ground. “Bob? Why are you on the ground?” Ali asked.

“Got bored,” he replied. I swear the only time that boy shows emotion is when he sees a kitty. I like kitties.

“Hey Bill?” Ali asked.

“Was?” he asked.

“Where’s Tom?”

Bill looked around. “Ich weiss nicht. Eins Minute,” he replied before pulling out his phone.

“Ehm, what?” Ali asked.

“He said he doesn’t know and one minute,” I replied.

“Ah. I don’t speak German,” she said.

“I do!” I said.

“Ja. Ja. Tom, what did mom tell you? No I’m not mom. Look, you told her you’d leave that part of you in Germany. Yeah yeah. Better hope mom doesn’t find out. Just meet us at the food court. Bye,” Bill said before hanging up his phone.

“Was ist es Bill?” I asked in German just to piss Ali off.

“He’s trying to hook up with someone. Again. He told mom he’d stop. But no, he can’t resist American girls. Dumm scheisskopf,” he said.

“Men,” I said, “Oh well. Come on and let’s meet up with him. Ali, send a text to everyone and tell them to meet up with us, k?”

“Yes lesbian lover,” she said.

“I’m not your lesbian lover! Mikey is!” I said.

“Dude, I know he’s a guy,” she said.

“Yeah, because you two fuck like rabbits,” I said.

“That’s not as bad as Tom,” Bill said.

“Psh. Nothing’s worse than when Ali or Mikey start talking about the wild sex they had the night before,” Bob said. Geez quarterback boy is quiet.

“No. I have something worse. Zurück im Deutschland, Tom would have at least three girls in a row. Sometimes more. And now he’s trying to hook up with yet another girl here,” Bill said.

“Wow. That is worse than me,” Ali said.

“Scheisse,” I said.

“Ja. Ich weiss,” Bill said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, we have comedies, horror, adventure, action, or romance. Ooo! And cartoon movies,” I said as we all gathered at my place. Tom and Bill’s friends, Georg and Gustav, who moved here as well, were with us here. We were all gathered in the den and mom came downstairs.

“Hey hun. Wow, new people,” she said.

“Hi mommy!” Frank and I said.

“Hi Mama Linda,” Ali, Gerard, Mikey, Ray, and Bob said.

“Hi,” mom said. She looked at me and asked, “So, who are the new boys?”

“Bill, Tom, Georg, and Gustav,” I replied.

“Well hello boys. I’m Linda, but the kids call me Mama Linda,” she said.

“Hallo,” the four of them said.

“Anyway,” mom said, “there’s food in the fridge. I know you guys have your movie nights on Fridays, so I stocked up.”

“Danke Mutti,” I said.

“Thank you,” everyone else said.

“Anytime. Well, Donna called. The two of us are having a girls’ night out. We’ll be back late,” mom said.

“Okay,” I said, “Have fun.”

Mom started leaving and Frank yelled, “Use protection!”

We all looked at him. “Was die Hölle Frank?! Like I really needed to hear that,” I said.

“Well, she always tells me that. Why not tell her?” he asked.

“Touché,” I said, “But that’s not the point!!”

“Then what’s the point?” he asked.

“I have no point. So shush,” I said pouting.

“Hey Chelsea?” Bill asked.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Do you have Finding Nemo?” he asked.

“Hell yeah! We have to watch it!” Frank exclaimed.

“We watched it yesterday though,” Gerard said.

“So?” Frank asked in a childish voice, “I wanna watch it!!”

“I want to watch it!” Ali exclaimed.

Gerard sighed. “Fine. We’ll watch it,” he said.

“Yay!!” Frank and Ali said before hugging. Wow. They’re odd.

“Are they always like that?” Tom asked me.

I nodded. “They’re odd,” I replied.

He shrugged as Gerard put in the movie. He let it load and pressed play. “Now be quiet and watch the movie,” Gerard said.

“Fine Gee,” I said, “ruin my fun.”

He opened his mouth to say something when the movie started.