I Don't Need You To Save Me

"And this is your bedroom for the next few months.” Denise pushed open the door to show me the room. As soon as we had arrived at the Jonas’s house, I had been taken on a tour of the whole of the house so I knew where everything was. The coolest part was that my bedroom was practically in the attic of the whole house. Sure it was quite small but it felt so private and tucked away from everything else.

I was surprised that this was the spare room. I would give anything to have a room similar to this back home.

"Wow. Denise, this is too kind.” I looked over at her with a shocked expression on my face. “Really.”

"I’ll tell Joseph to bring your suitcases up soon, so you can unpack.” Denise smiled and then turned around and walked down the stairs that lead to the second floor. I stood and took in the room, my room before walking over to the large window looking out over a large back garden. It reminded me of my mothers house back in England.

Thinking about my home country and my mother brought an unexpected tear to my eye.

"Its not that bad you know.” A voice came from behind me and I quickly wiped the tear away from my eye before turning round to find Joe stood next to one of my suitcases with his arms folded, hoping that I looked completely calm.

"What's not so bad?” I asked and folded my arms across my chest, mimicking him.

“Wyckoff. Its not so bad.” He laughed. “It kicks LA's ass any day.” Oh no he didn't

“Hardly.” I smirked. There were so many reasons why Los Angeles was so many million times better then Wyckoff. One of them being the fact that it was LA. My home.

“I beg to differ, Hollywood.” He unfolded his arms and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “I'll go get your other cases.” And with that he disappeared down the staircase. I stood in shock, trying to figure out if I had heard him correctly. I was confused.

“What did you just call me?” I asked when he returned with two suitcases in hand.

“When?” Joe asked innocently. I frowned at him

“Just then. You called me Hollywood.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Technically, you just answered your own question.” Joe smirked and then walked over to the double bed that took up most of the floor space in the room and dumped my cases on top of it. I continued to frown at him.

“Well then, Mr Technical.” I waved my arms around for dramatic effect. It probably didn't work as well as I had hoped, because Joe appeared to be fighting back laughter. “Why did you call me Hollywood?”

“It seems appropriate.” He laughed and I folded my arms again. “I think it suits you, to be honest." And with that he walked off once again, shutting the bedroom door behind him.
Well that was random.

I was even more confused then before. If you took one glance at me you wouldn't know where I had spent most of my life. So how could Joe say that the nickname 'Hollywood' suited me when he had only just spoken to me again after so many years. He didn't even know me.

I was going to have to look into this one...

That night, after what must have been a typical sit down family dinner, I went straight up to my room and hunted round for where I had last left my phone. I almost tripped over one of my half unpacked suitcases numerous times in the frantic search for my mobile. It turned out that it had been hiding under one of my sweaters in one of my suitcases, I assumed it must have fallen in whilst I was unpacking.

As soon as I had found it I searched through my contacts, similarly to how I had that morning and pressed the call button as soon as I saw my brothers name.

“Hayleigh. What do you want now?” He asked, sounding annoyed with me.

“I've been here five hours. Can I come home now?” I asked. My brother sighed down the phone.

“No. You can't come home. Why would you want to even come home?” He asked me and I sighed.

"It sounds stupid. But its too... nice here.” I definitely sounded like some insane person. If I didn't spend my summer here, I would probably end up spending it in some mental hospital for insane celebrities. I changed my voice to a whisper, just in case somebody heard my conversation. “They're too nice. It unnerves me.”

"You want to come home, not because you are having an awful time, but because its too nice? Am I right?” My brother laughed at me and I scowled. “I really can't believe you sometimes.”

"We all ate dinner together. Round a table. Together. Its not normal!” I whispered.

"Not normal for us, maybe. But for some people it is. Look, Hayleigh. You just need to grin and bear this. I don't care what you say now. But you will be thanking me for this one day.”

He quickly said goodbye and then hung up the phone. I tried calling him back but I just kept getting the busy tone. I angrily threw my phone down onto my bed and folded my arms in a very typical teenage tantrum style. This was unfair.

My screen brightened into life once again and I just assumed that it would be another one of my so called friends calling me to find out exactly why I had been 'exiled', but once the first few notes of the ring tone sounded I rushed over to pick it up, knowing straight away who it would be.

"James?" I asked, even though I knew it was him. He had been the one to set his own private ring tone on my phone.

"Leigh, babe. Where are you?" He asked. His smooth voice glided to my ears, and for a moment it felt like he was there in the room with me. "How come you didn't tell me you were leaving?"

"It was a very sudden thing, and it wasn't really my decision." I sighed and sat down crossed-legged on the end of the bed. "I'm in Wyckoff. New Jersey." I sighed and clutched the phone tighter to my ear.

"Why New Jersey?" James asked me. I explained why New Jersey was the first place my father had thought about shipping me off to and how I was going to be stuck up here all summer. I may have hinted a few times that I wanted him to jump on a plane and come and bring me home. But of course, he sounded and was probably already too drunk to understand what I was saying to the full extent.

"Hayleigh, babes. Chill." He spoke calmly into my ear. Yes, he was definitely drunk. He never called me by my full name apart from when he had a few cans of beer down his throat. I had learnt from experience. "Darren wants to speak to you."

My back went rigid. I was sat almost bolt upright. Darren? No...

"James I don't think that's such a good idea-" I tried to stop him but before I knew it the familiar rough voice of one of my old friends and a previous co-star seemed to ring out in the quiet of my room. I took in a quick breath.

"Now now Hayleigh, why run off without telling us?" Darren asked simply, as if nothing had happened the last time I saw him. "Friday nights aren't as fun without you." Anybody could have picked up on the innuendo in that.

"Darren, I do not wish to speak to you." I attempted to keep all the anger out of my voice, I don't know if he would have noticed if I had screamed down the phone at him. "Please put my friend back on."

"Fine then, be that way darling." I could tell he was grinning. "I know what will make you talk to me! If I came and rescued you from your own personal hell."

"You wouldn't"

"Wouldn't I?" He replied. I took in a quick breath. That was a stupid question, of course he would. He would do anything he wanted, and he was most likely to get away with it. And there I was, thinking I had left the biggest mistake of my life behind me. I didn't want the past being brought up here. Especially in the form of Darren West. Darren shocked me by whispering down the phone. "See you soon babe."

I quickly pressed the 'end call' button and dropped my phone onto my bed.