My Heart Stopped Beating

"Oh shit."

"...What? Natalie? Why are you calling me at... five in the morning?"

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap."

"Please, Nat, keep the profanity to a minimum. It's too early for your antics. What's wrong?"

"Ug, dangit."

"Fine. I'm coming over."

- Dial tone -

"Never, in all my years of excessive Gilmore Girls watching, faithful White Stripes and Green Day worshipping, and being best friends with you, Jordan, have I ever had a crisis such as this."

Jordan closed the window she'd just climbed through and sat next to me, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulder. "What's wrong, Sid? Did you break things off with Adam?" Jordan asked, using my middle name. I shook my head quickly. "I don't know what to wear."
...
"What?"
"It's the first day of school, and I don't know what to wear. It's the beginning of my Junior year, and I don't know what to wear! I feel like Peter, in that episode of Family Guy, when his outhouse tips over. Where it's all quiet and fine, and then reality hits. And it's like 'Oh. Oh God. This is not happening.' Or that Sonic commercial, about the Cookie Dough Blast, where he's like 'That's how I roll, fast and out of control.' And then he gets a brain freeze. Or in Donnie Darko, when he's hypnotized, and-" Jordan held up her hand, silencing my antics, before standing up and walking to the window. Opening it and swinging her leg over the ledge, she began her descent.

"Wait! You’re not leaving, are you?" Jordan, I need your help!" I stuck out my bottom lip, fluttering my eyelashes for extra points. Jordan sighed, hesitating. "You loser. I can't believe you called me here to help you with your back-to-school outfit. Fucking cunt." She grunted and made her way over to the closet. "Aye. It's too early for profanity." I mocked half heartedly, grateful for my friend's help.

I watched as Jordan went through the closet, constantly changing her mind. She grabbed some jeans and a shirt, throwing them on the bed. Before I could survey her choice, she'd replace the jeans with a skirt and add a jacket. Then she'd add shoes and lean back slightly, studying the outfit. "You’ve lost weight." She said simply, grabbing the shirt and turning back to the closet. I laid back on my bed, studying my ceiling. My mom always said I couldn't put tacks or tape on the walls or doors, so the ceiling was covered in posters, from left to right. The posters varied from Bleach to 300, From First To Last to Weezer. My tastes differed.

"Done." Jordan exclaimed suddenly, collapsing on the bed. I sat up slowly, surveying the damage. Clothes and shoes were scattered everywhere, my closet practically bare. "On the bed." Jordan specified. I looked at the end of the bed and inspected the outfit. A black and red Underoath shirt, black capris with accentuating off-white pinstripes, red Chucks and a Clandestine zip-up hoodie.

"No way am I wearing Clandestine on my first day. Everybody will think I'm some Fall Out Boy obsessed groupie who wants in Pete's pants." Jordan grunted and jumped up, switching the hoodie with another. This one was white with little red hearts, each heart reading, "Holy Shit!" I laughed. "Nice. I'll get detention on my first day." Jordan rolled her eyes. "No you won't. Load on the eyeliner and the teachers wont touch you." I laughed again.

Twenty minutes later, I was out of the shower and Jordan was asleep on my bed. I tackled her, causing her to groan. "What time is it?" "7:00" Jordan sat up slowly, stretching her arms over her head and yawning. She ran her fingers through her auburn hair. "Am I decent?" I rolled my eyes. In an old Anthrax shirt, torn capris and just a thin line of eyeliner, Jordan was a knock out. Of course, the superficial fakes at school never could look past the 'emo'/'freak' clothing to see a natural beauty.

"Wrong. You’re pathetically indecent." I scoffed, pretending to flick my wrist in disgust. "Here's where I sneak back in at my house for a bowl of cereal and drive off in my nonexistent car." Jordan hinted, sighing overdramatically. "Sorry Jordan. My piece of crap BMW got in a fight with a tree. The tree won. I think its time to retire that thing." "Oh, yeah, because you've had it for a whole year."

I rolled my eyes again. "Yeah, well, its a '69. Not entirely new when I got it." We sighed simultaneously, looking around the room as if searching for a solution to our problem. "Well, I guess I could call Adam?" I offered. Jordan smiled, bouncing up and down slightly. "H'oman. He's got a Del Sol, doesn't he? Lucky bastard." I laughed, a normal occurrence around Jordan, and picked up the phone, dialing the number I knew so well.

"Hello?"

"Adam! Hey hon. Do me a favor?"

"Good morning to you too, Sid."

"Sorry. 'Morning Adam."

"That's better. What's up?"

"Well, my car doesn't work..."

"Shit, sorry. I lost mine."

"What?! Adam! Oh my God!"

My dropped jaw slowly closed as practically violent bursts of laughter could be heard over the phone. Jordan giggled a little too, having heard the conversation. As the laughter continued, so did I.

"Be over here in five minutes or we're over, smartass."

"What? You live ten minutes away! You're not serious are you? I cant find my purple socks..."

-Dial tone-

I turned and glared at Jordan, who was still giggling. "Oh my Gosh, Nat. You honestly thought he could lose his car?" I rolled my eyes, another often occurrence around Jordan, as I slipped on my Chucks and flew downstairs for breakfast. As I poured my Special K in a cup and drowned it in milk, the doorbell rang. Smiling, I jumped up and answered it.

There stood Adam, breathing heavily, his car parked slightly sideways. "Did I make it?" I looked at my bare wrist before frowning apologetically. "Ouch, sorry. Two minutes late. Sucks for you." As I went to close the door, Adam laughed and pushed it back open. He grabbed me lightly by the waist and pulled me closer. "What was that?" he challenged, resting his forehead on mine. "I said, you made it just in time." I whispered, softly pressing my lips to his.

I pulled back and studied his face as his eyelids fluttered open. Tracing his jaw with my fingertips, I grinned. Not everyone was as lucky as I was when it cam to first boyfriends. With soft, naturally blond hair that always got in his gorgeous, emerald green eyes and adorable 'emo' glasses, he was picture perfect in my opinion. Along with the fact that he was one of the sweetest guys I'd ever met, he was definitely mother-approved. Although he had the cute, nerdy look going for him, he also drummed and practiced skateboarding almost everyday. I was lucky to have had him as my first official boyfriends for the past two years.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as my smile grew. "How much you resemble Will Simpson ffrom Brigade," I joked. "And how lucky I am to have you." He grinned as my fingers traced his lips. "I think you've got that backwards." Adam leaned down slightly, capturing my lips in his once again. His arms encircled my waist as he pressed against me, his tongue running along my bottom lip. My fingers ran through his hair as I parted my lips, allowing his tongue to roam freely.

"Uh-uh, sweetie," he started, pulling away slowly, "I just got my hair all prettied up for school." I giggled as he smoothed down his hair. I jumped down from the porch, completely disregarding the steps and made my way to Adam's car when a sudden weight landed on my back.

"Carry me, bitch!" Jordan yelled, surprising me. Laughing even harder, I threw Jordan in the backseat, whom had burst out laughing as well. I raised an eyebrow at my hysterical friend as she slid into the passenger seat. Probably induced by Lucky Charms.

"Whats taking him so long?" Jordan forced out between giggles. I looked up to see him still playing with his hair, gazing into the glass in the front door. Smiling evilly, I slipped over into the driver seat and turned the keys still left in the ignition. Slowly I backed out, cautiously watching Adam. As the Del Sol made it to the end of the driveway, two things happened simultaneously. Adam turned, realizing his car was leaving him, and made to run after it. But, as my eyes were on him, I didn't notice the second event. A boy, far from our age, was walking down the street. As luck would have it, he was directly behind the car as I floored it, attempting to back out and speed teasingly out of Adam's reach. As luck would have it, the screech of burning rubber didn't come in time to alert the boy, the very familiar boy. The boy named Mikey Way.