American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

I arrived at the Jonas home and knocked on the door. Denise was the one to open the door. “Chloe, Frankie isn’t here. He’s out with Victoria,” she said, her voice laced with hatred as she spoke the last word. I could tell that Denise absolutely hated Frankie’s girlfriend, even more proof that Victoria was a Video Girl. Not that Frankie was going to realize what was going on though; he was too blinded by Victoria’s charm (ha!) to realize anything that was going on, particularly that I had been in love with him for the last two years.

‘You don’t like her?” I asked.

“No,” Denise replied.

“Video Girl,” I muttered.

“Quite,” Denise replied. “Of course, not like Frankie is going to realize the truth. He is a little too preoccupied with the girlfriend. And, with that being one of his brothers’ songs, you’d think that Frankie would be more cautious about dating a girl from one of the videos he’s shooting. He was there when the boys wrote that song. I don’t know how he could have forgotten. Victoria seems to have some sort of spell on my youngest son or something.”

“I hope not,” I said. “Otherwise, I could lose my best friend because of what Victoria is doing. All she’s doing is trying to further her own career. Frankie, if I told him, will never believe me. When Victoria tried to get herself in the video that Kevin plans on making for the song he wrote for Amanda, I had to intercede and stop her from talking about it. Kevin only wants Betsy in that video because she’s related to the woman he wrote the song for. Victoria, from what I could tell, obviously knew nothing about the brothers; she was only using Frankie for the fame. Unfortunately, when I told her off, Frankie came after me and yelled at me for the outburst I had shouted at Victoria. Not that he even realized that Betsy was only asked because of who the song was written for. Frankie knows that Kevin never wrote a song for Amanda. Betsy only forced him to do so lately. That was the song that Kevin was playing when Victoria came in along with Frankie.”

Denise nodded solemnly. “I can understand why you yelled at her then. Victoria wasn’t around when Kevin lost Amanda; she couldn’t have known why only Betsy was asked to help out with that video. I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe and Nick sat out for that song and Betsy did the back-up vocals for that song. They were, after all, the ones most affected by her death. And, since Kevin has stopped playing Lovebug because of her, I think it’s only right for him to play a song dedicated to her memory. Betsy forcing him to do so was the best thing that she could ever do because it will finally force him to start getting over Amanda. I know my son has her kids to raise, but he really must move on. It’s been seven years since her death and seven years since he was happy. I want my son to be happy not the morose person that he’s been for the past seven years since Amanda died and left him with only Betsy and his kids to serve as a reminder of the woman he loved so dearly.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” I said. “Kevin just loves her too much. And, I know for a fact that it’s the same with me. There is no way that I’m ever going to be able to get over the fact that I’m in love with Frankie. Despite him having a girlfriend, I can’t bring myself to give up loving him. Frankie doesn’t know the truth and I don’t think he ever will. So long as Franklin Nathaniel Jonas is dating that witch, I can never tell him how I feel. I was going to tell him the day that Betsy got back from her honeymoon along with Teddy, but that was the same day that I met up with Icky Vicky. I lost my chance to tell him the truth that day and I regret not doing as Nick and Kevin always asked me for the past two years.”

“Sometimes that’s just life,” Denise said.

“Yeah, but my life has already been riddled with problems. My mother is in Washington, D.C. and my father is usually working,” I said with a heavy sigh. “I’ve always felt out of place there. With your sons—particularly Frankie—I’ve felt more at home than anywhere. When Nick made me realize that I was in love with Frankie, I was unsure of it at first. The media would all over Franoe as Betsy referred to it. I’m the daughter of the Californian Junior Senator and Frankie is the Bonus Jonas. I always hated the publicity I dealt with because of that and denied my feelings for Frankie. I soon accepted it, but never told Frankie both for the fear of rejection as well as the fear of the media coverage that I would have to deal with as a result of confessing my feelings for him. I regret everything because if I had told Frankie what was going on when it occurred, he wouldn’t be dating the Video Girl that we both hate. Eventually, Victoria is going to start lying to Frankie to keep me from going anywhere near my best friend ever again.”

Denise nodded. “I’m sure she will.”

“Is there any way for you or Paul to talk to Frankie and convince him that dating Victoria is the wrong thing for him to be doing?” I asked Denise, hoping that all of this would work. “You two are the only ones who can talk to him. If I do so, he’ll only assume that I’m saying all of this out of jealousy—which I am—while everyone else who could do it is busy raising the next generation of Jonas kids. Garrett, Madison, Jason, Quinn, and Rebecca are all getting raised by your sons, daughters-in-law, and your daughter-in-law’s younger sister. They couldn’t exactly go talk to Frankie about his Video Girl of a girlfriend because of that and the fact that they all have their own singing careers to pursue.”

She shrugged. “There’s no way to know. Frankie might listen; he might not. I highly doubt that he will though. He’s a teenager and must make his own mistakes in life.”

“Yeah, but this is different,” I said quietly. “Frankie is making a stupid mistake, particularly when his brothers have a song depicting exactly the type of girl he’s dating right now.” I then began to quote the same lyrics that I quoted earlier in the day to Teddy. “You know it’s bad when your mama doesn’t like her. All your friends saying she’s a liar.” I sighed. “Frankie doesn’t seem to understand that he has become another victim of the ]Video Girl syndrome. He did exactly what his brothers’ song told him not to do. I just don’t see why my best friend doesn’t understand how much Victoria is using him; she’s a Video Girl and only Frankie is blind to the truth about what’s been going on around him these days.”

“Okay. I’ll go talk to him,” Denise said. “But, I can make no promises. If Frankie should reject the idea and refuse to entertain the possibility of Victoria being a Video Girl, then you must deal with that. Frankie is different from his brothers; he’s much younger than all three of them. The age difference between him and Kevin is thirteen years.”

“I know. But, someone still needs to talk to him. No matter what, Frankie still needs to be told of the mistake he’s making by dating this Video Girl. My best bet would have been either Nick or Betsy, but both of them have things to do: their careers and raising kids.”

“Yeah, and isn’t Betsy pregnant at the moment?” Denise asked.

I laughed. I had completely forgotten about that. It was technically the reason that Tedsy got married when they did. Betsy had followed in the footsteps of her mother in regards to when she got pregnant. Whereas Amanda waited until marriage like each of the Jonas Brothers had intended on doing, Betsy did as their mother did and got pregnant months before the wedding. Right now, she was nearing the end of the pregnancy, her due date in a few days. “I forgot about that,” I said. “Don’t ask me how, but I did. But, yeah. That would be another reason that I didn’t ask Betsy to talk to Frankie about this for me.”

Once Betsy gave birth, there was really no way that I could ask Betsy about all of this. She was going to be taking care of her son or daughter. Subconsciously, I think I must have known what was going on because I didn’t ask her to help me with my Frankie/Victoria problem; I went to someone else about all of this. And, the only person I could really turn to was Denise and Paul because it was their son that I had the problem with. I sighed heavily. “This is going to tougher than I thought. How in the world am I supposed to convince Frankie that Victoria is no good for him when everyone I know has their own kids to deal with? Kevin and Betsy have Garrett, Madison, and Jason, Betsy and Teddy have a child on the way, Joe and Kyra have Quinn and a daughter on the way, and Nick and Selena have Rebecca. I’m the only one who doesn’t have anyone,” I said with a sigh.

“Why not try asking Betsy’s cousin for help with this?” Denise asked me. “She may be a few years younger than you are, but I think she might be able to help you out with all of this if Paul and I are unable to convince Frankie of the truth about Victoria’s intentions.”

I nodded. “Okay.” I could always go ask Betsy for her cousin’s e-mail address. Then, Zoe might be able to help me with the problem that I was faced with because she convinced me that I needed to tell Frankie how much I loved him. Ultimately, it was her fault that I was faced with this conundrum in the first place. If she didn’t convince me to tell him the truth, I definitely wouldn’t be this jealous about the fact that Victoria was dating the boy that I had been in love with for the past two years, since Rebecca was born.

With that, I said goodbye to Denise for the night and headed home. I had just spent the past Halloween discussing Frankie and what I was going to do about the Video Girl dilemma with Denise and Teddy. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that Zoe was going to have to help me with the quagmire I was faced with since Betsy and Teddy got back from their honeymoon two weeks ago. When I got home, I went straight to my room and grabbed the picture I had of me and Frankie when we were little. That was before Victoria, before Frankie became a rock star like his older brothers. It was a time when it was jut me and Frankie, a time I wished to back to when my life was normal. That was before my mother became the Junior Senator of California. After looking at the picture for a few minutes, I placed it back down on the table I had removed it from and wondered if I was ever going to get my best friend back. I hoped so because I hated what was happening to my best friend because of Victoria’s influence on him and what was going on.