American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

I could not believe that my mother had actually come back to California to see me. She was normally too busy to come back here. What was going on here? Victoria, I knew. This was how Victoria was trying to get rid of me, by bringing my mother home. Somehow, Victoria was trying to bypass any confrontation that might ensue if I was to run into her. By bringing my mother home, that would do it. “So, why are you here, Mom?” I repeated, having still not gotten an answer out of her as to why all of this was going on.

My mother sighed heavily before telling me what was going on. “I was contacted a few days ago by some teenager, saying that I should come home for once. The note I received two days ago mentioned that you missed me and wished for me to come home. So, here I am. But, I’ll be returning to D.C. a few days after the New Year if I am re-elected though.”

I nodded. There was no surprise there. But, what I really wanted to know was who sent the note. I had to know who sent it. “Mom, was the note sent by a girl named Victoria?”

“No. It was Frankie Jonas,” she said.

One again, I could help but let my jaw drop. I couldn’t help it; it was a reflex. Frankie sent my mom the note. I suppose that, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense. He knows of my wish for my mother to come back home and start paying attention to me rather than being the workaholic that she is. Apparently, Frankie was trying to ensure that he never saw me again. He must have thought that my mother was already at home a little earlier when he saw me at his brother’s. This isn’t right, I thought as I felt tears slipping. Why would Frankie do this to me? I mean, he knows that I want my mother back in my life, but contacting her so that it will keep me away from him. He has definitely sunk to a new low. I sighed. “Unbelievable! How could Frankie have done something like that to me?”

Mom eyed me. “What do you mean?”

My eyes widened when she said that. How could Mom have been so dense? She was the reason I even met the Jonas family in the first place. Why would she have forgotten some as significant as that when it had such a huge impact on my life? “Mom, don’t you remember what occurred seven years ago? It was because of you that I even met the Jonas Brothers. Now, how could you have forgotten about that when you’re the one that first allowed it to happen? Frankie was always my best friend…well, that is, up until two days ago. Now he wants nothing to do with me and is the reason he contacted you.”

“What happened between you two?” she asked.

I groaned. “Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” I shot back at her angrily, knowing that Mom was supposed to have already known about this. She was supposed to be spending time with me rather than spending all her time out in Washington, D.C. working. Then she would know was going on between me and Frankie; she would then know how much I was in love with Frankie and how jealous I was of Victoria dating my best friend. “I cannot believe that you’ve been away for so long that you don’t even know anything about me anymore. Why don’t you try asking Dad? He knows. Hell, so does everyone but the one person who truly matters, the one person who needs to know what’s going on.”

“Which is what?” Mom asked.

“Mom, I’ve been in love with Frankie for the past two years. Everyone out here knows that, everyone but Frankie. He’s too busy dating Victoria to care very much about me anymore,” I said, my voice laced with the hatred I had for Victoria. Each word I spoke about Victoria stealing away the boy of my dreams from me was dripping with repugnance. I hated her and I wanted my mother to understand the reason that Frankie had done all of this to me. The only reason that Frankie even did this was because he wanted nothing to do with me anymore because he thought I threatened her. So, he brought my mother home, hoping that I would want to spend time with her instead of him.

“Is that why I was contacted?” Mom asked.

“Obviously,” I replied angrily. “Two days ago, after Betsy gave birth to her son, Frankie mentioned to Betsy that he no longer wished to be friends with me due to the fact that he thinks I threatened his girlfriend, which everyone but he knows I didn’t. Victoria is nothing more than a Video Girl, something that I have been trying to convince Frankie of. He, of course, chooses to side with his girlfriend—oblivious to lie that she created to tear us apart—and contacted you so as to keep me away from him for the rest of eternity.”

Mom looked over at Dad, hoping for him to give a corroboration of my story. He nodded. “She’s telling the truth, dear. I always knew that Chloe was going to start crushing on her best friend and it ultimately led to our fifteen year-old daughter being jealous of the girl her best friend is dating. Our daughter is growing up and may not be needing us for very much longer. Soon she’ll be finding the man she was meant to be with and start raising her own family.” He looked over at me. “Maybe, just maybe, that will be Frankie.”

I rolled my eyes. That seemed unlikely. Frankie didn’t want me around him. So, how in the world was I supposed to become the last Mrs. Jonas like my dad was saying I would if Frankie didn’t want to be my friend anymore? Not wanting to hear this anymore, I went to my room and laid down on my bed after locking my door. With my mother back in my life after six years of her working in Washington, D.C, I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do. With this new development—a result of Frankie trying to meddle in my life—I was going to have to contact either Betsy or Zoe to figure out a way to still convince Frankie out what was going on and spend time with my mother while she was out here.