American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

When I woke up the following morning, I found that only Kyle, Joe, and I were there. Zoe, Kyra, and Quinn had already gone. I was rather surprised to find that Joe was here since he was usually with Kyra. With a little less than two months until she was to give birth, Joe was taking no chances of Kyra dying the way that Amanda did. I can completely understand why, so I wondered why Joe was here instead of with her at the moment. “What are you doing here, Joe? I thought you’d be off with Kyra right now,” I said.

“Lizard said he’d keep an eye on her,” Joe explained.

“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. So, when is the Video Girl thing occurring?” I asked, glancing over at Kyle. We both knew what had to occur at dinner this evening. In order to make Frankie jealous and make him realize how much I hated having Victoria around. So, we needed to know when it was to occur in order to get ready for this afternoon.

“Around noon,” he said.

“Why noon?” Kyle asked.

“Well, we can’t exactly do it any earlier, can we?” Joe asked. “Otherwise, Frankie is sure to get suspicious of what we’re really doing. You know perfectly well that Frankie’s not allowed to know the true reason that Lizard’s cousins and Kiwi’s half-siblings came out here. You know that and that is why you must wait until noon to pull this off.”

“Fine,” I said, “but where are the others?”

“They’re off getting ready for our Video Girl plan,” Joe explained. “Lizard, Kiwi, Kevin, Nick, Selena, Zoe, Dean, Dana, my parents, and all the kids are off getting ready for this. Frankie, Victoria, and the three of us are the only ones that aren’t over there. Virankie was obviously asked not to go until then while you two and I are not to show up until they do. As I’m sure you very well know, all of this is obviously being done to make Frankie jealous and see the truth. We’re trying to make sure that Frankie sees you guys walk in when he goes in with Victoria. Everyone in our family as well as Teddy, Lizard, her cousins, and Kiwi’s half-siblings know that a part of him still does care for you, Chloe, despite the fact that he told Lizard that he no longer wishes to be your friend anymore. It’s the reason that we’ve been doing this. And, of course, because Panda mentioned it.”

“You sure we can’t leave yet?” I asked.

Joe nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Fine.” So, we waited until noon. To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t care how long I had to wait; all I wanted to do was see the look on Frankie’s face when I walked in with Kyle. To see how jealous Frankie became upon seeing that. I needed to find out exactly what this was going to do to my best friend and how much it was going to affect him.

At about eleven-thirty, Joe, Kyle, and I left. I was growing antsy, wanting to go see Frankie and prove to him that he should have never let my friendship slip through his grasp. I love him and he was blind to the truth. “You completely sure that this is going to work?” Kyle asked.

“Not really. But, I have to try. Frankie has been my best friend since I was eight. Vicky can’t ruin this for me,” I explained to Kyle. “Over the past month, all I’ve dealt with was my best friend ignoring me and his girlfriend treating me like crap. I can’t continue dealing with that. That’s why you and Zoe are here, to see your cousin and help me.”

Kyle shrugged. “But, what if it doesn’t?” he asked. “There is no way to be sure whether this plan to make Frankie jealous is going to work. We honestly have no clue if Frankie is going to react the way that you suspect he will. Maybe he’s going to react in the opposite way that you suspect. Unfortunately, there is really no way to be sure of any of this.”

“Maybe,” I said.

Pretty soon we arrived at our destination, just as I noticed Virankie did. Frankie, I don’t think, realized that I was even here, or that I was asked to come here. As we got out of the car and began making our way inside, Kyle put an arm around me. “Ready to make Frankie jealous?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. So, let’s go.”

We walked into the building meeting up with Virankie in the process. “What are you doing here?” Victoria asked, staring at me. She eyed me suspiciously, with malice in her eyes.

Kyle smirked. “She's here as my date,” he said.

Frankie’s eyes widened. “Your date?”

“Yeah, got a problem with that?” he asked.

He’s jealous, I knew. Frankie is starting to realize that there’s a chance he’s going to lose me, a chance that I’ll be out of his life forever. Maybe everyone’s right. Maybe Frankie does still care for me, no matter how much he may deny it. I sighed, but glared at Frankie. I’m still not talking to him for what he did. Until later on in the day, Frankie was never going to understand what he did to me and how many pieces my heart shattered into on Monday, October 17th when Frankie first introduced me to Victoria Roberts. I grunted. Well, my best friend is never going to get me back. I’m not going to take this. Frankie refused to believe me about anything that occurred. He just chose to stand by his girlfriend and kick me—his best friend—to the curb. I hate that he did that and am not going to sit through something like that ever again. It just isn’t going to happen.

“Not really,” Frankie said.

“Good,” Victoria said, hitting him in the arm. “So, stop staring. You’re my boyfriend and yet you’re ogling your ex-best friend. How do you think that makes me feel?”

“I know,” Frankie said, sheepishly.

We all walked into the building where I found that everyone in the Jonas family, Betsy, Teddy, Greg, and…my parents were here. So, that’s what they were doing this morning, I realized. They went to get my parents. Now, what about the government official that we need to prove that Victoria committed fraud to? He needs to understand what Victoria did and how much my mother deserves to remain in office, keeping her Senate seat. I walked over to Joe, Nick, and Kevin, who were getting everything set up for their performance this afternoon. “Is everything ready for Operation: Video Girl?” I asked.

“Almost,” Nick said. “Give us a half-hour.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Zoe and Dana then came over. “It shouldn’t be too long until your plan is set into motion,” they explained. “They’re got a few more things to set up before Video Girl can be performed and we don’t exactly want Victoria out of here right away. Otherwise, she’s not going to tell Dean about the fraud she committed in order to ruin your life. So, you’re just going have to be a little more patient about all of this. We know perfectly well that you want to see Victoria out of your life and in a jail cell where she belongs after committing fraud.”

“Dam straight!” I said.

“Then, you must wait,” they said.

“Fine,” I nodded.

The fact was that I really didn’t care. All I wanted to do was see Victoria Roberts going to prison for trying to trick the entire country into believing that her father got the Senate seat. We had the binders. Now, all we needed was for Victoria to admit it. Only then could we get on with our lives and ensure that my mother went back out to Washington, D.C to continue doing good for everyone here, for all the people of California.

Throughout the afternoon, Victoria kept me away from Frankie. I, unfortunately, could not be sure whether or not Dean had gotten the necessary information needed to bring up charges against Victoria for what she did to my mother. I, of course, could see that Frankie’s brown eyes were burning with a jealous hatred for Kyle, since he had his arm around me for most of the afternoon. I knew he was jealous, despite the fact that he swore not to be my friend anymore. I think he realized that he made a mistake in letting me go.

All of a sudden, I saw Zoe appear onstage. She flashed a smile in my direction and began to speak. “Okay, so a part of the reason that everyone was called out here is because of something that has been going on in the Jonas camp. This is our form of an intervention, set up by your brothers and a very close friend. So, without any further ado, may I present the Jonas Brothers, who have a message for their little brother about what he’s doing to his life. No matter how much everyone has tried to convince you, dear Frankie, you would not believe them. So, here are your older brothers with a little message.”

Zoe left the stage and the boys appeared. As the music to Video Girl began to play, Betsy, Kyra, and Selena called out the first the line of the song, the line that I remember was so infamously shouted out by Meaghan Jette Martin in the original album version.

OMG, did you hear I'm dating a Jonas Brother?
It's so hot!

The music then picked up with the boys singing the song that I had grown so accustomed to quoting after meeting Victoria over a month ago. It was the song that I had identified her with.

You met at work you should have known better
It's going to suck when the camera stops rolling
And you find out soon that the treatment wasn't worth it

They're all the same, they all want the money
They're all insane, they live for fame, honey
They laugh at you when you're not even being funny

Well I've been here before
And I've seen
First hand and front row seat
This little thing they call
A video girl (girl, girl)

Video girl rocked my world
For a whole two seconds
And now I know
I'm not about to be another victim
(Of the video girl syndrome)

Get out of my face
Get out of my space
Get some class and kiss the past
'Cause I'm not about to be another victim
Of the video girl syndrome

You know it's bad when your momma doesn't like her
All your friends are saying she's a liar
Never ending phone calls aren't enough
(It's not enough, it's never enough)

Move to L.A
Got no talent
Not even like you won a Miss Teen Pageant
Daddy pays your bills but you still whine

Well I've been here before
And I've seen
First hand and front row seat
What happens to a man
(What happens to a man)
When he gets in the hands of a

Video girl rocked my world
For a whole two seconds
And now I know
I'm not about to be another victim
(Of the video girl syndrome)

Get out of my face
Get out of my space
Get some class and kiss the past
'Cause I'm not about to be another victim
Of the video girl syndrome

You are never going to see me missing
Video girl syndrome
I'm not going to be another victim of the video girl syndrome
Yeah oh whoa oh

Video girl rocked my world
For a whole two seconds
And now I know
I'm not about to be another victim
I won't be a victim
(Of the video girl syndrome)

Get out of my face
Get out of my space
Get some class and kiss the past
I'm not about to be another victim
(Of the video girl syndrome)
I won't be a victim
Of the video girl syndrome

I kept glancing over at Victoria throughout the song to see her reaction to this and find out what Frankie’s reaction to all of this was. Her jaw dropped as the song played and I was thrilled by it. “Thank you, boys!” I called. “I truly do appreciate you doing all of this for me.”

“You’re welcome, Chloe!” Nick called.

Victoria stormed over to me. “You did this!”

“Of course I did!” I shouted at Icky Vicky. “You have absolutely no idea what you’ve don’t to me. You have no respect for me or anyone else. All you care about it is yourself. You destroyed the friendship I had with Frankie merely to get me out of his life and I’m just trying to get it back. The song, by the way, describes you perfectly. Frankie knows this, but almost doesn’t seem to care. He should though because you are nothing but trouble.”

Victoria pushed me backwards so that I was forced back against the wall. “You know, I truly am glad that I went and altered the results to the Californian Senatorial race. I’m the only one who knows the true results to that. And, you are never going to find out about that.”

“Oh, you mean the fact that my mother was actually the one to win?” I asked. Victoria’s jaw dropped. “Yeah, we already know about that. I have a psychic friend who told me—my best explanation for Amanda’s ghost—and we began planning all of this out. It’s the reason that you’re even here, to prove to the government that you committed fraud in order to ruin my life. And now, you’re going to prison for what you did.” I snapped my fingers and had two officials drag Victoria out of the building and out of my life forever.