American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

After Victoria was led away for what she did, I found that Frankie had stormed over to me. He was pissed. I can tell you that it was not a real big surprise as to what my best friend was coming over here for. He was going to tell me off for doing that. Not that I cared. “Chloe!” Frankie exclaimed, teeth clenched. “How could you do that? I mean, I knew you were jealous, but how could you be so vindictive? Using Video Girl to prove a point, to convince me that the girl I was dating was no good for me. Ugh! I can’t believe that you would do this.”

Though I wanted to yell at Frankie for doing this—for making all of this happen—I held my tongue. I was not about to break my silence; I was trying make Frankie understand everything I had gone through. I sighed and looked over at my mother, realizing what I had to do in order to make Frankie understand: going with my mother to D.C. was the only thing that I could do in order to make my best friend understand the truth.

Kyle then walked over and came to my rescue. “Frankie, you truly do have no idea what you’ve done to Chloe. And, you will, unfortunately, never know what you did.”

“Who are you?” Frankie asked.

“I’m Zoe’s older brother, so I guess that would make me Betsy’s cousin,” Kyle retorted. “And, over the past few days, I’ve gotten close to the Jonas Brothers. Of all of them, I should be closest to you though because of our close proximity in age; I’m technically twenty-two days younger than you. So, I should have become friends with you.”

“Why aren’t you?” Frankie asked.

“Because of Chloe,” Kyle said. “She…”

I elbowed him before he could finish talking. I was not about to let Kyle tell him what was going on. This had to be kept secret. “Don’t tell him,” I whispered. “He can’t know what’s really going on. After I disappear out of his life, you guys can go ahead and tell him, but I refuse to let him find out while I’m here; I don’t want to confront him about this.”

“But…” started Kyle.

“Don’t tell him,” I insisted.

“Fine,” he said.

“What the hell is going on?” Frankie asked, looking between me and Kyle. He seemed confused by everything that was going on here. I was glad for that, because I did not wish to have to explain to Frankie what my real reason was for doing all of this. He just couldn’t know the truth, at least not yet. And, I know that Kyle was only trying to help, but I didn’t want Frankie to find out the truth; he couldn’t know until after I was gone.

So, not even caring if anyone didn’t want me to leave, I left and headed home. As I slowly trudged home, I knew that the others were going to kill me for leaving. They all wanted me to tell Frankie how much I was in love with him. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t do that, not after everything that Frankie had done to me over the past month. He was just never going to understand how much pain he caused me and how much I was hurting. I arrived home and, upon pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil, started writing.

Dear Frankie,

I’m not talking to you and haven’t for three weeks, so this will just have to do for now. When my mother goes back to D.C., I’m going with her, never to return. You caused me so much pain and I just don’t think that I can deal with what you’ve done to me any longer. What am I talking about, you may ask. Well, the fact is that will never know. Last month, I tried to explain the truth to you, but I couldn’t do so when you introduced me to Victoria. Because of that, I’m never going to tell you. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find out what’s going on. The fact is that everyone knows about all of this. Everyone, but the person who truly mattered, the person that really needed to know: you

When you do find out, don’t come after me. I don’t want to see you. After the whole Victoria incident, I’m just not willing to deal with you. Remember the day Betsy gave birth to Greg. You quoted Take a Breath in order to explain to Betsy that you no longer wished to be my friend. Betsy was the only one who knew of that promise and you know it. That was the entire reason that you told her what was going on. People change and promises are broken. I hate that you did that. So, I’m leaving. I’ll be out of your life forever.

So long, Frankie. I truly do hope that your life turns out well. As for me, I’ll be fine so long as you’re out of my life. I don’t think you’ll ever understand why though. Maybe you will though. And, if you do, you’ll understand why I’ve done everything I’ve done over the past month. So goodbye forever, Frankie. I’ll miss you dearly. More than you will ever know.

Sincerely,

Chloe

This seemed to be the only possible way for me to explain what was going on to Frankie without telling him. Everyone knew that I wasn’t talking to him and weren’t forcing me to do so. Once the letter was ready, I sealed it in an envelop, wrote Frankie’s name on it, and took it to Frankie’s. I did that and went back home to pack my things while I waited for my parents to come home. I needed to tell them that I was leaving California forever, to get away from Frankie.