American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

Throughout the afternoon, I spent my time talking to Joe. He told me what caused Frana. Apparently, Dean and Dana stayed through the New Year and Dana was able to grow close to Frankie. No one really knew why. All they knew was that, by mid-December, they had become a couple. It really didn’t matter to me, but I was somewhat curious as to how it came about. Only the Jonas family and the Geiger family knew how Frana came into existence. Hearing it on the news just wasn’t the same since they wouldn’t exactly have the entire story. Once Joe told me this story, I was blind-folded and taken to the party.

I groaned. “Why am I blind-folded?”

“You’ll understand once we get to the party,” Kyra explained to me. “We have something planned at the party that you aren’t exactly allowed to know about until you get to the party. So, I’m afraid that you must be blind-folded for the moment. Just be patient for the moment. You’ll soon realize what’s going on and why you mustn’t see this.”

“Alright,” I said.

Though I didn’t exactly want to be blind-folded as we were headed off to my party, I let it go. I didn’t have to wait very long for the blind-fold to be removed. When it was, I found that there was a huge wall in the building, displaying pictures of Frankie and me. “Why did you guys have to bring a wall of pictures that showed just how close Frankie and I were over the past six years?” I asked. “You know how I feel about all of this.”

“Oh, we know,” Betsy said. “It’s just that Frankie does miss having you around. He may not have shown how much he cared, but he does. Frankie has talked to us about this and he does want you to come back to California. That’s part of the reason we’re here.”

“But, I can’t do that,” I objected.

“Why not?” Nick asked. “After all, you confirmed two years ago that you were in love with Frankie. How could you say that after everything that’s happened over the past two years?”

“Because I’m trying to get over all of that,” I explained. “Flying back out to California is just going to cause me more pain. So, I’m staying out here. Until I turn eighteen in two years, I’m staying out here with my mother before going out to college. California is just not an option for me anymore because of what Frankie did to me. He broke my heart. Now, where exactly is Frankie at the moment? I told you guys that I didn’t want Frankie to be at this party. So, where did you send him while coming to this party?”

“Drop/Slap has a performance,” Nick explained to me. “There was really no problem for us to get out to this party then. So, why don’t we drop this and start the party?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

The party did start a little while later and I began wandering about the party, saying hello to everyone in the Jonas or Geiger family that I missed. While I was wandering around, I found that Teddy had a camera with him. “What’s with the video camera?” I asked.

“Long story, but you’ll understand soon,” he said.

“Okay,” I said. I then continued on my way, talking to the others. When all was said and done, I found myself talking with the Jonas kids. Garrett and Madison were off in their own little world, but Jason, Quinn, and Rebecca were with me. Greg and Ella were obviously with their mothers at the moment since they were babies; Greg was almost three months and Ella was only five days-old. So, I sat around, having a discussion with the three of them. Well, it was more so Jason and Quinn since Rebecca could say very little. “Jason, have Garrett and Madison still been bothering you?” I asked him.

“Of course they have, Chloe,” Jason groaned angrily. “Aunt Lizzie has been trying to help me with all of this, but she’s had no luck in doing so. Plus, Dad has been ignoring me lately. So, he doesn’t exactly know of what my brother and sister have been doing. Aunt Lizzie is saying that it was because of my mother that Dad’s been ignoring me as of late. Something about me and her death is causing Dad to hate me. Uncle Joe is helping as well, to a certain extent, but he’s not helping me as much as Aunt Lizzie has been.”

“And, I thought that A Mandolin’s Heart was going to help Kevin get over all of this. A Mandolin’s Heart was supposed to help Kevin get past all of this,” I said, glancing over at Kevin. “Maybe I can see if I can talk to him, Jason. It’s possible that I can talk some sense into him. Of course, it is more likely that your aunt can talk to him. It’s his sister-in-law. She’s your mom’s younger sister and the only person of your mother’s family that your father can even stand being around. So, maybe she can talk to him about this.”

“I guess,” Jason said. “Thanks, Chloe.”

As Jason went to go talk to Betsy about the problem he was having, I turned to Quinn and Rebecca. “And, what’s new with you two?” I asked. “What’s happened since I left?”

“Not much,” Quinn said.

“And you?” I asked Rebecca.

“No,” she said.

After talking to tell for awhile, I found that a few more people had arrived. Kyle, Zoe, Dean, and Dana were here. At that point, Nick went up to the stage. “Happy sixteenth birthday, Chloe. And, as a gift to you, we’ve got something very special for you.”

Once Nick left the front of the building, the lights dimmed and I saw a group of people standing back there. I had a gut feeling that I knew who it was. The wall of pictures of me and Frankie raised and I found that I was right. To my utter disgust, I saw that Drop/Slap was standing before me. “You told me Frankie and Drop/Slap had a performance to give, meaning that he wasn’t going to be here for my sixteenth birthday party.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly lie to you about all of this, Chloe,” Joe explained. “Drop/Slap does have a performance to give. We just left out where the performance was going to be. Frankie somehow found out about the party and insisted on coming. And, just so you know, this is his birthday present to you. So, take it away, Tank. Play her the song.”

As Drop/Slap began playing I never knew, I wondered why everyone would lie to me about this. Were they really that intent on bringing Franoe together? Had Amanda convinced Betsy to try again in attempting to bring Franoe together? It had obviously became extremely important to Betsy and the others to make Franoe happen, even though Frana was currently in existence and I could do absolutely nothing about that since I didn’t mind Dana dating Frankie. She was Kyra’s younger half-sister and I liked her. I sighed and looked up at the stage. Frankie was sitting down, at the drums. I rolled my eyes, remembering what I told him the day that picture was taken: he should never play the drums.

I laughed. I guess Frankie learned how to play the drums at some point over the past seven years. Frankie must have remembered what I told him seven years ago. And, just wondering, but why are they playing this song? I thought that their new single was supposed to have come out by now. I mean, sure they never got a chance to put out a video for this song because that was the video that Victoria was supposed to be in, but doesn’t mean that they can push back the release of their new single. I sighed. I guess I’ll never know. But, why this song? The song that was playing, I never knew, was one of the realization of unrequited love. It was a song that described the very thing that would never happen to me.

The song ended and Frankie got up, coming over to me. “Happy Birthday, Chloe. I know you may not want me to be here, but I at least had to with you a happy birthday,” he said. He pulled me into a hug. “And, I know it isn’t much of consolation, but I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Vicky. You were right and I wish I would have believed you about it.”

I nodded and left. Since I still wasn’t talking to Frankie, that was all I could do. Once I pulled out of the hug, I stormed over to the others. “Why would you do that to me? I told you that didn’t want to see Frankie on my sixteenth birthday,” I reminded them.

“We had to try and bring you guys back together,” Selena explained. “This was the only thing that we could do. You’d never understand the reason as to why we did this.”

Despite the fact that I definitely didn’t want to, I remained at the party, completely by force, I did not wish to be around Frankie these days. He broke my heart and I couldn’t stand him. I sat around for most of the party, giving everyone an evil eye. They were all pissing me off. So, it wasn’t going to be that hard for me to tell them what I needed to tell them. When the party ended, I got up and told them what was going on. “Okay, now that this party is over, I have something I want to tell you. And, just so you know, this was decided before the party, before you lied to me about Frankie coming to this party. You see, in order to get over the you-know-what thing,” I explained dubiously so that Frankie wouldn’t realize that I was talking about him, “I can’t come near any of you ever again. Not even contacting any of you would be even remotely be possible. Sorry, guys.”

“But…” they objected.

“No!” I yelled. Once I said that, I left. There was absolutely no way in hell that I could stand being around any of them at the moment. After what they just pulled, I knew that my cause was justified. I couldn’t be around them anymore. I was to disappear out of their life.