Giving Up the World

Frank
July of 1995.
Today I was hanging out with my friends, Mikey and Gerard, the Way brothers, and Ray. Mikey and I were actually the ones who were friends but Gerard had Ray over and we all just ended up hanging out together. I knew Gerard and Ray but it wasn't like I was best friends with them. Mikey's my best friend.

The day seemed like any other until we heard a truck come rumbling down the road. It wasn't such a common sight to see a truck since we lived in Belleville and Belleville was pretty much non-existent to the World. Go ahead and ask someone if they've ever heard of Belleville, and if they have, they know it's a small terrible city.

The four of us got up from where we were sitting in front of the TV to see what was going on. The truck pulled into a driveway a couple houses down. It was a moving truck. Someone had finally moved into the house down the street. A couple minutes later a car followed the truck into the driveway. That's when I saw her. The most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen. I didn't even know her name and she struck me.

Her and her family got out of the car. Mom, Dad, and little brother. It was like the perfect family.

"Frank, close your mouth and stop drooling on the window." Mikey laughed, hitting me on the back of the head.

I shook my head and backed away from the window, looking at the guys as they laughed at me, "Shut up." I muttered, blushing.

"Aw," Ray cooed, "Frankie's got a crush."

"I do not!" I protested, attempting to defend myself.

Gerard chuckled, "Come on." He cheered, "Lets go meet the new neighbors."

"What? No!" I exclaimed as Mikey and Ray pulled me out of the house, "Come on guys, stop it." I whined, trying to get free from their clutch.

"No way." Ray laughed.

We ended up in front of the door. Gerard knocked while Ray and Mikey continued to hold me and keep me still so I wouldn't run away. After waiting for about a minute, that gorgeous girl opened the door with a smile yet a confused look on her face.

"Hello." She smiled. It was beautiful.

"Hey. I'm Gerard. We," Gerard pointed to his brother and himself, "live just down the street and we wanted to welcome you to the neighbor hood." He smiled.

"Oh. Well thank you." Her face no longer showed confusion. All it had was that genuine smile, "I'm Annabell but you can call me Anne."

"I'm Gerard, like I said. That's my kid brother Mikey," He pointed towards Mikey, "That's Ray, a friend of mine." He pointed to Ray who was still clutching my upper arm. "And this," Gerard said, placing his hand on my shoulder, "This is Frank." He smiled.

She giggled and I think I almost fainted by hearing it, "Is there a reason that you're all holding him?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Um," They all mumbled in-audible words and let go of me.

She giggled again and it brought a smile to my face, "Nice. So do you two live around here?" She asked Ray and I.

"I live about a block away." Ray answered.

It was my turn to speak and I was becoming nervous. My hands were sweaty, "Um, I-I live across the street fr-from them." I stuttered, mentally smacking myself for making myself look like a fool.

"That's nice. Do you all go to Belleville High?" She asked.

"We do but Frank doesn't." Gerard explained, "He goes to a catholic school."

"Oh." I swore I heard disappointment in her voice. I swear to God I heard it. Maybe she liked me too.

"Yeah. So you want to come hang out with us?" Mikey offered and I elbowed him in the side, "Ow, what the hell Frank?"

Annabell chuckled, "I'd love to."