Infinite

The week goes by without any major incidents. I get Red and Noel to go to school with me on Wednesday to catch up with some school work (well, it’s mostly I who do the catching up), but then we’re back in the basement again.

On Friday night, we sit down to come up with a playlist. At eleven thirty at night we know we should have done this earlier.

“So, what do you think about… uh… Detention first or… maybe… Flicker?” Noel says, pulling his hair from his eyes like he always does when he’s uncertain about something. I sigh, Karl shrugs and Red says:

“Flicker is a fucking ballad, Noel, we can’t have that as our first song.”

“I vote Flicker as fourth,” I say.

“Yeah, if the crowd is right, otherwise we’ll have to go with something not as soft.”

“We should go with Teenagers then.”

The others look at me like I’m mad.

“Um, no offense, A… but just because it worked last time doesn’t mean it’ll work tomorrow,” Noel says, and the others nod. “I think we should do our own thing this time, I mean, who knows who’ll be there to listen.”

“Yeah, and this is no cover band either,” Red agrees. “And it’s a My Chem song, what will people think of us?”

“Come on, last time we played it people loved it. And people won’t hate us because of one My Chem song, they do have a lot of fans out there.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Red mutters. I throw a handful of chips at him.

-

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

“Don’t be such a wimp, it’s gonna look great.”

“Says you! I’m gonna look like fucking Billie Joe.”

“Hey! Billie Joe happens to be a very talented and good-looking man.”

“Yeah, I meant Billie Joe the dog.”

I’m dyeing Noel’s hair and he’s scared shitless. For the last two hours, we’ve been looking for different dyes, and ultimately we (me with Red and Karl saying “it’s gonna look awful” over my shoulder and Noel getting paler and paler) decided to make his newly cut, light brown hair almost black with the fringe very, very blonde. I don’t know what he’s so nervous about, I’ve dyed my own hair for ages.

“Hold still, you’re getting dye in your ear!”

“It’s not my fault it tickles!”

An hour later I have washed out most of the dye from Noel’s hair, and the four of us are hanging out in my room getting ready for tonight. I run around in a tank top and a pair of black drainpipe jeans, trying to decide which shirt to wear, and if red eyeshadow is taking it a step to far.

“Seriously?” Karl says when he sees me, when I’ve finally decided on a shirt to wear.

“Seriously.”

Karl quirks an eyebrow but decides not to say anything.

Red is not like that.

“You can't wear that shirt", is the only thing he says.

“Red, it’s just a t-shirt."

“Just a t-shirt?!”

“Red, she’s right, and there’s really nothing wrong with My Chem,” Karl says, getting some kind of agreeing “hmph” from Noel who is busy reading a Spider-Man comic he found under my bed. Red sighs, defeated.

“It’s not my fault if they throw bottles…”

Before we can get into another argument, there is a knock on my bedroom door and mom says:

“Aubrey, I need you to watch Jamie tonight, Rick and I are going out.”

“What?!”

I open the door and come face to face with mom who’s standing there in what seems to be her nicest clothes. She gives me an annoyed look.

“Don’t be difficult now, Aubrey…”

“But I’ve told you, we have a gig in New York tonight!”

I can’t believe her. She’s never really cared about the things that are important for me but this is just too much.

“You have to cancel it.”

I look behind me. Mom could have been standing there naked, judging by the looks on the guys’ faces. “I know you said you were going to New York tonight but don’t you think your little sister is a bit more important?”

“Where’s Elliott?” I ask, trying to keep calm while my brain is trying to come up with a solution.

“With Joan.”

Joan Harris has been Mom’s best friend for as long as I can remember. I’ve always hated her. “You know she and Jamie don’t get along.”

“We’re not cancelling!” Red says when mom has left and I have closed the bedroom door again. He’s looking at me like I’m crazy (he does that a lot but now it’s with a more serious face).

“Come on, is that what you think of me?” I say, looking at the alarm clock on the nightstand. It’s nearly five pm, we’re leaving for Manhattan in half an hour.

“So what are you gonna do?”

I ignore their confusion, and look out the window to see Mom and Rick drive away. Jamie is downstairs watching tv, and I walk out of the room and down to where she is.

“Jamie, what do you say about going to New York?”