When She Cries

I barely got up the stairs, before I was picked up by Jimmy. "Calm down, Kiddo," he said softly, setting me on my bed.

"How can you sit there telling me to calm down when you guys didn't show up! You know how important this was to me!" I said, getting angry with him.

"Sweetie, we got so caught up in doing this for your birthday that it kind of slipped our minds..."

I scoffed. "Those kind of things shouldn't slip your minds!"

"Elle, come on. Just-"

"No! Just... Get out." I limped to my bathroom and locked the door behind me. My feet just gave out, they couldn't hold me anymore.

"Elle, are you okay?" Jimmy asked, concern dripping from his voice.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, not caring if he heard me or not.

I heard him sigh, before walking off. A few minutes later, a new pair of foot steps were heard. "Hun, it's me. Can I come in?" Val asked, knocking on the door. Not wanting them all to come up here, I just unlocked the door for her. She gasped when she saw how my feet were.

"They're fine," I said, not wanting to hear what she had to say about them.

"Elle, we're all very upset that we missed your first performance. Like Jimmy said, we got so caught up in your birthday plans, that we kind of thought that it was next week." I shrugged my shoulders. "Your dad really wants you to come down stairs, we all do. We have a few things for you that we think might cheer you up."

"I know I don't have a choice in it," I mumbled.

She pulled me into a hug, which I ended up returning. You can't ignore Val's hugs, they're too good for that. "Come on, I'll help you change. Then we can get ice packs for those feet," she said, helping me up.

After my quick change, we headed down stairs. Before anything was said, Dad pulled me into a huge hug. He kept saying how sorry he was and how he was going to make it up to me.

"Dad, it's fine," I said, finally being able to pull away from him.

"No, it's not, I really wanted to see it... Maybe you can show us later?" A small smile played on his lips.

I couldn't resist... "Fine," I sighed.

"Alright, now you can see your surprise." He took me by my shoulders and turned me around.

"Hey, Elle."

My eyes widened as I got a good look at who the five additions were. "Either I've finally lost my mind for good... Or My Chem is actually standing in front of me," I muttered.

They all laughed. "No, we're actually here," Ray said.

"Happy Birthday," Dad whispered in my ear.

I turned around and threw my arms around his neck. "Thank you!"

He laughed, picking me up and spinning me around. "Go talk to them," he said, nudging me a little. I was still a bit shocked, as my shyness kicked in.

"Oh, come on, Missy," Brian said, picking me up and taking me over to the couch. "They're just like us, you can talk to them like normal people.

Frank laughed, sitting next to me. "I take it you're the shy type?"

"Why does everyone keep bringing that up today?" I asked, remembering earlier at lunch.

"Because it's true." Johnny smirked. I just stuck my tongue out at him.

"Here you go, Elle," Val said, handing me two ice packs, wrapped up in towels.

"Thanks." I put my feet up on the table and set them on my feet.

"What'd you do?" Mikey asked, nodding towards my feet.

"I've been dancing too much this week, I guess," I said, shrugging.

"You want me to rub them?" Zacky offered, but I saw the look on Christy's face.

"Um, no, it's fine."

He looked at me, confused. "You sure?"

"I'll do it!" Jimmy smiled, jumping up. He had caught on, and thought he would take over just so nothing would happen.

"So, do you like your surprise?" Gerard asked, sitting on the other side of me.

"Yeah, I'm glad you guys could come."

"Well, after Matt told us you liked us and since we were in the area, we knew we had to come," Frank said.

"That, or Jimmy would have attacked us," Bob said, laughing.

I gave Jimmy a look and he smiled innocently. "You're so weird," I laughed, shaking my head.

"Look who's talking!" He threw back.

"Uh, you?" Everyone laughed at my come back as he muttered under his breath.

We hung out for the rest of the night, before I started to fall asleep. I had opened my presents, almost being forced by an overly excited Jimmy.

The guys of My Chem had to go, but said that we'd meet up again soon. I still couldn't believe they had come...