When Will You Realize That I'm Your Child Too?

"ARIANA!" Ryan yelled from downstairs. She jumped at the sudden outburst.

"Fuck..." She muttered, knowing very well that he was downstairs and holding her latest Geometry test. She groaned and opened her door and quietly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Ryan, standing with her Geometry test and scowling.

"What is this? I thought you studied for weeks!?" He asked, setting the paper on the marble counter-top.

"I did! It was hard!" She complained.

"If you really did study you wouldn't have gotten a D. You would have least gotten a C." He told her.

"I know...Mr. Helton says I can make it up." Ryan sighed and nodded. He took a pen from the drawer and signed his signature at the bottom of the test and handed it to her. She used to get awesome grades. She was on honor-roll ever since she was in the fourth grade. Lately, her grades have been slipping. She didn't know why, she just didn't feel like trying anymore. It wasn't a big deal. She would make up the test and next week she would be back on honor-roll and she'll be back to being un-grounded.

Ariana took the test and headed back up to her room and put it safely into her binder before shutting it. She sighed. Adam was out, because he wasn't grounded like her, and she wanted some freedom too. She smirked as she got up from her bed and locked the door. She walked over to her window and looked down. It was starting to get dark, and the pipe leading down the side of the house looked sturdy enough.

She picked up her phone and sent a quick text-message to some of her friends before pulling on a hoodie and grabbing her helmet. She slid down the pipe and hid in the bushes, to make sure Ryan hadn't heard her. She stood back up and walked around to the shed in the backyard. The television was blaring, so Ryan couldn't hear a thing. She pulled out her bike and shut the shed and locked the gate. She walked the bike down the street until she was sure she was far away enough before starting it up.

The last time Ariana rode her bike was when her, Brendon, and Adam went the day after she met Fall Out Boy. She missed the feeling of having her hair blown back by the crisp wind. She loved how cold the wind was against her cheeks. She sped down the dirt roads in the back of Las Vegas and came to her destination. She found her friends and rode over to them, all of them on their bikes, "Hey Ari, guess what!" Justin said, obviously excited about something.

"What?" She asked.

"Denise is coming and wants a race. No one wants to race her, though. You up for it?" He asked. Ariana smirked.

"Of course!" She smiled and pulled a twenty from her pocket to bet. She saw Adam across the way and walked over to him.

"What the hell are you doing here!? Do you know how much trouble we're going to be in if Dad finds out!?" He exclaimed.

"Relax! He thinks I'm asleep and thinks you're at the Stratosphere with Cory." She smiled. He sighed.

"Good luck in that race. Be careful, too. Denise plays dirty." He warned. She nodded and slid on her helmet and got situated on her bike. Denise pulled up, her smirk plaster across her face as she flipped of Ariana.

Ariana gripped her handle bars, waiting for the count-down. Truth it, she's never lost a race. Only to Adam, once. It wasn't the bike, it was the driver, "On your mark...Get set...GO!" Someone yelled. Cheering erupted, mostly for Ariana, as the race started. She drove up over hills and did jumps and leaps off mounds of dirt. She was so focused on trying to see past the thin ray of light coming from her bike, she didn't notice Denise pull up beside her.

Ariana felt the kick to the side of her leg. She growled and pushed back, trying to get rid of Denise. Adam was right, she did play dirty. Ariana struggled to keep her balance, it was difficult in the darkness. Racing over the dunes in almost pitch black and trying to rid of Denise all at the same time was not working for her.

Adam watched the two tiny lights move in the distance. One was in front of the other, then the other one pulled in next to it. Both of the lights we the same, and with all of the movement, Adam couldn't keep track of which one was Ariana. His heart pounded as he noticed the two lights wobbling, meaning one was trying to push the other one off. He crossed his arms at the sight of one of the lights crashing down. He went to move forward, "Dude, you can't go yet. You have to wait till the race is over...You never know, maybe it was Denise who fell." Justin explained. Adam nodded, remembering the unwritten rules of racing.

He watched one of the lights near the finish-line. His heart dropped at the sight of a bright yellow bike, instead of the creamy blue one. He hopped onto his bike as quick as he could and raced down towards the dimming light in the distance, his and Ariana's friends in tow.

Ariana clenched her side in pain, the handle-bar was jabbing into her side. It already ripped her skin and she had a deep gash in her right leg from where one of the pedals cut deep into it. Her arm was crushed underneath the front wheel, she had no strength to push it off. Surely, her arm was broken.

Denise pulled of her helmet in victory, but nobody cheered. What she had done was the worst thing you could do in a race. You never sink as far low as seriously injuring someone. Sure, you tried to make them fall off, but you don't try to nearly kill them.

Adam kneeled down to his sister and put an arm on her shoulder, "Ariana, you okay?" He asked. She groaned, tears of pain streaming down her cheeks, beneath her helmet. She sniffled.

"My arm...it's broken and I need stitches on my right leg...The handle-bar...it's jabbing into me." She groaned, too weak to move. Adam gently tugged off her helmet so she could breath.

"Don't worry, we'll get you to a hospital." He said.

"Ariana?" Ryan called as he walked up the stairs, "Ariana, your dinner's ready!" He called, a bit louder this time. He approached her door and could hear the Fall Out Boy song blasting from underneath. He knocked, "Ariana, come down for dinner." He said with more authority. He didn't hear a word come from the other side of the door. He did hear the phone ring, "Jon, get the phone!" He called downstairs. The ringing stopped as he tried to open the door.

"RYAN! COME QUICK!" Jon yelled frantically. Ryan ran down the stairs. Jon, Spencer, and Brendon were already getting their shoes on as quickly as possible.

"What!? What happened!?" He asked.

"We have to get to the hospital. Ariana's hurt." Jon stated and grabbed the keys to his truck. Ryan was confused for a moment, then put the pieces together.

"Fuck!" He yelled as he grabbed his shoes and rushed out to the driveway.

Adam sat in the waiting room of the dull hospital with Cory, Sarah, and Justin beside him. He put his head in his hands. He felt guilt pour through him like a toxic chemical, "I should have never let her race..." He muttered. Cory turned to him.

"Ariana's tough, Adam. Don't blame it on yourself. Remember, Denise played dirty." He tried to calm Adam down.

"I knew she was capable of something like that, though. I knew it. I didn't stop her." He whispered and let the tears fall onto his hands. He had already lost his mom, and he was not planning on losing his sister...his other half. He heard a door burst open and people running in.

"Adam!" Someone yelled. He looked up. His dad rushed to him and kneeles in front of him, "Where is she!? What happened!?" He asked frantically.

"She's in a room somewhere...they won't tell me. She was racing and the other girl purposely pushed her so she would get hurt." Adam explained, his voice cracking. Ryan could feel the tears in his eyes. After coming so far. He had just started to love his daughter only two months ago, and it could all be over soon.

Ariana lay in the white bed, not knowing what was going on around her. She heard the doctors, and she could feel them rub their hands along her cuts and bruises. She felt numb all over. She struggled to keep her eyes open. The little she could see was blurry and she didn't know what was happening around her. She was scared. She wasn't scared because she was in a hospital. She wasn't scared that she had just been in an accident. She was scared because she could have sworn she saw her mother and a bright light as she crashed. She felt as if Death was knocking at her door, coming for her. Coming to take her away from her other half and her father.

"Get me her father." Was the last thing she heard before slipping into darkness.