Crazy Beautiful

It's Friday.
I made it through my first week of school.

Mikey and I are staring at his ceiling with Gerard. Even though Gerard is supposed to be at work, he called in 'sick'.

Frank had to go visit his dad this weekend.

"This is boring as hell." Gerard says.

"Well what do you suggest we do big brother." replies Mikey.

"Let's call some people up and I don't know hang out or something. Zoey hand me the phone."

I toss him the phone and he starts dialing numbers.

A half hour later we we're joined by Bob and Ray.

"Well this is oodles of fun guys." Bob says sarcastically.

"Let's play a game." Ray says.

"What game?" asked Mikey.

"I don't know... how about..."

"Hide and Seek." I suggest quietly.

"What?"

"Hide and Seek. That's a good game."

"But where, in the house?" Gerard asks.

"No. Outside, in the neighborhood." I explain, "But we have to set boundaries."

"Okay. Yea that sounds good." Mikey says as we all get up and head outside.

I remember when I was 6. Me and my father would play hide and seek in the park...

"Ready or not, here I come Daddy!"

The little girls runs around the various jungle gyms and slides searching for her hiding father.

5 minutes have passed and she still hasn't found him. She's become frightened.

Where did her Father go, has he left her?

"Daddy?" she keeps circling and circling the play ground searching for him.

He is nowhere to be found.

She stops in the middle of the park and sobs, all the while calling out for her Father.

He suddenly comes to the rescue and scoops her up in his arms, whipping away her tears.

"Shh, its okay Daddy's here now."

She merely buries her face in his neck and continues to cry as he heads towards the car.

"It's okay sweetie, Daddy is here. I promise I won't leave you."

"Okay who's gonna be it?"

"NOT IT!" Bob.

"NOT IT!" Mikey.

"NOT IT!" Ray.

"Not it." Me.

"NOT-. Ah dammit! I call a re-do." Gerard whines.

"No, you don't get a re-do. You were last so you're it. Now count to 50 while we go hide." Mikey says. "The boundaries are from that brown house to the stop sign at the end of the street."

We all run our separate ways as Gerard closes his eyes and begins counting.

I try hiding behind a car, but he'd be able to see my feet under the car if he were approaching. I run in between some houses and crouch behind a bush.

I'm hiding for a few minutes when I feel someone grab my shoulder.

I scream and shoot up from my crouching position, quickly spinning around.

It's Frank.

"Jesus Christ Frank! What are you doing here?"

"Uh I was using a short cut to Gerard and Mikey's but then I saw you. And I wondered why you were hiding behind a bush." he smirks.

I hate that smirk.

I've only know Frank for a week. And already I love that smirk. I love it so much I hate it. I can't and I won't set myself up for disappointment.

"We're playing hide and seek. Gerard is it. Now c'mon get down before he finds us." I say tugging on his arm.

We crouch down behind the bush and wait to see if we saw Gerard coming our way.

"C'mon lets move to another spot. It's getting boring here." Frank says, pulling me up.

We creep around different houses looking for good hiding spots. Frank and I have split up on one house looking on both sides when he cames running around the house.

I look at him quizzically as he nears me, "Frank wha-" he throws me over his shoulder and continues running. "Frank what're you doing!"

"Look behind us!" he says as he runs out of the yard and down the street.

I look up and see Gerard running behind us with a determined look on his face.

"Run faster!"

He suddenly trips and we tumble to the ground. But I get most of the impact since I hit the ground first and he falls on top of me.

It knocks the wind out of me and I lay there trying to breathe as Frank scrambles off of me and makes sure I'm okay.

"Zoey! Zoey c'mon he's coming!"

I just shake my head and try to take air in. He huffs and scoops me up bridal style and starts to run down the street again.

We see Ray, Bob, and Mikey waiting by the tree in the front yard of the Way's. I guess that's the base.

They're all cheering us on as we near the house, but Gerard is hot on our tail.

Frank pushes on and let out a scream as he doves for the tree.

We make it just in time, and a very unhappy Gerard collapses in the grass. Muttering curses and trying to catch his breath.

"Zoey, why did you stop running?" Frank asks getting up.

"You fell on top of me and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get up." I say giggling.

"Okay fuckers, new game I don't like hide and seek." Gerard says.

"That's because you're it." Bob says.

"So? New game."

"Why don't we play Man Hunt?" Ray says.

"What's Man Hunt?" I ask.

"Its like capture the flag only you just capture the other team." Ray says.

"Okay its Zoey, Frank and Mikey against me Bob and Ray." Gerard says. "You guys can go hide first."

We nod and run off in different directions while they count.

I'm hiding behind a tree for awhile when I decide it's time to move. I creep out my hiding space and hide behind various cars as I look for a different place to hide.

I suddenly hear fast foot steps heading my way and look in that direction. It's Bob, I let out a little yelp as I start to run in the opposite direction.

I run around a house and someone grabs me and pulls me into the bushes. I looks up into Frank's face and he just makes a funny face.

We wait for Bob to pass and then creep from behind the house and start to make our way back to the Way's.

No one else is there so we lay down in the grass and stared at the stars.

If this were a movie this would be the part where Frank pulls me into his arms and I lay my head on his chest.

Sadly its not, but oh how I wish it were.