Opposites Always Attract.

I woke up to the sound of a moaning Tara next to me. Turning over in my bed I saw a nest of blonde, knotty hair, and peaking out beneath it was a pair of bleary brown eyes.

“Alright, Tara?” I asked sarcastically, sitting up in bed. She winced.
“My head hurts.” She copied my action, propping herself up and attempting to push her nest of hair out of her eyes.
“I’m not surprised,” I giggled, despite how much I drank last night my head didn’t hurt too much “You threw up in my plants by the way.” I pointed out.
“I did? Oh, I’m sorry.” She lowered her head, but smiled when I laughed at her.
“It’s fine, come on, time for breakfast.” I leapt out of bed and grabbed a hoodie off of the floor and chucked it on. But Tara just groaned and threw the duvet over her head, snuggling back down in my bed.

“Or not.” I laughed. She watched me as I walked out of the room, however two seconds later I ran back in and jumped onto my bed, causing Tara to yell out once I landed on her tiny frame.

“No!” she groaned, trying to swat me away “I’ll throw up on you!” she threatened, making me instantly move.
“Get up.” I ordered, smiling as I watched her stumble out of my bed, her eyes half closed in misery.
“I hate you.” She mumbled as she followed me down the stairs.
“Yeah, yeah. Sit down, I’ll make you a coffee.” She gratefully thumped herself into a barstool and dropped her head onto the counter, letting out another groan.

“Complaining isn’t going to make your hang over any better.” I teased, grabbing two mugs to make coffee.
“But it hurts so much.” She cried
“It’s your own fault.”
“It’s your own fault,” She mimicked in a high voice “I would have been fine if we didn’t play that drinking game.”
“Tara! Everyone ganged up on me, I drunk more than you!” I said playfully “But anyway, I didn’t expect you to remember much from last night.”
“How can I forget Frank biting my neck before we left? Is he – Uh, is he actually a vampire? Or was he messing around?”

I stopped what I was doing and just looked at her with obvious eyes. She blushed and looked away.

“No, Tara. Frank Iero is not a vampire, neither is Gerard, neither is Bob. No body is.”
“Fine. I was just checking.”

I placed a steaming mug in front of Tara. She smiled at took the My Little Pony cup and raised it to her lips, smiling when the taste of coffee filled her mouth.

“What did you think of them all anyway?” I asked, watching the steam rise from my mug in odd shapes. I was cautious of her reaction. While she hadn’t freaked out this morning, I still wasn’t sure of what she thought.

She shrugged “They’re fun I guess. They are different, much different to how I thought they were. They aren’t vampires for one thing, so you say. And that Frank isn’t gay either. And they’re not all scary and evil like I thought. They’re just...Okay. I can see why you like ‘em. But that doesn’t mean I’m entirely happy about this. I still think some shit will go down.”

“Probably,” I said “But for now Gerard and I are just enjoying having this secret thing. I mean you’re not going to tell anyone are you?”
“What, are you kidding? Of course not. Chloe would kill me as much as she would you if she found out where we were last night, even if I was practically dragged there by you.”
“Well you seemed to enjoy yourself.” I smirked, sipping from my mug.

“Well I did! I mean even if there was hardly any hot guys, and the music they listen to makes my ears hurt, it was so much fun. I mean when was the last time we had fun at a party, I mean like actual fun? I haven’t jumped into a pool since I was like, fourteen.” She giggled softly.
“There were some hot guys though.” I noted randomly.
“Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t had a piece of emo ass for years.” She giggled.
“So you’re not so weirded out by any of this anymore?”
“No, I guess not. I guess I always just saw Gerard as the fat, nerdy kid who tried to kill himself. I never thought that maybe, y’know, he’d have changed. He seems alright. I can tell why you like him. You’re cute together. Even if you are kinda...Different.”
“W-we look cute?” I blushed, smiling on the inside.
“Yeah, I mean you two totally like the same thing now that I think about it. You’re both big dorks and stuff. You’d have such cute babies-“
“Whoa, Tara. Too soon! Too soon! We’re not even technically dating!”
“Yeah well, whatever. I stand by what I say,” she looked down at her coffee and used a spoon to stir the hot liquid “Everything’s gunna change for us now, isn’t it?”

“How’d you mean?”
“I-I mean this whole thing with those guys. They’re so different to us, it’s like social suicide. It’s such a big risk, but now it’s like, we can’t step down. It’s exciting for something new to happen, y’know? I feel like things are gunna start happening. Like, cool things. Like, even though those guys are total losers, I still feel like...I dunno, you know what I mean?”

“Kinda,” I replied honestly “But, Tara, you know you don’t have to become involved in this if you don’t want to. If Chloe ever found out you would be slaughtered. I know what your popularity means to you-“

“Elliott, it’s fine, I wanna be involved. Like I said, things just feel right. I mean it’s almost...Nice to get away from Chloe for a minute. Like, I felt like when I was with those guys she wasn’t breathing down my neck telling me what to do and what to say. For the first time, in like, five years I could actually do what I wanted.” She was smiling shyly the whole time she was telling me this. Almost as if she were embarrassed to admit she enjoyed spending time with ‘geeks’ and ‘emos’.

But I knew exactly what she meant. One of the reasons I found Gerard and his friends so interesting is because they were so different to me. While to start off with, I was scared of it. But in time I realised that actually they were intriguing. So I totally understood Tara’s point. Sometimes I forgot that she had been friends with Chloe longer than I had. It must have been horrid; she gave Tara as hard of a time as she gave me. And now, for once, Tara had an excuse to finally break free from Chloe’s grasp, even if it was just for a little while.

“Best friends, yeah?” I asked, offering her my pinky finger for her to take.
“Always.” She smiled and took my pinky with her own.

-

“I’m bored!” Tara said through a mouthful if popcorn. We’d been watching shitty TV shows for the last few hours, both of us slumped on separate sofas.

“Me too. Let’s do something.” I said, not making an attempt to move, instead cramming another handful of popcorn into my mouth, half of it falling down my chin and onto my T-Shirt.

“Yeah, totally...What?” Tara took a large gulp of her Coke (Diet, of course) and stretched.
“We could go somewhere?” I suggested, rubbing my eyes.
“Sure, let’s go.” Tara yawned and rolled off of the sofa before pulling her Ugg boots on. I did the same, grabbing my car keys on the way out.

“Mum, dad! Tara and I are going out!” I called, picking the popcorn pieces off of my clothing.
“Okay, don’t be too late.” I heard my mum call back.

Tara and I exited my house and slipped into my car. Both of us dragging our feet in the process.

“Where’d you wanna go?” I asked lazily, rubbing my eyes again.
“Starbucks? I could use another coffee.”
“Sure.”

I pulled away and began our trip. Both of us said nothing, we were far too tired to even attempt to communicate. I had to agree with Tara, I needed a coffee. We arrived at the familiar mall in no time, both of us getting out of the car and shuffling towards the building. Both of us were wearing Hoodies and Ugg boots, while I wore no make-up and Tara’s hair still resembled a haystack.

-

“Hi, could I have a decaf vanilla latte and just a black coffee please?” I said to the cashier. She nodded and summed up the money. Fishing the money out of my pocket, another yawn escaped. This was the most boring Saturday ever, even if Tara was with me.

Once I retrieved the coffee’s, I handed Tara hers and we proceeded to wonder around the mall, winching when little kids screamed and stumbling from our hang overs.

“So, where do you wanna go now?” I asked, sipping from my coffee, but regretting it when it burnt my mouth.
“I dunno, there?” she pointed to Barnes and Noble. I shrugged and began to make my way towards the store.

As soon as we walked in, Tara looked like an alien on another planet. Staring at the books in wonder.

“You don’t come in here often do you?” I giggled, looking at her wide eyes as she examined a large and heavy looking book.
“No. Do you think this is heav – Whoa, yeah that’s heavy!” she began to question, picking the book up and slumping from the weight before hastily putting the book back.

I just rose my eyebrows at her “What did you want to come in here for anyway?” I asked, examining more book titles.
“Because I saw him in here.” I followed Tara finger to see a shy boy in glasses hiding behind a bookshelf, obviously trying to hide from us.

“Alright, Mikey. I didn’t know you worked here.” I smiled, noticing his name tag. He blushed, as he always did.

“Y-yupp. I work here,” He stammered, suddenly nothing Tara and looking worried at her smiling face “Uh, s-she-“ he began, pointing at Tara timidly.
“It’s fine, Mikey. She knows, she was at the party yesterday. Did you see us?”
“N-no, I didn-“
“Well, I don’t blame you, that girl was very attractive.” I winked, making him blush even more if possible.
“W-well, yes she is bu-“
“Mikey, why are those books so heavy?” Tara asked randomly, pointing to the piles of books which she had tried to pick up earlier.
“B-because they’re about 5,000 pages long, and they’re hard backs?” Mikey guessed, wondering if Tara was being serious or not.
“Oh, right. Thanks, Mikey.” She gave him a genuine smile, thankful that her stupid question had been seriously answered.
“Where’s the erotic book section?” she asked Mikey again, tilting her head to the side while looking at him.
“Okay, Tara. Stop asking him questions; let’s go to the Children’s section, okay?” I smiled and grabbed her shoulder, directing her to anywhere but the ‘erotic’ section “Bye, Mikey.” I waved. He waved back, but to be honest I think he was thankful to see the back of us.

“Hey, what’s this about. Can I get this?” Tara asked, holding up a familiar book, with an apple on the cover.
“No! Put it down.” Tara nearly flung the book back on the shelve at my reaction.
“W-why, what’s wrong with it?” she asked, stepping away from it.
“It’s a rubbish book. And it’s about vampires. You’d scary yourself silly if you read it.”
“Aww, but Angelica said it was really good!” Tara whined.
“Tara, listen to me, I forbid you from reading Twilight, okay?”
“Fine,” she huffed “What else can I have?”
“Why do you want a book anyway?”
“I want to become more intelligent.” She said seriously. I couldn’t keep a straight face.
“Why?” I tried to ask seriously, my voice cracking slightly while trying to hold my laughter in.
“Because I do. When I was talking to Frank yesterday I realised how stupid I am. He was using long words that I didn’t know.” She continued to look through the books. She clearly didn’t know what she was looking for, but it seemed to make her happy.

“Like what? What words?”
“Like exaggerate, and melodramatic.” She seemed to have difficulty pronouncing them.
“Right, I see. Well you’re not going to get anywhere with that.” I said, motioning towards the book she held in her hands, Where the Wild Things Are.
“Oh, right,” she popped the book back and picked up another “What about this?”
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower?” I smiled “Read it, you’ll love it.”
“Will I, why?”
“It’s about...Parties and...Hot boys and...S-sex.” I said, trying to explain the book in terms that would attract Tara. She smiled.

“Awesome.” She held it in her arms, while I picked up a book myself, one which I had been meaning to read for a long time. The Shining.

“Wha – You’re getting that? B-but it’s so big, and long!” Tara stared wide eyed, but suddenly giggled when she realised what she said “That’s what she said.” She muttered happily.

“You’re such a child.” I grinned, dragging her over to the other side of the store so we could pay for our books.

-

“So like, this Charlie boy, who’s he writing to?” Tara asked, her nose buried in the book while we walked.
“Someone anonymous. Nobody really knows exactly who it is, but that’s the mystery and debate surrounding the book.” I described. She seemed to nod understandingly.
“Right, and his best friend committed suicide. Is that why he’s kinda weird?”
“You have to read it, Tara. Stop asking questions.” I laughed, not wanting to give away the ending.
We ended up walking to my car, without realising. We both shrugged and got in, deciding we might as well go home.

Tara folded the page of her book and turned the radio on, fiddling with the dials until she reached a radio station she didn’t know. A station which was playing unmistakable British music.

“What are you doing?” I questioned, looking at Tara as she listened to the music, bopping her head slightly.
“I realise I don’t know anything about music either. I know Ke$ha and Usher and that’s like, it. I want to know more about music too.”
“Right.” I said, raising my eyebrows at her. What was with her? Why the sudden change?

“That boy’s a Hoxton hero
Skinny fit jeans and dressed in pink
How he dresses I care zero
As long as he don’t steal my drink

That girls and indie Cindy
Lego haircut and polka dot dress
I don’t care if she thinks she indie
How she’s different is anyone’s guess”

“So, what is this band called?” Tara asked, nodding her head along to the music.
“They’re called Hadouken!, they’re from Britain.”
“Right, I see,” she said “And what music do they play?”
“Like, rave rock music I suppose.”
“Rave rock.” Tara repeated to herself, genuinely taking in everything I was saying.

”You’ve got your skin tights, colours on the floor
With all your white lines, every slut and whore
All the band boys in their specs and sneakers,
We’ve got your back, now it’s time to blow the speakers”

“So, what is this song about? What message does it convey? What is it trying to represent?” Tara asked. The words she just used shocked me a little, but I replied anyway.

“It’s just about all the idiots you see at parties, trying too hard to be cool. And it’s about getting drunk and stuff.”
“Drunk and stuff.” She repeated again, nodding at my answer.

“I went to a rave and it got real moody,
How can a screwface have a good time?
Was he deprived of his mother’s boobie?
I doubt he’s lived the life of grime,
I went to a gig but nobody danced
Everybody was far too cool
All the kiddies, they just stood there,
Is it the same as a public school?”

This ‘game’ repeated until I finally dropped Tara off home. I’d taught her about Hadouken!, Muse, Foo Fighters and Nirvana. She seemed pretty pleased with herself, however I couldn’t stop thinking about why she was bothering with all of this.

Just because Frank seemed intelligent surely wasn’t the inspiration for all this. Tara never use to give two shits about how smart she was, even when she was with Seth, who she truly cared about. But now it seemed she wanted to impress someone, but that was so un-Tara like. Usually Tara just used her boobs and ditzy humour to get the guy, but now it seemed like she almost had to try. Tara never had to try, not even with Seth!

Maybe I was looking too much into this, but there was definitely something up with Tara, and I was determined to find out what it was. Because Tara never worked towards anything, so whatever she was doing, and whoever she was doing it for, must be very special. Very special indeed. Or maybe there were just different. Different to Tara, like Gerard was different to me. Oh, God. Frank...