Fall Out Girl

“Emmy,” I gruff voice whispered in my ear, dissolving the very pleasant dream I was having. “Amelia Caterina Stump, get your ass up now or I’m going to hang up on whatever fake-ass friend of yours that has decided to call us at eight in the morning.” The voice said sternly, roughly pushing me.

“Push me one more time, Patrick Martin Stump, and I’ll be forced to kick your ass.” I replied groggily, slowly getting up and rubbing my eyes. I mock glared at my twin brother as he made a funny face at me.

“Whatever, Emmy, you know you love me.” He grinned cheekily, shoving the phone in my hand and stalking toward the door.

“Uh-huh, suure, like anyone could love that.” I shouted back, in a pathetic attempt to get the last word. Every member of my family swears that I must have been brainwashed as a small child, because I’m the only one in my family that exhibits that characteristic. Hesitantly, I brought the phone to my ear and spoke, “Emmy here.”

“Hi, Emmy, it’s Cait.” Oh boy, I thought to myself. “Listen, we need to have an emergency student council meeting today.”

“Cait, there’s a week left until school starts. Can’t we just have it then? I have plans with Parker today.”

“No, it can’t wait! You need to cancel all your plans for this weekend, because we really need you. I’m sure Parker will understand. But, anyway, get here asap. Alright?”

“Ok, give me an hour or two.” Luckily, Patrick saved me from having my ear talked off when he came through my door again. “Hey, Cait, Pat needs the phone now, I’ll be there when I can. Bye.” I hung up without waiting for a reply. “Thank you so much, Pat, I seriously thought I would be deaf after that.”

He chuckled while snatching the phone out of my hands. “Glad I could help. Anyways, the Trohman-ator and Chris want to know if you’re going to join us for the movie marathon or sit up here with your boy toy all day.”

“Neither,” I replied, getting out of my bed and grabbing a change of clothes. “Apparently, there’s an emergency and I’m needed at Cait’s.”

“What, did someone break a nail?” He asked with fake shock.

“Seeing how this is Cait, I wouldn’t put it past her. But yea, if Parker calls while I’m in the shower, tell him that I’ll call him back when I get out.”

“Yes, ma’am. What would you like me to tell the troops?” He asked, mock saluting me and standing at attention.

“That I love them very much and we can have another movie marathon when I’m not so busy.” I replied, brushing past him and into the hall.

“You know, Emmy, I liked you a whole lot better when you weren’t so popular.”

I turned around and gave him a weak smile. “I know. I liked myself better when I wasn’t so popular either, but I can’t change that now.” Without waiting for a reply, I opened the door and stepped into the bathroom. Quickly, I did my business and changed into a new pair of clothes. I wiped some of the steam off the mirror and grimaced at myself. I was starting to despise my naturally almost-white hair. At first, it was really cool- that is- until everyone started to copy me. But hey, that’s the price for being popular. With a final shake of my head and scrunch of my nose, I grabbed my dirty pjs and walked out of the bathroom. After making a quick pit-stop in my room, I ran downstairs, only to see that the guys started their marathon with Star Wars. I swear that is the one movie that makes me become a drooling couch vegetable, and they knew it! Cunning Bastards.

Going against my better judgment, I slipped in between Joe and Chris and watched Mark Hamil get hit in the back of the head by one of the Sand People. Even though I’ve watched this movie well over a hundred times, I still clutched to one of the guys’ sleeves and/or repeatedly hit them lightly in the arm or leg whenever something happened. It’s not like they even noticed anyway, they were too engrossed by the screen.

Pat came in sometime later and sat directly in front of me, blocking the screen. “Pat, move, I wanna see Chewy in handcuffs.” I growled at him, shifting from side to side in hopes of seeing the screen better.

He just smirked. “Isn’t there somewhere you have to be?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I hate you. Now, give me the keys and I’ll let you slink away unharmed.”

“It’s less than a block.”

“And?”

“You can run there, Ms. I’m the Cheer Captain and a Track Star. And besides, what if we run out of food and need to re-fuel ourselves?”

“I will kill all three of you if you eat all the food in the house.”

“You better hurry up, wouldn’t want Cait and the rest of your clones to be kept waiting because of your incompetence.”

“Wow, big words Patty-boy, too bad that you don’t know how to use them. I’ll run, but it’s not because you won’t give me the keys, it’s because I need to start getting in shape.” I replied, pushing him down and grabbing my shoes that were by the door. “Oh, and tell Parker to text me. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Bye Joe-Troh, I’m taking your shoes!” I said, grabbing the pair of beat up green converses. Then I quickly added, “Bye, Chris! Love ya lots.!” Leave it up to those two to be so entranced with a movie that they are left completely unaware of what’s going on in the real world. I was halfway out the door before I remembered something. “Oh, Patty, since you need the car oh so badly, can you pick up a bottle of hair dye for me?”

He looked up as if to ponder this for awhile. I swear we both know how to push every single one of each others buttons. When he knew that he was about to push me over the edge, he replied with a “sure what color?”

“I don’t care. Just don’t pick platinum blonde, or any kind of blonde for that matter. See you when I can. Bye!”

“Bye! Don’t forget to-” Bam! Too late, I already ran into the lamp post that the city just had to put in our yard.

“Don’t finish that!” I yelled back, running down the street. I managed to run at least a hundred feet before Mrs. Whittaker flagged me down. Not wanting to seem rude, I crossed the street to say hello to the nice elderly woman that spent her everyday in her garden in the spring and summertime. “Hello, Mrs. Whittaker, and how are you doing today?”

“I’m lovely. Boy, it’s such a beautiful day today. Don’t you think?”

“Yes ma’am, it is. I don’t mean to rush or sound rude, but I have prior arrangements that I need to get to, but I promise that I will come by later and help you out in whatever way that I can.”

“Let me guess, emergency student council meeting at Cait’s?” she replied with a slight smirk

“Are there any others?”

“Well, we mustn’t keep Cait and her broken nail waiting any longer. Be sure to drop by later, I want you to meet my grandson. He’s around your age.”

“Ok, well, bye Mrs. Whittaker! I’ll try to be around later! We can do lunch!” I said fairly quickly, once again taking off down the side walk. Joe’s shoes were way too big for me and I could feel them rubbing around my ankles. I would have some beautiful blisters by the end of the day. Humming a Misfit’s tune to myself, I kept plowing down the road. I was half a block from Cait’s house when my cell stated that I had a text message.

I looked down at it to read “Your hubby called. He’ll pick you up tonight at eight. Semi-formal dress- big bro” I smiled at his little message; but I mean c’mon! He’s only two minutes older than me, but he never lets it down. Not really noticing where I was going, I almost ran into this big black blob. Luckily, I was on the track team and jumped whatever it was just in time. But, being as clumsy as I was mixed with Joe’s shoes being too big, I landed poorly on my left ankle and hurt it badly.

“Shit! I’m so sorry. Here let me help you.” A male voice said above me as a hand came into my sight. With one hand on my face, I grabbed the stranger’s outstretched hand with the other and pulled myself up. I was met with a pair of warm honey eyes and a cocky smirk. “Are you okay?” He asked with a slight chuckle.

“Just peachy, you know? I wake up late, forced to listen to high-pitched shrieking via telephone, had to borrow one of my friend’s shoes, and now I think I twisted my ankle by jumping whatever that big black thing was.”

“Sorry about that, but that was my dog, Pandora. She’s a little too smart for her own good and has already figured out how to escape.”

“Well, I don’t mean to sound rude, but I have to go. I guess I’ll see you around. Bye.” I said, turning on my uninjured leg and jogging/ limping the rest of the block.

“Wait!” said the boy, jogging up next to me. “Let me at least drive or carry you to wherever you’re going. I can’t have you running on a damaged ankle. I know they can hurt like a bitch.”

I never slowed my pace. “No, it’s okay really, if I can run with two broken toes, I can manage a twisted ankle. And, besides, this is the house. I’ll see you later. Bye.” I replied, running up the steps and pushing through the door.

“They’re upstairs, Emmy!” Cait’s mom yelled from the kitchen.

“Hey, Ms. Thompson! Do you still have any of those ankle braces? I think I twisted it when I was running over here.”

“Sure, sweetie, they’re where they always are.”

“Thank you!” I replied, running up the stairs and down the hall past Cait’s room. This was the good thing about Ms. Thompson being a nurse; she had the best pain medicine, and all these first aid kits with cool stuff. Anyway, I ripped off the shoes to see splotches of raw skin and my ankle was swelling up pretty quickly. I treated the blisters and wrapped an Ace bandage around my ankle to try to keep the swelling down and stuck the brace over it. I limped into Cait’s room and sat down at the edge of her bed.

“Emmy! I broke a nail right after we hung up!” Cait’s whiny voice came from the bean bag.

“Alright, now that our president has decided to join us, we can begin.” Jake, my vice president and captain of the boys’ soccer team interrupted, settling into his seat by the computer table. “First off, we need to decide on what we’re getting for this year’s Teacher of the Year. I believe we decided on a bouquet and a gift certificate to the spa. Is that correct, Angela?” he asked our secretary.

“Yes, it is, and I’ve already arranged for the welcome back presents for all the teachers, too. We just need someone to pick them up on the first day of school. Any volunteers?” the girl’s softball captain responded.

“I’ll pick them up,” Jessica, the girl’s basketball captain said.

“I like this meeting so far, is there anything else we need to discuss?” I asked, looking around the room.

“The homecoming dance needs to be planned. I know that it’s not until September, but we all know how much a bitch it can be.” Martina, the Senior Rep voiced.

“We’ll delegate that to a sub-committee the second or third week of school. I believe that committee should involve all the classes. Thank you, Martina for bringing it up.” She nodded in understanding before I continued. “Speaking of underclassmen, I need a few more volunteers for the freshmen orientation. We also need to have another meeting in the first week of school so that they can elect their class rep. I know all of you can call around and get at least one person to help. Is there any other business before this committee adjourns?”

“Yes, there’s a new kid in our grade. Someone needs to show him around. Any takers?” Ryan, our treasurer asked

“Is it a guy and are they hot?” Cait asked with her normal shrill voice.

“I’ll get my brother to do it, he owes me.” I replied, ignoring Cait’s comment.

“Do we really want him to corrupt a perfectly normal person?”

“Excuse me, Cait, but he has a name- it’s Patrick. Also, that’s my twin you’re badmouthing, so either shut the hell up, or turn in your resignation form and pom-poms now because I will not tolerate any prejudices coming from anyone on this council, my squad, or my team. Now, Patrick will show the new student around. Is there any other business?” Everyone was silent, most likely shocked about what I had just said. “Well, since there is no more new business, then this meeting is adjourned. Let the record state that it was a complete waste of time.” I said, getting up and limping out of the house.