Sequel: Wrists Intact ›
Hearts Intact
I'm A Preacher Sweating In The Pew
“Izzye where are we going?” Pete asked, sounding very fed up. I smiled at him through the rearview mirror, which surprised them all.
“You’ll see.” I said in a sing-song voice. It’s impossible to be upset on F.I.H Day, even if it isn’t really F.I.H Day.
“Seriously Izzye, where are you taking us?” Joe asked worriedly. I smiled again.
“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see!” I said. Everyone in the car, which was Ryan, Joe, Patrick, Pete and Spencer looked at each other nervously.
“Seriously you guys, trust me, it’s nothing bad!” I said irritably. None of them said anything.
“I’m so glad to know that you guys, my friends, trust me.” I said in an overly cheerful tone. That worked, it made them feel guilty.
“We do trust you, we do.” Spencer said. This conversation was so normal I almost forgot about Skylar. Almost.
“So where are we going?” Patrick asked. I glared at him.
“For that you shall never know. Until we get there.” I said. They all laughed. “Which is now.” I added, pulling the car over to the side of the road. (Yes, I can drive!)
“And where is here?” Patrick asked as everyone got out of the car. We were surrounded by trees, (we’d been in the car for a long time!) and there hadn’t been any sign of civilization for a while.
“Here is this way!” I said, starting to walk into the woods. I didn’t get far, because Ryan grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked protectively. Seriously, did he not realize that if I brought them to this place than obviously I know where I am going? Apparently not.
“I’m bringing you to here.” I said. He started to say something but I interrupted him.
“I have been here more times than I could ever count, I know the way like the back of the hand, trust me, we’re not going to get lost.” I said.
“It’s not getting lost that worries me, the vampires are still after you!” He said. Shoot, I forgot about that.
“There are six of us, I think we’ll be okay.” I said. Ryan didn’t look convinced but finally he nodded.
“It’s this way.” I said, leading them down a deer trail through the trees. They were starting to get really annoyed, it was funny.
“Izzye where the hell are you leading us?” Pete asked angrily.
“You’ll see.” I said in a sing-song voice. I was enjoying myself immensely, this was hilarious!
“Here we are!” I said ten minutes later, interrupting their endless complaining.
Here was a fort that Skylar, Devin, Jimmy and I had made years ago. It took a while, but finally we’d managed to build a pretty sturdy structure.
“What is that?” Joe asked. I glared at him.
“That would be our fort. Which we worked very hard to build and are very proud of!” I said.
“And it’s beautiful.” Ryan said, kissing the top of my head. I glared at him.
“You people annoy me.” I said, walking into the fort. It was easy to tell that no one had been here for a while. There were leaves and cobwebs everywhere.
“Now what do we do?” Spencer asked. I sat down on one of our stump stools.
“Now we wait.” I said. We didn’t have to wait for long, five minutes later Sheila showed up with Andy, Brendon and Rae. And then two minutes after than Devin showed up with Jimmy.
“What is going on you guys?” Jimmy asked once he saw everyone here. Devin and I grinned at each other.
“Now you guys wait here, we need to go get some things!” I said.
“And if you follow us we will leave and you will be stranded here!” Devin said. It was easy to tell that everyone, the vampires especially, were unsettled by that idea but they agreed.
Devin and I raced back to the car and grabbed all the presents. Then, very slowly, we made our way back to the fort. It was a little bit hard with so many presents. When we got back, Jimmy had lit up all of our candles, since it was night and otherwise impossible to see.
“What is going on?” Brendon asked when he saw us. Only Jimmy and Sheila knew what was going on.
“What are you guys doing, that isn’t until April!” Jimmy said, clearly confused. Devin and I both nodded.
“Yes, we know, but we decided that we needed it desperately.” I said. Absolutely everyone looked confused now.
“What are you guys talking about?” Andy asked, sounding frustrated. I turned to look at Pete.
“Do you remember the day we first met; I told you that Jimmy gave me my bass for F.I.H Day?” I asked. He nodded.
“Well, this is F.I.H Day; we decided to include you guys in on it!” I said. Everyone continued staring at Devin and I, completely confused.
“Okay, what is F.I.H Day?” Ryan asked slowly. I looked at Devin.
“F.I.H Day stands for Finally It’s Here Day.” He said. Yeah I know, that explains so much, not.
“Finally what’s here?” Rae asked. Devin grinned.
“One year, a while back, each of us had an incredibly crappy month of March. Everything that could possible went wrong happened. And March is always crappy for all of us. So we decided to make April 7th F.I.H Day, because after the seventh, everything seems to get better.” He said.
“I know, it seems stupid, but after a month of crap, we needed something good to look forward to, so we made F.I.H Day. Every year we give each other presents, so we got you guys a few things!” I said, turning to look at the pile of presents.
We passed out presents and very slowly, everyone opened them. We included a note with each present.
Patrick got a hat and a magazine poster of him and Pete, Joe and Andy. The note said, Here’s another hat you can wear at your next photo shoot! I should probably mention that the poster was just a whole bunch of different pictures of him and the others, and in each one he was wearing a hat.
Pete got a really fancy notebook and a book called Ideas For Your Writer’s Block. His note said, The book is to help you get a new subject to write songs about! J/K, we love your songs!
Andy got a CD from a band he liked and a red Santa hat. His note said, Here, enjoy, we couldn’t think of what to get you that would be funny…
Joe got a knight’s helmet and his note said, Here, wear this on stage, it’s original…
Brendon got a megaphone and his note said, Snarl into this, it’ll be funny!
Jon got a bottle of that candy spray stuff except we’d scratched off the label and wrote our own, Vampire Spray. His note said, Use this when your band mates go all batty on you!
Spencer got a bottle of bubbles and his note said, Here, be happy, (We got you this cause we really didn’t know what to get and we were running low on money!)
Ryan got walki-talkies and his note said, Here, so you can know where Izzye is! Hey, Devin’s idea, I do NOT agree with this! –Izzye
Rae got hazel contacts and a camera and her note said, Here, so you don’t have to constantly wear sunglasses and so you can take pictures of you new friends! Welcome to the group!
Sheila got a huge pink teddy bear and her note said, Here, to keep you company when we’re on the road, WE LOVE YOU!
For Jimmy, we gave him a photo album filled with pictures of us, him, Skylar and Sheila. It was hard putting it together and both Devin and I cried, but Jimmy needed it. His note said, I don’t blame you for the accident, that’s exactly what it was, an accident. You’re my best friend and I love you, nothing can change that, cheer up man, we got your back!
For Devin, I got him, and this was extremely hard to hide, and bring, so hard, a tiny tiger-stripped kitten. My note to him said, Here you go, one down only four more to go! Devin hugged me and kept thanking me over and over, holding the kitten so delicately.
Devin gave me a homemade book, all stapled together. It took me a second to realize what it was. When we were really young, all four of us, Devin, Jimmy, Skylar and I, had decided to write a book, about four kids who found a magical land. And Devin gave it to me. His note to me said, Bet you haven’t thought about this in a while. Don’t fear princess, we may still find a magical land!
“Thank you so much!” I said, hugging Devin, being careful not to squish his kitten.
I stepped back as everyone laughed and talked, enjoying their gifts. The whole point of getting gifts on F.I.H day is to either give the silliest gifts, or gifts that will mean the world.
“Thank you so much.” Ryan said, suddenly standing beside me. Stupid vampires being able to move stupidly fast, it scared me every time.
“It was Devin’s idea, not mine.” I said. Ryan laughed.
“You guys do this every year?” He asked. I nodded.
“Sometimes more than once a year, if we need to.” I said.
“It seems to work.” He said. It does, every time. At least for one night we all forget our troubles and are happy.
“You’ll see.” I said in a sing-song voice. It’s impossible to be upset on F.I.H Day, even if it isn’t really F.I.H Day.
“Seriously Izzye, where are you taking us?” Joe asked worriedly. I smiled again.
“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see!” I said. Everyone in the car, which was Ryan, Joe, Patrick, Pete and Spencer looked at each other nervously.
“Seriously you guys, trust me, it’s nothing bad!” I said irritably. None of them said anything.
“I’m so glad to know that you guys, my friends, trust me.” I said in an overly cheerful tone. That worked, it made them feel guilty.
“We do trust you, we do.” Spencer said. This conversation was so normal I almost forgot about Skylar. Almost.
“So where are we going?” Patrick asked. I glared at him.
“For that you shall never know. Until we get there.” I said. They all laughed. “Which is now.” I added, pulling the car over to the side of the road. (Yes, I can drive!)
“And where is here?” Patrick asked as everyone got out of the car. We were surrounded by trees, (we’d been in the car for a long time!) and there hadn’t been any sign of civilization for a while.
“Here is this way!” I said, starting to walk into the woods. I didn’t get far, because Ryan grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked protectively. Seriously, did he not realize that if I brought them to this place than obviously I know where I am going? Apparently not.
“I’m bringing you to here.” I said. He started to say something but I interrupted him.
“I have been here more times than I could ever count, I know the way like the back of the hand, trust me, we’re not going to get lost.” I said.
“It’s not getting lost that worries me, the vampires are still after you!” He said. Shoot, I forgot about that.
“There are six of us, I think we’ll be okay.” I said. Ryan didn’t look convinced but finally he nodded.
“It’s this way.” I said, leading them down a deer trail through the trees. They were starting to get really annoyed, it was funny.
“Izzye where the hell are you leading us?” Pete asked angrily.
“You’ll see.” I said in a sing-song voice. I was enjoying myself immensely, this was hilarious!
“Here we are!” I said ten minutes later, interrupting their endless complaining.
Here was a fort that Skylar, Devin, Jimmy and I had made years ago. It took a while, but finally we’d managed to build a pretty sturdy structure.
“What is that?” Joe asked. I glared at him.
“That would be our fort. Which we worked very hard to build and are very proud of!” I said.
“And it’s beautiful.” Ryan said, kissing the top of my head. I glared at him.
“You people annoy me.” I said, walking into the fort. It was easy to tell that no one had been here for a while. There were leaves and cobwebs everywhere.
“Now what do we do?” Spencer asked. I sat down on one of our stump stools.
“Now we wait.” I said. We didn’t have to wait for long, five minutes later Sheila showed up with Andy, Brendon and Rae. And then two minutes after than Devin showed up with Jimmy.
“What is going on you guys?” Jimmy asked once he saw everyone here. Devin and I grinned at each other.
“Now you guys wait here, we need to go get some things!” I said.
“And if you follow us we will leave and you will be stranded here!” Devin said. It was easy to tell that everyone, the vampires especially, were unsettled by that idea but they agreed.
Devin and I raced back to the car and grabbed all the presents. Then, very slowly, we made our way back to the fort. It was a little bit hard with so many presents. When we got back, Jimmy had lit up all of our candles, since it was night and otherwise impossible to see.
“What is going on?” Brendon asked when he saw us. Only Jimmy and Sheila knew what was going on.
“What are you guys doing, that isn’t until April!” Jimmy said, clearly confused. Devin and I both nodded.
“Yes, we know, but we decided that we needed it desperately.” I said. Absolutely everyone looked confused now.
“What are you guys talking about?” Andy asked, sounding frustrated. I turned to look at Pete.
“Do you remember the day we first met; I told you that Jimmy gave me my bass for F.I.H Day?” I asked. He nodded.
“Well, this is F.I.H Day; we decided to include you guys in on it!” I said. Everyone continued staring at Devin and I, completely confused.
“Okay, what is F.I.H Day?” Ryan asked slowly. I looked at Devin.
“F.I.H Day stands for Finally It’s Here Day.” He said. Yeah I know, that explains so much, not.
“Finally what’s here?” Rae asked. Devin grinned.
“One year, a while back, each of us had an incredibly crappy month of March. Everything that could possible went wrong happened. And March is always crappy for all of us. So we decided to make April 7th F.I.H Day, because after the seventh, everything seems to get better.” He said.
“I know, it seems stupid, but after a month of crap, we needed something good to look forward to, so we made F.I.H Day. Every year we give each other presents, so we got you guys a few things!” I said, turning to look at the pile of presents.
We passed out presents and very slowly, everyone opened them. We included a note with each present.
Patrick got a hat and a magazine poster of him and Pete, Joe and Andy. The note said, Here’s another hat you can wear at your next photo shoot! I should probably mention that the poster was just a whole bunch of different pictures of him and the others, and in each one he was wearing a hat.
Pete got a really fancy notebook and a book called Ideas For Your Writer’s Block. His note said, The book is to help you get a new subject to write songs about! J/K, we love your songs!
Andy got a CD from a band he liked and a red Santa hat. His note said, Here, enjoy, we couldn’t think of what to get you that would be funny…
Joe got a knight’s helmet and his note said, Here, wear this on stage, it’s original…
Brendon got a megaphone and his note said, Snarl into this, it’ll be funny!
Jon got a bottle of that candy spray stuff except we’d scratched off the label and wrote our own, Vampire Spray. His note said, Use this when your band mates go all batty on you!
Spencer got a bottle of bubbles and his note said, Here, be happy, (We got you this cause we really didn’t know what to get and we were running low on money!)
Ryan got walki-talkies and his note said, Here, so you can know where Izzye is! Hey, Devin’s idea, I do NOT agree with this! –Izzye
Rae got hazel contacts and a camera and her note said, Here, so you don’t have to constantly wear sunglasses and so you can take pictures of you new friends! Welcome to the group!
Sheila got a huge pink teddy bear and her note said, Here, to keep you company when we’re on the road, WE LOVE YOU!
For Jimmy, we gave him a photo album filled with pictures of us, him, Skylar and Sheila. It was hard putting it together and both Devin and I cried, but Jimmy needed it. His note said, I don’t blame you for the accident, that’s exactly what it was, an accident. You’re my best friend and I love you, nothing can change that, cheer up man, we got your back!
For Devin, I got him, and this was extremely hard to hide, and bring, so hard, a tiny tiger-stripped kitten. My note to him said, Here you go, one down only four more to go! Devin hugged me and kept thanking me over and over, holding the kitten so delicately.
Devin gave me a homemade book, all stapled together. It took me a second to realize what it was. When we were really young, all four of us, Devin, Jimmy, Skylar and I, had decided to write a book, about four kids who found a magical land. And Devin gave it to me. His note to me said, Bet you haven’t thought about this in a while. Don’t fear princess, we may still find a magical land!
“Thank you so much!” I said, hugging Devin, being careful not to squish his kitten.
I stepped back as everyone laughed and talked, enjoying their gifts. The whole point of getting gifts on F.I.H day is to either give the silliest gifts, or gifts that will mean the world.
“Thank you so much.” Ryan said, suddenly standing beside me. Stupid vampires being able to move stupidly fast, it scared me every time.
“It was Devin’s idea, not mine.” I said. Ryan laughed.
“You guys do this every year?” He asked. I nodded.
“Sometimes more than once a year, if we need to.” I said.
“It seems to work.” He said. It does, every time. At least for one night we all forget our troubles and are happy.