Lullaby

I said goodbye to chad, dad? I still called him chad, he said that was okay. We made the arrangements to come live with him, all while Jessica was asleep. The band mates were supposed to come over and officially say hi when he came to pick us up. I slowly walked up the stairs. My stomach made a flip. I lived here my whole life. Sure I hated a lot of it, but it was still home.

“ Jessica, Jessica honey wake up. I have a surprise for you” I said softly as I shook her. She slowly started waking up.

“Iris, who was that man who sang to me?” she asked as she stretched and sat up. I smiled.

“that was my dad, he wants us to come live with him” I said softly. She looked at me for a long time. Once it all clicked she jumped up and squealed. She ran down the steps.

“oh hi Kaylie! She's up stairs! Guess what! We got adopted!” I heard Jessica tell Kaylie. I heard footsteps up the stairs. Kaylie barrowled into my room with a smile on her face. I stood up but she just tackled me down with a hug.

“guess who I just saw across the street?!” she happily yelled, I laughed. “oh and you better stay in touch! Or I will come and kick your adoptive fathers ass!”

“he's my real father. He finally found me! And you will never guess who it is” I said happily. She pondered for a minute and shrugged. I pushed her off of me and stood up. “I’ll give you a hint, he sings for a living, the love of your life and” I leaned against the wall and pointed to the poster.

Her eyes widened as she looked from the poster to me, then from me to the poster. “no” she said. I laughed. And nodded. “nuh huh” she said. I laughed.

“if you help me pack, you'll get to meet him.” I bribed her. Without a word she took out my travel bags and pulled me to the ground and we started packing.

about an hour later we were done packing, tears were spilled, laughs still hung in the air. We sat against my bare wall. “I’m gonna miss you Kay” I sniffled. She looked at me and smiled wickedly.

“i won't” my mouth hung opened and I smacked her head. She laughed. “hey you didn't let me finish. I won't because I’ll be over at your place, drooling over your hot dad”

“honey its time to go!” chad said opening the door. He stood in the doorway, his jacket was off and his long sleeves were pushed up. He looked at me and I just started laughing. “this is the Kaylie girl huh” he said.

“yes she is! Oh man I thought she was kidding! Wow” she said getting up, she walked around him and stopped once she was in front of him again. I rolled my eyes. “so since you're my sister's new daddy, then does that make you my dad?”

“uh, not unless you have parent consent” he said. I laughed.

“who knows, maybe you had twins.” she said shrugging. She looked at me and winked. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a bag.

“come on love birds, lets get this show on the road!” I said over my shoulder. I heard chad say something and kaylie giggle nervously. Once again I wasn't paying attention and ran into someone. I fell straight on my butt and winced. Somewhere behind me I heard Kaylie snort with laughter.

“well that was slick” said a deep voice. I looked up to see the man who had answered the door for me before, when I was hurt. I smiled up at him.

“yea its happens.” I said. He held out a hand I took it hesitantly. He helped me up and patted my back. “don't worry kiddo we won't bite” he chuckled. I rolled my eyes.

“that’s good, because I don't taste very well” I said and started walking off to my car. A man that looked like chad was digging around in my trunk. “hey! What are ya doing?!”

he jumped and hit his head on the trunk lid thing. I laughed a little and set my stuff on the ground. The man looked at me and his mouth dropped. “shit! You do look like your father, you talk like your mother though.” he said with a sad laugh. I just stared at him. “I’m mike, I am your amazing uncle.” he said holding out his hand. I shooed it away and gave him a hug. He chuckled and hugged me back.

“what were you doing in my trunk?” I asked as I pulled away from him. He laughed. And moved aside. I looked in and all my stuff was organized. I lifted an eyebrow. “you organized my stuff?” I asked. He chuckled and nodded.

“yea, to fit your stuff, I mean we'll be taking some stuff with us. I just figured you'd want as much of your stuff with you.” he said. Damn, just met him and he already knows me. I laughed.

“guess you're right.” I threw my bag in the car and turned to look at the house. “I’m gonna miss this place. I mean, yea it sucked most of the time, but I lived here my whole life ya know?” I said leaning against the car. Mike threw his arm around my shoulder.

“yea I do. But you'll love it at the house. It's not what you'd expect, we're very mature rock stars.” he said. I laughed.

“yay, no strippers, I was really worried you know, Jessica is only 5 and I don't want her to end up as a crack whore” I said very seriously. I think he knew I was joking though.

“oh, strippers every Thursday. Hey can I ask you a question?” I looked at him. I lifted an eyebrow. “that little girl, Jessica, is she yours?” I stared at him for a long time.

“yes” I said seriously. His jaw dropped. I laughed. “no! You dork! I would have been 13 years old! Man you should have seen your face!” I laughed and walked into the house. We began loading everything into the cars. Which took forever, might I add.

When everything was packed up and ready to go I stared at Janice, tears welling up in my eyes. I hugged her tight, so tight her frail bones might have broke. She sniffled and rubbed my back. I felt someone tug on my shirt. I let go and looked down. Jessica was also about to cry, I picked her up and the three of us hugged again.

“you go live your life. Both of you. Your both brilliant! Go show off to the world.” she said in her frail voice. I sniffled.

“I’m gonna come visit. Every weekend. I promise.” I said. She smiled and nodded. I heard the door open and slam close. Jessica and I winced.

“honey I’m hoooome!” Will slurred. I took a step back and bumped into Chad. He put a protective arm around me and Jessica. It was just us four in the house now, everyone (including Kaylie) were waiting in the cars. “Iris, this ain't no frat house, what the fuck are those people doing in my drive way?!” he slurred every word. I winced again but ignored him.

“goodbye” I said at last. Jessica said goodbye to and hid her face in my neck so she didn't have to see Will. We began walking to the door.

“wait, Iris, I wanna say something to you.” Will said. I stopped and looked at him. I set Jessica down and told her to get in the car. She nodded and did as told. “you can wait outside to” he said to Chad. I grabbed his hand to prevent him from leaving. Although I knew he wouldn't.

“I’ll wait just right here.” Chad said. I looked at him and smiled a thanks. I looked back to Will in time to see a fist flying towards my face. My brain didn't process the action but I was luckily pushed out of the way. I looked up to see what going on and mike and Daniel walked in at the same time. Their faces masked in fury.

oh. Shit.

Chad punched Will in the nose, hard. Will stumbled back and held his nose. Mike helped me up and took me to the car. I looked behind me to see Daniel dragging out chad by the collar of his jacket. I sat in the drivers set in my car.

“Iris? Are you okay?” Jessica's tiny voice said from the back seat. I looked behind me and noticed her booster seat wasn't buckled. I got up and started doing It up for her. “iris?” she asked again. I looked up and smiled.

“yea Jess, I'm okay. Just a little tired. How about you baby-girl? Its been a long day huh?” I said gently. She nodded in agreement. She yawned and snuggled into the booster seat. I grabbed her blanket from off the floor and covered her with it. I kissed her forehead and locked the door and closed it. I leaned against the door and looked at mike and chad. They were both looking at me with matching expressions.

“what?” I said looking between them both.

“oh did I mention? Jessica is Iris's baby” Kaylie said popping out of nowhere. I laughed and nodded.

“oh-Kay Kaylie, I guess now we're off, give me a hug bitch.” I said opening my arms. She hugged me tight.

“you better kidnap me soon, whore” she said to my shoulder. I nodded and laughed.

“i will don't worry. Every Thursday, I’m gonna need my stripper.” I said. She laughed and let go. I heard mike chuckle.

“knuckles.” we tapped knuckles.

“elbows.” we touched elbows.

“heads” we gently head butted each other. It was our form of a secret handshake. We hugged again then she was off into her own car, slowly driving down the road. I looked to chad and mike.

“okay whose riding with me?” I asked. They both stepped forward. I looked around and noticed their car was already gone. Oh so both were riding with me. I turned around and threw up my keys. I heard one of them catch it. I slid into the seat next to Jessica. I grabbed my “HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON” blanket and stretched out in the back. Chad got into the driver side and mike into the passengers. “wait! Wait! Hand me the remote in the glove box” I asked. Mike grabbed it and tossed it to me.

I played around with the controls until “where ever she goes” by Trapt played through the speakers. I smiled and snuggled into the seat.

This is the start of a new adventure.