In Your Eyes

“Don’t you ever say that again you ungrateful brat”, she sneered.

“Sorry mom”, I said through gritted teeth. I was going to tell her to stay here because Chloe needed a woman-figure and I needed to act more like a guy but now, I regret even thinking about it. So I walk out the kitchen but she suddenly yells out, “You and Chloe are going with us to London next week.”

“L-London?!”

“Yes, London. Now go tell your sister it’s almost time to blow the candles.”

I was just about to tell her I didn’t want to go but Chloe called.

“Frankie! Your friends are all here!”

Walking up to her, I see something different in her eyes.

“Thanks princess but are you okay?”

“Of course. Now I’m going to go play with Sarah and the new teddy Gerard and Mikey gave me!”

Off my sister ran and Mikey and Gerard walked over.

“You guys feel anything different with my sister?” I asked them, my eyes not leaving my sister.

“Nope”, Came Gerard’s reply but Mikey answered, “Well...it looked like she was about to cry when she bumped into me…”

This caught my attention and I was about to ask more questions but Cody called us over to the table. On our way over, I started thinking about leaving. I’ll be leaving my three best friends in a week and I’ll probably never see them again.

Mikey and his unicorn love, Gerard and his drawings and Cody with his…everything. Let me mention this now. I’m bi and crushing on my best friend. I’ll never have a chance with him again and I have to leave them and I’ll have to make new friends but no one else will understand me…my mom doesn’t.

I felt a lump rising in my throat as my sister ran by with Cody’s younger sister, Amanda. What will happen to Chloe when we move? She’ll have to deal with everything and adjust. It took years of finding out how to tell her that mom and dad won’t be coming home for Christmas unlike all her other friends. It was hard telling her we couldn’t have huge parties because mom and dad were gone. Just last year, she screamed “I hate you” because she didn’t have a guardian to take her to their zoo trip.

~Flashback~
“Frankie, we’re going to the zoo in a few days!”

“That’s great Chloe! Did the teacher give you paper stuff for it?”

“Yeah! She said to give it to our parents so are we going to mail it to them?”

“Uhm…no…just give it to me and we’ll check it before we give it t grandpa okay?”

“Sure!”

She ran to her room and took the forms a parent or guardian had to sign and gave it to me.

“Take a seat Chloe and let’s read it together okay?”

“Okay!”

I sat on the couch and she sat on my lap and leaned on my chest.

“Dear Mr/Mrs. Iero,

We would like to inform you that on April 13, your daughter Chloe Antoinette Iero will be joining our trip to the zoo however, we must also request that a guardian 18 years or older come along as the teacher will most likely be busy attending to the needs of the other children. Attached below is a form to be sent back to us through your child.

Thank you for your time and cooperation. We hope to see you there.”

Chloe looked up at me and asked,” Frankie, what do they mean a guardian has to come along?”

“It means someone that is old enough should go with you so that the teacher won’t have such a hard time.”

“Who’ll be my guardian?”

“Uhm…no one I guess. I don’t think you can go. I’m not old enough and grandpa would be at work.”

She turned around and knelt on me, pleading, “Frankie, I want to go! My friends will all be there and our teacher said there would be lots of birds! I want to see the birds Frankie!”

“Chloe, you have to understand that you can’t get everything you want.”

She jumped down and darted up the stairs but before she reached the top, she faced me and screamed so loud, “I hate you!”

It must have been so loud because her words were echoing all around the empty house. It was probably loud enough to break my heart. Loud enough that for the rest of the night, it was the only think I could hear.

The next day, I went to her school and talked to her teacher. I cried there too. Of course, the teacher made her go because she felt sorry for me. In her words, “I’ll make Chloe go because it is so obvious you care about her so much that her tantrum hurt you so much. Just have your grandfather sign the form dear.”

Chloe never said sorry though. Instead, she went to the zoo and bought me a small teddy bear from their souvenir shop using her savings. She named the teddy bear Alan Apology and she told her friend’s mom about us, that Mrs. Sander knitted a red sweatshirt for it with the words “I’m Sorry”.
~End of Flashback~

Something hot touched my face and then I realized Cody was wiping away my tears.

“It’s okay Frank. Everything’s going to be okay with you and Chloe. She’ll tell you soon what’s bothering her.”