Shenanigans

Alaina's POV
The next morning...

I went downstairs to get something to eat. I looked at the clock on the microwave. Damn, it's 1 already? I wasted my whole day sleeping. Oh well. I poured a bowl of cereal and walked in the living room and sat on the couch, not noticing the body I sat on until I heard a yelp.
"What the fuck? Who's sitting on me?"
I looked down and laughed.
"Sorry, Mike. What the hell are you doing on the couch?" I asked, standing up. He sat up and I sat back down next to him.
"I guess I collapsed here when I left Rory's. I snuck out after she fell asleep cuz I figured you'd call the national guard if I didn't come home."
"Yeah. Probably. So, you and Rory...what's the deal?" I asked, overly excited about it.
"Well...I apologized, kind of. And...we kissed...and..." He was smiling from ear to ear. I set my bowl down to hear the rest of what I knew he was gonna say.
"AND?!"
"And we're together now!"
I grabbed him and squeezed him.
"MICHAEL RYAN PRITCHARD THIS IS THE GREATEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE!" I squealed.
"Th...thanks. Now, can we continue on with our conversation?"
"Yeah, sorry." I said, letting him go.
"So, what did you do last night?"
"Well I had some visitors. Let's see, Tre called me, freaking out like I was supposed to be lying in a ditch somewhere. Then Adie stopped by in a frenzy over Billie. She was gonna stay the night, but Billie came and they went back to his house and talked things out, or killed each other. And I went to bed and woke up and sat on my brother."
"That's...umm...eventful. Rory's house is amazing."
"Really? She'll have to have us over sometime. Speaking of Rory, she, Adie and I are supposed to have a girl's day out today. You think she's up for it?"
"Probably."
Just then, a cell phone started vibrating on the counter in the kitchen. We looked at each other and then realized it was Mike's. He ran over as quick as he could to get it. I laid down on the couch and turned on the TV. I was trying to catch parts of Mike's conversation, but Spongebob was way too addicting.
"I love you, too, Rory. Bye." He laughed and hung up.
Awww, how cute.
I sat there thinking about how we were all how we should be now. How everyone was with who they were supposed to be with. Finally. I smiled to myself.
The smile faded, when my mom and Vinnie walked in. She dropped her suitcase and stared blankly at Mike and I.
"Michael, Alaina, what in the name of Pete are you doing home?"
"Uhhh...well...that's a good question." Mike stammered.
She was staring us up and down.
"I asked you a question. Why are you two home at 1:30?" We looked at each other, then looked down. "Is there something you need to tell me?" Her gaze fixated on me. She was glaring me down, like she knew something. "You look different somehow. What did you do?"
"N...nothing."
"Alaina, what did you do?" She asked, walking towards me.
"I told you, I didn't do anything!"
She looked me up and down again.
"Are you gaining weight?" She asked, suddenly concerned.
"Umm...yeah, that's it. I...I haven't felt like getting out much lately. Ya know, with the weather and all."
"Alaina, you're huge. You look like you're about 6 months pre-" She froze mid-sentence. She started panicking. "Oh, my Lord. Are you?"
"No." I said, trying to cover myself up. Oh, that was gonna work!
"Yes you are. Oh no. No. No. This cannot be happening." She said, pacing the room with her hands on her head. "Mike. Did you know about this?" She asked. He looked down, with his arms crossed, nodding. "Michael Ryan. I'm ashamed of both of you. Just wait until your father hears about this!" My mom said, walking off into the kitchen.
"You kids are so ungrateful. Your mother does everything she can for you. Then you," he said, glaring at me, "you sleep around and get yourself pregnant."
"Leave her alone!" Mike growled.
"You're gonna talk to me like that, mister? Do you wanna go through that wall?" He said, walking towards Mike. Surprisingly, Mike didn't back down.
"You wanna try it? My mom's in the next room! Usually you wait until she's not around to start knocking the shit out of us."
"Listen to your little mouth. And you wonder why you get hit?"
He walked over to me.
"And if you tell your mother about this, you'll join your little brother in becoming foundation for this house."
"Don't you dare lay a fucking hand on her ever again." Mike said, walking toward him.
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"Just watch your back. Stay off away from my sister, you fucking asshole."
"What'd you call me?"
"I said you're a fucking asshole."
He turned to Mike and shoved him into the wall. Vinnie's face was completely red and he looked like he was gonna beat the shit out of him.
"Say it again so I can make sure you have no breath to say it another time."
I heard Mike swallow really loud and I started crying. They both looked at me Vinnie let him go.
"Your brother is a stupid fuck. You better watch and make sure he doesn't get himself in trouble."
I heard the phone slam on the hook and my mom walked back in.
"Just wait til your father gets here. We're gonna go unpack. You two do what you need to do to get ready for the beating of your lives." She said.
"You mean like the one's Vinnie gives us?" Mike muttered under his breath, just loud enough for only me to hear.
"What was that, Michael?"
"Nothing. Forget it. Get back to your fancy little life and ignore us." He said and stormed off.

Mike's POV
After a half hour or so, I heard my name called. I put my bass back down and went downstairs. My whole family, stepdad and trophy wife of a stepmom included, were in the living room. Our stepsister and our other sister (the one our parents actually had) were there as well.
"Now, can I ask what the huge problem is?" our dad asked. My mom gave him a dirty look and sighed.
"Alaina, stand up." she barked at her. They practically stared a hole through the poor girl
"She's fat...so what? She's always on her ass, what do you expect?"
"No. She's pregnant you dumbass. Obviously, that was one time she wasn't on her ass."
"Yeah, someone was on her's." My stepsister laughed.
"That's not how you get pregnant, you stupid slut." Lane snapped.
"You're one to talk." She said, smirking. She walked over and almost punched her, but my dad pulled her back.
"OK, girls, that's enough."
"Back to the subject on hand. How far along are you?" My mom asked.
"A...almost 5 months. It was homecoming night."
"Who's the father?"
"Tre."
"Who?"
"Frank Wright, mom. Frank Wright is the father." I chimed in.
"Michael, stay out of this."
"No. Get off her back." My mom stared at me, as if in shock that I would talk back. I've always been such a quiet boy, but not anymore. "Maybe if you were a better mother and took a fucking interest in our lives, your daughter wouldn't be pregnant right now." Then I turned to our dad. "And you...you never come into our lives at all. You're always with your new family. You never see us anymore at all except on major holidays. And sometimes not even then. When we call, you're too busy." Then I started pacing the room, flailing my arms angrily as I spoke, my voice growing louder. "Do you even know what's going on in our lives right now? It took you, what, 5 months to find out your daughter is pregnant? Do you know that she's been with Tre since then? Do you know he gave her a promise ring and they're probably happier together than the two of you are with the sad excuses for husbands and wives you chose after you broke up? And me? Do you know that I have the greatest girlfriend ever and that we're gonna be together forever as well? Do you know the trouble I had to go through to get her? Do you know why I had that trouble?" I paused, as if expecting them to answer. "It's because of you! Just because we're adopted, you treat us like shit. We're not taking it anymore!" I yelled and stopped walking. I felt my eyes watering and I felt like a sissy, but I was so angry at them.
The room remained silent. Every eye was glued to me in shock. I breathed heavilly, but I didn't move. Alaina had her head down, trying not to cry. I felt so bad for her.
My mother's mouth opened and closed, as if trying to find the right words to say.
"Michael..." She looked at me, then to my sister. "Alaina... I'm so sorry you feel that way. I... I had no idea." She shook her head, then searched for the words again. "I guess we don't pay as much attention to you guys, like we did before." She wiped some tears from her eyes, then buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry... I should have been here more... For you, for Lane."
I felt the deepest sympathy for my mother right then. I stood and walked over, slowly, towards her and sat besides her, wrapping my arms lovingly around her.
"It's okay, mom... I forgive you..." I whispered, looking over at Lane, who kept her head down.
I just wished I could say the same about my father.

Billie's POV
I heard a slight knock on the door and rolled over, opening my eyes. It was my sister, Anna.
"What do you want?" I asked, still laying there.
"I wanna know what that girl is doing in your bed." She crossed her arms and leaned sideways against the door.
"What gir-" I sat up and looked behind me. Oh yeah.
"Billie, I know you're 18 now, but you need to be careful. Do you even know who that is?"
"It's Adie. She spent the night."
"So, your ex girlfriend spent the night? What's the matter, Bill, was it that good that you needed it back?"
I shoved off the covers and got out of bed, showing her that I still had all my clothes on.
"We didn't have sex." I snapped, going to my dresser and looking at the picture from the night
before.
"Right. The whole putting your clothes back on thing isn't fooling me."
"Anna. We really didn't. She spent the night and we talked about what happened. We aren't even back together yet. Will you just shut the fuck up?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"Whatever, BJ, you're an adult now. It's your life." She said and walked off.
I sighed and looked over at Adie, still sleeping. I guess I should wake her up. I grabbed my
clothes for the day and walked over to the bed.
"Adie. Hey." I whispered, shaking her roughly. She groaned and looked up at me.
"What? Where am I?"
"You're at my house. No, we didnt have sex, but you spent the night."
"I knew that. Ugh, crap, I have no clean clothes. And my mom, oh shit I'm gonna be so dead. What time is it?"
"Umm...3ish. Anna came in and woke us up. Maybe you can borrow some of her clothes and get back home."
"Oh. Thanks." I started to walk out of the room. "Billie?" I turned back around. "I really meant what I said. I still love you. It's February, right? We should all go to prom this year. And I was thinking..."
"Adie, do you wanna go to prom with me?" I asked, smiling.
"I thought you'd never ask!" She giggled.
I walked off towards the towel closet. I really needed a shower. I needed to get rid of what happened last night--the stupid thing I did with Haushinka.
And boy, was it stupid!

A few hours later
I figured I'd give Mike a call. I hadn't heard from him since last night. So much had happened in 24 hours and I hadn't been able to tell my best friend about it. I dialed his house and his dad answered. Not his stepdad, his real dad. Well, the one that had adopted him at least. I asked for Mike and the Mike I got was not my normal, confident, stable Mike. This Mike sounded like his whole family had been ran over by a train while he was forced to stand there and watch.
"Hey Mike, dude, you OK?"
"Yeah. Look, I'm gonna go change phones and go up in my room. Hold on a second." He said and I heard him give the phone to Lane and tell her to hang it up when he got the other phone.
"Sooo, what's wrong?" I asked.
"Umm...well, where do you want me to start?"
"Well, the middle isn't gonna make much sense, so why not start at the beginning?"
"Billie!"
"Sorry, no time for sarcasm. Go on."
"Last night, when I left the not-party and got home, Lane and I had a talk. She helped me convince myself that what happened with Rory was my own fault and that I needed to fix it. I had a fight with Rory at your house and that's partially why we left so early. Then, I went out somewhere and she was there. We talked about some stuff and she took me back to her house. We didn't do anything, we just talked. And we fought. And then we talked some more. I told her I loved her and then we kissed."
"Did you kiss her or did she kiss you?"
"I'm not sure. I think it was mutual."
"Did anything else happen?"
"I told you we didn't do anything. I'm not like you." He snapped.
"Geez, Mike, calm down. I didn't mean it like that."
"Sorry. Now to the bad news. I didn't stay at Rory's all night, I came back home when she fell
asleep cuz you know how my sister is. Especially now that she's having more mood swings that usual.
Neither of us went to school and of course, with our luck, my mom and Vinnie came home. My mom about pissed herself when she finally realized Alaina's pregnant. Vinnie shoved me into the wall and..." He stopped talking and tried to change the subject, like he was gonna hide it from me. It's not like I didn't know, but whatever. "Billie, I think we finally got through to them. My mom, at least. I don't think our dad cares. I don't think Vinnie cares. I need to get Alaina away from Vinnie. He's gonna hurt her. I can tell."
"Look, Mike, if you guys ever need to stay here, you know you're welcome. My mom thinks of you guys as her own. We all know what happens at home, even though you guys try to hide it. You guys really do need to get away from it before something serious happens. I'm here for you, Tre's here for you, Rory's here for you, we're all here for you. Just let us help, OK?"
He sighed. Mike was the one always helping us, not the other way around. I was honestly worried about it.
"Yeah. I know. Look, why don't we just talk about something else right now. What's happening with you?" He asked, half concerned and half angry.
"Um, well, I hooked up with Haushinka. Then Adie left, really mad. And Tre is mad at me, too. But, then I came over your house last night at like 2am and Alaina said you weren't home and I didn't know Adie was over. Then, Adie decided she wanted to talk about what happened, so we went back to my house. We apologized to each other and I told her Haushinka was a mistake and she said Jason was a mistake. Then, we fell asleep and Anna walked in and thought we had sex, but I told her to fuck off and she told my mom and I had to listen to a lecture from her at dinner. But Adie and I are going to prom together. And I was hoping, maybe we could make it another crazy thing and go to prom as a group again? Maybe even rent a limo?"
I heard him laugh.
"This time last year, I never would have seen this happening. All of this. I mean, Tre and Lane. Being an uncle to Tre's kids when i'm 18, being completely in love with someone amazing. You and Adie, just being friends. And most of all, going to homecoming and prom, the most happy day of the year for the popular kids next to Christmas." He paused for a minute and yelled something to someone in the background. "Hey Billie, I have to go. We're about to go out for dinner. I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"
"Yeah, sure Mike. Be careful, OK? Bye." I said and hung up after he said goodbye, too.
I really hoped he was OK. I didn't want to lose my best friend like I lost my father.

Jason White's POV

a few days later

We were all at Rory's house, watching a movie. She decided to have us over since we all knew about her family now. It was the day before her birthday, so we decided to have a little get together like we did at Billie's. I hadn't had an actual conversation with Adie in a few days. When we saw each other at school or when we talked to each other on the phone, it was no longer than 10 minutes at most and she would sound completely distracted or like she was paying no attention to anything I said.
There was no sign of Jesus or Whatsername. I'm sure they were invited; I mean, Jesus was with Rory and Mike was with W. Looking at Mike and Rory, you would never have expected it. They had been unusually close, even more so than when they first met, for the past week or so. Everything seemed so off lately, like maybe things had changed and no one bothered to tell me. The fact that Billie and Adrienne were actually speaking kindly to each other, as kindly as when they were still dating, was really bothersome, too. Billie acted as though he had never met Haushinka in his life and she wasn't even in the room. Blake and Lorraine were sitting on the floor like they were the other night. Tre and I had gotten up to get some drinks for everyone.
"What did Alaina say she wanted again?" he asked, staring at the cases of soft drinks sitting on the counter.
"I have no idea. She's your girlfriend."
"Yeah, but I forgot what she said. Everyone else wanted Coke and then Alaina has to be difficult and order something else just to be difficult. And heaven forbid I get the wrong thing, she might bite my head off. I hate these mood swings. They're so much worse now that's she's pregnant."
"I can imagine." I paused and sighed. "Hey Tre, is there something going on with Billie and Adie?" I asked, staring at them through the doorway. Billie was talking and she was laughing, they were both sitting really close together. It was making my blood boil.
"Well, they're friends again, if that's what you mean. And apparently, they're going to prom
together. We're all going to prom, now, actually." He paused and turned to me. "Wait, Adie is
still your girlfriend, right?"
I sighed and shook my head.
"Who knows anymore." I said and walked in with my half of the drinks and Tre followed. I sat right in between Billie and Adrienne.
"So what movie are we watchin'?" Mike asked. He had his arm around Farore and she had her head on his shoulder.
"I call 'the Wedding Singer'!" Alaina squealed. We all looked at each other and shrugged.
"Fine with me." Rory said and walked over to her DVD rack.
About halfway through the movie, there was a knock at the door.
"Who the fuck is that?" Billie asked to no one in particular. Rory paused the movie and got up to answer it.
It was Jesus and Whatsername. They came together, and something told me they were together, too.
Maybe Mike and W and Rory and J broke up, so Mike was with Rory now and W was with J. These people confused me so badly sometimes.
"Hey babe!" Rory said, hugging Jesus. Maybe they weren't broken up. Maybe she was cheating on him. Like I said, these people are so confusing.
"Get the fuck off me." Jesus said, breaking from her grip. Whatsername grabbed his hand and leaned on him.
"Jason, what the hell?"
"It's not Jason, it's Jimmy. Don't call me babe, either."
Everyone in the room had a completely shocked and horrified look.
"Jimmy? I thought Jimmy-" Tre started
"Shut the hell up, Tre. I'm back, so deal with it."
"Can we talk to Jesus?" Billie asked.
"You can, but he's not gonna answer. Let's just say, he knows how I felt. He's not coming back, however."
"Wh...what do you mean?" Rory asked, horrified.
"I FUCKING KILLED HIM! OK? HE'S DEAD. HE DROWNED IN THAT FUCKING RIVER THAT KILLED ME IN. AND GUESS WHAT?" He yelled and turned to Rory. Mike stood up and walked next to her, to protect her.
"WE'RE OVER. W IS THE ONLY ONE FOR ME. AND AS FOR YOU, MIKE, YOU GUYS ARE OVER, TOO. SHE'S MINE AND I'M HERS. DEAL WITH IT!"
His face was completely red and I thought he was gonna explode. Rory's face was starting to get just as red.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE! I'LL CALL THE COPS OR THE FUCKING PSYCH WARD AND HAVE THEM COME GET YOU AGAIN. STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU FUCKFACE!" she yelled.
Wow, I didn't know someone that small had that much anger. She was breathing heavily and locked in a death staredown with Jimmy or Jason or whoever the fuck he was this week.
"Fine. Let's get the fuck out of here, baby." He said, still staring at Rory, and led Whatsername out of the house with him. Rory just stood there, staring at the door. Mike let her fall into his arms and they hugged for the longest time. She wasn't crying, I think she was just happy that they finally were together. I would be so much happier for them if I didn't have so much going on with my own relationship now. They let go of each other and came back to their seat.
"Huh. Well, that was probably the last thing I expected to happen tonight." Blake said. We all
started laughing.
"So, Mike and Rory. Completely and totally devoted to each other. That totally blows my birthday present out of the water!" Tre said.
"What did you get me, Tre?" Rory said, now completely wrapped under Mike's arm.
"A hug." He smiled.
"Aww. Make sure I get that present before you leave." She smiled and winked at him.
"Are we gonna finish this movie or not?" Alaina asked.
"Sorry!" Rory said and pressed the play button.
After the movie, we all got ready to leave.
"COME HERE!" Tre yelled, running to hug Rory. She giggled and hugged him back. "Happy freakin' birthday!"
"Thanks Tre. Have a safe drive home and don't get anyone else pregnant."
Lane crossed her arms and glared at him.
"He better not." She snapped. Then she walked over to Rory and hugged her. "Bye, Rory. It's
gonna be awesome having you as a sister-in-law."
"Lane, Mike and I are just dat-"
"Trust me, Farore, we're gonna be sisters." She said, smiling. Rory smiled back.
"Bye, sweetie! Love ya!" Adie said, hugging her. I nodded at her and she smiled back.
I wasn't good at the whole hugging strangers thing. Billie did the same. Mike practically sucked her face off.
"MICHAEL RYAN! WE NEED TO GET HOME!" Alaina snapped, tapping her foot.
"Sorry. I love you so much Rory. Happy birthday, honey." He said and they kissed again. We all got in our cars and went home.
When I got to Adie's, she hesistated and sat there a second.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, trying to look at her face. She was looking down and I think she was crying.
"Jason, we need to talk."
Great. Everytime a girl said "We need to talk", it usually never ends good.
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"Look, I'm sorry. I still love Billie. And no offense, but you're like a brother to me. Honestly,
Jason, you can't say yourself that this relationship was going well."
I laughed and shook my head.
"Yeah. You're right. I just thought that maybe, for once, I'd actually have someone. Everyone
else seemed to be all paired up and it was just annoying."
"I'm sorry, Jason. I know what you mean, though. I basically did it to spite Billie. For what
it's worth, you were an awesome boyfriend. Whichever girl you get, and trust me you'll get a girl, will be lucky. Chicks dig guitarists." She smiled.
"Thanks. It's OK, Adie, don't worry. I'll be alright. I knew you weren't over Billie and I kind
of pushed it. I seen it coming."
"One last hug for old times sake?" She asked.
I nodded and we hugged. She opened the door and stood up.
"For the record, I dumped you!" I joked. She shook her head and walked off.
I dropped my head on the back of the seat and sighed. When was it gonna be my turn?

Jimmy's POV
W and I woke up on the floor. It seemed to happen a lot lately. The booze was all over the table and there were random needles on the floor. I wasn't sure if it was all from us or people had came over last night. Hell, I didn't even remember last night. I had remembered Rory saying something about her friends going to her house today for her birthday. Were we still together? I didn't know anymore. I had W, I didn't need anyone else.
"Hey." She said, turning around to look at me. She was so beautiful.
"Hey." I said, kissing her forehead. She smiled and stroked my face.
"What happened?"
"I'm not even sure. Are we supposed to go to Rory's today?"
"Yeah, it's her birthday or something. Looks like we're out of booze and knowing them, they
probably have some."
"Especially if Billie's there. I think that boy can drink his height and weight in vodka."
"It doesn't take much!" We both laughed. "Ugh, you wanna get ready?" She said, sitting up.
"Anything you wanna do, baby." I said, gleaming at her. I got up and helped her up. We cleaned up the mess and got ready. We got in my car and drove off to Rory's. I knew where it was, but I had never been in it. She had been really weird about having people over until her friends from England were at Billie's last week and let it slip out that her parents died. I pulled up to the house and noticed a few cars. I recognized all of them: Rory's, Alaina's, Tre's, Billie's and Adie's. We got out of the car and walked up to the house. I knocked on the door and Rory answered. She grabbed me by the neck and hugged me.
"Hey babe!"
"Get the fuck off me." I said and shoved her off me. She backed away and looked at me and W walked up next to me.
"Jason, what the hell?"
"It's not Jason, it's Jimmy. Don't call me babe, either."
"Jimmy? I thought Jimmy-" Tre started
"Shut the hell up, Tre. I'm back, so deal with it."
"Can we talk to Jesus?" Billie asked.
"You can, but he's not gonna answer. Let's just say, he knows how I felt. He's not coming back, however."
"Wh...what do you mean?" Rory asked, starting to shake.
Didn't they get it? Didn't they understand that he deserved what happened? Didn't they understand I was the victim, not Jesus?
"I FUCKING KILLED HIM! OK? HE'S DEAD. HE DROWNED IN THAT FUCKING RIVER THAT KILLED ME IN. AND GUESS WHAT?" Mike got up and walked over toward Rory, as if I were gonna ever hit a girl. "WE'RE OVER. W IS THE ONLY ONE FOR ME. AND AS FOR YOU, MIKE, YOU GUYS ARE OVER, TOO. SHE'S MINE AND I'M HERS. DEAL WITH IT!"
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE! I'LL CALL THE COPS OR THE FUCKING PSYCH WARD AND HAVE THEM COME GET YOU AGAIN. STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU FUCKFACE!"
Oh, that was a great comeback. She looked as red as I felt. I hated everyone in that room so much right then, even the British people that I didn't even know. We were staring each other down and I grabbed W's arm and started to walk out, not keeping my eyes off Rory.
"Fine. Let's get the fuck out of here, baby."
We walked out and I sped off in my car.
"Jimmy, where are we going?"
"I don't know. I need to get somewhere. Anywhere."
"Maybe we should go back home. I wanna go back home."
"We're going somewhere better than home."
She was silent a minute and turned on the radio. I had her favorite Fall Out Boy CD in and it
blasted. She was smiling.
"Michael didn't know I liked them. That was a huge mistake. I'm glad you're back, J. I missed you so much."
I pulled up to The Point and stopped the car. It was the place where we first were together.
"I missed you so much too. Do you remember what happened the first time we were here?"
She was smiling even more.
"Yeah, yeah I do. And tonight, I think we should recreate it." She said, leaning in to me.