Oh, Calamity

-Katherine’s POV-

The rest of the day was a blur; moving in a slow, but also fast motion. It was like the day went by so fast, yet it felt like forever until I was finally back at Alex’s. I guess I could start calling it home for the time being, considering I was living here for the next month or so. I was doing homework in my room, math homework that was just way too complicated to even deal with, when Alex came home. I heard the front door open and close and heard Alex coming up the stairs. I got up from the bed and walked out into the hallway.

“Why weren’t you at school today? Or really, why did you ditch the whole day after getting there?” I asked, curious to see if he really was with Lisa.

“Why do you want to know?” He asked. What the hell was with that tone? Was he mad at me?

“I was worried about you. So?” I was going to press on, until he spilled out the truth.

“I was with Lisa Ruocco.” Alex said, pushing open his door and walking into his room. I followed him inside.

“Your ex?” He snapped his head at me and glared.

“Who the fuck told you? And how much did they tell you?” Why was he being so cold towards me? Just yesterday he kissed me and was friendly with me.

“Jack, Rian and Kara. Be mad at them all you want, but I’m the one who asked. If you want to really be mad at someone, though, then be mad at the girl who told us you were seen leaving with her and assumed you guys were having sex at her house.” I sat on his bed. “They told me everything. They told me how she broke up with you; how you went without going home for a month because you were partying every night.” Alex stared at me. “Just tell me if it’s true, Lex. Did you really ditch school to go have sex with her?”

“Yes, I did, and we are back together. You’ll be seeing her at our lunch table from now on.” He set down his stuff and pulled out a notebook, pencil and his math textbook; probably to try doing the homework I was struggling with as well or just using homework as an excuse to make me leave. “I need to do this work, Katherine. Can you leave me alone?” Wow. I nodded and left, going back to my room and closing the door. I couldn’t focus on my homework so I called Aaron instead.

“Hey, Kitty Kat, how are you?” Aaron asked when he answered.

“Nothing much, just procrastinating homework. I have a question for you though.” I bit my lip, hoping he would be able to go to the party, or at least, hoping he would want to.

“Ask away.”

“Are you going to the costume party next saturday?” It was silent for one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi…

“I don’t think I can. My parents are going out of town and I have to watch over my little brother. He just turned two and I obviously can’t take him to a party where there’ll be a lot of overly drunk teenagers all over each other.” I could imagine him running a hand through his hair while speaking.

“Oh,” I said. “You never mentioned you had a brother.” Now that I thought about it, he really never did mention it. I knew about his deceased sister, but not his baby brother.

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry. It never came up during our conversations so I kind of forgot to tell you at all.” I smiled and shook my head.

“It’s fine, I know now.” He let out a small laugh.

“I’m sorry about the party too, Kat. I would go if I could. Are you going?” Was I? Jack really wanted me to, and I was kind of curious as to what this party would be like.

“Yeah, I’m going with my friend Jack. He’s one of Alex’s friends who i met on Friday at lunch and he asked if I would go since he’s going and he thought it would be fun for all of us to go.”

“Alright, Kitty Kat. Listen, I got to go and do some homework but I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He said.

“Okay, bye Aaron.”

“Bye.” He hung up and I decided to finish up my math homework before it was too late. I ended up finishing around nine, and I was exhausted. I needed to shower first, so I grabbed my pajamas and headed towards the bathroom. Thankfully no one was occupying it, so I was able to shower quickly and get back to bed. Sleep came easily to me and within seconds of laying down I passed out.

-

The week went by pretty fast, and I found myself getting ready for Jack to pick me up on Saturday morning. Alex had ditched this whole week and didn’t even come home last night. He’s been with Lisa the whole time and I was wondering if I was ever going to meet her. I didn’t want to assume she was a mean person without meeting her first, but I got this vibe that said she was.

“Alexander William Gaskarth! Where were you last night? You had us worried sick!” I heard Isobel yell from downstairs. I guess Alex finally decided to return home. I finished putting on my boots and stood at my doorway, eavesdropping.

“I was at Lisa’s, mom. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Alex replied and I couldn’t tell if he was actually sorry.

“You could have at least called, Alexander.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll stay home.” Once Alex was at the top of the stairs, I came out from my room completely.

“You were at Lisa’s, weren’t you?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“That’s none of your business.” He said, going into his room. I was about to follow him but the doorbell rang and I knew it was Jack so I ran down the stairs and opened the door.

“Kit Kat!!” Jack smiled and hugged me, and I returned it. “Are you ready to go costume shopping?!” He asked excitedly jumping up and down like a little kid. I laughed and nodded.

“Isobel, I’m going shopping with Jack! I’ll be back later.” I yelled so she could hear me.

“Okay, dear! Have fun and be safe!”

“Woo hoo! Let’s get this party started!” Jack cheered as he grabbed my hand and dragged me to his car. We took the half hour drive to the outlets and started looking around the moment we got out of the car. We stopped by Party City and looked around. I finally found a Alice in Wonderland costume that wasn’t a childrens costume. It was a sexy Alice costume but lately I’ve been more confident in my petite body so I went for it. Jack ended up getting a banana costume to which I laughed my ass off.

“Jack can we stop by the mall? I need some shoes and accessories.” I asked, not yet feeling like my costume was completed. I needed shoes to go with the costume and it wouldn’t hurt to get some themed accessories.

“Sure Kit Kat, we might as well. I need some yellow tights.” I covered my mouth to keep myself from laughing. We walked the short distance to the mall and started looking around. I ended up finding some black heels that went perfectly with the dress. I learned from those black wedges that I can walk in heels so I wasn’t afraid to try these. Jack ended up finding his yellow tights that he so desperately needed and I found a white rabbit Alice ring and a ‘Drink Me’ necklace.

Happy with our purchases, we drove back to Alex’s and decided to hang out there. Alex wasn’t coming out of his room for some reason, so we just hung out by ourselves in mine.

“Ten bucks Lisa is in there.” Jack said. I rolled my eyes and flopped down onto the bed. Jack jumped onto the bed and landed next to me. Unlike me, he was on his stomach.

“I don’t know, nor do I care anymore. He’s been acting distant from me and cold hearted towards me ever since he got back together with Lisa.” I ran a hand through my hair and Jack propped himself up on his elbows.

“That’s weird. He was pretty cool before Lisa. I wonder if she knows about the kiss because if she does then she could have told Alex not to talk to you and he would do anything for her.” Jack frowned and flipped so he was laying on his back. I sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed.

“I don’t think she knows, but even if she did I don’t believe that Alex would just up and stop talking to me. Hell, I live across the hallway from him for the time being. It’s not like he can avoid me.”

“Just let him be, I’m sure there’s a reason he’s being like this and he isn’t going to tell any of us why.” Jack sat up and put his arm around me, pulling me in for a hug. “It’ll be fine. He’ll stop being an asshole once he sees that we aren’t in the picture anymore.” I looked up at him.

“What do you mean?”

“If he’s going to be an ass towards us, let’s just get out of his picture. We’ll eat lunch outside and I can tell Rian about the situation so we don’t have to do band practice. We can just start hanging out more until Alex has a problem and he realizes his best friend isn’t there and he can’t talk to the friend that lives with him. That and we’re friends now so it’s not like we’re pretending.” Jack had a point. I did want to hang out with him more, he made me laugh. He was the goofy, care free member of the whole group and his positivity made me smile.

“Okay, sounds like a plan Jacky.” I laughed.

-

All week we avoided Alex as much as possible. Jack and I ate our lunch outside and Rian was in on our plan so he allowed for the band to miss practice since they practiced at his house. He just ended up telling Alex that he wanted some peace and quiet for a while. Apparently the fourth member, Zack, went to a different school but he was also told about this plan so he had no problem with not going to practice. Rian told us he needed to go to the gym anyway.

“Kit Kaaaaattt!” Jack yelled across the courtyard. I laughed as he walked over with his tray of food.

“Hey, Jack.” I smiled.

“Are you ready to party tomorrow?!” He asked excitedly. I nodded.

“I am, but I’m scared too.”

“Why?”

“It’s the first party I’ve ever been invited to, as well as going to.”

“Don’t worry, Kat, I’ll stay with you the whole time.” He said before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“Really?” I asked. He nodded in return and I sighed in relief. There was no way I was going to make it through that party alone. “Do you mind if I come over to your place to get ready? I don’t exactly want to deal with Lisa getting ready at Alex’s.” I had met Lisa briefly on Saturday because she and Jack left at the same time. I tried talking to Alex but he said he didn’t want to talk to me.

“That’s fine. You’ll get to meet Zack because he’s coming too.” Jack smiled. “I’ll make sure one of us is with you at all times. We’ll probably switch off because I like to drink and dance. I promise you though, you won’t be left alone.” I smiled and nodded. I hope Jack keeps his promise.

-

The next day I left for Jack’s around noon, bringing along my costume, shoes and make up. I showered that morning and i decided to let my hair air dry because it became wavy when it did and that was the perfect touch to the outfit.

“Hey Kit Kat, come on in.” Jack said when I arrived. I smiled and walked inside his house. It was nice and new since I’ve never been to his place before. “Zack is in that room, so go in there and I’ll be right back.” I nodded as he pointed to the room and I walked in to find a boy with long black hair sitting on the couch.

“Hey, you must be Zack, the bassist in All Time Low.” I said sitting next to him. He smiled at me and nodded.

“And you must be Katherine, Jack’s new best friend.” I laughed and nodded.

“Yeah well, Alex is being a douche so I’m stepping in for the best friend position. Though now Jack and I are best friends even if Alex stops being a douche canoe.” He laughed and Jack came back with a huge bowl of buttered popcorn.

“I’m going to show you guys my favorite movie today.” He announced proudly. I rolled my eyes, knowing it was Home Alone. We had learned a lot about each other this past week. I knew his favorite bands were Green Day and Blink-182, just like Alex’s and his favorite movies were Home Alone and The Nightmare Before Christmas and his favorite Disney movie was Alladin because Alladin is Arab.

We spent most of the day watching movies and when it hit five o’clock, we started getting ready. I changed into my costume last since it would take the longest. I put on the costume, shoes, and accessories pretty quickly but I took a while to do my make up since it had to be perfect and I had barely any experience with it. My skills come from tutorials on YouTube. When I was done, I exited the bathroom and made my way downstairs.

“Damn, Kat, you look hot!” I rolled my eyes at Jack.

“Down boy.” I joked.

“You do look hot, Katherine, and I’m not saying that to be a disgusting pig.” Zack said and I laughed.

“Well thank you, boys. Jack you look like one sexy banana.” Jack took a bow. Zack was a pirate and he pulled it off well. “You look great too, Zack.” He nodded his thanks and we left for the party. When Jack pulled up to Nick McClain’s house, my eyes went wide. There were people everywhere you looked and the music had been so loud I heard it from down the street. This was actually happening. I was going to a real party, with real people, with real alcohol.

“Come on, Kit Kat.” Jack said as I got out of the car. Once inside the house, I was even more shocked than when I was just a couple moments ago. It was crazier inside and the music was so loud that Jack had to yell at Zack and I. “I’m going to get us some beers! Zack, stay with Kat!” He yelled before running off to go get us some drinks. I smiled at Zack and he asked if I wanted to dance while Jack got our beers. We made our way to the center of the floor and started to dance. I sucked at dancing but everyone was sucking at it also, so I didn’t care much. Jack found us and handed each of us a beer. I didn’t want to seem like a loser, since I’ve never once had a beer in my life, so I took a swig. I nearly spit it out, it was so disgusting, but I forced it down. It burned the back of my throat but I kept drinking it.

It had been an hour and a half since we arrived and Jack was already drunk off of his ass. I was on my fifth beer and I was finally getting tipsy. Zack disappeared somewhere, drunk as well and left Jack and I on the dance floor.

“Kat?” I heard Alex yell as he walked over to Jack and I, with Lisa on his arm. I stopped dancing and Jack stopped as well. “What are you doing here?”

“I came wiff Jack!” I slurred a little.

“Dude, are you drunk?” Alex asked, seeming shocked.

“Noooo, silly. Just tipsy.” I said as I swung back the bottle and took a giant swig.

“Okay, well, good seeing you.”

“What do you meeeaaaann?” I stumbled the short distance to him. “I’ll see you when you later tonight at home.” Lisa shot him a look.

“What does she mean by that?” She asked angrily.

“He didn’t tell you?” I laughed. “I’m living with him temporarily! Careful though, he might try to kiss you if you live with him too.” I hiccupped.

“You kissed her?!” Lisa was furious now.

“No, she kissed me.” What did he just say? That lying asshole! I tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come to my mouth.

“You fucking slut, don’t you dare touch my boyfriend again. I don’t care if you live with him or not, you will not go fucking near him.” Lisa growled at me.

“Are you worried he’ll try kissing me again? Or will look at me? Then what? Will you break up with him again and then five months later sleep with him so he’ll take you ba-” I got cut off. Not by Jack or Alex, but by Lisa. Slapping me square in the face. Alex and Jack looked at us wide eyed.

“You shut your goddamn mouth you fucking skank. Leave Alex alone, or I’ll personally deliver that slap in the form of a punch.” She turned and walked away. I looked at Alex, hoping he’d say something.

“You’re fucking insane, Kat. She actually has feelings for me. Don’t ruin my fucking life just because yours was ruined by your rapist.” Ouch. I felt the tears forming in my eyes as I ran out of that house. I just kept running, ignoring the cries from a following Jack Barakat. I couldn’t believe Alex just said that. I just couldn’t beli- fuck. I tripped and was on my way down to the ground. I landed with a thud and hit my head on the concrete. Jack leaning over me trying to get me to stand up was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.