Adventures in Babysitting
Chapter Nine: The First Day
Chapter Nine: The First Day
I woke up too early the next morning. It was, of course, the Monday Adele was starting school, and I was yet to get supplies. Let’s see, what would she need? A bag to put her stuff in, pencils, paper, something for show and tell (if there is one). Damn! Kids need a lot of crap!
I pulled myself out of bed and dragged myself into the living room. I looked up at the digital clock on the DVD player. Fucking 5 am. Why the fuck did I get up so early? Oh right. Cause I save everything for the last minute. That’s why. Heh.
I opened my eyes (which I didn’t know were closed) and saw Gee leaning on the counter. What the fuck?
“What are you doing up?” I grumbled. He looked up at me from his coffee mug.
“I think the question is,” he started, “What are you doing up so early Frank Iero?”
“Answer the damn question,” I told him. He raised a brow.
“You answer mine.”
“Can’t you tell me?”
“I always get up this early. Are you happy?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Cause it’s fucking five in the morning! That’s why,” I told him. Was he stupid? No. He wasn’t. That’s mean to think. Sorry Gee. There. I apologized to him. In my head. Done.
“So, what’s up Sleeping beauty?” Gee asked.
“The fucking ceiling,” I told him, “Too bad it’s not raining school supplies.”
“Waited till the last possible second again huh?” Gerard scolded jokingly. He took another sip of his coffee.
“Shut up okay,” I replied. I looked at the coffee maker, “Ooh. Coffee.” I took the fresh pot from the maker and poured some into a nearby orange mug. Gee took it from me. I whimpered in response.
“Who said you could have any?” Gee asked, holding it away from me. I pouted and made puppy dog eyes. Yes, Frank Anthony Iero, the Skittle-high guitarist of My Chemical Romance who’s best friends with the floor, just made puppy dog eyes. Get over it.
Gerard smiled and handed me the mug. “Yea!” I cheered. I took the brightly colored cup and chugged the coffee, burning my throat in the process. But I didn’t care. I’m awake, that’s all that matters. Though, the burns will probably effect me on stage. But that’s not important now. What is important is coffee. And lots of it.
As I took my second cup, I heard Gee laugh. “I’ve never seen you drink this much coffee,” he told me. I pulled the mug away from my lips and looked at him. “You shouldn’t drink that much.” Oh, and this is coming from the man who drinks eight buckets plus a cup a day! “It stunts your growth.” Oh no he didn’t! He did not play the short card! Prepare to be bitch slapped!
I hit him on the arm jokingly a couple of times while he laughed. “I’m sorry,” he told me, “That was too mean. Plus, I’m an inch taller than you. I can’t say shit.”
“Damn right you can’t,” I replied jokingly. We both laughed. Well, I’m awake and well! After laughing for a few more seconds, Gee smacked my arm jokingly. “What the fuck?”
“That’s for before,” he told me. I chuckled softly. “Ah. Sweet Revenge.” He sipped his coffee again from it’s black mug. We both smiled at each other and laughed.
“By the way,” Gerard started, after we finished our coffee, “Do you want me to go with you to the store? I need some stuff anyway.”
“What kind of ‘stuff?’” I asked him. He shook his head.
“Stuff kind of stuff.” I stared at him. What’s the secret? “Pencils and ink for drawing!” Oh. That secrets not juicy. Boohoo.
“Okay,” I replied. I ran into the bunks quickly to grab some clothes. I quickly threw on my tight black t-shirt and tight dark pants and ran back to the living room. Gee was still standing in the same spot as he was before. Weird.
“Let’s go!” I exclaimed. Gerard nodded and we headed out the door, on our epic journey to Staples!
Again, the walk wasn’t far. It only took us about ten minutes to get there. Luckily, Gerard went there so much, he knew where it was. And what a coincidence how it’s right across the street from Starbucks. Lucky us!
We walked in and were greeted by the usual too cheery for their own good worker. I wonder how much they’d pay you to plaster on a fake smile and say ‘Oh my god! Welcome to Staples! We have a sale on paper today!’ every single day for a few straight hours. They couldn’t pay me enough. No Skittles could cover up that much torture.
Gee and I separated at this point. He went to find pencils and such for himself and Adele. I went on a journey to find a backpack. I scanned the aisles, looking for the backpack one. There had to be one. Come on. It’s fucking Staples! I know they have one!
I gave up after the third time scanning the store. I went up to a random clerk with curly brown hair. “Um, excuse me?” I started. The girl turned around. Her name tag read ‘Mo’.
“C-can I help you?” she asked nervously, but cheerfully all the same. Why didn’t they hire her for the door welcomer. She’d fit the profile perfectly. Her cheeyness is genuine. That’s a twist.
“Um, do you know where the backpacks are?” I asked her. She smiled a wide smile and nodded her head. She then skipped down the aisles with me at her heels. How could she be so cheery this early in the morning. I’m surprised Staples was even open now!
“Here they are!” she told me. I looked at the shelves. Pink, green, and black bags. Cool. This girl knows what she’s doing.
“Thank you,” i told her, smiling. She blushed. Wait...what?
“Um, can I ask you something?” she asked. I know where this is going. i nodded anyway.
“Um...are you Frankie Iero?!”she asked, jumping up and down.
“I’m pretty sure I’m me,” I replied. With that, she jumped up higher and was completely
spazzing out. Yep. I was right. She’s a fan.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe I get to actually meet you HERE! At work! Why work though? Why not on the street. I look prettier outside of work. Red clashes too much! Unless it’s with black,” I stared at her. Is she on ecstasy? She’s really energetic and hyper. I wonder how many Skittles she had? “
“Um, well, my sister and I are big fans as you might have guessed by my reaction. Well, um, I was just wondering if maybe,” she paused for a minute to pull out three pictures of the band. One of only me, and the other two of all of us. “Can you sign these for me, my sister, and her best friend?”
“Um...sure,” I replied. I guess she’s done talking then. I told you today’d be interesting. Huzzah! I’m right again!
I signed the three pictures with me signature. I looked up at Mo. She was blushing like crazy and staring at me. It was kind of...stalkerish. But whatever. I’d do the same if I met my idols too. “Um...what are their names? Your sister and her friend I mean,” I asked her. She smiled wider.
“My sister is Jules,” she told me. I wrote ‘Jules Rules!’ on the picture. I looked up at Mo again. She smiled wider. I expected her cheeks to fall off a while ago. Wow. “And my sister’s best friend is Adele.” Now, what a coincidence that is. I wrote ‘Hey Adele.’ on the other picture I’d signed. I turned to Mo’s and wrote ‘Yo Mo. You’re smile’s awesome. Thanks for the help at Staples!’ and capped the sharpie I was using.
“Thank you sooooo much!” she said. She hugged me and skipped off. I hope she doesn’t sell those on eBay. That would suck. I saw her run over to the pencil section in the distance. Look out Gee, here she comes!
I pulled a green messenger bag off of the shelf. It was okay I guess. I looked at the price. OH SHIT!
I’m not buying that! It’s too expensive. I looked at the other bags on the shelves. All the same price or higher. What the fuck? Why’s everything so damn expensive? I’m not buying this shit!
I walked over to Gerard after a couple of minutes, to make sure it was a Mo-free zone. I looked at Gee when I found him hiding behind a printer box.
“Is she gone?” he asked me. I looked around. No Mo in sight.
“Yea,” I replied, “Why are you hiding behind that box?”
“Because Mo tried to practically kidnap me after I signed those photos,” he told me, his eyes growing wider, “And there was no place else to hide.” He got up cautiously, pens and pencils in hand and looked at my empty ones. “Where’s the bag?”
“I’ll just let her use my old one,” I told him, “I can’t afford a bag here.”
“That’s pretty sad,” Gee told me, “What? Did the prices go up?”
“Yea, Fucking fifty dollars for one bag!” I complained, “They were cheaper when I went to school.” Gee laughed. “What?”
“You sound like an old man,” he told me. I pushed him playfully as he started cracking up.
“Says the old man himself,” I replied.
“Ooh. That’s cold,” Gerard put his hand to his heart, “Besides, thirty’s not that old.”
“Yea. For trees.”
“You’re only old when you act old!”
“Yea. Whatever.”
“And look at it this way,” he smirked, “You’ll be thirty in five years. So you can’t say shit!”
“Yea, but you’ll be thirty-five. You’ll almost be over the hill,” I alerted him.
“Oh, fuck you,” he told me. He hit my arm as I laughed.
“Sorry,” I told him, ”The age comment was mean. The first one anyway. The last one, I was just stating a fact. Do you need help with your math Gee?”
He pushed me jokingly again as we walked back to the counter to pay for our stuff. Sad to say, Mo was our clerk.
++++++++++++++++++++
I held Adele’s hand as we walked to the kindergarten door. It was covered in glitter and stick on Caterpillars, along with a big ass sign that said ‘Welcome to School!’. I get the feeling this teacher must be a girl. But hey, I’m just guessing!
I kneeled down on the floor to look at Adele. She looked so cute in her Dead Rabbit t-shirt, oversized sweatshirt and red heart headband. Lucky for me, she liked my old messenger bag, which was covered in The Misfits and Queen pins and patches. Home Economics does you good.
“Okay, have a good day okay?” I said to her. She looked at me with big green eyes.
“You’re not going in with me?” she asked. I smiled at her softly.
“I can’t. I’ve already gone to school,” I told her. I hated school. I hope she doesn’t hate it too. That would suck.
“Okay,” she replied.
“Behave,” I told her. My mom always managed to tell me that in school. So hey, let’s make it a tradition, right?
“Okay.”
“Stick close to your friends.”
“Okay.”
“All right,” i told her, “I’m gonna go. Have a good day.” Before I knew it, Adele and I were hugging each other tightly. When we pulled away, she waved goodbye and walked into the colorful classroom.
I went back to the bus after that. Again, walking distance. Everything’s walking distance in Jersey. Well, except New York, but you get my point!
It was dead quiet in the van. It freaked me out. I looked around. “Hello?” I yelled. Silence. “Hey, if you guys aren’t dead, could you at least tell me?” Nothing. This is fucking creepy. I ran around the bus until I could no longer breath. I collapsed onto the couch and leaned my head back. I noticed something taped on the window. A note.
I peeled the note off of the glass carefully and read its contents. According the the handwriting, it was Gee:
Dear Frankie,
We’ve taken ourselves hostage and are hiding at Starbucks. If you ever want to see us again, meet us there soon (if you want..). If you don’t arrive, we will be forced to wait here for you until you do. Bwhaha!
The Handsome Kidnapper who’s not an old dude,
Gerard!
(PS: Bring the ransom if you want coffee. And I know you do. I’m not paying for you this time.)
Okay then. How weird can they get? Oh well. They’re my friends, and I love them all to death. Even Bob. But I’ll wait a little bit until I go to Starbucks. Sorry Gee.
I lay on my bed (which was piss free thanks to Gerard!), I thought. I thought about Gerard, the concert next weekend, and Adele. I really hope she’s okay at school. What if kids make fun of her like they made fun of me? What if the teacher hates her or she gets blamed for something she didn’t so? What if she trips and hurts herself on the playground and no one’s there to help her up? What if she starts to miss me?
Wait. Do I miss her? Is this what it’s like to be a worrisome father. I’m not even her father. Marc is! But still. She did call me Daddy the other night in her sleep.
Too many What Ifs? Too many questions in general. I shouldn’t dwell on this. Marc’s gonna come and take Adele back home and she’ll be gone forever. The chances of me seeing her after that are slimmer than Mikey. But again, I shouldn’t dwell on this. I looked over at the clock on the wall. Eleven thirty.
Well, I guess it’s time to go save the hostages...
I woke up too early the next morning. It was, of course, the Monday Adele was starting school, and I was yet to get supplies. Let’s see, what would she need? A bag to put her stuff in, pencils, paper, something for show and tell (if there is one). Damn! Kids need a lot of crap!
I pulled myself out of bed and dragged myself into the living room. I looked up at the digital clock on the DVD player. Fucking 5 am. Why the fuck did I get up so early? Oh right. Cause I save everything for the last minute. That’s why. Heh.
I opened my eyes (which I didn’t know were closed) and saw Gee leaning on the counter. What the fuck?
“What are you doing up?” I grumbled. He looked up at me from his coffee mug.
“I think the question is,” he started, “What are you doing up so early Frank Iero?”
“Answer the damn question,” I told him. He raised a brow.
“You answer mine.”
“Can’t you tell me?”
“I always get up this early. Are you happy?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Cause it’s fucking five in the morning! That’s why,” I told him. Was he stupid? No. He wasn’t. That’s mean to think. Sorry Gee. There. I apologized to him. In my head. Done.
“So, what’s up Sleeping beauty?” Gee asked.
“The fucking ceiling,” I told him, “Too bad it’s not raining school supplies.”
“Waited till the last possible second again huh?” Gerard scolded jokingly. He took another sip of his coffee.
“Shut up okay,” I replied. I looked at the coffee maker, “Ooh. Coffee.” I took the fresh pot from the maker and poured some into a nearby orange mug. Gee took it from me. I whimpered in response.
“Who said you could have any?” Gee asked, holding it away from me. I pouted and made puppy dog eyes. Yes, Frank Anthony Iero, the Skittle-high guitarist of My Chemical Romance who’s best friends with the floor, just made puppy dog eyes. Get over it.
Gerard smiled and handed me the mug. “Yea!” I cheered. I took the brightly colored cup and chugged the coffee, burning my throat in the process. But I didn’t care. I’m awake, that’s all that matters. Though, the burns will probably effect me on stage. But that’s not important now. What is important is coffee. And lots of it.
As I took my second cup, I heard Gee laugh. “I’ve never seen you drink this much coffee,” he told me. I pulled the mug away from my lips and looked at him. “You shouldn’t drink that much.” Oh, and this is coming from the man who drinks eight buckets plus a cup a day! “It stunts your growth.” Oh no he didn’t! He did not play the short card! Prepare to be bitch slapped!
I hit him on the arm jokingly a couple of times while he laughed. “I’m sorry,” he told me, “That was too mean. Plus, I’m an inch taller than you. I can’t say shit.”
“Damn right you can’t,” I replied jokingly. We both laughed. Well, I’m awake and well! After laughing for a few more seconds, Gee smacked my arm jokingly. “What the fuck?”
“That’s for before,” he told me. I chuckled softly. “Ah. Sweet Revenge.” He sipped his coffee again from it’s black mug. We both smiled at each other and laughed.
“By the way,” Gerard started, after we finished our coffee, “Do you want me to go with you to the store? I need some stuff anyway.”
“What kind of ‘stuff?’” I asked him. He shook his head.
“Stuff kind of stuff.” I stared at him. What’s the secret? “Pencils and ink for drawing!” Oh. That secrets not juicy. Boohoo.
“Okay,” I replied. I ran into the bunks quickly to grab some clothes. I quickly threw on my tight black t-shirt and tight dark pants and ran back to the living room. Gee was still standing in the same spot as he was before. Weird.
“Let’s go!” I exclaimed. Gerard nodded and we headed out the door, on our epic journey to Staples!
Again, the walk wasn’t far. It only took us about ten minutes to get there. Luckily, Gerard went there so much, he knew where it was. And what a coincidence how it’s right across the street from Starbucks. Lucky us!
We walked in and were greeted by the usual too cheery for their own good worker. I wonder how much they’d pay you to plaster on a fake smile and say ‘Oh my god! Welcome to Staples! We have a sale on paper today!’ every single day for a few straight hours. They couldn’t pay me enough. No Skittles could cover up that much torture.
Gee and I separated at this point. He went to find pencils and such for himself and Adele. I went on a journey to find a backpack. I scanned the aisles, looking for the backpack one. There had to be one. Come on. It’s fucking Staples! I know they have one!
I gave up after the third time scanning the store. I went up to a random clerk with curly brown hair. “Um, excuse me?” I started. The girl turned around. Her name tag read ‘Mo’.
“C-can I help you?” she asked nervously, but cheerfully all the same. Why didn’t they hire her for the door welcomer. She’d fit the profile perfectly. Her cheeyness is genuine. That’s a twist.
“Um, do you know where the backpacks are?” I asked her. She smiled a wide smile and nodded her head. She then skipped down the aisles with me at her heels. How could she be so cheery this early in the morning. I’m surprised Staples was even open now!
“Here they are!” she told me. I looked at the shelves. Pink, green, and black bags. Cool. This girl knows what she’s doing.
“Thank you,” i told her, smiling. She blushed. Wait...what?
“Um, can I ask you something?” she asked. I know where this is going. i nodded anyway.
“Um...are you Frankie Iero?!”she asked, jumping up and down.
“I’m pretty sure I’m me,” I replied. With that, she jumped up higher and was completely
spazzing out. Yep. I was right. She’s a fan.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe I get to actually meet you HERE! At work! Why work though? Why not on the street. I look prettier outside of work. Red clashes too much! Unless it’s with black,” I stared at her. Is she on ecstasy? She’s really energetic and hyper. I wonder how many Skittles she had? “
“Um, well, my sister and I are big fans as you might have guessed by my reaction. Well, um, I was just wondering if maybe,” she paused for a minute to pull out three pictures of the band. One of only me, and the other two of all of us. “Can you sign these for me, my sister, and her best friend?”
“Um...sure,” I replied. I guess she’s done talking then. I told you today’d be interesting. Huzzah! I’m right again!
I signed the three pictures with me signature. I looked up at Mo. She was blushing like crazy and staring at me. It was kind of...stalkerish. But whatever. I’d do the same if I met my idols too. “Um...what are their names? Your sister and her friend I mean,” I asked her. She smiled wider.
“My sister is Jules,” she told me. I wrote ‘Jules Rules!’ on the picture. I looked up at Mo again. She smiled wider. I expected her cheeks to fall off a while ago. Wow. “And my sister’s best friend is Adele.” Now, what a coincidence that is. I wrote ‘Hey Adele.’ on the other picture I’d signed. I turned to Mo’s and wrote ‘Yo Mo. You’re smile’s awesome. Thanks for the help at Staples!’ and capped the sharpie I was using.
“Thank you sooooo much!” she said. She hugged me and skipped off. I hope she doesn’t sell those on eBay. That would suck. I saw her run over to the pencil section in the distance. Look out Gee, here she comes!
I pulled a green messenger bag off of the shelf. It was okay I guess. I looked at the price. OH SHIT!
I’m not buying that! It’s too expensive. I looked at the other bags on the shelves. All the same price or higher. What the fuck? Why’s everything so damn expensive? I’m not buying this shit!
I walked over to Gerard after a couple of minutes, to make sure it was a Mo-free zone. I looked at Gee when I found him hiding behind a printer box.
“Is she gone?” he asked me. I looked around. No Mo in sight.
“Yea,” I replied, “Why are you hiding behind that box?”
“Because Mo tried to practically kidnap me after I signed those photos,” he told me, his eyes growing wider, “And there was no place else to hide.” He got up cautiously, pens and pencils in hand and looked at my empty ones. “Where’s the bag?”
“I’ll just let her use my old one,” I told him, “I can’t afford a bag here.”
“That’s pretty sad,” Gee told me, “What? Did the prices go up?”
“Yea, Fucking fifty dollars for one bag!” I complained, “They were cheaper when I went to school.” Gee laughed. “What?”
“You sound like an old man,” he told me. I pushed him playfully as he started cracking up.
“Says the old man himself,” I replied.
“Ooh. That’s cold,” Gerard put his hand to his heart, “Besides, thirty’s not that old.”
“Yea. For trees.”
“You’re only old when you act old!”
“Yea. Whatever.”
“And look at it this way,” he smirked, “You’ll be thirty in five years. So you can’t say shit!”
“Yea, but you’ll be thirty-five. You’ll almost be over the hill,” I alerted him.
“Oh, fuck you,” he told me. He hit my arm as I laughed.
“Sorry,” I told him, ”The age comment was mean. The first one anyway. The last one, I was just stating a fact. Do you need help with your math Gee?”
He pushed me jokingly again as we walked back to the counter to pay for our stuff. Sad to say, Mo was our clerk.
++++++++++++++++++++
I held Adele’s hand as we walked to the kindergarten door. It was covered in glitter and stick on Caterpillars, along with a big ass sign that said ‘Welcome to School!’. I get the feeling this teacher must be a girl. But hey, I’m just guessing!
I kneeled down on the floor to look at Adele. She looked so cute in her Dead Rabbit t-shirt, oversized sweatshirt and red heart headband. Lucky for me, she liked my old messenger bag, which was covered in The Misfits and Queen pins and patches. Home Economics does you good.
“Okay, have a good day okay?” I said to her. She looked at me with big green eyes.
“You’re not going in with me?” she asked. I smiled at her softly.
“I can’t. I’ve already gone to school,” I told her. I hated school. I hope she doesn’t hate it too. That would suck.
“Okay,” she replied.
“Behave,” I told her. My mom always managed to tell me that in school. So hey, let’s make it a tradition, right?
“Okay.”
“Stick close to your friends.”
“Okay.”
“All right,” i told her, “I’m gonna go. Have a good day.” Before I knew it, Adele and I were hugging each other tightly. When we pulled away, she waved goodbye and walked into the colorful classroom.
I went back to the bus after that. Again, walking distance. Everything’s walking distance in Jersey. Well, except New York, but you get my point!
It was dead quiet in the van. It freaked me out. I looked around. “Hello?” I yelled. Silence. “Hey, if you guys aren’t dead, could you at least tell me?” Nothing. This is fucking creepy. I ran around the bus until I could no longer breath. I collapsed onto the couch and leaned my head back. I noticed something taped on the window. A note.
I peeled the note off of the glass carefully and read its contents. According the the handwriting, it was Gee:
Dear Frankie,
We’ve taken ourselves hostage and are hiding at Starbucks. If you ever want to see us again, meet us there soon (if you want..). If you don’t arrive, we will be forced to wait here for you until you do. Bwhaha!
The Handsome Kidnapper who’s not an old dude,
Gerard!
(PS: Bring the ransom if you want coffee. And I know you do. I’m not paying for you this time.)
Okay then. How weird can they get? Oh well. They’re my friends, and I love them all to death. Even Bob. But I’ll wait a little bit until I go to Starbucks. Sorry Gee.
I lay on my bed (which was piss free thanks to Gerard!), I thought. I thought about Gerard, the concert next weekend, and Adele. I really hope she’s okay at school. What if kids make fun of her like they made fun of me? What if the teacher hates her or she gets blamed for something she didn’t so? What if she trips and hurts herself on the playground and no one’s there to help her up? What if she starts to miss me?
Wait. Do I miss her? Is this what it’s like to be a worrisome father. I’m not even her father. Marc is! But still. She did call me Daddy the other night in her sleep.
Too many What Ifs? Too many questions in general. I shouldn’t dwell on this. Marc’s gonna come and take Adele back home and she’ll be gone forever. The chances of me seeing her after that are slimmer than Mikey. But again, I shouldn’t dwell on this. I looked over at the clock on the wall. Eleven thirty.
Well, I guess it’s time to go save the hostages...