I Knew Babysitting Paid, But It Finally Paid Off

-Manda's POV-

"I'm coming over Kristen. Just don't do anything stupid. And don't hang up!" I screamed into my iPhone, praying she would listen to me.

"Bye Manda. Love you best friend." She slurred, and abruptly hung up.

"NO!" I screamed, running out the door to my car. Neighbors were staring at me rush down the steps and into the driver's seat, but I didn't care. The entire drive to K's house I drove like a mad woman. Let's just be thankful there were no cops around.

I sped into the driveway and raced up the stairs, fumbling with the key and lock.

"KK!" I screamed, running down the hall to the kitchen. There was an empty bottle of tequila knocked over on the rug, the rest of the contents soaked into it. Uh oh. A drunk and depressed Kristen is not good.

My thoughts were racing as to where she could be, until I heard a sob coming from the bathroom. My face went white and only one thing cam to my mind. Pills. Thats where her family kept all of their prescriptions.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I mumbled, thinking fast. Knowing KK, the doors locked, so I can't just barge in. AHA! I'll call Joe. Maybe he can think of something.

I pulled my phone from my bag and found him in my contacts and hit send.

Ring... ring... ring... ring... ring...

"C'mon! Answer already!" I said angrily into the receiver.

"Hello?" Joe said, finally answering the damn phone.

"JOE!
HELP! KK'SDRUNKANDSHE'SDEPRESSEDANDLOCKEDINTHEBATHROOMTHATHASALLTHEPRESCRIPTIONPIL-LSANDITHINKSHE'SGONNATRYTOKILLHERSELF!" I screamed, saying it all in one breath. The reality of what I said started to sink in and the tears were threatening to spill over any second.

"What? Manda calm down a little bit and tell me again. This time slower." Joe said. I could tell he was getting nervous.

I took a deep breath. "KK is drunk and she's depressed and locked in the bathroom with all the prescription pills in it and I think she's gonna try to... " I broke off, a sob interrupting my sentence. "Joe, you gotta do something. I can't lose my best friend! She'll listen to you! FIX IT!"

"Oh my God. Okay, um. I cant believe this is happening." Joe said, starting to freak out. I hope he can think of something. We don't have much time. "Okay I've got it. Put your phone on speaker and and slide it under the door." He sounded almost more anxious than me.

-My POV-

I was staring at my bloodshot eyes when something hit my foot. I looked down to see Manda's iPhone. When did she get here? I didn't hear her come in. Wait. Its in the middle of a call. And its on speaker phone. What's going on?

"We don't have time left to regret. And we'll take more than common sense. So stop your wondering, and take a stand. Cause there's more to life than just to live. Cause an empty room can be so loud. There's too many tears to drown them out. So hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. One single smile, a helping hand. Its not that hard to be a friend. So don't give up stand till the end. Cause there's more to life than just to live. Cause an empty room can be so loud. There's too many tears to drown them out. So hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on."

That's Joe's voice. Oh my God. That's JOE'S voice! What the hell? I don't get this. Why is he singing to me?

"When you love someone, and they break your heart, don't give up on love. Have faith, restart. Just hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. When it falls apart and your feeling lost, all your hope is gone. Don't forget to hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on."

The reality of those lyrics in my situation made me drop the pills down the sink in shock. No, I wasn't supposed to do this. I shouldn't do this. Its wrong, not right. I set the vodka down on the counter and the tears started again.

I went over to the door and unlocked it. I sank to the floor, clutching the iPhone closer to my ear and just bawled.

Manda opened the door and saw me just sitting there crying, Joe's voice still singing to me, soothing me. She was crying, too. She sat next to me, pulling me into a hug.

"Manda?" Joe's voice said. She accepted the phone from me and took it off speaker.

"Yeah, she's okay... Thanks for doing that... What? No, you can't do that to your fans!... Okay, okay. I honestly don't know how she's gonna react." Manda said, glancing at me. "Yeah, listen Joe, I've gotta go. Yup. See you later." She hung up her phone and put it in her pocket.

I had so many questions. Joe can't do what to his fans? Manda doesn't know how I'll react to what?

I wiped my eyes and looked over at Manda and let out a huge yawn.

"What wonderful comic relief." She laughed. "C'mon KK. You should probably sleep off all that alcohol." She said, looking over at the vodka bottle on the counter. I nodded and she helped me get up. It took a while to get up to my room, what with me tripping and stumbling all over the place.

Finally though, we reached my room. I fell into my bed, crawling under the covers. I drifted off to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.