Learn to Spell, God!

Darren’s POV

I was upstairs when the doorbell rang. I peered through the drapes in my bedroom and saw a black bus parked on the road. Confused, I ran down the stairs and yanked the door open. I froze on the spot when I saw who had rung the doorbell.

“Hi Darren.” She said, quieter than I’d ever heard her speak before.

“H…hi.” I stuttered, taking in her appearance. It was as if she’d never gone away, she was still as beautiful as I remember.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” I moved aside and let her enter.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve suddenly returned, and why there’s a big black bus parked outside, huh?” You got it in one there, Jenn.

“You could say that, yeah.” I replied.

“Alrighty then. When I arrived in Venice, four girls took me and Kirk under their wing and looked after us, so to speak. We formed a band, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. In October, one of the girls spelt an AIM username wrongly, and ended up talking to Synyster Gates. Avenged Sevenfold invited us on tour, and here we are, it’s our day off and we played in Toronto last night, so they decided that I could have today to see you guys.” She explained. I didn’t take much of it in.

“Right. So, you’re in a band, touring with Avenged Sevenfold. You played in Toronto last night, and now you’re in Hamilton to see your old friends?” I verified.

“Yup, pretty much.” She shrugged.

“Wow, you’ve changed Jenn, you really have.” I told her.

“Not majorly, not really.”

“If you say so… Were you planning on staying here and socialising for a while, or were you gonna disappear and see other people?” I asked, innocently.

“Well, I was kinda hoping that you could call people and tell them to meet us at the skate park?” She enquired.

“Sure, I can do that. I’m guessing that, seeing as people are hovering outside of the bus, they’re waiting for you to tell them what’s happening?” I questioned, she nodded and walked outside, presumably to tell fill them in on today’s events, leaving me to call people.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and began scrolling though my contacts list, stopping when I found the person I was searching for. I pressed the call button, and waited.

“Hey Matt.”

“Hi Darren, what’s with the call? You never call.” Always with the suspicion, some things never change.

“I have news.”

“You can’t just say that. What’s the news?”

“She’s back.”

“Who?”

“Guess.”

“I don’t know, the queen of Sheba?” Sarcastic as always.

“Not a bad guess actually. Jenn’s back for a visit.”

“She is?! Wow!”

“Yeah, she looks amazing. She told me to tell you to come to the skate park.”

“Okay then, will do.”

“Could you call Alecia and Chrystal and tell them, please? I’ve gotta call Amber and tell her.”

“Sure, no problem. See you there.” He hung up, leaving me to call Amber and relay the information to her.

When I had finished my call to Amber, I looked up and saw Jenn and nine other people standing in the doorway. The five guys she was with looked slightly dangerous, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of them. The girls? Well, they looked pretty harmless. Maybe, if I’m lucky, one of them’ll like me.

It turns out, Jenn’s new friends were planning on following her to the skate park. Fair enough, right? But what I wasn’t planning on was Jenn being with one of them. That totally ruined my day.

The skate park was buzzing with activity when we arrived. Of course, our arrival did cause a lot of controversy. That’s the way it works here. Wouldn’t you stop and stare if someone you knew turned up with five intimidating men, four girls you’ve never seen before and one of your old friends? I would.

I didn’t even see Amber standing there, but Jenn obviously did. She ran straight past me and jumped on top of her, as if she never wanted to let go again. A tear ran down Ambers face as she embraced the girl she used to be so close to, nothing’s changed at all. Jenn let go of Amber and they started talking animatedly, until something caught Jenn’s attention.

“Oh my god! Justin!” She dashed off in the direction of one of the ramps and launched herself onto one guy’s back. Out of the corner of my eye, the tallest guy she had arrived with winced. I allowed myself a smug smile.

It wasn’t until Matt, Chrystal and Alecia turned up that people noticed Avenged Sevenfold. It was Chrystal who attracted attention towards them.

“Jennifer Dula! Why are Avenged Sevenfold here?!” Jenn turned her head away from the conversation she was having with Justin and walked over to Chrystal and Alecia.

“Why are Avenged Sevenfold here? Avenged Sevenfold are here ‘cause me and the rest of my band are here.” She told them cryptically.

“Yes Jenn. That explains so much.” Alecia rolled her eyes.

“Riiight. Tell me, have you heard of Pure Poison?” Jenn posed.

“Yeah, they’re Avenged Sevenfold’s support band. Why?” Matt joined the conversation. Jenn smiled knowingly and went and stood with the group of people who she had bought with her today. Everyone’s, including mine, jaws dropped simultaneously.

“Holy shit!” Amber, Alecia and Chrystal exclaimed at the same time.

“Huh?” Jenn looked ever so slightly confused.

“We were on your MySpace yesterday! We didn’t even realise it was you in the pictures! We just thought you looked like you,” Alecia laughed nervously.

“Well, what can I say really?” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“You can tell us if it’s true as a start,” Chrystal probed.

“If what’s true?” Jenn’s eyebrows knitted together as she racked her brain.

“You and Jimmy!” Amber exclaimed.

“Yup, that be true indeed.” Jenn confirmed. Amber’s eyes lit up as she fixed her gaze on one of the band members.

“So, you play gynaecologist, huh?” She snickered.

“I, erm,” One of the guys started to say, but was cut off.

“Only mine, love.” The girl with blue-tinted hair bit. Amber glared at her before Jenn’s ginger friend broke the silence.

“Strawberries are good. Can we get some strawberries?” The other eight of them laughed at her and nodded, signalling to Jenn that they were going before walking away.

***

“This may be the best tasting strawberry in the world, but you won’t know, ‘cause you didn’t try it.” I heard a voice laugh from behind me. I didn’t need to turn to know that Jenn’s entourage had returned, unfortunately. Someone giggled before the same voice as before growled.

“Brian! No attacking Sophie! She’ll gouge your eyes out slowly and painfully.” The blonde laughed.

“Wha’? Sophie, you’d never do that to me, would you?” ‘Brian’ asked, giving ‘Sophie’ puppy dog eyes.

“It all depends on what you’ve done.” ‘Sophie’ replied before laughing evilly. I wouldn’t want to meet any of these people down a dark alley.

“He’s a gentleman and a scholar.” The girl with red hair chuckled.

“Jeez, thanks Pippa.” ‘Brian’ rolled his eyes

“Oh Jennifer!” The largest one sang, incredibly annoyingly, “It’s time to go! We’ve got to be in Calgary by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Gimme a minute.” She called over her shoulder before pulling Matt into a hug.

She did a circuit around everyone, hugging them all and telling them all something. That was, before she reached me. She hugged me, like she did everyone else. But, instead of telling me something, she leant up and kissed my cheek before she retreated and re-joined her new friends and walked off, waving at us as she went.

Watching her walk away from me again did no good to my mental health. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I blinked and let one solitary tear roll down my cheek. Matt came up behind me and placed one of his hands on my shoulder as he gave me a knowing look.

“The magician strikes again!” I heard come from the group of people Jenn now related more to. Oh the joys of rejection.