The Deppaholic of the Tri-Cities
By: Emily Frier
Fancy music was playing. The stunned man watched as everything he had worked for blew up right in front of him. Flames encircled the man hungrily. The East India Trading Company's head was dead.
I watched as my cousin Chelsea, who is a Johnny Depp fan, watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and ate our other cousin's birthday cake. Luigi had just turned 15 and had thrown a Johnny Depp party after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End had come out in May. The cake was in a shape of the main pirate ship—the Black Pearl—and the whole theme was Johnny Depp, which, of course, brought Chelsea to her knees in want to come to the party. Luigi had no choice but to invite her.
I woke up from my daydream and looked at the calendar. It was May 2nd, two weeks before Chelsea's 17th birthday. Her biggest obsession these days was Johnny Depp, which was no surprise. She owned and had seen all the movies and her room was completely decked out in Johnny Depp.
It was the internet and the phone call that changed her life.
My cousin and I are big computer geeks. I, of course, wanted to give Chelsea the best birthday party she could ever have in her life, so I did research on Johnny Depp and if and when he tours. I found he was coming to our area of Tennessee. I immediately told my father and he told me he'd think about it.
Later that day came the phone call. My father and whoever was at the other end talked for hours about something concerning something that I couldn't understand and "strep".
It was hard to keep such a big secret from Chelsea, although she never Googles Johnny Depp tours—mostly just pictures and filmography. I, though, take excellent shots at his movies that she could never get herself or online to provide on her site for graphics.
Later that week, I received the answer I was waiting for:
"Lauren, your mother and I have talked with your aunt and uncle, and we all decided that you and Chelsea should go see Johnny Depp. The arrangements have been planned already."
I practically screamed my thank you, startling Chelsea so that she had to come see what was going on. I thought quickly and reached through my bag for a test I had failed and showed it to her. "Dad's not grounding me," I said meekly.
Chelsea, obviously not satisfied with my answer but knowing she wasn't going to get any other answer from me, went back to her usual internet addict in her room.
The week before her birthday was a week where I could not keep myself under control. My grades began to slip because I was planning several different things at once—what Chelsea was to wear that day and trying to figure out where they would meet. I also monitored the mail, although nothing new came except for bills, bills, and—you guessed it!—bills.
My grades, as I mentioned already, were slipping. I knew that my grades were very important in the Johnny Depp factor, so I used a method that works extremely well when it comes to grades—extra credit! Somehow, my grades fluctuated, and the dark muttering between my parents and Chelsea's parents stopped.
Her birthday seemed to come all too soon. The day passed on by with only a single complication—I got her nothing, not a single photograph from a movie. For this reason, she enforced a cold shoulder on me, which, since we were once close, bothered me. During this cold shoulder, it seemed as if I was no longer being "used" for her benefit, which was a new perspective of putting it. I responded ambiguously, thinking either she felt that it was my "job" to be supplying her with Johnny Depp pictures or that she was simply used to it and unsettled by the change of routine.
Everyday she would knock on the door and ask, "Do you have those pictures yet?"
I, of course would not have the answer she had in mind. "No, my camera is still dead," I answered from the other side of the door. It was a completely lame excuse, but true. It was lame because I purposely refrained from charging my camera, even hiding the charger in my locker.
"Well, have them soon, please," Chelsea would mutter before retreating to her room once again.
School was now out for the summer vacation, and it still the same old routine, except that my father got a new computer at his office, which meant I was no long forced to go over to Chelsea's house to check my email. She came over to hook it up, checking whatever her Neopets in the process.
Chelsea, being Chelsea who is used to routine, did not log out. I, under her influence, have taken to going on Neopets, so I was about to do so. I was about to log out of her account when something caught my eye. It was a post on her boards. I scrolled to the bottom of the screen and began reading.
Islandstar
I don't know why she's doing this to me. I have that project due like, tomorrow, and if I don't have it done, I'll be booted out. I don't know what to do. I don't have a camera, not that mine would do the job. Hers is of much higher quality than mine, but she keeps giving me this bogus excuse that her battery is dead and she just can't charge it.
Swifty
Just take the camera and charge it. If the charger is around, you'll find it. –grins- That's what I would do if Snowy did that to me. xD
Islandstar
I just don't think I could do that to her. She's been so nice and just not cooperating all of a sudden.
I realized that it was now or never to set the record straight. I had to act, and I had to act now.
I knocked on Chelsea's door cautiously. She answered with a not-so-happy look. I proceeded to apologize and handed her several pictures of Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She looked happier, thanked me, and ran to scan them.
Several weeks passed uneventfully. Then, one day, Chelsea was staying at my house because her parents were out for the day. I had Chelsea's prepared outfit lying on the bed. She dressed, not noticing.
My mother rushed in the room and announced that we were going to the mall. I knew the time had come, so I made Chelsea primp herself to perfection and refused to get in the car until she had done so.
We arrived at the Johnson City mall early, so there was time to get to a couple of stores, then to the California Pizza Kitchen nearby. Chelsea did not notice my mother arranging for a table of four, neither did she notice the seating arrangements.
A hooded figure entered, saw us, and came and sat down next to Chelsea. On his hood was a small tag, which Chelsea took and read. In fancy, elegant script, it said:
Happy 17th Birthday, Chelsea
Chelsea, confused, asked politely for the figure to remove his hood.
I sorely wish you could have seen the look on her face as he lifted his hood. All breaks were sealed, all wrongs forgiven as she sat next to and looked face to face her Johnny Depp.