l MARY l

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" I shouted, snuggling Mom's presents close to my tiny body. December 21st, that's what today was. Otherwise known as my Mom's 39th birthday. The house was unusualy quiet. Usually Mom and Dad would be yelling and Natallia would have the Disney Channel on blast so she wouldn't have to hear. And if my older sister Bree was home she'd be talking on the phone with Britt. All in all, it would be a madhouse, a zoo here. Quiet was foreign. Quiet was not normal. I yelled again. "Mom! Dad! Bree!" I even through Bree into the batch this time. Who knows - maybe she decided to be home for Mom's birthday. Nothing. I tiptoed into the kitchen to find a note taped to the 'fridge.

Mary,
Natalia's at soccer practice and is going over to Tami's afterwards for a playdate.
Bree when out to see a movie with Joey.
I have to work late in the office again. I know - bummed me out, too.
I was really hoping to be able to spend the day with your mother.
But there's a lot of work that has to be done with XMas only a few days away.
Should be home by 11.
Mom's home.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Daddy.

I sighed. Really, he didn't have to work late. Or at least not that late. He was out with Natalia (The older one AKA his girlfriend). She's his slut of an assistant who stole my father away from my mom. They've been dating for a solid six years - ever since she joined the company. Natalia (As in my sister) got her name from Natalia (The older one). Sad, right? But my mom couldn't put up a fight. They both had agreed that since Mom got to chose what my name was, Dad got to chose the name of the next one. So he named her Natalia Georgia - same exact name as his slutty girlfriend. I could just picture her red polished finger nails all over him.

"Mom!" I yelled for the third time. She was home - Dad said so. Where was she?

"I'm in the bathroom!" Finally came her faint reply.

I walked upstairs and into Natalie's room. I opened up her CD player and pulled out her JONAS cd. No, I am not nor will I ever be a fan of JONAS - it just seemed way to weird to not hear this damn CD blasting and having to listen to it over and over. Ha, it's kind of funny - I'm always endlessly complaining about how annoying it is to have to listen to JONAS all the time (which it is), yet here I am, listening to it when she's not even here.

I snuck the CD into my room and put it into my DVD player to listen to it. The first song, World War lll, started playing. I only know this because of Natalie. At first I play it quietly so my mom won't hear it - she would never let it go if she caught me listening to JONAS, but it seemed too weird. So I played it louder. And louder. And louder.

That explains why I didn't hear the bang.

l JOE l

I sighed heavily, throwing my leather jacket carelessly onto the couch. We had a tough time with recording today. Correction: I had a tough time recording today. You see, I had stayed up all night for three whole weeks writing new songs for our new album. They were pretty damn good - in my opinion. They were different from our usual stuff and it actually had some real emotions in the songs for once. But Marshall didn't like it. He hated them, every single one of them he had something bad to say.

I was so angry I almost didn't notice my Mom crying on the couch.

"Mom?" I asked gently, my anger dissolving. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," She wiped tears away from her eyes. "It's just Grandma Julie..." Her voice trailed off.

My breath hitched. She hadn't, had she? Oh, god. I closed my eyes, resting my head on the terribly uncomfortable couch that Grandma Julie herself picked out. All those times I forgot to call her, forgot to thank her for the gifts, forgot to visit... I can never do that anymore...

"She's really worrying me," Mom continues. "You know she wasn't supposed to take in foster children, right? Because it's so bad for her health? Well, she heard this one 'poor little girl's' story and simply had to take her in. I swear, this 'poor little girl' is going to end up being the death of her! Let someone else take care of her for god's sake!"

I felt a little relieved. So she wasn't dead... Yet. But this scare brought something to my attention.

"I'm going to see Grandma Julie," I announced.

Mom blinked. "What?"

"I'm going to see Grandma Julie." I repeated slowly, feeling more sure of myself. Mom started to open her mouth to protest but I cut her off. "I haven't seen her in years. A little two week visit won't be too bad, will it?"

Mom sighed. "Joe, I... I don't know..."

"I'm eighteen." I reminded her. "And I'm going to take care of this 'poor little girl'."

A/N: This is just sort of an intro. You like?