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Jadis Way…

I awoke when Frank was pulling me up into a sitting position. The lift door had been pulled open by some guy wearing a funny outfit. He smiled as I stared at him in confusion.

"Oh, Frank! Only you would get stuck in an elevator shaft!" Jamia said, running over and hugging Frank tightly. I assumed he must've called her while I was napping.

I coughed, having a little dust in my throat.

"Are you alright, Jadis?" Frank fussed. Well, I had had an asthma attack not long ago, so I guess it was fair enough.

"I'm fine now. Thank-you for calming me down," I said sweetly. I coughed again.

"Let's go up to our room, and have a nice coffee." Jamia suggested.

"Sounds good," Frank agreed, and I just nodded.

We took the stairs up the remaining six floors. No-one spoke much the whole way up, but my breathing became raspy as we reached our floor – finally!

"Jadis, why don't you carry your asthma inhaler with you?" Jamia scolded, in a maternal way.

"I honestly never used it until a certain Gerard came knocking at my door." I told her.

"You might want to check your phone, Jay. I heard it buzzing and bleeping and spontaneously combusting in your bag, while you were napping. I didn't look at it though." Frank informed me.

I did, and sure enough there were about ten messages on the screen. I scrolled through them and found they were all from dad. He'd freaked out when he realized I wasn't there – even though I'd told him I was going out; shows how distracted he is – and he'd freaked out even more when I hadn't replied to him. It appeared he'd also tried to call me multiple times.

His concern, which should have made me at least a little bit grateful, made me irritated. He ignored me completely, only worrying when he thought I'd died.

"I think you should call him," Jamia said. She was standing opposite me in the kitchen, not able in anyway to see my phone. I suppose it was just her instinct, to figure out that I'd be pissed off at my dad, for texting me like crazy. Unfortunately, she was right.

I dialed dad's home number into my phone, and hit call. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" dad asked anxiously.

"Hi, dad, just thought you'd like to know I'm not dead yet." I said smiling.

"Jadis? Where are you?!" he growled.

"Chillax. I'm with Frank. We got stuck in the lift and I fell asleep."

"I was worried about you,"

"You only notice me when I'm not there,"

"That's not true,"

"Isn't it?"

"Jay, I understand that you're hurt right now. I understand that you feel I'm not giving you enough attention. I do! And I'm sorry. There's just so much going on right now. I'm very busy,"

"Too busy for your only daughter?"

"Jadis, I'm sorry! I know I should give you more attention but-"

"Are you saying I've got ADD or something? I'm not an attention whore!"

"I never said that,"

"It sure sounded like it! How about you go send little tweets to fans and give them heartattacks."

"Jadis! What has gotten into you?"

"Fuck off!" I screamed, slamming the phone shut.

Frank and Jamia stared at me.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I've got to go." I turned and walked out of the hotel room, and started on the stairs. Tears burned trails down my cheeks. I was only down the first flight of stairs, when I sat down in a corner, and started crying.

"I'm such a bitch," I kept mumbling to myself.

After about ten minutes of blubbering, I looked up and screamed. Frank was leaning on the railing in front of me, arms crossed over his chest.

"When the fuck did you get there?!" I screeched at him.

"Jamia thought I should drive you home." He told me, not answering my question.

"I don't want to go 'home'." I argued.

"Too bad," he said simply. He yanked me off the ground, and dragged me down the stairs by my arm. I protested the entire way, but he didn't listen to a word I said. When we got to the car, he picked me up, and threw me into the back, because I was being so uncooperative.

"You're being an asshole," I growled.

Frank just smiled into his rearview mirror, and drove me home without another word.

I stormed inside, throwing my bag on the ground, and running into my room.

"Jadis?" dad squeaked from another room, "is that you?"

"What's it matter?" I yelled back. I slammed my door shut, and tried not to listen to Frank and dad talk outside my room. I didn't have much luck though.

"She's really irritable," Frank was saying.

"I noticed," dad replied.

"You really need to try and connect wi-"

"Don't you think I have?" dad snapped, cutting Frank off.

There was a pause.

"Look," Frank said, "losing a loved one is really hard – we all know that. Jadis had already lost someone she loved, and now she has lost her mother. I don't even think she has fully gotten over the loss of Dean, and now her mother has left her, and can't comfort her anymore. You're the only parent she can rely on anymore, and you seem to be too preoccupied for her. Don't, try and tell me you're trying – I can see you're busy – but to Jadis, it looks as if you're too busy for your only daughter. She's just lost the only thing in her life that was ever stable, and no-one seems to be there to help her stand back up, and get through it. I'll help you, Gee, but you need to know where to start; you need to understand your daughter." Frank ended his little lecture. His words hung in the air, as silence crept over the conversation.

"Frank," dad finally said, "you're so fucking right, it's not funny."

I heard dad moving toward my door. I jumped on to my bed, and buried my face in the pillow.

Everything was fucked! Nothing was right! Why couldn't everything just fix itself?

Dad knocked on my door. I groaned, and he entered cautiously.

"Jay?" he asked, trying to get my attention. I ignored him. "Jadis," he said, sterner.

"What?" I growled, still not facing him.

He sighed. "Jay, I love you – we all do – and we hate seeing you like this; me most of all. I hate to know that my own flesh and blood is upset and depressed. Jadis, look at me!"

I glanced at him from beneath my hair. He took the opportunity to tackle me.

"Dad!" I squealed as he tickled me; I couldn't help but laugh. "Stop it! Stop it!" I giggled.

He stopped and looked me in the eyes. "Jadis, please talk to me; I love you and I want to understand what you're feeling. I want to help you move on. I know it's hard – I still miss my grandma – but life can end so quickly, you need to live it while you can."

I nodded, understanding fully what he meant.

"But you can't expect me to just forget about her so quickly. She's not even in the ground yet." I told him.

"I know – and I totally understand that – but don't let this grief control your life." He told me.

"Ok. But what can I do? There's nothing to do, and I really don't want to go home right now; but all my stuff's there. If only we'd-" I'd been about to say, 'If only we'd stayed the night,' but dad cut me off.

"Jadis, none of this 'if only' crap. Ok? You can't change the past. What happened happened, and I believe it was for a reason."

"What possible reasoning could you give me for my mother dying?" I snapped.

"Jadis," he paused. "I'm really sorry."

I avoided his gaze, knowing that I'd been irrational…again.

"Do you want to get a coffee? I need to talk to you about something else anyway." He suggested, rolling off the bed.

"Ok," I mumbled, following him. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to tidy it a little. We exited my room, and Frank was standing outside. He smiled when he saw me.

"Feeling better, Jay?" he asked.

"Yeah, a bit," I smiled, giving him a hug.

"We're going to go get a coffee, do you want to come with?" dad asked Frank.

"I'd say yes, but I think Bob wanted me." Frank replied.

"Please?" dad tried again. "I'm sure Bob would understand." I heard a touch of need and urgency in his voice. What was he going to tell me?

"Oh! Umm…ok," Frank said. Whatever it was, Frank was in on it. "I'll just need to give Bob a quick ring. Can I use your phone?"

"Sure. You know where it is," dad motioned towards the kitchen.

"What's going on?" I said, turning to dad the second Frank left the room.

"Not yet, Jadis, I'll tell you when we leave." Dad said. So I was right, something was up. Now I just needed to find out what. Seeing as dad wanted to be in a public place to tell me, I probably wasn't going to like it.

Frank returned, and we left the house. The three of us got into Frank's car – seeing as it was blocking the driveway – and drove off.

"Where exactly are we going?" Frank asked, as he drove down crowded streets.

"Starbucks," Gerard replied quickly.

Yum Starbucks. I thought. I hadn't had a good Starbucks in ages.

Frank ordered us coffees, while we sat down. I simply death-glared dad; he ignored my gaze, instead fiddling with a serviette. Frank came over with out coffees, and sat down.

"Spill," I demanded, as dad took a sip of coffee.

"The coffee?" Frank giggled.

"What bomb are you going to drop on my now?" I hissed, ignoring Frank's stupid question. I was not in the mood for jokes.

"If you're going to be a bitch about it, I'll just say it." Dad shrugged, deciding to play my game.

"Go on – I dare you!" I snarled at dad.

"I'm sending you to public school." Dad said simply. My jaw dropped.

"You're a motherfucking douche bag!" I growled, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Frank wondered.

"Away from you assholes. Just go burn in hell." I marched away, coffee in hand.

I was a little way down the street, when dad caught up to me.

"Jadis! I'm your legal guardian – your parent! – and I refuse to be spoken to like that!" he told me sternly. Then he continued, a little gentler, "I understand this is all very hard for you, but I need to work, Lindsey needs to work and you need to go to school. It was all fine when your mother was able to teach you, but clearly she can't anymore. So you have to go to school, and I didn't want to send you to a bitchy, private school. You will start class next week. End of conversation, Jadis Way."

"I won't go, dickhead!" I yelled at him.

"Jadis, shut-up this is a public place!" dad hissed through clenched teeth. "Oh, and by the way, you're grounded, Jay." Dad said, turning back to Starbucks, where Frank sat alone.

"Aw, how cute. You made a little poem. How long did that take you? Or did you steal it like everything else you do? I hate you! I hate you! I can't believe I looked up to you! You're the most disgusting thing I've ever met!" I screamed, my words full of poison.

Dad kept walking away from me, back turned, never looking over his shoulder at his crying daughter.