CH 3 – My Eyes Burn
Katie lied in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. The whole day she had been busy packing and crying and eating. But tomorrow, she'd move in with Freddy and his family. At first Katie had freaked out but as she thought about it she realized it wasn't so bad.
I guess it's not SO bad that I have to live with Freddy. It's not like I have any close relatives anyway, Katie thought yawning, And it's not like I like Freddy or anything. I've always looked at him as a brother. And it won't be so awkward cause I've known him all my life and I even slept over his house when I was little so it won't really matter.
Katie couldn't fall asleep. Even when she tried to close her eyes and just stay still, she'd see images of her father or images of her mother. She had pictures, you know. But Katie couldn't stand it – her thoughts would always instantly change – from living with Freddy to her father's death and then again, to her mother's death.
But she had been crying so much that she even almost fainted from lack of water when she was eating lunch. She just missed her father too much. She even missed how when he would yell at her when she stayed up too late or how he would tease her everytime she missed a note in her bass playing.
Let's face it; Katie was a miserable wreck..
"Katie," Sally gently slapped her arm, "Katie wake up." Katie slowly opened her eyes to the bright sunlight that entered her room. And for some reason she felt angry. How dare the sun come out when her father was murdered? How dare the sky be clear blue when she had no one to go too?
Katie slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. They were burning from all the tears she had cried. She had known that the day would come when her father would pass away, she just didn't expect it to be so soon. Not making a sound, she ignored Sally and went to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth, took a shower, and came out not looking like such a wreck that she was.
"Come on," Sally said picking up some of Katie's bags, "We got to go. Mr. And Mrs. Jones are already waiting for us." Katie nodded and took some of her bags and carried her bass case and amp.
Freddy snored and rolled over clutching and hugging his pillow close to him. He was such in a deep sleep that part of him knew that he was even sleeping and the other part was trying to get him to wake up. "Freddy, wake up," Mrs. Jones shaked him. He didn't budge an eyelid. "Freddy! Wake up!" She shook him more roughly.
Mrs. Jones sighed and picked up the Sex Pistols CD and placed it in the CD Player. Then she cranked it up to the highest volume possible and placed the headphones on Freddy's ears. In a second, the song 'Pretty Vacant' was playing and Freddy awoke faster then a heartbeat, "I'M UP! I'M UP!"
Mrs. Jones laughed at her son as she pulled off the headphones, "I knew that would work. Come on, get ready. Katie's coming today and I don't want you snoring in bed dreaming about Natalie your girlfriend."
Freddy groaned, "Hey, how do you know about that?"
"I'm your mom. I know everything. Plus, I saw you guys holding hands and not to mention giving each other a good night kiss?" she smiled and pulled the curtains aside so that sunshine came in and caused Freddy to squint his eyes. "Greet the day!" she said in a singsong voice and started humming 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' by the Beatles as she went outside of Freddy's room and down the stairs. Freddy's mother wasn't quite into rock, but she did listen to some appreciating music like Eric Clapton, The Beatles, The Eagles, The Monkees, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, and Chicago.
Freddy pulled his butt out of the bed and managed to drag himself to his bathroom where he freshened up. Then he went back to his messy bedroom and actually cleaned it. Normally, Freddy wouldn't have bothered, but since Katie was coming today he made an exception. She always hated it when she came over and his room was such a mess and usually Freddy did it to bug her, but since she had gone through so much he decided to lay low a bit.
After he finished, he went downstairs and found his father tuning his guitar, "Oh darn. This guitar always seems to go out of tune on me. Stupid nylon strings."
"Then why don't you just buy a new one?" Freddy asked pouring himself some orange juice, "With better machine heads?"
"Because it's interesting. I look at this as a challenge," Johnathan Jones said moving a head piece, "Making it in tune. Everytime something goes wrong in your life Freddy, look at it as a challenge. And I know you're competitive so that shouldn't be a problem."
Freddy rolled his eyes; his father was always into new things and he could never turn down a challenge so everything that went wrong with no logical explanation, he took as a challenge. His father was the optimistic, laid-back kind of guy. Not like those business men always in suits and talking on their cell phones. That's what Freddy liked about his dad; just a regular plain ol' guy who was a mechanic. But then again his father was also a pig, messy, and disorganized while his mother exercised daily, had a nutritious diet, cleaned everything, and was extremely organized. Not to mention she was a realtor. Sometimes Freddy couldn't understand how they even survived dating, but he guessed it was because of the law: Opposites Attract.
So obviously, while Freddy's personality came from his father, his blond hair and blue eyes was all from his mother.
"Whatever dad," Freddy said taking a bite of some pancakes that were already prepared for him, "Eat breakfast yet?"
"Nope. But I'll be happy to join you," Johnathan said putting down his guitar and taking the seat opposite his son, "You know, you're so lucky you're on summer vacation."
"Well it's not like you've been going to work either."
"That's just for today cause you know – Katie's coming and all. Got to make her feel welcome. Can't just leave her here with you. God knows you're not sensitive enough," his dad teased.
"True," his mother agreed. "We're just taking one day off work. It's not like I have any enthusiastic clients who want to buy a house and spend over $500,000 this second." She took a sip from her coffee, "Nothing like a nice cup of warm coffee."
"So Freddy, tell us about Natalie," his dad smiled and gave him a wink, "Give us all the details. And I mean all."
"It's not like she's my first girlfriend Dad," Freddy said chewing his eggs, "And dad, that's disgusting."
"I know, but why can't we ask? We have a right to know. Frankly, I'm shocked – just shocked that you didn't even take the time to tell your poor old parents that you had a girlfriend," Freddy's dad acted offended and placed a hand over his heart, "It hurts – right here."
Just then the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Mrs. Jones said. Freddy and Mr. Jones ran up to her, the three of them standing there at the door made it look like picture perfect. "Okay, this is it," Mrs. Jones squealed sounding all excited, "I'm gonna have a daughter!"
Freddy rolled his eyes and sighed. My mom, he thought. In one swift move, Mrs. Jones opened the door and there stood Katie Brown, not looking like the wreck that she was.
Katie sat in the back of the car trying to stay calm. Back at the hotel she had taken a shower and washed her face so that it wouldn't look like she had been crying all night. Her eyes were as white as the clouds and not as red and puffy as they were and her cheeks were still their rosy selves. She had changed into a pair of baggy dark blue jeans and a plain gray shirt. Yep, she looked like nothing had ever happened.
Though she didn't look like it, she was breaking inside. She was feeling angry, happy, anxious, excited, scared, and just plain sad all mixed into one. Angry at the murderers, happy that she moved in with people she actually knew and not some foster home, anxious, excited, and scared because, well she was still moving in with Freddy.
Sure he was just like an older brother that was fun to annoy, but she couldn't also help the fact that he had been her first and only crush throughout her whole life. It was shocking, for a girl's first crush to be at fifteen, but oh well. But what was worse was then her crush had only ended a few months ago – she was scared that it would come back.
"Okay, we're here," Sally said and unbuckled her seat belt. She walked around the car and opened the door for Katie. Katie mumbled a 'thank you' and stood in front of the perfect house – a nice black gate, two front doors with oval-shaped glass, a nice porch, and a nice front yard with the rarest flowers. Freddy has it all, Katie thought, lucky bastard.
Katie pushed open the little gate, and walked along the stone steps that led to the front door. It was strange how she had walked this exact same path millions of times before but it felt new and strange just now. Yeah, that's because as soon as you walk through the front door, it's your home, she smiled at the thought, but frowned at the reason why it would be her new home.
"This is it," Katie took a deep breath and pushed the doorbell.
After a couple of moments, the door opened and there stood the three of them, picture perfect: Mr. Johnathan Jones, Mrs. Sarah Jones, and Freddy Jones.
Sarah smiled and spread her arms out for a hug, "Katie!"
A/N: Just like Rockinbassgurl says: SHORT BUT POWERFUL! LoL (I love that quote.) Okay well I should get at least 15 reviews before I update! I know that sounds greedy but I've been getting 15 reviews for every chapter so far [I hope I didn't lose any readers!] Please REVIEW!
A/N 2: I know that Freddy's eyes aren't blue, but for some reason it's just easier for me to think of them that way.
Shout outs:
KT
Pineapple Cube: Oh, I'm sorry about that. I have no idea how it feels like but I guess your review is helping me!
Iluvmyface: yes, I know what the ending is, but I can't tell you! Hehe..that's why you have to read. =]
Emily
Erikim92
Shortstack215: no problem, I read your story and reviewed.
Lizzie
Scary-girly
Tmrwspromise
Jamie
Kat L.
IndiazQT
Nanners-77: oh thanks for proofreading! Well not really proofreading, but you get it. Hehe.
Loverdeldragon: I know that most people portray him as this 'punkish' guy, but I'm not really into the whole punk, gothic, prep, stereotype kind of thing. Now, I know you're probably thinking, 'but you penname is sk8erpunkGCpnay', well my friend made that and I don't wanna lose any readers by changing it. So anyway, that's why I made Freddy sweet yet a BIT rebellious.