(1) Talk Me Down: An All Time Low Fanfiction Romance

Chapter 12: Puppet

        I walked slowly into the house and shut the door behind me. It was quiet downstairs, which told me my parents were in bed, and Brenda had gone to her room. I trudged into the kitchen, poured myself some water and then dragged myself upstairs. I was crushed. Today had gone wrong in so many ways. I just wanted to fall asleep and forget about it completely.

        I was quiet as I moved down the hall to my room. There was no sound coming from my parents room, but Brenda's light was on and music played softly. She was probably doing college work, and I paused for a second by her door, wishing I could go in and vent about my problems like I used to, but I couldn't this time, not when she was mad at me because of my problems.

        I slid into my room and turned on one light, leaving it on only while I changed from my work clothes and into pajamas. In my nearly pitch black room, I felt even more upset. I didn't have anybody to talk to. Veronica and Nolan were out of the question, as was Brenda, and my parents would probably side with her. Out of my other friends, I think Charlotte would be the only one with sympathy, but I didn't want to bother her late at night.

        Instead, I slid into my covers, pulling them up to my chin. Thankfully, within minutes of closing my eyes, I was asleep.

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        The next morning, I woke to a text from Charlotte, asking if I could meet her for breakfast; just the two of us. When I replied, she told me she was laready at the little cafe downtown, so after I asked my mom to bring me, I hurried to get changed and meet her there.

        She looked at me through the window, waved slightly and watched as I entered the small shop and headed to her talble. A half-eaten bagle sat in front of her, along with a cup of hot coffee. "Hi," she smiled softly, watching as I sat down.

        "What's up?" I asked, folding my arms. She looked at me, taking in my expression before talking, pushing her mug around the table.

        "What happened with Veronica last night?" she wondered, her eyes never leaving mine as I questioned, "How do you know something happened?"        

        "Please, Kar. It's Ronnie we're talking about. The way she stormed out of there, we all knew something was going to happen," Charlotte pointed out.

        "She basically gave me an ultimatum, her or them," I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "She said that if they're her problem, then they're my problem, and that's it."

        "And you picked us, right?" Charlotte asked, and I answered quickly, nodding my head. "Of course I did. You guys are my best friends. I don't even know those guys."

        "But..." Charlotte said, raising an eyebrow at me. I shrugged, scratching absentmindedly at my forehead. She knew I was thinking about something else, and as simple as my decision sounded out loud, it was much more complicated in my head.

        "But, I think it was a crappy thing for her to do. As far as I'm concerned, those guys didn't do anything, and if there's something else going on that I don't know about, okay, but it's not my problem. Those guys haven't given me a reason to hate them, and it feel wrong acting like I do just because Veronica wants me to," I admitted, knowing that if Veronica knew I felt this way, everyhting would be over.

        Standing up to Veronica, not doing what she wanted, led to exile from the group. These girls, despite everything, were my best friends. Even though I may think about questioning Veronica or not rushing to hang out with her when she wants,  I could never act on my thoughts. I didn't want to lose my friends, even if Zack was kind of right and Veronica did treat us unfairly.

        "I really don't think you'll be missing out on much," Charlotte said softly, "They really don't seem like anything great."

        "Yeah," I muttered in halfhearted agreement. Charlotte bit her lip, glancing out the window then back at me. "It's just frustrating. I don't like being told who I can like and who to hate. I don't like not being able to stick up for myself when I think something is wrong."

        "I know," Charlotte sighed in agreement, and I looked at her, slightly surprised. She gave me a soft smile, her elbow landing on the table so she could lean her cheek into her hand. She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she loked down at her phone that beeped in front of her. At the same time, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I knew that Veronica had texted all of us.

        "She wants to go to the mall," Charlotte mumbled, typing quickly in her phone. I rolled my eyes, opening and closing the message without reading it. "She wants us at her house in fifteen."

        Charlotte's mom came to pick us up, arriving just five minutes after Veronica had texted us. As we were walking out, I noticed a group of guys standing around outside a ship a few buildings away. When one caught my eye, I looked away, pretending I didn't notice. It didn't make me feel good, but it was what Veronica wanted me to do.

        "You okay?" Charlotte wondered, and I nodded, silently sliding into the car. I felt like a puppet, like Veronica was controlling every aspect of my life with strings. With one twist of her hand I would move this way, another move of the other had I would do another thing.

        I'd never thought like this before. The idea of Veronica leading our lives never really crossed my mind, but yesterday made things different. I could deal with going to parties and going where Veronica wanted, that wasn't too bad, but I couldn't tolerate being told how to feel about somebody.

        Although I'd never say so, that was something I truly hated. I was my own person with my own thoughts and feelings and Veronica's hate for a person wasn't going to turn into my hate for that person.

        I had a bad relationship with my friends, but it wasn't something I could give up. They'd been my friends for more than a few years, and giving up friends isn't something a person can do easily. It wasn't like Veronica was all bad earlier. She could be nice sometimes, and sometimes she cared about how you felt. She was a person and had feelings. She just liked to be in control.

        Still, as I sat behind Charlotte in her mom's car, heading towards Veronica's house, the feeling of being a puppet washed over me again, but I pushed it aside, knowing that I didn't want to lose my friends.