Aaron’s POV
He drove up to where they were holding the protest. He sighed. “Ok, here you are. Get out, and have fun.”
Danielle glared at him. “You’re coming with me.”
He stared at her, like she was crazy. “Why?”
“The more protestors, the better.” When he shook his head, she said, “Let me put it this way. Get out and join me, or I’m gonna tell Gabby about the time you crashed her jeep when you were drunk.”
He sighed. “I hate you.” He got out of the car and walked around. His sister was so irritating sometimes. Why should he care about animal testing for cosmetics? He never used make-up, so isn’t the fact that he doesn’t use Cover Girl enough of a protest?
He turned around and stared. He saw a fairly pretty girl talking to one of the Channel 5 reporters. She looked so confident and determined to convince the world that this protest was the right thing.
“I don’t believe that animals should be used to test for cosmetics on. It’s bad enough they use animal testing for medicines but I understand because we have to save lives. But I can live without mascara and eye shadow. In fact, I never wear make-up. It’s not a necessity of life, so I don’t think we should torture living beings so girls can look pretty.”
When the camera went off her, he was still staring. If he had to talk to someone that was going to show his opinions to the world, he wouldn’t be so blasé about it. He’d have passed out, actually. He wasn’t sure how, but he managed to walk up to this beautiful girl. He tapped her on the shoulder
“Um…what you said, was, um, like…wicked.”
Aaron William Powers, you sound an idiot!
Even though he was obviously acting like a fool, the girl smiled. “Thanks. I feel really strongly about animal rights. My ex boyfriend always made fun of me about liking animals so much. He was say I was cheating on him with a dog or a cat.”
She had an ex. Probably recently broke up. But she sounded over him. Maybe it’d be ok if he asked her out.
He was silent for a while. He froze completely. The girl smiled again. She had really nice teeth…
“My name’s Kaylee. You are…”
“Aaron,” he mumbled. If he could change one thing about himself, he’d be more outgoing.
“Aaron. Right. Well, I’ve got to get back to rallying against animal testing. You want to go to McD’s, have an Oreo McFlurry, and chat?”
He’d somehow managed to nod, and smile. Kaylee left to rally and Danielle walked up to him. “Now do you get why I made you come?”
Aaron was shocked. His sister hooked him up?
“Kay’s great for you. She’s really nice and up-beat. And you’re…not. I figured you guys would balance each other out…but believe me, it took a long time to figure out how you guys would meet.”
Aaron did something he rarely did. He hugged his sister, lifted her up, and they spun around together. When he finally let her lose, she laughed. “I was worried you were gonna be mad!”
It’d been a month since he and Kaylee first met. They’d been dating since the protest. And while he’d learned to loosen up around her, he still got flutters in his stomach when she was around, and his pulse increased. It was like sun was coming out for the first time whenever she was around.
He saw Kaylee straight ahead. He leaned down to kiss her.
“I wanna show you something.” He pulled out two tickets and handed them to her. She looked at them and then screamed.
“Oh my God! You got Good Charlotte tickets for tonight’s concert!” she screamed again. Then she paused.
“You hate Good Charlotte. I don’t want to make you go see a band you hate.” She handed the tickets back to him. He didn’t take them.
“Kaylee, it’s your birthday. When it’s my birthday, we’ll see a band with actual talent.”
She smiled and punched him lightly. “They’re not that bad. They—”
“—bring hope to those who’d be suicidal or depressed without them.” He’d heard Kaylee try to explain why she liked them so much often.
She rolled her eyes. “Ok, ok, you little smart aleck. Seriously, thanks. This means a lot to me. Especially since you hate them.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
A while later, he and Kaylee were at the concert. The only way he made it through the night was by reminding himself that it was for Kaylee. Kaylee. Smart, caring, beautiful Kaylee. And he mostly looked at her, so he wasn’t forced to see the punk-wanna-bes.
When it finally ended, he lead Kaylee to the V.I.P. room. He loved having a foster mom with connections. Kaylee was looking forward to meeting Joel and Benji the whole evening. He wasn’t sure why, but he went along with it.
“Oh my God! Aaron, Joel is over there! Joel Madden, lead singer of Good Charlotte, it 10 feet away from me!”
He rolled his eyes. Kaylee didn’t even notice. She ran up to Joel, Aaron following unwillingly. It’s for Kaylee, it’s for Kaylee.
Kaylee tapped Joel on the shoulder. He looked at her like she was the last person he wanted to talk to. Aaron was hating this guy more and more. “What’d you want?” he asked. God, that guy was rude!
Kaylee was obviously hurt. “Will you sign my poster?” She sounded so…meek. It was like Kaylee was Aaron, and not herself.
Joel scowled. “No. I’m busy.”
Kaylee’s face fell. Aaron heard a voice in his head. The voice he’d heard often. It was familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
I’ll get his signature for her.
Kalyee’s POV
Jeez. Joel is such a jerk. It’d only take one second to sign it for her.
Aaron’s face looked different than it had last time she’d looked at it. He looked angry, but it was not his usual angry eyes. They were darker. Scarier.
As Joel started to turn around, Aaron said, “Let’s go outside, ok?”
Joel obviously didn’t want to, but he still headed for the exit. Aaron took her poster and followed him.
“Stay here.”
Aaron had never told her she had to stay anywhere before. She had a bad feeling. She, of course, followed him.
Kaylee hid behind a nearby tree and watched Joel and Aaron.
“Sign her poster, or I’m gonna beat the crap outta you.”
Joel raised his eyebrows. “Oh yeah?”
Aaron punched Joel in the mouth. Kaylee gasped. She was flattered that Aaron was trying to help, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. She ran over to them.
“Aaron Powers, I cannot believe you!”
Aaron closed his eyes for a minute. Then he opened them. “Wha ‘appen?”
Joel and Kaylee stared in amazement at him. How could he forget he’d just punched the lead singer of a well-known band within such a short time?
Aaron looked at Joel. He bent down to help him up. They both stared in confusion. “Sorry about that, man. I wasn’t really awake. I’m not really a big fan of yours, but Kay is, so I kind of fell asleep, but I was like, sleepwalking, ya know?”
Joel didn’t seem to believe him, and personally, Kaylee didn’t either. We were going to have to talk about this later, she thought. Joel signed the poster and walked away swiftly.
Aaron’s POV
He was so confused. One minute he was inside, listening to Joel being rude, and the next, he was outside, Kaylee looking furious, and the dude lying on the ground, his mouth oozing in blood. He wasn’t sure if he made up the sleepwalking thing or not. He wasn’t really conscious, but he was obviously awake…
It doesn’t matter, the voice echoed. I got you the signature. Kaylee will love you. You risked getting a bouncer on you so you could get her her idol’s signature.
Aaron hoped so.
I like this story, but I'm still and "Outsider" fan. Are you going to continue with both?
yeah. I already have a pretty good idea where this one it going. I have a faint idea where the outsider is going, such as who the killer is, but the end is still a little fuzzy.
