Welcome to the Family

The next morning was awful. Matt and I both desperately tried to pretend the day before had never happened, but we both knew it did, and our memories were very fresh.

Of course we avoided eye contact, even when we did talk, and physical contact. When I accidentally touched his arm serving him a piece of omelette, he winced as if I had touched him with scorching hot charcoal. Nice and smooth, Sanders.

Especially Zacky seemed to notice the tension lingering between me and Matt in the air, which probably was the reason why he tried his best distracting us by sharing some funny stories about the tour life, including the so-called Johnny Christ-sis (when Johnny almost choked to death on a crucifix from Matt's necklace, which he had - in some mysterious way - attempted to swallow when he was drunk) and the Synyster Gates-Cockblocking experiment (when the guys distracted Syn just as he was about to get lucky for thirty days in a row).

In the end, my mood had slightly improved and I even managed to let escape a few chuckles at his hilarious gestures. Why was that guy in such a great mood anyway?


After breakfast, the guys took off to some signing in downtown Los Angeles, from where they would head to the studio, and I prepared dinner for them, so they could heat it up when they returned, since I planned on spending the rest of the day in bed feeling sorry for myself and rewatching the fifth season of LOST, so I was more than ready for the new season ABC had started to broadcast a couple of days ago. Waiting for so many questions to finally be answered was the only thing that made my pain bearable. Did I mention I love LOST?

After a while, my phone rang. It was an unknown number, so I decided not to pick up, but when they called for the seventh time, I changed my mind. "Hello?" I bellowed unfriendly, letting the unwanted caller know exactly what I thought about them.

"Is this Victoria Harper?" a woman's voice asked. "Yes, what?" I huffed in response. "I am Monica Cortez, LAPD. I am contacting you because your boyfriend filed a restraining order against his wife for you?" she asked, seemingly intimdated.

"Oh, yeah yeah yeah... I totally forgot you were going to call me... So, what about it?" I offered apologetically. "Miss, we are sorry to inform you that, since Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are both pressing charges against each other and you are caught in between, we cannot proceed with the restraining order until your trial is over," the voice stated almost robotically.

"Okay," I answered, "anything else?" "No, that would be all. Have a good day."
Strange. Since when are restraining orders not allowed during a trial? And since when does the police actually call you and not just send you a letter? And why do I have such a strange feeling in my guts?

I picked up my phone again and rapidly dialed a number. "Vicky, it's good to hear from you. How are you?" When I heard the comforting tone of my mother's voice, I immediately began to relax. I told her about the strange call and she, too, found it very odd. She promised me to call the police station again as my lawyer and then quickly ended the call, as she was about to go into a meeting.

Right when she hung up, I heard a loud knock on my door. "What is it?" I screamed, as I walked through the tiny living room. When I opened up, my first reflex was to slam the door again. Matt. But I didn't have the chance to, since he qickly grabbed it and put his foot in it. His mere appearance made my knees weak and my stomach started hurting even worse. But I also noticed that he looked panicked.

"What?" I scoffed. "Vicca, I know you despise me right now, and I totally get why, and I'm a douche and stuff, but listen, Val just called me and threatened you again, and I fear for you when you're here alone the whole day. The guys and I agreed that I take you to the studio. Look, you don't even have to talk to me right now, just come with me." He didn't dare look at me.

Without saying anything, I turned around and got my purse. We walked to the car in silence. We didn't speak a word in the car either. Just as we pulled up in the driveway of some studio in downtown LA, he took a deep breath and then silently said, "I thought that was very awkward. You know, not talking and all. Just thought I'd let you know." His eyes didn't once leave his crotch.

I nodded, and then gathered all my strength and courage to scoff back, "I thought that was very awkward. You know, you pretending like you gave the slightest shit about me, just to drop me like a hot potato when you get bored, just thought I'd let you know that."
His eyes were wide with shock as he turned to face me. Guess you didn't expect me to loudly speak out the truth, huh?

He just sat there and breathed for a moment, obviously searching for the right words to say, but I didn't want to hear it. "Actually, Matt, you don't have to reply anything," I added, and without waiting for him, I jumped out of the van and walked toward the large building. He was right behind me and rang the bell.

"Who's there?" an unfriendly voice bellowed. Matt replied, "M Shadows with his," he swallowed, looked at me, "friend." Ouch. Friend?
There was a loud humming tone signaling that the door was open now. We entered a small reception room, where a pretty redhead first smiled at Matt, then glared at me. Bitch, I thought. It had become so normal for me to curse like the guys did.

"Vickeeeey," Syn screamed happily before hugging me so hard I almost couldn't breathe. "God, Val is, like, so annoying. Seriously, can someone just, you know, like, kill that bitch?" Gosh, that guy is so hyper. "Brian guys, what the hell did you give Brian?" I asked the guys, playing worried.

It was only then that I noticed Michelle and a pretty black-haired girl sitting right next to her. "Don't worry, Vicky, I think that's the adrenaline. Anyway, we're glad you're here now," Michelle offered. I still didn't know what she was up to, so I hesitated for a moment.
Without bothering to reply to her, I decided to introduce myself to the black-haired girl. "Hey, I don't think we met, I'm Vicca." "Renee," she replied.

Syn inserted, "She's Zacky's new chick, she just doesn't know it yet. And Vicca here is Matt's, but he doesn't know it yet. Damn, guys. Don't make it so fucking complicated." To underline his words, he walked right over to Michelle and kissed her so deeply that the guys cheered for them to get a room.

"Vicky, is anything wrong?" Michelle asked, seeming concerned. In that moment, her phone rang. "Yes?" she said, then held the phone further away from her ear. In there screamed a very angry, obviously drunk Valary. "Seriously, we shared a fucking womb, how can you not be on my side now?" was the first thing I understood. Michelle just stared at Syn absentmindedly while letting her sister scream things at her.

Only then did it dawn on me. Michelle was really on my side. Which meant that she might have been right about Matt, too. Which meant that... I probably screwed up by screaming at him earlier. I took away Michelle's phone and simply pressed the end call button. I then switched it off. Everybody stared at me in silence.

"Why would we let her terrorize us like that? Come on guys, let's all switch it off. Then she can't intimidate us any longer." I then proceeded to switch off my own phone, which made me realize something.
I had three text messages and two missed calls from my mom. The first message said:

There is no Monica Cortez with the LAPD.
The second one said:
Your restraining order is legal from tomorrow on.
The third one was:
Don't call me back I'm in a meeting, ttyl, love mom

"Fucking bitch," I screamed in anger. Still, all eyes were drawn to me. "Today I got this call from Monica Cortez, LAPD, telling me my restraining order wasn't legal until the trial is over. Guess who that was?" I hastily explained myself, and the guys let out annoying sounds that sounded like a walrus trying to eat a watermelon. Seriously.

"We should, like, totally try to kill her," Syn screamed and then jumped on a table, holding his guitar like the statue of liberty holds her torch. "The war must be declared, my people, I will lead you through the rough times. Hail to Synyster Hitler," he goofed around, but I had to swallow thickly. Whenever someone mentioned Hitler I inevitably felt bad because I was of German descent, at least on my dad's side. But then again, nobody seemed to care.

Matt then lifted high-pitched screaming Syn of the table and the guys started recording in another room. The two girls and I started to talk. "What did Syn mean you don't know yet that you're Zacky's new girl?" I asked Renee curiously. "Well, I'm just not sure I guess. He could have anyone, after all. He could cheat and lie and whatever and I already had that, I don't really want another relationship like that." She stared down at the ground and I saw panic in her eyes.

"But... I know Zacky, he would never. I mean, of course it is a question of trust in the end, but, he's worth it," I tried to convince her. "Wise words," Michelle cut me off, "I think I heard them somewhere yesterday. Any news in Strawberry Shadow land?"
"Michelle, I'm sorry, I was so paranoid yesterday. I thought you were on Val's side," I replied remorsefully. I almost felt bad for making myself believe that someone as nice as her could mean me harm.

"Well, I'm her sister after all. But that doesn't somehow keep me from having a sane mind. I mean, I do still know what's right or wrong, even if my sister's the one to do it." Renee then added, "Look Vicky, before you came Michelle told me about this little war, and I do think I clearly heard that she's on your side." We all smiled and started talking, since there was a lot to talk about.

Notes

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat, so can we all agree that Val is pretty hopeless?

Oh and considering Renee... Any similarities to another person, especially one of my readers? :3

Seriously, thanks to all you guys for your encouraging comments and nice words, I smile like a retard whenever there is something. Keep on being awesome guys!