Category: The Teenage Monologues: Season 2

“Milo,” I hear my dad outside my bedroom door, knocking before he enters the room. He looks at me, clearly annoyed that I’m still hanging out on my bed, not ready to leave the house anytime soon. “Why aren’t you ready? We’re leaving in 30 minutes.”

“Do I really have to go?” I whined, rolling over in bed.

“Milo,” my dad simply said. I sighed, still not getting up from my bed. “It’s for Mollie’s birthday.”

“Who cares,” I said, getting up from the bed to sit at the edge of it. “It’s not like she’ll show up for my birthday next month anyway.”

“I don’t like this whole feud you got going on with Mollie,” my dad said, crossing his arms along his chest. “You’ve been best friends since you guys were little.” I looked over my dad’s shoulder when Jennifer passed by. I don’t say anything. I know Jennifer has to know something about Mollie and me not talking anymore, but I really didn’t want to get into it with her. My dad turns around to look at Jennifer walking by with the twins. He looks back at me. “You don’t think she knows you guys aren’t talking?”

“I don’t care,” I said, sighing and looking down at my phone.

“Well you’re not just going to stay home by yourself all day, so get ready because we leave in 20 minutes,” my dad said before leaving the room. I looked up from my phone, annoyed.

“Why can’t I just stay home?!” I shouted out. My dad turned around to face me once more time before leaving the room for good.

“Because the last time you stayed home, Sophie and you were alone together,” my dad mentioned. He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. I sighed and began to drag myself toward my dresser. Well, you don’t have to worry about me being here alone with Sophie, she fucking hates my guts.

Sophie and I haven’t spoken to each other since the night of the showcase. She would pass by me walking in the hallway and she barely looked my way in band class. What was my favorite class of the day is now the one I dread the most; I just want Sophie to talk to me and hang out with me again. It’s like I go to school and get by without talking or hanging out with my friends. I refuse to talk to Mollie after what she did, but I can’t help but miss even talking to her at school.

I sighed and began to get dressed; something told me today wasn’t going to go the way that my dad and Jennifer thought it was going to go.

…

Lydia opened the front door and greeted Jennifer before greeting us all. Lydia has always been nice to me, even when Mollie and I would argue and not speak to each other.

“I’m so glad you guys were able to make it today,” Lydia said to Jennifer and my dad. “It’s been quite some time since the holidays came and went.”

“Mom, of course, we wouldn’t miss Mollie’s birthday,” Jennifer said as we all began to walk into Lydia’s house.

“You were once a teen yourself, Pep; they all hate these types of celebrations,” Lydia mentioned as she helped Jennifer with the bags in her hands. Lydia looked at me before saying else. “Right Milo? Your birthday is coming up.” I exaggerated a smile, just to be polite.

“Yeah,” I simply said, proving her point. Lydia laughed as she nudged Jennifer’s shoulder.

We entered the living room and immediately saw the place decorated in pink and orange birthday decorations. Mollie hates the color pink. Jennifer walks over to the table to drop off the gifts she got Mollie. Once everyone moves toward the kitchen, I sit on the couch in the living room, scrolling through my phone and minding my business, not going upstairs to hang in Mollie’s room like I usually do. It sucks; I just wish that Mollie didn’t make the dumbest decision of her life and choose Aaron to call her boyfriend. All those damn guys in the school and she decided he was the one she wanted to date. Some fucking best friend.

“Milo, Mollie’s upstairs if you want to see her,” Lydia said, poking her head into the living room.

“I’m okay,” I answered back, not trying to give her a reason to question anything… even though she probably thinks I’m a piece of shit if Mollie told her anything about the argument. Lydia doesn’t say anything back, she just slips back into the kitchen, which makes my face instantly turn red. I know they’re talking about me in the kitchen. I sighed, getting up from the sofa and walking toward the front door to sit outside. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold today.

Before I was able to grab my coat and walk outside, I could hear Jennifer and my dad greet Mollie in the kitchen.

“Happy Birthday, Mol!” Jennifer says first. “My baby sister is 15 years old!”

“Was the hug really necessary?” I hear Mollie say.

“Girl shut up,” Jennifer says back. It’s sometimes weird to hear Jennifer talk to Mollie in a sibling way after seeing her be motherly towards my siblings and me. “You get a little crush on a by and all of a sudden you think you’re grown.”

“A crush?” Lydia says, interrupting the conversation. “Mollie is too young to be having a boyfriend!”

“I don’t have a boyfriend, god!” Mollie answers back, sounding defensive. I roll my eyes, about to walk out of the house.

“Well, Milo’s in the living room if you’re looking for him,” Lydia says.

“I’m not,” I hear Mollie say. “I don’t hang out with self-centered people.” I hear Jennifer and Lydia react to Mollie’s words, but I immediately shut the door behind me and walk down the front steps. Me?! I’m the one who’s self-centered?! It’s something that Mollie said, but I remember Sophie saying the same thing the night of the showcase. Am I self-centered? Do I only care about myself? I knew that wasn’t true. I know for a fact that I really cared about Sophie. I still care about her. A lot.

I don’t know what came over me, but I found myself immediately dialing Sophie’s number. I don’t know if she’s even going to pick up, but I’m hoping she sees my number and she—

“What do you want?” Sophie immediately said after picking up the phone. I feel like I wasn’t prepared to actually hear her voice talk directly to me, even if she was still mad at me.

“I, uhm,” I began to say, trying to piece together a proper sentence. “How are you doing?”

“I don’t have time for this,” Sophie said, trying to dismiss me and this conversation.

“Wait, Sophie!” I quickly said, trying to keep her on the phone as long as possible. “I… don’t want to have this conversation over the phone, but I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later today and talk.”

“What is there to possibly talk about, Milo?” Sophie questioned. I know Sophie was trying to give the cold shoulder, but I couldn’t help but think, well if there was nothing to talk about, why would she have picked up the phone?

“I want to apologize, for real,” I admitted. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings and for only thinking about myself the night of the showcase. But you deserve a conversation; in person.” Sophie only sighs over the phone, which doesn’t leave me too hopeful that she’s willing to talk to me.

“Where do you want to talk?” Sophie asked. Again, I was at a loss for words; I didn’t expect Sophie to agree to this conversation. I wanted to have this conversation with her at a place that meant a lot to the both of us. I just didn’t want us to talk in some pizza place or somewhere random.

“The treehouse at 6 tonight?” I asked.

“The treehouse?” Sophie repeated. “We’re not allowed to hang out there anymore; remember?”

“No one has to know,” I reassured Sophie. “Just meet me at the treehouse at 6; it’s okay.” It took Sophie a while to say anything after that.

“Fine,” Sophie agreed. I couldn’t help but smile; I was finally going to talk to my best—

I turned around when I hear the front door open. I turn around with the phone still to my ear. I see it’s Mollie standing there. She rolled her eyes as she passed me on the front steps.

“I’ll talk to you tonight,” I softly said to the Sophie. I hung up the phone once we said our goodbyes; it was time to tackle this mess of the friendship.

“Happy birthday,” I simply said to Mollie. She stopped where she was to turn around and look at me. She crossed her arms along her chest before she said anything.

“Fuck you,” Mollie spat out.

I bump my head along to the song that Aaron and his band are playing on stage. It was surreal to be watching a live performance on the sidelines while being backstage; it made me feel important and cool to watch the show just feet away from the stage. Every now and then, Aaron looked towards the side of stage at me, smiling as he played his guitar and sang the songs. It made me feel giddy and definitely made me blush.

After his band finishes the song, the audience applauds and cheers out loud. The guys on stage take a sip of water from their bottles before they say anything to the audience. Aaron is the first to start talking.

“What’s up, Gravesery Hall!” Aaron shouts out as the crowd goes wild. “That’s what we like to hear! Anyway, thank you guys for coming out tonight and letting us perform a couple of our classics for you guys.” Aaron looks over at me before he looks back towards the audience. “We have some awesome new music coming your way, including with this amazing and talented vocalist I’ve got the pleasure in getting to know and falling in love with.” The audience reacts in an ‘aww’, and my face is instantly hot from blushing. “Fun little fact about this insanely talented vocalist,” Aaron began to say. “Today just so happens to be her birthday!” Aaron not only is looking at me, but he begins to walk over to me, which instantly makes me nervous.

“What are you doing?” I asked. Aaron just smiles and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the stage. It happened so quickly, but I now found myself standing on the stage with Aaron’s band in front of a full audience.

“Give it up for Mollie, guys!” The audience cheers as I look out toward it; it was surreal to see so many people cheering someone like me… someone that they don’t even know. “I think it’s only right to sing happy birthday to Mollie, don’t you think?” The crowd reacts by cheering loudly. I hide my face with my hands, embarrassed with all the attention on me. I watch Aaron get his guitar ready, looking at me while still trying to talk through the microphone. “One, two, three!”

I look out toward the crowd and watch them sing ‘happy birthday’ along with Aaron. I look back at Aaron playing the song on his guitar while singing. For my last birthday, I spent it with my family and Milo didn’t even show up for it. I hated my birthday last year because I felt so alone on it. A year later, I’m standing on a stage with a band who’s lead singer is my boyfriend and is making the crowd sing with him. I may not know all those people out in the crowd, but to be a part of a moment that felt as real and genuine like this makes me feel good. Happy. Seen. Who would’ve thought Aaron Serrano would make me feel all of these amazing things? It sometimes even feels too good to be true.

The birthday song ends and the crowd cheers loud. I smile and bow as a thank you since there were literally no words to describe how I was feeling besides in love. I look at Aaron and smiled at him; of course, he returns the smile in the cutest and purest way.

“So,” Aaron starts to say once the crowd quiets down. “I think the best way to end the night is to have Mollie join us for one of those songs she’s been working on with us!” I looked at Aaron in immediate panic; of course I wasn’t preparing to sing in front of an entire audience tonight.

“I didn’t agree to this, Aaron,” I whispered in his ear. “I came here to support you guys.”

“This will be a great way to introduce you to the world, Mols,” Aaron explained. “They deserve to hear your voice.” I looked out to the audience as Aaron began to walk away from the microphone.

“What song are we singing?” I turned around to ask Aaron. He smiled before he answered.

“Your favorite one,” Aaron answered. I looked towards the audience with the microphone and stand in front of me. I took a deep breath before I said anything.

“Thank you for having me tonight,” I began to say. “I think we should end this night by singing a song about unapologetic being yourself by kindly telling the haters to fuck off.” The crowds cheers loudly as I look back at Aaron. He smiles as he starts playing the chords of the song.

I turned around to face the microphone and began singing one of the many songs his band and I have been rehearsing for the past couple of months. The beat of the drum vibrated the small stage we were standing on, and Aaron’s electric guitar echoed the small concert hall. I start to dance around the stage as I began to sing the lyrics to the song. This feeling being up on stage feels… good. It’s not the same feeling I would get dancing at competitions or recitals; for some reason this feels different. I feel open and… free.

I take the microphone off of the stand and began to get more into the song; the way I would when we would rehearse them at the studio. I dance around, leaning towards the edge of the stage to get close to the audience. I flip my hair away from my face and continue to sing the song, walking over to Aaron and fiercely dance to the guitar solo. He keeps his eyes on me the entire time he plays the guitar for his solo; it was… magical. I get sucked into his eyes and it’s suddenly just us. We’re performing for each other. Performing is our love language.

I turn away and finish the song at the microphone stand, belting the high notes toward the end of it. The song officially ends and the crowd cheers louder than before. I turn around to look at Aaron. He looks at me and sticks his tongue out while putting up the “rock on!” sign. It makes me laugh. He makes me feel so full.

…

I scroll through my phone mindlessly as I sit on the living room sofa. I can’t help but stumble across Sophie’s Instagram and watch her stories. Tons of books bought from a local bookstore, pictures of the winter scenery in the city. I’m glad that she’s been doing okay since the showcase; can’t say the same for me.

I exited out of Sophie’s profile and tap on Mollie’s. Her stories are her at a concert; I an only imagine it’s– what? I pause the story and look around the video. I see Mollie is on stage with Aaron Serrano and his dumb band. The video continues to play and the audience starts to sing “happy birthday” to Mollie. This is how she’s spending her birthday today? With that loser? I immediately exit the Instagram app and toss my phone next to me on the sofa. Jennifer walks into the living room to continue cleaning up.

“Everything okay, Milo?” Jennifer asked as she gave me a quick glance. I sighed before I answered.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I simply answered, trying to hide my annoyance from Jennifer. It’s always weird to be in a fight with Mollie; I always feel like I have to hide it from Jennifer since she’s Mollie’s older sister. Sometimes it’s hard to confine in Jennifer as a parent figure in my life when she’s related to the one person that I have most of my problems with.

“You sure?” she asked once more. “I mean, I would’ve thought you’d be with Mollie today for her birthday.”

“She had other plans,” I answered back, trying to not show her how annoyed I am that her ‘other plans’ are with Aaron Serrano; the boy she stupidly fell for. “So here I am.” I try not to look at Jennifer when saying this, but I can see from the corner of my eye that she keeps looking back at me, analyzing my expressions. Jennifer always did that; she always knew there was more than what I was leading on. That’s what made it hard to get things past her; it was easier to do with my dad.

“I see,” Jennifer simply stated as she continued to pick up toys from the floor. Once she got up, she sighed and looked at me. “How’s Sophie been? I haven’t seen her come around in awhile.”

“She’s fine,” I quickly said, lying through my teeth. “She’s in the city with her mom today.” The only good thing about social media is that when parents think you’re friends with someone you’re not really friends with anymore, you can always pretend you’re still cool with them by knowing what they are doing online. Jennifer paused to look at me before she walked out of the living room. She definitely knows more than she’s leading on.

I grabbed my phone from the sofa and click back to Mollie’s profile to finish watching her stories. Now she’s singing on stage with Aaron’s band. That’s annoying. If she wanted to be in a band, we could’ve created one ourselves. She continues to sing on stage, walking around and owning it like she’s done this so many times before. She looked natural being on the stage. Fuck, dude. She’s really good being a lead singer of a band.

I rolled my eyes and turned my phone off completely; I couldn’t keep looking at my former best friend living her best life being the rockstar’s girlfriend. I couldn’t keep looking at the person that Mollie turned into because she didn’t look anything like my best friend anymore. She’s older now, caring about her appearance and hanging out with a different crowd of people. With a boyfriend that was a horrible human being. I got up from the sofa and just walked toward my room.

“Milo?” Jennifer called out from the kitchen area. I don’t answer. I just enter my bedroom and close the door behind me.