“Mikey?”
The pale kid looked up bewildered for a moment and then smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry, I stayed out past my curfew and then I panicked and ran like hell, because I do not want to be caught dead outside. Those fuckers are already at large for all I know,” he rambled barely stopping to take breath between words. “Bob is going to flip his shit, but at least he’ll be happy that I’m at Nana’s.” He seemed to realize that he was rambling just then, because he stopped talking and stepped closer to the two siblings, bringing his hand up to push his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. “Clearly you know who I am,” he said, reaching out a hand towards the pair.
“Mikey, it’s us,” Gerard spoke cautiously.
This was simply weird. They haven’t seen their brother in years, more than a decade and here he was standing in front of them still the scrawny kid they both remembered from so long ago.
“Gerard and Chelle,” his sister added when it didn’t seem that he knew who they were.
Mikey frowned deeply.
And Gerard could imagine his confusion. He felt just as out of it. It was stupid really, because he couldn’t fathom why he never considered the possibility before. Nana said everyone who died at a young age came to Una. When Gerard was about eleven and Mikey was barely eight, they went on holiday. It wasn’t exactly the dream holiday they had hoped for, because Mikey fell into the pool and hit his head. By the time anyone realized where he was and what was happening, Mikey had already drowned. It was the worst summer ever and since then, Gerard’s hated the summer. It never held anything good since that year.
“Gee? Chelle?” As impossible as it seemed, Mikey’s frown just got deeper. “It can’t be. What are you doing here? Is it really you?”
When Gerard glanced to the side he saw Chelle trembling as tears streaked down her cheeks. He stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, making soothing sounds.
“It can’t be,” Mikey gasped still in disbelief. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“But we are. Things happened,” his brother began to explain.
“Things?” Chelle choked upset. “Mikey died and then you died.”
Mikey’s eyes grew wide.
“Gerard?”
“Car accident.”
His eyes shifted to Chelle’s shaking form.
“It doesn’t matter how I came to be here. All that matters is that we’re all together again. You, me and Gee. All of us,” she sniffed, wiping away the tear stains from her face.
Mikey still looked dumbstruck as he reached his arms out and pulled his siblings closer to his chest.
“I’ve missed you guys…”

***

“This is the first time you’ve approached me. I feel honored,” Erin smiled at the brunette.
It seemed that it was always school, because that’s the only time the two girls spoke.
“Yeah, well, I just needed some time to warm up to you,” Chelle replied. “Though now you’re going to wish I never did.”
The tall blonde chuckled, “I doubt that very much, Chelle. So what’s up?”
“What happened with you and Frank? I mean how did it happen that he ended up dating both you and Alex?” Michelle wanted to know.
“First he dated Erin and then for some strange reason he decided to start dating me as well,” Alex informed her, joining them from behind. “I don’t know if he thought he could actually get away with it, because that would just have been stupid. Erin and I are in the same year. We were bound to talk sooner or later.”
“What did you do?”
The two girls looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“We got our revenge. We kind of… well, we tackled him in the field and then we tied him up and stole his clothes,” Erin grinned.
“Then we left him like that in the field,” Alex added with a giggle. “He avoided us like the plague for weeks after that.”
“That’s cruel,” Chelle gave her opinion, staring wide-eyed at the two younger girls. “No wonder Frank said you’re crazy,” she told Erin.
The blonde looked at her, with her hands resting on her hips.
“Okay,” she gave in, rolling her eyes. “Maybe we did get a little carried away, but he had it coming.”
“Fair enough,” Chelle conceded.
“Do you like Frank?” Alex asked, practically getting in Chelle’s face.
It was quite easy since they were both the same height. Chelle took a step back, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
“They’ve been on a date, well, sort of,” Erin answered for her. “Last night, wasn’t it?”
“Are you serious?” Alex gasped. “Tell us everything! I want details.”
She grabbed Chelle’s arm and pulled her over to one of the nearby benches and sat them down.
“Slow down!” Chelle giggled.
“Please,” Alex begged, staring at her with puppy eyes. “I’m really just curious about how he treats you.”
“That’s another question I have,” Chelle informed them, turning to face both girls. “What’s Frank like as a boyfriend?”
“Oh wow,” Erin murmured, seeming to go into a trance. “He’s really great. Unlike a lot of other guys, he actually doesn’t mind going through a bit of trouble for you. He’ll sneak into your room in the middle of the night; carry your bags and buy you lunch. He even remembers your birthday.”
“He forgot mine,” Alex grumbled, leaning back and stretching her legs out in front of her. “But that’s okay. He is a good boyfriend. He gave me what I wanted; I got to choose which movie to watch or what flavored popcorn we had. To top it all off, he’s a great kisser.”
“He is!” Erin exclaimed in agreement.
A short silence followed where both girls stopped talking and glared at each other. They’d both temporarily forgotten the fact that they were the two girls Frank had played. Summoning their memories together reopened those wounds and quite honestly, they didn’t like each other so much at the moment. Erin got tired of glaring and turned her attention back to Chelle.
“But if you like him, you should go for it. Despite what he did, he is actually a good guy,” the blonde assured Chelle. “If it helps, I don’t think him playing us was a habitual thing. He just took a chance when the opportunity presented itself and got burned.”
Chelle opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when someone called her name.
“Chelle!” the voice called again.
The seventeen-year-old turned around on the bench and looked in the direction the voice came from. A girl with long, straight, dark brown hair came running towards her and her eyes grew wide in shock.
“Bellz?” she gasped uncertainly, getting up.
“Chelle!” the girl called out again.
Both girls were running towards each other now and then they were hugging each other tightly, tears of joy streaming down both their cheeks.
“You’re really here,” Annabel cried. “I asked Ray yesterday, but you were out and here you are. I can’t believe it!”
The other two girls just smiled as the two friends reunited.
“You haven’t changed one bit,” Chelle noted. “You still cry easily.”
Annabel lightly punched her friend in the arm.
“Hey, you’re crying too!”
"Well, I've just been reunited with both my brother and my best friend. I'm allowed to cry."
“Chelle, is everything okay?” Chelle suddenly heard Frank’s voice ask.
The brunette spun around to see him looking at her worriedly.
“Frank! I want you to meet my best friend, Bellz. Bellz, this is Frank,” she introduced the two teens, wiping away her tears.
Bellz smiled as she saw her friend’s face light up the second Frank arrived. She didn’t blame her either. He was very good looking with his raven-black hair and green eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you, Bellz,” he smiled, gently shaking her hand.
“You too,” she agreed, meeting his eyes.
Her eyes shifted slightly to the dark haired boy standing behind him.
“Arin!” she said surprised.
“Hello, Bellz,” the teen smiled. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better.”
“Much!” she assured him, grinning broadly. “This is my best friend, Chelle.”
“You two know each other?” Frank asked, looking from Annabel to Arin.
“We met a few days ago,” Arin nodded, coming closer.
“We’re here too,” Alex interjected, as she and Erin joined the conversation.
Frank looked at the two girls suspiciously, wondering what they were up to now.
“Don’t look so scared, Frank,” Erin smiled, pinching his cheek. “We mean no harm.”
“Ha! Yeah, right. I still want my clothes back,” he grumbled.
Alex giggled, “No can do.”
“What did you do?” he asked, frowning.
“We just disposed of it,” the short blonde answered. “Sorry, but we were slightly mad at you at some point.”
“Relax, they’re okay now,” Chelle told him, taking a hold of his hand.
The teen immediately forgot about the others and smiled down at her. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to hold the past against him and that made him extremely happy.

Notes

Sorry for the long wait! Crazy times!
I'm not really sure about the way this chapter turned out, but hopefully it's not too bad :P