• Chapter 2

    I TOOK MY USUAL SEAT IN THE BACK, BEHIND ALL THE normal seats. Ash and I liked to sit in the lab part of the room. She came in with a big smile on her face. I laughed. “Have a moment with Alex?” She just nodded and sat down. Alex was one of the friends we hung out with regularly. We all knew he liked Ash. We all knew she liked him. They were both just too stubborn to deal with it. I smiled. I guess it wasn’t much different from my situation with Alex’s best friend, Anthony. Only, I was sure he didn’t like me. He had a girlfriend for starters. Plus, he was one of my best friends, so I probably wouldn’t do anything. And, I’m not very pretty…
    Anyway! Mr. O'Reilly walked up to us. He looked at Ash, who was jittery with happiness. “What’s with her?” he asked.
    “Had too much caffeine,” I replied, giggling slightly. We often had too much caffeine and sugar. It made for a wild times at Christmas parties and sports events… and random days in the Bandroom.
    He looked at me skeptically. “Sure…”
    Ash looked up and glared at him. “Where’s my burger?” she asked. “I made your brownies! You owe me a burger!” Her growls made me crack up. She looked away from him and turned up her iPod, taking out the headphones so I could hear. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica was blasting. We head banged and sang along.
    After science was lunch and English, but nothing interesting happened then, so I won’t bore you with the details. When the end of the day came, I jumped up and walked out the door. “Ugh, finally,” I said, rolling my eyes.
    Ash came up next to me. “I know! I hate English!”
    Anthony arrived behind us. He had Ms. Delano, who was a psycho, by the way. “Hello.”
    “Hi,” we replied, me getting my goofy crooked smile that I got every time I saw him. My face got all red.
    “Going to the Bandroom?” he asked.
    “Where else?” I asked sarcastically.
    He chuckled. Danny caught up with us. He was singing Party In The U.S.A. We laughed and started singing and dancing with him. “I put my hands up, playin’ my song, The butterflies fly away. Noddin’ my head like yeah, movin’ my hips like yeah!”
    We skipped and danced around. For metal heads, we were pretty prissy at that moment. People looked at us strangely. I didn’t care. I looked at them and laughed. It was way more fun to stand out than to fit in. We jumped down the crazy staircase like freaks. I giggled like a tiny child.
    I turned to Ash. “You gonna go to your store today?” Her family owned a small T-shirt decal shop on Front Street.
    “Nope,” she replied.
    “You planning on hanging out in Lahaina?” Anthony said.
    I blushed. “Uh-huh.” I looked at him with that goofy smile.
    We arrived at the Bandroom right as Mr. Black woke up. We were singing Chop Suey by System of a Down then, so I guess it was our fault. “God Dammit!” he growled. “I can never get sleep with you freaks around!”
    “Sorry Black!” I giggled.
    “Kiss up!” Danny squeaked.
    “Shut up!” Mr. Black hissed.
    “Let’s get out of here before we get pulled into this,” Anthony whispered, pulling Ash and me out of the little office. We snuck out just as a flurry of cussing started.
    “Good lord… They fight like an old couple,” I sighed.
    “They are an old couple,” Alex said, appearing out of nowhere.
    “Whoa! Where’d you come from?” I replied.
    “Over there.” He pointed to the door. I growled, stalking toward the other door.
    “Wait up!” I heard behind me. I smiled, my face turning bright red. Anthony caught up to me. “Are you seriously planning to walk down the hill?”
    “Yes. Aren’t you?” I asked. He had his license, but he didn’t have a school parking permit.
    “Nope! I’m driving!” he replied, with a big grin.
    “You got a parking permit?” I asked with a laugh.
    “Yup!”
    “Sweet!”
    “So, you want a ride?” he asked me.
    I smiled, blushing brighter. “Sure.” We got in his really pretty bluish-gray little car. He turned on his car’s CD player, which blasted Metallica’s Ride The Lightning album. I smiled crookedly and let my mind wander. Instead of daydreaming, as I usually did, I saw a face. Not the face I’m used to- well I’d been getting used to this face by now.