The rock band was playing so loud  that I had to scream to talk to Eddy.

“Umm, don’t you think we should leave?” I proposed.

“Now? We just got here!” he exclaimed, looking at the band.

I gave my boyfriend a stern look. I don’t even know why I accepted to come to this stupid concert. I don’t do rock and roll. I never understood why Eddy liked to listen to a bunch of crazy people screaming into cheap microphones. He glanced at me and saw my look. He sighed.

“Ok, fine.”

On the way to my house, we walked in silence. Okay, I know that I shouldn’t of have made Eddy leave from the concert, him being a total rock music maniac, but these days, everything he did got on my nerves. The way he laughs, the way he talks, the way he walks. I think I’m going to break up with him.

“Julia, we have to talk” he suddenly said, stopping abruptly in middle of the sidewalk.

***

He broke up with me. Eddy freaking broke up with me. How is this possible? He’s the one who’s annoying! What did I do wrong? I don’t get it.

That’s what I told Patrick when I called him the other day. (I would have called my best friend Gina, but she was in Florida for two weeks.) He spent most of the time saying “uhun, yeah, I understand”. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was playing Guitar Hero.

So I abandonned trying to talk to him and called Samantha. She told me she was in a hurry, that she was going to see a rock concert and that if I wanted to talk to her, she could pick me up in 10 minutes and we would go there together. I hesitated, remembering just how much I hated rock concerts. She told me it was free.

“Okay, I’m coming” I said and we hung up.

When we got there, I had been talking about Eddy for 15 minutes, which means all the way to the concert. Then, I shut up when I realised that it was exactly the same band that played the night Eddy broke up with me. I rolled my eyes as the singer started to sing. This was pathetic. Sam seemed to like it though. I rolled my eyes again when I realised that.

I pretended to like it for 5 songs. Sam leaned in my direction and said:

“The singer’s cute. He’s got a really hot voice…”

“Mmm” I mumbled. I have to say that she was right. The singer looked like…well, a musician, with his brown, messy hair covering some parts of his eyes and his incredible, smooth voice. Yeah, the guy was talented…but still. I don’t do rock and roll, no matter how cute the singer was.

The band ended it’s last song and the singer said in the microphone:

“This was The Illusion Deadline playing. Good night people and rock on!”

The crowd cheered and some girls in a corner screamed like crazy. I just rolled my eyes for the 100th time.

“Umm, I’m gonna go get some sodas ok?” I said.

‘Sprite for me!” Sam replied, eyes on the next band.

I went to the soda machine and buyed two Sprites, but the second I did, the machine ate my coins. I let out an irritated scream and tapped on the machine. Why does everything have to go so wrong?

“The machine ate your coins?” asked a smooth voice behind me. I turned around.

It was the band’s singer.

“Here” he said, putting some coins in the machine, and handed me two Sprites that had fallen. “Drinks on me.” He winked and left.

He left me stading there, holding two bottles of Sprite in my hands.

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look out the window 
 I could see the snow
Pilling up at it’s edge
A snowflake at a time

Maybe all the whiteness
Would have cleared up the skies
And my light would have shined
From beneath the clouds

(CHORUS)
Oh, what would I have to say
If you came rushing by
Should I blush, should I smile?
I guess you wouldn’t come anyway
Cause a smile would hurt
Cause the colour won’t come
And the words
And the words are stuck in my way

Oh, look, it’s raining now
Washing away
Every last hope left for us

There’s something
I want to say
In this last hour
Before I run away

(CHORUS)
Oh, what would I have to say
If you came rushing by
Should I blush, should I smile?
I guess you wouldn’t come anyway
Cause a smile would hurt
Cause the colour won’t come
And the words
And the words are stuck in my way

My best friend, Emily, looked at her dark purple painted nails and asked: “Do you really think they look almost black?”

“I don’t care, Emily” I said, frowning. “Look, we have to finish this. It’s due in 3 days!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, Sarah” she sighed, looking away from her nails and lighting a cigarette.

I groaned. “Ugh. Don’t you know what that does to your lungs?”

Emily didn’t say anything. She stared at me, eyebrows raised, and let out a cloud of smoke out of her mouth.

“Anyway” I said, shaking my head. “We have to solve 100 arithmetic problems. So let’s start now.”

She didn’t budge. “Sarah, when will you understand that you got to loosen up? Life is great so just live it!”

She made a big circular movement with her hands, as if to show just how grand life is. I couldn’t believe this. She was the last person who should tell me that. Emily’s description would be: a young 15-year-old that painted her nails, hair and clothes in black, smiles rarely, has a depression every week and smokes so much that it looks as if she aspires to develop cancer.

She’s been like this since she met Fred, a year ago, and started hanging out with him all the time. He’s THE most gothic guy in school. He’s two years older than Emily, but she’s still completely in love with him. I never understood why.

***

“We seriously have to do something about Emily” I said, sitting down at my usual table in the cafeteria. “She’s gone haywire.”

Marc, Sally and Tom turned around to glance at Emily and Fred at the other end of the cafeteria and the looked back at me.

“Well, I don’t really think there’s anything to worry about” said Tom, eating an apple.

His girlfriend, Sally, stepped on his foot and answered in his place: “What Tom really means is that you’re totally right.”

Marc stared at me. He sighed and agreed with me. “But what could we do about that?” he asked as he discreetly looked at Fred. “She’s completely in love with the guy. I never understood why…”

“I don’t know, but there’s something just not right about all this. I mean, come on! Emily was this amazing girl and now she’s…she’s…”

“A goth?” completed Tom.

“Yeah.”

“What goth?” asked someone behind us.

We all turned around and started giving Emily all kinds of different explanations. She frowned and sat down in front of me.

“Okay, okay, whatever” she said, looking at her nails on which she had added an extra layer of black nail polish. “Look, guys, I can’t come to the movies with you tomorow.” Then, she added, her eyes sparkling: “I’ve got a date with Fred.”

“Isn’t that a surprise” Marc said, giving me a meaningful look.

“I got to go” Emily told us as she was getting up.

“What? Why?” I questionned, irritated.

“I have to go smoke with Fred. Duh.”

And she left, leaving us sitting there and staring at what have been the place she was sitting at.

***

“Guys, I have an idea” Marc told us the next day.

“You’re going to say to Emily that she better stop seeing Fred and being a goth or you’ll jump off a cliff?” Sally proposed, chewing her gum while waiting an answer.

“Umm, no. I was more thinking of leaving her alone. I mean it’s her business, right? I don’t think we should bother her, it’s none of our business.”

Sally was about to step on his foot, but then she remembered that he wasn’t her boyfriend.

“Of course it’s our business” I replied. “She’s our friend.”

“Exactly, so maybe we should try respecting who she is.”

“Thank you, Marc” Emily said, sitting down once again.

We stared at her, horrified. She overheard us. We’re dead.

“I know I haven’t been the best of friends since I hang out with Fred” she said. “But I’m going to make it up to you. I’m going to spend more time with you guys, I promise. Maybe you think it’s a waste to dye my “incredibly magnificent” blonde hair in black, Sarah, but I like it that way. This isn’t just about Fred. I mean so what if I look gothic? You’re my friends, you should like me the way I am.”

I sighed and glanced at her. I hate to say this, but she’s right. I never understood why.