I wrote this for my English class so it DOES NOT tie into any of my other story's!

It was just another ordinary day, my Mom picked us up from school, and we went shopping for a couple hours and were now on our way home. My mom was never much of a cook; she always said that fast food and take out were the best inventions since electricity. In a matter of minutes we were out of the McDonalds drive thru and once again on our way home. Sally and I sat in the back quietly eating our French fries.

"Lucy," My mother called my name. "Have you seen my wallet?"

"You dropped it on the floor," I pointed out.

I liked my life, it was simple. I had a mom, Dad and one sister. We all got along well; Sally and I did well in school so there never seemed to be a problem. Sally was only 14, still in eighth grade however I had moved up to high school as a junior at the age of 16. I always talked about college with Sally, like how I would miss her high school years. Since I would be away in a different state attending some university. Of course she would always try to convince me that college would be fun, she was always so optimistic. Every day she wore a smile on her face, the only time I ever saw her cry was when our cat died.

"I found it," My mom said from the front seat. It was rather dark out since we were on a back road there were no street lights. The only light I saw were the headlights of a truck as we unknowingly merged into the other lane

A loud annoying beeping sound woke me up from my deep sleep. I hit the alarm to turn it off but didn't dare look at the clock. In small red letters, under the displayed time would be today's date.

"It's been three years Sally," I whispered to my poor sister.

It had been three years exactly since my family fell apart, since I had been in the back of the ambulance begging my sister to wake up. Three years since carelessness took the life of the person I loved the most. I tried my best to pretend that today was a normal day. After getting dressed in my usual T-shirt and skinny jeans, I applied my makeup and hurried down stairs. My dad was sitting in the living room watching T.V. I didn't bother to say hi or Good morning. Ever since Sally's death, we barely spoke to each other. But when we did it consisted of him yelling and criticizing me about everything. Every day he pointed out something wrong with me and every day I ignored him. I was getting tired of his insults and occasionally he would bring me to tears. I needed to hurry and get to work; I had already been late twice that week. I was sure that if I was late today I would be fired. While pouring a cup of coffee, some of the hot liquid splashed onto my hand. Causing me to drop the ceramic mug. The second my dad heard the mug hit the floor he was up and screaming.

"What is wrong with you? Do you think money grows on trees and can just break everything? You

Always break everything we buy you and you don't care!"

"It was an accident!" I yelled back, he seemed surprised that I was actually replying instead of retreating

to my room.

"Don't you dare yell at me." He screamed.

"Why not? You always yell at me and criticize everything I do. You're a terrible fath-"I was cut off by a

Quick hit from the back of his hand.

I couldn't believe it, my father had never hit me before. He only verbally abused me; this was one of the things that pushed me to the edge. I ran out the door and hopping into my car. My dad glared at me as I pulled out of the drive way. Instead of going to work, I headed straight for the bank to retrieve my savings. I hadn't wanted to leave before but now I needed to get away. I got my 800 dollars in cash, filled up my gas tank and headed home to pack. I decided to leave in the middle of the night to avoid what my dad would say. I doubted my mom would notice if I left, after Sally's death she became severely depressed. She rarely left her room and slept almost all day. As soon as my dad left at 6:00 to his job as a night guard, I put all my things in the back of my car. I also left a note explaining why I was leaving and that I plan on visiting once I settle in somewhere. I left out the fact that I was going to California so maybe my dad wouldn't come looking for me.

The drive from Pennsylvania to California was going smoothly until my car decided to overheat. I didn't have enough money for a tow truck or to get my car fixed so I ended up standing on the side of a high way just ten miles from California. Hitch hiking to me, was a dangerous thing to do. You never know who could pick you up but it was starting to seem like no one was willing to. At least thirty cars passed by every two minutes and yet no one stopped. I couldn't blame them, who would want to go out of their way to help someone that could possibly be crazy or dangerous. I was tempted to get out my guitar and just start playing some song I wrote late at night. I always wanted to be a musician, playing guitar and writing songs were my passions in life. Of course, becoming a musician is not easy and not very many people succeed. However, leaving my dysfunctional family is a good push to try and achieve my dreams. I'm just not sure how I can do that with so little money and no home. I gave up with sticking my thumb up and trying to wave down cars. I just leaned against my car with the hood up trying to get it to cool down. Within a couple minutes a small black cheap looking car pulled over only twenty feet in front of my car. The guy that stepped out was anything but normal. He was covered in tattoos, had long hair on one side of his head but shaved partially on the other. Definitely not the kind of person you would want to get a ride from. Then again, I had layered dark blue hair but I didn't go as extreme as he did. The stranger in ripped up red skinny jeans, combat boots and a band T-shirt walked up to me.

"Uh, do you need some help or something?" He asked with a surprisingly mellow voice, I had expected something more like how those serial killers in movies always sound.

"Well I don't know anything about cars or what wrong with my car. So I'm not sure what I need help with exactly." I said while looking at the mixture of smoke and steam coming off of my cars engine.

"I really don't know anything about cars either," He gave me an innocent smile and awkwardly stood there thinking.

"Do you live near here? I could give you a ride home if you want." He asked.

"I live in Pennsylvania so I guess I need to go to a hotel." I dreaded the thought of having to spend some of my money. I already had so little, I needed to save it for as long as I could.

"There are some hotels about half an hour from here," I just smiled at his statement. "So do you want me to put your stuff in my car and I can take you there?" He said noticing the couple of suitcases in the back seat of my car.

"Yeah, oh and thanks."

"It's no problem,"

I shut the hood off my car and started grabbing some of my suitcases. When the stranger saw me struggling to pick up the heaviest suitcase, he quickly grabbed it from me and held it with ease.

"By the way, my names Jayy." He said with a smile.

"I'm Lucy,"

He started to take two of my suitcases to his car while I grabbed the third and my guitar. I wasn't sure if all my things would fit in his car but somehow we managed to squeeze everything in. I left a note on my car saying I would be back for it the next day and we left in the direction of the closest town. As we were leaving we noticed how slow the traffic was getting. As soon as we got within ten miles of town, it was completely stopped.

"Well this is great…" He said with sarcasm.

"I have a feeling we won't get there anytime soon…" I pointed out.

"So, how come you're here in California?" He asked.

"I left home to become a musician,"

"That would explain why you have a guitar with you." He said. "Well guess what!"

"What?" I asked curiously.

"I am a musician!" He said with a big smile.

"Really?" I asked doubting that he was telling the truth.

"Yeah, I play at random venues all the time,"

We continued to talk about his career as a musician and how his band is going on tour in three weeks. I told him about how I had been writing songs for three years now and had never played for an audience before. It took an hour until the traffic started to clear up but by then Jayy and I were talking as if we had known each other for years. He gave me advice on how to deal with the music industry and told the greatest stories about meeting his idols.

"If you need to find a place to do a live performance, I could help you out." He said.

"That would be amazing," I exclaimed.

"Well here we are," He said while pulling up to a small motel only a few blocks from the center of town. I quickly whipped out a piece of paper and a pen from my purse and wrote down my phone number.

"Text or call me some time so we can keep talking about the wonders of the music industry,"

He took the small piece of paper with a smile on his face.

"I sure will!"

After four days of staying in the hotel I realized that I needed to get a job if I was ever going to get my car fixed. A diner just down the street was hiring and I would make an average of seventy dollars a day, five days a week. The hotel was forty dollars a night so I barely had enough money by the end of the day. By the end of the week I had only seventy dollars but that was if I didn't eat. I was doing ok I guess, I really needed a better job and a place to live. I also wasn't sure how long I would be able to stay at the hotel. Over the two weeks I was living at the hotel, I continued to stay in touch with Jayy. He lived only ten minutes away so we met up every other day for coffee. I didn't bother to tell him about my money problems, the last thing I wanted was to have someone offer me money. While just sitting at the hotel on Saturday afternoon a certain text from Jayy got my attention. He said to meet him at starbucks as soon as possible, It sounded urgent so I quickly got dressed to go. Walking in, I saw him nervously sitting at a table looking around. Right when I sat down I realized I mistook his excitement for being nervous.

"Calm down Jayy!" I said as he wore huge smile on his face.

"Guess what!"

"What?" I asked.

"The opening band for my tour quit, So I need someone else." I didn't quite understand what he was trying to tell me.

"So…?" I said.

"So! You're a musician! You could open for my band!" I was like his excitement transferred across the table to me. I felt like standing up and just jumping for joy literally. We discussed everything for about two hours. This was finally it! I would be able to perform live on a stage! It was dreams come true. They left for the tour in five days so I called my boss as soon as I got to the hotel and told him I could only work for four more days. Jayy said I could live on the tour bus with him and I would be getting a certain percentage of how many tickets and merchandise they sell. We decided to make my stage name, LucyLush so we would have something to put on T-shirts to sell.

The next week I was standing behind a large curtain listening to hundreds of people talking. With a guitar and once hand and a guitar pick in the other I got ready to go on stage. As I stepped onto the dark stage, the only light I saw was the stage lights. All the past memories of death and sorrow seemed to disappear as people cheered.