Chapter 1:
Beep! Beep! Beep! I quickly open the microwave and pulled out the inflated bag inside. I tossed the bag of popcorn onto the counter before it had enough time to burn off the skin on my fingers. I could hear my friends laughing from my bedroom down the hall as I searched for a bowl in the kitchen. I finally found a bowl big enough for the popcorn and poured it in. I grabbed the bowl, shut the kitchen lights off, and hurried my way down the hallway to my bedroom.
"Oh, yum! Popcorn!" said Liz as she stood up and took the bowl from my hands.
"You're welcome," I called back to her. Liz turned around, gave me a kidding smirk, and sat back down.
"You better be sharing, Liz. Some of us want some too. Karen will be here soon and will want some too" said Melissa.
""Oh, hush Mel," said Liz as she passed the bowl over to Melissa. I shut my bedroom door and sat down. I was excited for our girls night. Liz had been my best friend since we were in second grade. She was one of the sassiest, yet nicest girls I had ever met. She had gorgeous red hair that went to the middle of her back. She was awesome. Liz and I met Melissa (Mel) during our time in the play in middle school. Liz and I were part of the stage crew while Mel was one of the actors. Somehow we all three clicked and became friends. While Mel is a grade older than us, she still connects better with us than girls her own age. The final girl that made up our group of four was Karen. Karen was the "baby" of the group. She is a year younger than us, so we treat her like our little sister. We met Karen during my sophomore year of high school. Mel and I were walking past the girl's bathroom when we heard a girl crying. We had went in and saw Karen in there, crying. She had gum in her hair. Mel and I had decided to help her out and get the gum out. The only way to do so was to cut her hair. Since Mel was going to go to beauty school after high school, she cut Karen's hair to make her look adorable. Ever since then, Karen had joined the crew. I absolutely loved these girls and couldn't picture my life without them.
"Hey, Grace." I looked up to Mel from spacing out. "Can we change the station on the radio? I'm really not diggin' this 80's crap."
"Yea, go ahead," I replied as Mel got up and changed the station.
"Stop here," said Liz to Mel. "This is a good channel." Mel sat back down on the floor and started smiling.
"Bobby Jake. I love his music!" exclaimed Mel and she started swaying back and forth. I picked up my nail filing and started filing my nails while listening to the wonderful music of Bobby Jake. "You take me to a wonder place where I'm left to think. Live for this and take it in. What do you want when this adventure ends?"
I hear my phone vibrate from the floor next to me. It was Karen
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Karen. Will you let me in? I don't want to ring the doorbell and wake your dad and Amber?"
"Sure. I'll be right there." I hung up the phone and got up.
"Karen's here. I'll be right back." Mel and Liz smiled and nodded has I walked out of my room.
I went down the hallway, through the kitchen, into the living room to the front door. I opened the door to see Karen standing there in her pink footie pj's, her pillow, blanket, and bag. I didn't only notice that her hair was a mess, but I also noticed that her eyes mascara was running.
"Karen. What's wrong?" I asked as I let her in.
"Fucking, Pete. He's such an ass. He just…just…" Before Karen could finish her sentence, she broke down. I took her bag and lead her to my room with the other girls. When we got there, Liz and Mel stood up and welcomed Karen in.
"Karen, why are you crying? What happened?" Liz and Mel continued to ask her questions. Karen took her blanket and sat down on the floor, head in her hands. I tossed her bag on my bed and sat down beside her. Liz grabbed a box of tissues while Mel sat down too.
"Karen, tell us what's wrong," I said as I tried to comfort her.
"Pete. He dumped me," Karen said in between sniffles.
"Dumped you? Why?" asked Liz.
"Because of Lauren, his ex. She decided she needed to flaunt her ass around this town again. She came back from college and her and Pete hooked back up." Karen buried her face into a handful of tissues.
"Why is she even back? I thought they were officially done a long time ago," replied Mel.
"Apparently he wanted her again," said Karen. Pete was two years older than Karen. He was Mel's age. He went to our high school and was dating Lauren for the longest time. Pete hooked up and started dating Karen while he and Lauren were on a "break". While he was dating Karen, Pete and Lauren had gotten together a few times, but he had promised Karen it was over between him and Lauren when the graduated high school. After he graduated, He got a full time job while Karen finished her junior and senior year. Lauren had gone to a college 12 hours away. This was the first time I had heard that Lauren had come back from college. Now I guess her and Pete were back together.
"Oh god, Karen. Just forget about him. He wasn't any good for you anyways," I said. "You deserve better."
"Yea, right," replied Karen. All four of us sat on the floor in silence. We had all gone through something tragic where we needed comfort. Liz's older brother was killed in a car accident, Mel's grandparents died, my parents divorced, and now Karen had been dumped by her first boyfriend.
"Well, I know what we need," I said as I stood up. I walked over to my closet and pulled out a box from the back. I open the box and bulled out two bottles of wine and four glasses. This was our emergency kit. We always kept it at my house because I had the parents who cared the least. I poured the wine into the glasses, handed them out, and sat down.
We spent the next two hours giggling, talking, drinking, doing our hair and nails, listening to music, and just having fun. I walked over to the radio and turned it up when I heard who was playing next.
"Are you serious, Grace? This song is so old," Liz complained.
"Yea, well I don't care. I grew up listening to this group," I replied as I turned the volume up. The radio station was playing Gone Away, my favorite band. I started listening to the band in elementary school. At that time, the members of Gone Away were teenagers. Now they were all grown men with families.
"I can't believe you ever liked them," Liz said as I sat down.
"They're not that bad," Karen replied while taking a sip of wine. The wine seemed to be helping Karen. She no longer cried or talked about Pete.
"That, ladies and gentlemen, was Glazed by Gone Away. If you enjoyed listening to Gone Away back in the day, then you'll appreciate this. Gone Away will be performing at Smith's Theater in two weeks and we had your ticket. This performance is private and tickets were handing out to certain people. Do you want the ticket we have? Then be our fifteenth caller now!"
My mouth dropped and all the girls turned to me when the announcer was done talking.
"You guys I need to go!," I exclaimed as I grabbed my phone. Liz, Mel, and Karen just stared at me while I tried to dial the number with my shaking hands.
"Hun, do you know how many people are trying to call?" asked Mel.
"I don't care," I yelled back as I hit redial. After a few rings I heard a familiar voice.
"Hello there! You're our fifteenth caller!"