Chapter 2

I could barely breathe when I placed my phone back on the floor. I couldn't believe it! I was going to be seeing Gone Away in two weeks. How was this even possible? I looked at the girls who were all staring at me, smiling.

"Oh my holy hell," said Karen. "You fucking won. What are the odds?" I just shook my head. I had no words. There was only one thing I could think of doing. I stood up, got on my bed and started jumping and screaming.

"YES! I FREAKIN' WON! I'M GOING TO SEE GONE AWAY! AHHHHHH" I jumped and danced on my bed while laughing and crying at the same time. This had to be a dream. Reality struck when I heard someone walking upstairs. I quickly hoped of my bed and hid the wine bottles and glasses just before my bedroom door opened.

"What the hell is going on in here?" asked a horrid voice. I turned to see Amber, my stepmother, standing in my doorway, giving me the evil eye. I hated her so much.

"Nothing, Amber," replied Mel, smiling.

"Well you need to keep it down before I send the girls home. Grace, you know not to be that loud anyway." Amber turned and shut my bedroom door.

"Bitch," I mumbled under my breath.

"Ya know, I think I'm going to bed anyways," said Liz. "It's been a long night."

"Yea, me too," I said as I handed Karen her bag that was on my bed. I crawled into my bed while the other girls got into their sleeping bags on the floor. I shut the lights off and shut my eyes. I still couldn't believe what had happened. I just hoped I wouldn't wake in the morning and realize it was all a dream.

The two weeks had seemed to drag on. Knowing that was going to be seeing my favorite band was one of the most exciting and scary feelings in the world. Thoughts were constantly going through my head. "What if they don't like me?" "Will I get to meet them?" "What will I wear?" Part of me just wanted that night to be over.

One of the hardest things I had to do within those two weeks was to convince my dad and Amber to let me go. Neither of them understood how important this was to me.

"Grace, you're not going to go Smith's Theater. Do you realize how far it is? Who's going with you?"

"Dad, I'm old enough to go by myself. I'm eighteen. I've graduated from high school. I'm going to be at college alone. The theater is only 3 hours away. I'll take a train and get there in no time. It's fine. I can go by myself."

"I just don't think so, Grace." Oh course, Amber had to put her opinion in too.

"Well, I think this is ridiculous. Grace knows she's too young to go alone and the trains are never safe. They're disgusting." I wasn't too worried about getting approval from Amber. She meant nothing to me.

"Dad! I'll be fine! I have the money for a ticket. I'll get the train ticket, go to the concert, and then get right back on the train to come back home. It'll be fine." After a few hours of arguing and convincing, my dad had finally given in.

"Fine, Grace. You can go. But you better be careful. You're my only daughter and I don't want anything happening to you. You better keep us informed on what's going on too."
That was it. I was going to Smith's Theater. Now I just needed to get myself together and get an outfit.

"Well, what were you thinking of wearing?" Karen asked me as we sat with Liz and Mel in the in the food court.

"I don't even know. Something cute and comfortable. Maybe some shorts and a t-shirt." I really had no idea what I wanted to wear.

"Well, I'm sure you can find something, said Liz. "We better clean up this mess and go find something." We all cleared up the mess we had on the table and threw our garbage in the trash. I grabbed my purse off the back of the chair and threw it over my shoulder. The four of us made our way through the mall.

"This is going to suck. I never look good in anything," I said as I glanced through the windows of the stores.

"Oh, please. Grace, you'll look great," said Liz.

"Hey, let's going to into Janet's Boutique," said Karen as we stopped in front of the store.

"Yea, the clothes are cheap and they look great!" replied Mel as she started walking into the store.

"Okay," I said with a smirk. "Let the hunt begin!"

I started browsing through the racks. Everything I looked at didn't seem right. I didn't want to look too skanky, but I didn't want to look like an old woman either. This was hopeless. I walked over to another rack and pulled out a pair of denim shorts. They were actually cute. Not too short so I'd look like a hooch but not too long either. All of a sudden I heard Mel yell from across the store. "I found a shirt!"

I walked over to wear Mel was standing. She turned around and showed me what she had in her hand.

"Oh my gosh. Mel, that's cute!" She was holding a yellow tank top. It was loosely fit with the back braided.

"Isn't it? Now go try it on," Mel exclaimed as she pushed me into the dressing room. I took the shorts off the hanger and put them on. Not too bad. I took the tank off the hanger and slipped it over my head. Right when I slipped it on I heard someone yell at me from the other side of my dressing room door.

"Hey, Grace, try these on with it." I looked down and saw Liz slide a pair of shoes under the door. I picked up the box off the floor and took the lid off. Inside was a part of cute black flats with a bow on top. I slide the shoes on and walked out of the dressing room.

"Grace, you look amazing! I think you've found your concert outfit!"