Won't Amount to Much

“I'm heading out, Mom!” I called as I grabbed my keys to my car from the keyring next to the door.

“And where do you think you are going?” she asks as she takes a step out of her bedroom, her scrubs still on from her shift at the hospital.

“Please tell me you're being sarcastic.”

“Of course, have fun, sweetie. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks!” I say, running over to give her a hug before taking off out the door.

I run for my car sitting in the driveway. It's a ugly brown 1979 Fiat Spider. But then again, who am I to complain? It runs... if you even want to call it that. I'm in the car and speeding away as fast as I can, going a few miles over the speed limit in the places I know the cops never park to watch for speeders like me. I drive to the upper end of town and pull up in front of my best friend, Mara's house. I park my car at the front of the driveway and run to the back door. I pull the spare key taped to the bottom of the doormat and let myself in. I run to the staircase as fast as my combat boot feet will carry me, taking the stairs two at a time. I burst into the first door on the left to see Mara still going through her outfits in her closet.

“You're not even ready?” I whine.

“Relax, Dar. I just spilled stuff on my other outfit. As you can see, I'm completely ready other than that,” Mara glanced at me through the refection of her mirror hanging from the back of her closet. She wasn't lying. Her blond hair was styled to perfection, and her makeup was flawless... as usual.

“Fine. Just hurry up,” I said as I plopped into the black beanbag chair. I suppose while I'm waiting would be a great time to introduce myself. My name is Darlene Collins. Today is my eighteenth birthday, and I am headed out with my best friend to see our favorite band in concert.

“How does this look?” Mara asks me as she straightens her black Ashley Purdy tee over her dark wash skinny jeans.

“Perfect, as usual. Now can we go?” I ask, springing from my seat.

“Yeah. Let's go,” she says with a joking roll of her eyes. Mara just doesn't quite the whole concept of getting there before the concert starts. I practically drag her down the stairs to her car, but before we leave the house, I take a moment to check my reflection in the mirror located nest to the door. My long black hair is as straight as I left it, with the bits of blue peeking out. My green eyes are rimmed with eyeliner. My black skinny jeans cover my long legs, meeting with my Black Veil Brides tank. I still feel freakishly tall, especially standing next to Mara. My curvy 5'9” frame looks strange next to her thin 5'3” being. I decide to shrug it off as I continue to drag her.

I quickly hop into the passenger side of Mara's black Camaro. It had been a gift from her grandparents on her sixteenth birthday.

“Crap. I forg-” she doesn't even have a moment to finish that sentence before I am handing her her phone, wallet, and car keys. “Thanks, Dar.”

“No problem, Mar,” sometimes I swear she would have lost her head if I wasn't there to make sure it was attached to her head.

“Calm. We got this,” she says as she backs out of her winding driveway.

~*~*~

Twenty minutes later we pull into the already parking lot of the theater where the concert is.

“Can you believe we get to meet freaking Black Veil Brides?” Mara freaks as we head towards the front of the line.

“Hardly!” I say, trying not to scream in excitement. Mara's grandpa was able to pull a few strings. He knew a guy who was a cousin of the tour manager for the band, or something like that, so long story short, I was going to meet the band of my dreams. It was a birthday present from Mara and her grandparents. Her parents died when she was an infant, and ever since she had been raised by her fathers parents. Not that she had reason to complain. Her grandfather came from a rich family and had a lot of seriously cool ties to people.

We made our way to the will call desk.

“Two tickets and backstage passes for Hill?” Mara asked the woman manning the desk.

After a few moments of digging through the boxes, she pulled out an envelope with Mara's name on it.

“Here you go Miss Hill. You will find what you need inside, along with directions of how to get backstage. Have fun!” she said.

“Thanks!” we called as we went off to meet our idols.

Notes

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