"Mom! I can uhm...explain...this is Frankie. And this dog is for his girlfriend, see, and well...Frankie lives in an apartment, so...I said we could maybe look after the dog, Venom, y'know...and... I know I should have said something, but, uhm, well..."
Mom looks from me, to Frankie, to Venom, then back to me again. It's like her eyes are a pinball machine.
"You three had better come inside, looks like it might rain awful soon." Mom says after a long silence, then beckons us in.
What? Woah, it looks like maybe Mom's alright with me caring for Venom! Even after I hadn't even asked her!
She sits me and Frank at the table, with Venom licking my ankles. It's tickly, so I'm trying to supress a laugh...fortunately, for now, it seems to be working.
"Now kids." She starts, her back to us as she opens the fridge. "A dog's a big responsibility, and you should have checked with me or Dad before you brought Venom over."
Frankie looks at me, and we both quietly grin at each other. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have lied about Mom and Dad knowing. Ah well, accidents happen!
"But it's okay. Sunny always wanted a dog, and I can see she'll just be looking after your dog for a short while...Frankie, is it?" She turns to Frank as she hands him a glass of lemonade.
He nods and thanks Mom whilst she gives me the same.
"Thanks Mom. So, it's okay then? I can look after Venom for a while?"
She pauses for a moment, hands us 15 dollars, then looks at us, smiling. "Well, you'll need to buy her some food and a leash."
Frankie and I get up and start cheering, and Mom joins in as we dance around madly like I did earlier. Even Venom circles our feet, jumping up at our knees.
Yes! I'm so happy! I've forgotten all about my crying earlier...but I haven't forgot about my 'date' with Gee. I don't think I'll be able to forget that for a long time.
The next day, I'm in Music doodling. We have another real nice teacher, called Ms Tristan. She's really quiet - ironic for a Music teacher - so I can doodle and daydream to my heart's content.
At least, that's what I thought before she started approaching me.
We appeared to be doing something on scales 5 minutes ago, but now I've noticed she's walking towards me. We got to sit with who we wanted, so Jamia's next to me, and Ray and Mikey accross from me - they all tap the table to get me to stop doodling. I shut my notebook hurriedly and sit up, to seem like I was concentrating.
"Now I'm sure you've all met Ms Roberts, but this is my first time. I've heard a lot about Social Studies class, and how you all welcomed her. That wasn't very kindly of you all, was it? But she fought back, didn't she?" She turns to me and talks in an almost inaudible tone. "Now, Sunshine. That was incredibly brave of you, and despite the few bad language issues, what you did was a shining beacon of excellence. Be proud of yourself."
I hear the girl that reluctantly clapped for me the other day (aka Queen Bitch) groan.
The teacher glares at her, then continues.
"But what did you feel? When you felt all that hurt, and anger, rise up in you? Assuming it did, of course. Can you find a song that relates to it? You see, Ms Roberts, every student is required to perform musically. Every new student's voice is tested to see what grade you'll be working at. So...why don't you get up there? Sing us the song that made you want to fight back." She whispers this part, and I get up enthusiastically.
Y'see, I've been eyeing up a guitar in this classroom for about 10 minutes now, and I'm so eager to play it. My usual shyness has just disappeared with the longing I feel right now for that guitar. It's a Fender Squier, and it's just so beautiful. There's another good one too, but this is what I want to play. Maybe I'm not meant to play an instrument, but who cares - the song I've in mind is about not playing by people's rules, anyhow.
Thing is, I need someone to play rhythm, or else it doesn't sound quite right. I glance around the room as I reach the front. "Anyone know how to play guitar?"
I see Gee put his hand up, then change his mind and put it down again.
Incredibly suspicious.
I look back to my table and see Ray with his hand up. "Sunny, I can play."
"Awesome, come on up then!"
I see Queen Bitch filing her nails, tutting like she'd rather be in a Math test than here. Ah well. Screw the haters - be yourself and show everyone you're not just some shy old girl, like you did the other day! Go for it Sunshine! Besides, you're not on your own...here comes Ray, picking up the other guitar. He obviously knows my guitar preference. When I clutch mine, I can't help fingering the frets, running my hand along the smooth, sleek neck...
"Get on with it then! Bet it'll be crap anyway, if you ask me." Queen Bitch pipes up.
And this time, nobody joins in. I think I've earnt the respect of the class! And Miss doesn't seem that angry. In fact, she seems to be smiling - and her voice seems to raise a bit, too.
"Nobody did ask you though, did they, Keke Turner? Now shut up and enjoy the show."
Ah, so Keke's her name. Everyone's laughing now, and it's not at me - it's at her! Okay, I better make this 'performance' good. I haven't played since Wyoming, so I'm a little rusty...there, I just played a C chord and it sounded alright. I think I can do this. Yeah, I can!
"What d'you want me to play, Sunny?" He asks, and I whisper the chords and strum pattern into his ear.
"Okay," He plugs our guitars into the amp. "But what song is it -"
I interrupt him by speaking to the class.
"My brother, Storm, in England introduced me to this band. And man, I'm so glad he did. I know it's about the UK, but hell, who cares? It's an awesome country, why not sing an awesome song about being an anarchist in it?"
Everyone looks a little confused, so I turn to Ray.
"1,2,3,4."
We start playing the intro to Anarchy In The UK by The Sex Pistols, and I have to say, Ray's so awesome at it. At first he couldn't pick it up, but mere seconds after hearing me, he joined in. I start singing the lyrics, looking right at Keke, and she looks a little pissed off already. Oops.
"I am an antichrist,
I am an anarchist!
Don't know what I want
- but I know how to get it...
I wanna destroy passerby!"
I strum and look over to Ray, who seems to know what the song is. We scream the bridge line together -
"'Cuz I wanna be Anarchy
No dogsbody!"
Soon the song comes to an end, and I finish with singing solo the chorus as loud as I possibly can.
"Anarchy for the UK!
It's coming sometime and maybe,
I give a wrong time stop at traffic line!
Your future dream is a sharpie's scheme!"
Suddenly we've stopped playing, and there's silence. Then a cheering erupts.
Hey, we did good! I high five Ray, and look around the classroom at everyone's reactions. Ms Tristan's nodding slowly with a smile on her face, Keke looks pissed off but she's still clapping (if slightly apathetic) and my friends are all chanting my name.
Grinning, Ray and I put the guitars back and I look to the back where Frank, Bob and Gerard are sitting.
And I notice Gee gulp, then look away with a furrowed brow.
