Prologue

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"I missed the concert!"

"You're dead, and your first reaction is you missed a concert?"

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"You're dead, and your first reaction is you missed a concert?"



Warning: death. Read at your own risk


1995

     "ZOE, please tell me you got them," Jessica says with the wire of the phone wrapped around her now red pointer finger.

    "I got the tickets, don't worry!" Zoe Perez replies with a laugh. "Expensive, but I got them."

     "One sec." Jessica pulls the phone away from her ear and gently places it on the table beside her. Then, she jumps in the air, raising her hands up with a wide grin while biting down on her lip to avoid any sound from escaping. When she makes it back to Earth, she presses the phone back to her ear. "You are the best friend a girl could ask for. I promise I'll pay you back for my ticket. I cannot believe we're going to see them live."

    "Jess, we just saw earlier today."

     "I mean in concert," Jessica laughs as she presses her back to the wall and sighs. "You know they're different people when they're on stage. This time, I might even get a picture."

    "You're impossible. You act like they're gods. They're boys. Stupid boys at that."

     "They're Sunset Curve," she replies dramatically. "They are gods. Their music is out of this world, I—"

    "I'm gonna stop you before you spill your guts. Boys are boys, Jess. It doesn't matter that you're in love with the bassist who doesn't know your name."

"Ouch."

    "You know, you could just go up to them in school and say hi. Maybe then Reggie'll know who you are."

     "But that would require courage and bravery. Two traits I lack completely." Shaking her head, Jessica glances back into the kitchen before clearing her throat. "Wanna celebrate the tickets? I can bring some ice cream over?"

    "Hell yeah! See you in twenty?"

     Jessica hums a response before hanging up the phone and creeping into the kitchen where both her parents sit at the table, staring at papers she never wants to see. "Do you mind if I—"

     "We heard," her mother replies. "Go ahead, just get to school on time."

     The exhaustion in her voice makes Jessica's heart sink. "Of course. I'll just see you tomorrow then."

     Neither look at her as she takes a pint of ice cream from the freezer and the keys scattered on the island before she slips out of the house quietly. She knows that they're disappointed she's spending all of her time in the arts, but it's what she loves. They'll come to understand that.

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