I Write Songs Not Tragedies

INTRODUCTION

She is My Drama Queen
Five:
We walk into the Pet store to get some food for my sister's goldfish.
I walk over to the kittens. I lean into the cage and pick up a tan kitten with brown stripes. It snuggles up to my shirt and I yell at my mother, "Mom! Can we get a kitten? I love it!" I bury my head in its fur.
"No." She says. I put it down and I cry as we walk out.

Eight
"Mom!" I yell seeing an art kit, "Mom, can I have this?" I run up to her, carrying the kit, and start to put it in the cart.
"No." She says as she crushes my dreams. "Put it back, you have a sketchbook and pencils. You don't need to waste my money on stuff with a brand name."
I slump over to the aisle and shove it back into its place. I don't cry immediately, I am older than I was before.

Ten
I stroll into the music store and walk over to this black guitar with a green maple-pattern stain in the middle. $200, under my limit of $500.
"Mom, I want this one," I say, taking it down from the rack. She looks over and her eyes widen.
"You're sure, then?" She asks I nod in return. "You don't want an acoustic?"
"I'll get both, this one's $150" I state getting one down, another one black and stained a cherry red color in the middle.

Fourteen
"Mom! We're late! We need to go to Adeline Records" I yelled, towing my guitars to the car. She ran over to me and practically dove into the driver's seat. I hopped into the passenger's and she drove us the 2 ½ hours to Adeline Records, down in Oakland.
We were, apparently, the last ones to arrive. Everyone had already left, but, to be fair, most of them were probably locals. Everyone except... my idols. I ran inside to find a guy with fluffy black hair and dressed in punk-ish clothing, standing in front of a counter. He stood next to two other guys, dressed similarly. Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool.
"Don't leave yet!" I gasped, partly in awe and definitely out of breath. The fluffy hair guy, Billie Joe, swiveled on his heel and stared at me, followed by the other two.
The blond one, Mike, cupped his hands over his mouth and leaned towards Fluffy-Hair. He nodded. "So... You must be Jake... Armstrong?" The blond said, slowing his speech near at the "R" I nodded "Popular name, then." I nodded again.
Fluffy-Hair shook himself out of his being frozen, "Well, you're a little late, but we can make do. Jake, pick a guitar and we'll, uh, y'know." He said as he walked down the hall. I picked up my Electric and scrambled after him. I heard Mr. Blond back there talking to my mother in an excited voice.
Fluffy-Hair walked into a room and motioned for me to sit down in a seat opposite his. I set my guitar case on the ground and unzipped it. Taking it out, I looked up at Fluff'. He was staring at me again. I picked the guitar up and sat on the chair behind me, and waiting for a cue. The other two guys walked in, and blond elbowed Fluff'.
"So, what'll you be playing?" He said,
"'When I Come Around,' the second song I learned," I answered.
"Aha." Fluff' nodded. "You singing?"
"If I have to."
"Give it a go."
As soon as I had finished the second verse, Fluff held up his hand to stop me. Fluff, Mr. Blond, and the other one whispered to each other. They stopped and smiled, now looking at me.
"We'll call you next Wednesday to tell you if you've got in," Billie told me.
"Okay Fluff.'" I said packing up my guitar, my hopes pretty high,
"What?" Mike asked laughing. Billie snuck me a glance full of laughter.
"Nothing."
I walked down the hall. My mom waited there, looking anxious.
"Are you done?"
"Yeah! I think I may have won, at least by the way they looked at me." I squealed, excitement building up inside me.
"Jake, are you sure you want to do this?" She looked at me. I nodded. " I don't want your dreams crushed if you don't win, okay?" I nodded.

13 Days Later
Waking up, I rolled out of bed. "Mom, what day is it?" I yelled.
"Wednesday!" I heard her yell, though it was muffled by the walls. I fell out of my bed, literally. I tried to stand up and jump, but I ended up having the blanket wrapped around my legs, making me fall. Winter break started Monday so I had no school, good for me.
I figured they wouldn't call at eight thirty in the morning. I grabbed my laptop from under my pillow and logged into youtube. I scrolled through my subscriptions. I watched random videos for about an hour. My computer muted for a second to allow a notification alarm. "Green Day- Contest Winner" appeared in the corner of my screen. I clicked on it, my heart racing.
Billie's face appeared. Thank you, desktop notifications! I thought. "As all the Idiots know, there has been a contest going on for the last month. We've gotten hundreds of videos and we've gotten to see roughly fifty to a hundred in person here in Oakland. They were all amazing and very well practiced and played. We were discussing winners when a girl burst through the doors of Adeline Records. We interviewed her and had her play and sing. Jake Armstrong, you are our winner!" I slammed the laptop closed, and, screaming, I ran down the stairs.
"What, what is it?" She yelled, "What's wrong?"
"I won! Contest!" I hugged her and she growled at me. My phone rang, "Must be them!" I scurried out of the room.
"Hello?" I asked resisting the urge to scream again, I was so excited.
"Is this Jake?" The other person said I couldn't tell if it was Fluff' or Blond.
"Yes."
"How fast can you make it to Adeline Records?" He asked. It was Blond, otherwise known as Mike.
"Well, roughly 2 ½ hours."
He sighed, "Okay, just get here when you can. We're waiting."