Hi, my name is Andrea Daniels, but my closest friends call me Andy. Sorry let me correct that, my closest friend, being Marty McFly, is the only person that calls me that. In fact, he is the only real friend I have besides the other guys that are in our band, but it's not the same. I've known Marty since birth, and that's not very hard to believe since we live in a small town and our mothers have been the best of friends since high school. Even with that, others have always find our friendship rather odd for some reason. Maybe it's because we hang out practically 24/7, even when he started to date Jennifer, one of the most popular and hottest chicks in school.
But we've always been close like that and I can't imagine it being any other way. I think what really makes our friendship different from others, is that we understand each other to the core. As cheesy as this may sound, it's like we are connected on some molecular level that we have with no one else. Even more, we always seem to know what the other is thinking without having to voice it aloud. It actually really creeps people out, because sometimes speak at the same time or finish each other's sentences. I know, how adorable! But no, Marty is just my friend, that's all.
And yet, every time I run into him in the school hallways or skate with him through town, I always get this fluttery feeling in my stomach that I can't get rid of. Not only that, but any time he compliments me on my appearance or tells me how talented I am at playing guitar, I blush like crazy and stumble over my words like a fool.
"Ms. Daniels, earth to Daniels, are you paying attention?"
I practically leaped out of my chair from Mr. Harrison pulling me out of my own thoughts.
All the students had turned around in their chairs and were looking at me like I had inconvenienced them in some way. Oh, I should probably point out real quick, I am not the most popular student in school. I have really good grades, at the top of my classes, but because I dress like a tom-boy and hang out with a bunch of guys, I've been deemed as the 'weirdo' of the school. What also probably doesn't help is that my family is kind of the black sheep of the town.
My dad works as a full-time janitor at the school and then as a full-time alcoholic at home. Because of that, I try to avoid going home until the last minute because he tends to get angry and violent if he has a bit too much. And in a small town like this, naturally everybody knows about my Dad's reputation but choose to look the other way. As for my mom, she's hardly ever home because she's always working double shifts at Hal's Diner to be able to pay for the bills since Dad doesn't make very much and spends a lot of their money on liquor.
"Sorry, Mr. Harrison, I didn't hear what you said."
With a snort he said, "Not surprised, your head is always up in the clouds instead of where it needs to be. Mark my words Daniels, if you don't start to take your education and future seriously, you're going to end up just like your parents, struggling in life."
Everyone seemed to agree with Mr. Harrison and even chuckle with him, but that only fueled my anger even more. I had to grit my teeth and grip my pencil until it snapped in my hands. The last thing I needed to do was open my big mouth and get myself in trouble again. I already got a detention last weekend for telling Mr. Strickland to shove it where the sun don't shine for making a quip about my parents.
Luckily, the bell rang before I could get myself into more trouble and I quickly grabbed my things and got the heck out of there. I guess I got more absorbed in my anger as I walked the halls because Marty jumped in front of me out of no where.
"Oh! Don't do that! You scared me half to death, Marty!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that, but I've been shouting your name from the across the hall and you didn't answer me back. Are you okay?"
I went to answer his question and tell him about Mr. Harrison but Jennifer also came out of no where, "Hey Marty," and kissed him right in front of me. I couldn't help but feel a knot in my chest and a bit nauseous from them snogging each other right in front of me.
"Oh, sorry Andrea. I didn't see you there," Jennifer said as she wrapped her arms possessively around Marty. There was a certain glint in her eyes that clearly told me that she in fact did.
"I'm sure you didn't," I said with a bit of sarcasm. We seemed to go into some sort of stare down, over what I am not entirely sure, but it seemed to have made Marty nervous because he stepped in between use and said, "Hey, we should probably get over to the gym if we don't want to miss our audition for the dance."
"Right, let's go," I said as I nodded at him and took the lead in walking over to the gym.
Once we got there, our other band members were there so we decided to go ahead and set up our equipment on the stage. Marty came over to me as we were setting up, "I don't know about this, Andy. Should we event try, I mean, what if we get rejected?"
We had already had this discussion many times before, but I knew Marty's biggest weakness was his lack of faith in himself.
"If they reject us then we'll just move on. Starting a band is not the easiest thing in the world, so there is bound to be a few instances where we will be turned down. But that will just push us to become better."
"But what if we suck?"
"If we suck then we suck, there's nothing else to it. But if we were meant to do this then it will work out in the end eventually, we just have to persevere. You can't always be afraid of failure, Marty, or else you'll never achieve anything in life."
"Yeah, I know. You're right, you're always right."
"Well of course I am, someone has to be the smart one in this relationship," I smirked.
Marty laughed at that, "Yeah, yeah."
We went back to setting up our instruments and I gave a thumbs-up to Marty, letting him know that we were ready to play.
He gave me a nod and then addressed the teachers, "All right, we're the Pinheads, and we're gonna rock 'n roll!"
Immediately we started playing one of our numbers and everything was going great. I was playing rhythm as Marty took over lead, really getting into the song like the rest of us were. Marty and I kept glancing at one another with the biggest smiles on our faces, and a warmth radiated through my whole body every time we did. At one point, we put our backs against one another as we began our guitar riffs, but that all came to a crashing halt when someone shouted, "Okay, that's enough. Thank you."
We immediately stopped playing and looked at one another with confusion and bewilderment.
Marty walked back over to the microphone and said, "Sorry?"
The one teacher with the megaphone sighed, "I'm sorry fellas, and lady, but I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next, please!"
Even after the little speech I had given Marty before we played, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Not surprised, but disappointed. I could tell, though, that this rejection had hit Marty the hardest out of the whole gang.
