( track 6: )
❝ you really got me ❞
the kinks
0:00 •—————— 2:14
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nora's point of view
sipping on my juice box, i tried finishing my homework in the cafeteria before fourth period while i ate a spoonful of peas. multitasking.
as i looked up, rodrick laid his lunch tray down to my table then pulled a seat looking rather nervous.
"i just want to say i'm sorry about...what i did." rodrick sighed. "hope you can forgive me?"
"yeah uh, too late bud." i closed my notebook then opened my bag. "that's going to randomly appear in my thoughts at 3am. stalking ain't cute, my dude."
"yeah, i know." rodrick muttered before stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes.
"if that's how you get girls to like you, shame on you man." i sipped on my apple juice once more.
"wait-so is it a no?" he asked.
"i mean," i shrugged my shoulders and sighed. "do i have a choice?"
"so...yes?"
i let out a sigh. "sure, whatever."
rodrick smiled then immediately invited his two friends to sit right next to him. it's almost like they're those "popular" girls in 2000's teen movies.
"let's just start over and forget about what happened last time." rodrick advised.
"yes please," i groaned. "and please, for the sake of pete, never do that to me or on other people ever again."
"oh don't worry, i promise you i won't do that to you or anyone ever again. ever." rodrick places his hand on his chest.
"what? what did i miss?" ben questioned, raising his eyebrow.
"okay um...ooh! how 'bout this, let me make it up to you," rodrick pointed at me. "how 'bout-you come with us this saturday?" as soon as he finished his sentence, ben and chris nodded in agreement.
"ooh yeah, you could come with us to our gig as our roadie!" ben said in an enthusiastic way.
"so, what do you say?" rodrick asked, leaning closer. i pretended to think about his invitation then frowned.
"sorry, have to stay in the house on weekends." i took a piece of chicken nugget then dipped it in the sauce.
ben frowned at my response which made me chuckle. "aww, i was hoping you'd come with us."
"i'm interested, to be honest but i still can't go." i lied. "do invite me next time when you get another gig." i grinned. there's no way the gig they were referring to was battle of the bands, right? god, i sure hope not.
"shame," chris spoke as he ate his food. "you mind if we tell you the whole story after we finish our gig?"
"sure, why not?" ben cheered at my response, making rodrick laugh and chris copying whatever ben was doing. "but eh, even though i won't be attending with y'all this weekend, just pretend that i'm there. i may not be physically there, but my energy sure is."
"so are we friends now?" rodrick asked.
"eh, we'll see." i wore the sleeve of my bag then took my lunch tray off the table.
⟩⟩⟩
"sof hold still," penny grunted as she helped sofia put on eyeliner.
"i'm trying!" sofia lowered herself so penny could precisely draw another wing on her left eye.
rue on the other hand, teased her hair with a comb and spraying lots of hairspray on her ponytail-and there i was, just standing there staring at my reflection on the mirror.
i pulled down and adjusted the purple satin dress i was wearing so the straps would align my shoulder then washed my hands. penelope made me wear the dress with platform boots and a black turtleneck shirt underneath it.
"you alright there haz?" rue placed her hand on my shoulder.
i walked over to the tissue dispenser then dried my hands off. "yeah, i'm okay."
"are we all ready to come out now?" penny screwed her eyeliner closed then put in her bag filled with makeup. sofia stepped closer to the restroom mirror to fix her hair.
"i literally just told you guys i'm lesbian." rue crossed her arms making sofia and i laugh.
"yeah, i guess we can go now." sofia shrugged as she continued to fix her hair. "hazel?"
"yeah let's go." the four of us opened the restroom door then got out of there as fast as we could since they could call us at any minute.
hound dog by elvis presley blasted through the speakers while the show wasn't starting yet, the room was already filled with plenty of people. penny and i decided to look for our seats since we were one of the participants in the contest.
i pulled down the bottom of my dress, feeling conscious about the fishnets penny suggested me to wear. they were a bit itchy too.
after a few minutes of walking, we found our seats then waited for the program to start. everything smelled like smoke and sweat which was kind of gross.
rue gestured us to scoot a little closer. "you guys seeing those four judges sitting in the front?"
"what about them?" i asked.
"one of those judges is roxy hanna, she's a talent manager and made most of the bands we know now famous." she pointed on the girl with a studded leather jacket and purple hair. "if we get her attention, she could help us sign into a record label so we gotta try our best to be as loud as possible."
"rue's right. we should make our performance energetic, exciting, fun!" penelope shook her fist. "hazel, think you can handle it?"
"of course!" i exclaimed as the lights went dim, the show was about to start.
"that's the spirit." sofia chuckled. all of us then sat there for a few hours, watching all the participants do their performance while waiting for our cue.
"up next, we have an all-girl band joining with us!" one of the hosts announced with an enthusiastic tone. "according to one of the members, their main theme is riot grrrl and grunge."
"ooh, that sounds spicy." the other host laughed. "everybody give it up for the juliettes!"
"alright, let's do this!" i said as all of us headed towards the stage.
"let's go sluts." penelope added as we got up the stage.
all of us went to our instruments then adjusted my mic. "hey, we're the juliettes!" i shout which made the crowd cheer loudly.
sofia put her arms up then formed a cross with her drumsticks. "1, 2, 3, 4!"
❝ alpha, beta, delta,
placenta, zita, smagma, alfalfa
hey hey hey girl let's all look the same and act really fucking stupid 'cause they like us that way! ❞
the judges nodded their heads as they started writing on their papers. i assumed that they wrote our scores before our time even ended which made me nervous, so i tried singing louder.
❝ hey hey hey boys let's go to a frat party
the theme is white people get your roofies ready!
shit their parents money away and act like assholes everyday~ ❞
i strummed my guitar then started jumping to the beat.
❝ wanna take a stroll down greek row
find the biggest pack of douchey football bro's
got their brand new polo's on yeah
wanna spew a little on everyone wa-ooh ~ ❞
i looked around the crowd and saw that a few people started dancing too. oh, and rodrick's there too? of course he's here! i should've expected that.
❝ hurl hurl hurl on sorority girls
i wanna spew spew spew on fraternity dudes
i wanna hurl hurl hurl on sorority girls
i wanna spew! spew! spew! on fraternity dudes!
i just wanna ruin their day in a particular way! ❞
roxy smiled as she nodded her head to the beat then wrote on her piece of paper once more. hopefully she changed our scores a bit higher.
❝ wanna take a stroll down greek row
find the biggest pack of brainless female drones
got brand new whatever's on yeah
wanna spew a little on everyone wa-ooohh
blah-ooohh
wa-oooh!
wanna wanna spew oh you alpha! falfa!
brainless fucking football dudes delta! trelta!
i'm a little kangaroo gamma! jamma!
i just wanna fart and puke and spew on you!!! ❞
everyone cheered as our song ended, making all of us bow then rush off the stage so the next band could play. hopefully our our performance paid off.
"thank you miss hazel nora amd the juliettes for the spectacular performance!" the host said making the crowd roar.
"oh my god, we did good." sofia panted as we ran our way to our seats.
"great job guys, thank god no one noticed this but i accidentally played one wrong chord in the middle of the chorus." rue laughed.
while they were talking, i looked over on the other side then saw rodrick with two of his bandmates. "he really is here."
"who?" penny asked.
"that dude with the black shirt?" sofia questioned as she scooted her seat closer to the table.
"which dude? there's literally too many guys here wearing the same black shirt." rue sipped on her water bottle. "wait, you mean that dude with the ridiculous eyeliner?" she gestured on rodrick which i then nodded in reply.
"he's one of my classmates in crossland high-him and his two other bandmates." i fidgeted on my dress.
"do they know?"
"well they offered me to come with them for their so called gig and i'm assuming that this is what they referred to." i sighed. "i mean, obviously, this is plainview's biggest battle of the bands. i should've expected that in the first place."
penelope swiftly nudged my arm as her eyes widened. "speaking of, they're walking towards us."
i stood up with my arms crossed, trying to play cool as rodrick went up to our table with a surprised look on his face.
"ah well if it isn't rodrigo heffley," i grinned. nobody in my school knows that i'm in a band anyway so i guess i'll let the three of them slide.
"rodrick." he corrected.
"whatever," i rolled my eyes making rue and sofia chuckle.
"what are you doing here? i thought you said you can't leave on weekends?" rodrick's eyes widened as he looked at me up and down.
"what do you think i am here for?" i questioned. rodrick froze as ben stepped forward.
"whoa, you look...different." ben's jaw dropped. "hazel, is that really you?"
penelope stood up from her chair then wrapped her arm around me. "she's one of us." rue and sofia then followed.
"hazel's the one who leads our band too." sofia added, making ben step aside looking defeated.
"i didn't know you're in a band." chris muttered.
"well now you know!" rue shook both of her hands flamboyantly.
"listen heffley," i grabbed his wrist then pulled him to an empty space. "i know you're a big blabbermouth when it comes to these kinds of situations. if you ever tell anyone in school about this, i will not hesitate to tell mr. allen that you cheated on one of his tests."
"how did you-"
"oh, i know a lot of things about you babe." i smirked. "good luck with your performance." i said in a sarcastic tone as i lightly pinched his cheek then ran back to my seat with the others. rodrick shook his head as the hosts called their band to be on the stage.
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song(s) mentioned: