Whenever I think of the days before the concert I can’t help but to smile to myself. I remember waking up every morning to a text from Jasey saying however many days were left. It was a countdown that she did, though I was sure she kept the hours and possibly even minutes tracked in her head as well. I didn’t spend any of those school days hanging out with Jasey after school like I usually did because she was so busy studying for all of her tests. That’s what made everything even better though. She was trying in all of her school subjects, not just one. I really felt like she wanted to impress me, and it was working.
Almost all of our tests were put on Wednesday or Thursday, which meant we would receive them back graded on Friday. Though she didn’t ace all of her tests, she passed every single one and aced the geometry test. She had done her part of the deal. I had known that even before she showed me her test. Our teacher handed her the paper and immediately Jasey’s eyes glazed over like they had several nights before. The only difference was her eyes weren’t dilated, they were calm. She turned to look at me with a smile that created dimples. When the bell rang, we got up out of our seats, walked out the door of the classroom and embraced each other in a hug.
“I told you that you could do it.” I smiled behind her ear, “You just got to believe in yourself more often.”
“Thank you,” She whispered into my ear. “You’re the best friend any one could ever ask for.” She smiled and we both pulled away so we could depart to our lockers. I gathered up my things and met Jasey at the bottom of the stairwell, where we’d meet almost every day after school. She was so excited that she had called her foster mother Ronda to pick us up and take us home, rather than taking the bus.
As Ronda pulled up to my house, I informed Jasey to come over as soon as possible so that we could leave and wait outside the concert doors.
“I’m already ready!” Jasey yelped, getting out of the car with me. She took off her jacket revealing her favorite Reasons Being shirt that was designed with a bunch of lyrics all over it. It was light pink and enhanced the sight of her hair color.
“I see you’ve pinked yourself up a bit,” I said, referring to her pink feather eye lash and pink eye liner. She winked and giggled like a child and ran past me to my front steps. I waved goodbye to Ronda, and told her that we would be safe.
“You have fun now Kiersten, don’t let Jasey spoil your night.” She said.
“She never has,” I assured her with a nod. Ronda nodded her head with a grin, rolled up the window and drove away to her house. I unlocked my front door and raced Jasey to my room like we usually did, and of course she beat me. I scrambled through all my drawers and my closet to find a decent out fit to wear, and I came across my black skinny jeans and my crop top Reasons Being shirt. I slipped into the bathroom and quickly changed my outfit. When I walked back into my room Jasey was examining everything.
“What’s this?” She said pointing to the top of my bureau. I looked at what she was pointing to and answered her question.
“That’s a bobble head trophy,” I answered her, grabbing it off my bureau. “It’s supposed to be on my trophy shelf but I guess my mom found it lying around.” I placed the trophy on my trophy shelf and turned around to Jasey again.
“How about that?” She asked, referring to chords hanging off my drawer handle.
“Those would be my guitar chords; you act like you’ve never seen them.” I questioned, gazing at her confused. She sighed and looked around my bureau some more and came across another unknown object.
“What are these?” She asked, shaking a bottle of pain relievers.
“I get migraines, they run in the family,” I explained. “That’s like special medication or something, I think it’s a blood thinner? I wouldn’t know, I’m no doctor.” We both laughed and she put the bottle down.
“Okay last question, what’s that?” She said, pointing to the middle of my shirt. I looked down just to have Jasey spring her finger up to my nose as a joke. Jasey squealed and darted out of my room so that I would chase her. We made it down stairs and my mom was shaking the car keys.
“I’ve been waiting for you two!” She said stubbornly. My mom guided us to the car and we all hopped in. I took a seat next to Jasey in the back and held her anxious hand. She would squeeze it whenever she remembered where it was we were exactly going. My mom pulled into the venue drop off lot and put the car into park and let us out.
“Girls, you are to both be safe and leave if either of you come across serious trouble.” My mom said sternly as she rolled down the window. “I don’t want any funny business, and I trust the both of you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mrs. Liner we promise. Thank you so much.” Jasey said giving her a hug through the window. My mom smiled and waved goodbye as she drove off. I turned to Jasey and we both took a big breath. When we exhaled, we turned to face the line that was already waiting outside. It wasn’t a very big line, which was good for us. It was only three o’clock, and the concert doors weren’t going to open for another four hours.
Jasey and I sat down and sang songs to each other to entertain ourselves. Some of the other fans who lined up behind us and who were lined up in front of us liked the way our voices sounded together, and would listen in and clap their hands to the song. After a little while of that, some other smaller bands who wanted to get as big as Reasons Being came around and showed us their music and EP albums. Jasey and I took turns using the restroom and getting some water and keeping our spot in line. Waiting for the doors to open at a concert is sometimes nerve wrecking, but the experience is fun if you share it with a friend.
The sky was colored in navy blue with little white sparkles by the time the clock hit seven. The general admission area was being let in. Jasey and I rushed past everyone who was trying to buy merchandise and ran right into the arena to stand before the stage. We were already so close, only five or six lines behind the people way in the front. Jasey grabbed my hand and interlocked our fingers so that we couldn’t be separated. Hundreds of other people piled in behind us and, already before the first opening act came on, started to push.
One thing that’s cool about standing in general admission at a concert is how you get to the front. When everyone is jammed packed into a little area, short people start to lose air to breathe, and so they leave. Some people just decide they don’t like the feeling of being touched by strangers and evacuate. Other people actually only come for the opening acts, and once the acts are over they leave. The rest of the time, most people smash the entire crowd to one side of the area and it shifts people around. With what I have seen, if you try to get to the front you will not. If you just let the crowd drift you around like a wave in the ocean, then you will get closer.
Jasey and I didn’t care for any of the first three opening acts. What we did care about is how close we got during the acts. At first, about ten people in front of us left and Jasey tugged my arm so we could fill in the gaps. Then we suffered through at least two hours of pushing and shoving by the other fans, and shifted our way to the second row. We stood a little to the right of where the lead singer would stand, and if we reached over the fans in front of us we would be touching the bar that shows that’s as close as you can get.
The lights dimmed down for the fourth time and the crowd went silent. Music started to sound out of the speakers and everyone went ballistic, especially Jasey. Everyone was jumping to the beat as Reasons Being gathered onto the stage and opened with their song, “Take Me Home”.
Singing and jumping and screaming were the three things that we did at the concert. That’s all I have ever done at a concert, is sing, jump and scream. The enthusiasm of the band gave everyone in the audience a mood of happiness and self-assurance. You’d be surprised how much a band affects somebody’s life.
Jasey’s eyes were filled with dreams and aspirations during the entire time Reasons Being was on stage. She just stared in awe and desire at them and lip synced every single song. During the concert, they would throw out their water bottles and guitar picks and set lists but Jasey and I could never get them. I wasn’t all that upset because Jasey wasn’t, but I knew she really wanted a souvenir.
Reasons Being closed with their first hit single Jasey Maria. Jasey started crying frantically as they sang practically right in front of her. One of the girls who stood right in front of us against the bar started to throw up and so the security guard picked her up and took her out, so my first instinct was to push Jasey right into that girls spot. When Jasey felt the bar, she gripped it so tight that if it were alive she would have strangled it. She looked back at me and I nodded my head telling her to just enjoy it. She turned back around and began to cry even more.
I’ll never forget her face when they ended the song, and the lead singer Alex Tasker looked right at her, got down on his knees and handed her his guitar pick specially given from the stage. He smiled and winked at her, and said goodnight to everyone in the audience. When they left the stage everyone started to evacuate except for me and Jasey. She stood still grasping the bar and guitar pick with all her life. She turned around and looked at me; her eyes weren’t even trying to hold back tears at this point. She jumped on me and cried into my shoulder.
“I love you, I love you so much Kiersten. I love you, I love you, my god I love you.” She cried. The happiness that overwhelmed Jasey was something that everyone can only wish for. She looked at me with such sincere eyes that I started to cry against her as well. We were just two best friends at their favorite bands concert, and that’s all we needed to be right there.
I helped Jasey walk out of the venue because she was still practically paralyzed from shock at what Alex did, and lead her to my mom’s car which was waiting for us a few rows back in the parking lot. Jasey took every last breath in her to describe to my mom every detail about the concert. She used such detailed words that it was like I was reliving the concert right in the car. Jasey sat out of her seat at a red light to show my mom the guitar pick Alex had given to her and sat back down only when the light turned green. A few minutes before we got home, my mom informed Jasey that she was spending the night with us and had already called Ronda.
We pulled up to my house and Jasey and I jumped out of the car. I let Jasey beat me to my room this time so I wouldn’t spoil her night. She sat on my bed and smiled at her guitar pick and cried even more. I had never seen so many tears out of those hazel eyes before. I quickly changed into pajamas because I knew Jasey wouldn’t and sat beside her on my bed.
“I guess you’ll be up for a little while admiring your pick, right?” I sarcastically said and got under my covers. She nodded her head in excitement.
“Kiersten this was the best night of my life,” She whispered as if in a fantasy. “I could die right now, and I wouldn’t miss a damn thing.” I hesitated to answer that remark, but I shook my head.
“You’re on a roll. Good day, great night, you don’t have to worry about a thing tonight.” I said quoting Reasons Being’s song “The Last Goodnight”. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was a sigh of happiness come from her mouth. I knew that night had changed things for her; I thought she would finally see the world as an opportunity.
I woke up because I heard whispers and whimpers of pain and agony, thinking Jasey was having a bad dream. I think it was about four o’clock in the morning. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dark and quickly yawned. I turned over to see Jasey sitting but leaning up against my wall on the other side of the room. It looked like she was shivering, but I could see the terror in her eyes through the great darkness. I jumped out of my bed hurriedly and rushed over to the light switch to flick it on. Jasey’s arms and legs twitched as if she had no control over any of her movements. It was clear then that Jasey was seizing.
“Jasey what the hell happened, I’m calling nine-one-one.” I said looking around for my cell phone. Jasey halted me by lightly grasping my hand and gently squeezing. I turned to face her but it was too hard to look into her face. It seemed ghostly pale, and all her makeup was smeared all around her face. One of her false eye lashes hung off her eye lid, and her lips lost all color.
“This way, I’m going to be happy forever.” She coughed through the scare of her own heart which was beating faster than the speed of light.
“What did you do!?” I yelled at her face, grabbing her body so she’d stop shaking. She tilted her head down in acknowledgment to her other hand which held the empty bottle of my migraine relievers. I looked at her horrified, because I knew that I hadn’t taken a single pill from that bottle. Scared, I ran to my mom and dad’s room screaming Jasey’s name. My mom got out of bed and ran to my room to try and calm her down while my dad called the cops and an ambulance. Jasey’s shaking got worse and she started to drool uncontrollably. Her eyes were so wide at one point that I thought they were going to fall right out of their sockets. She squeezed my hand and smile hard enough to show her dimples one last time, and slowly closed her eyes.
“I love you so much Kiersten.” She whispered, and went off into a forever long sleep.
“No!” I yelled, “Wake the hell up Jasey. Wake the hell up!” I screamed as Jasey’s head fell against her shoulder softly.
That was the day I watched my best friend die.