• tab Then I met Jack. He wasn’t like the other kids I met. He didn’t try to be cool, he was cool. He smiled and laughed and had a sick CD collection, or so I heard. Even cooler, he didn’t flirt with the other girls. They would drool all over him, and give him back massages and tried to play footies, but he just brushed them of. I actually hadn’t met him before, except in English, but I only said hey to him then. I ended up paired with him for some independent study thing, which is beyond me, because how can something be independent if you have to do it with someone else. Anyway, totally forgetting he had the sickest CD collection, I told him automatically we were doing new wave punk rock- only the finest.
    tab ”Sweet. Least we’re not doing unicorns and fantasy like Jane and Rachel,” He said with a smirk.
    tab I scrunched up my face and said, “No, please, no. No, no, no. I can’t, ugh. I can’t stand those girls, thinking everything in this da** world is happy and magical. God, why can’t they realize that life isn’t sugar and spice-“
    tab ”-And unicorns,” Jack added.
    tab I nodded.
    tab ”Now, The Stoogies,     that’s reality.”
    tab Jack laughed.
    tab ”Your different. You used to be all goody-goody and nice and gumdrops. This new you, it’s-“
    tab ”I hope you’re not gonna say poser-ish, because man, I’ve got tons of people telling me that,”
    tab ”No, you’re like, being yourself. It’s cool. Um, hey, you want to head to my house and check out my CD collection? We can like do this study thing in like, 5 min. so,” He let the sentence hang.
    tab ”Sure, I heard it’s sick,”
    tab ”Yeah, I mean, it’s not as cool as my uncle’s-“ the bell rang, and I smiled and said, “Sorry, I gotta get to my next class, but I’ll get back to you on that CD, uncle, collection thing,” I slid my pack on my shoulders and started to leave.
    tab ”You realize we have 20 minute break?” Jack said.
    tab I grinned.
    tab ”And with that, the good little Charlie leaves the stunned Jack to get to her class early like the good girl she is,” I bowed dramatically, and waved and left him. (He     did look stunned, and I was giddy with excitement.

    tab Tick, tick, tick.
    A, B, or C? Come, on! Three little circles. Going round, and round, and round, and round, and round. Now I sound stoned. Jack. Think about Jack. My mind always gets clearer when I think about him…

    tab I was at his house. It was canary yellow, with this huge crack down the side of it. I remember when I first went in his room, I was shocked. So. Many. CDs. And vinyl. I love vinyl records. They have this crackle and pop that always seemed to me like the music was coming to life. I didn’t listen to a world he was saying, and took out a Carpenters vinyl. Oh. My. God. If I Were A Carpenter.
    tab ”Do you have a record player?” I asked.
    tab ”Yeah,” Jack said nodding to a record player that seemed to have been left back in the 70’s. “But don’t listen to that crap. It’s my dad’s.”
    tab I had to stop myself from slapping him.
    tab ”Are you kidding? I know the Carpenters are like, not the coolest band ever; chick drummer, and some wacked up brother but still, you haven’t listened to this album.”
    tab I stuck the needle in a ridge and started hearing the end of some song I couldn’t figure out, but then “Superstar” came on. Jack started to talk, but I hushed him. The guitar had come on in this sick crackle, and I was brought back memories of sitting in the basement with my dad.
    tab ”Just listen.”
    tab He didn’t talk at all. He was watching me intently; I could feel it. But I couldn’t look at him. Damn tears. They were dripping down face and I couldn’t stop. Dad. He was gone. I just sat there, letting the tears roll down my cheek and listening.
    tab Jack came over and asked, “Are you ok?”
    tab I snorted, “Yeah, I just get a bit teary thinking about my dad.” Jack bent down and looked me right in the eye. I looked back. No words were exchanged, but we knew what was running through each other’s heads.
    tab I smiled at the silence and gave him a peck on the cheek.
    tab ”Come on, we got work to do.”