twenty first

ch1

Delete. Delete, delete, delete.

I scrolled through my emails, one by one, deleting all of them. There were 1,044 emails in my inbox, all of them read. Each and every one. The number dropped as I checked the small box next to them and sent them to the trash. I wouldn’t need them again. I didn’t get anything out of the contest anyway.

Every so often, between my binge-email-cleaning session, I would refresh it. Just to see if maybe, just maybe, I had won the last coveted ticket to the music festival in our town the next week. No luck. I had the tiniest sliver of hope that I would get to see my favorite band perform. There was a long list of band names, some I’d never heard of, like “twenty one pilots”. I wasn’t sure what kind of music they did, nor did I aim to find out. I had seen them on Twitter and their pictures on Google, but nothing more than that remained in my memory about the odd name.

As my inbox number dropped to 1,037, I heard music playing from my sister’s room. I was about to yell at her to turn it down, but something stopped me mid-sentence. A unique and beautiful voice sang creative lyrics, catching my attention. For some reason, the rhythmic beat compelled me to listen. I picked up my phone, quietly, and whispered “Siri, what song is this?”

As she was about to answer, my sister started yelling at my mom. Her loud screams drowned out Siri’s emotionless voice, leaving me in curiosity. I was about to look at her response when my phone popped up with a warning. BATTERY 0%. SHUTTING DOWN.

I sighed, knowing that my sister would instantly throw me out of her room if I went to ask her. I flopped onto my bed, focusing on the song as I absent-mindedly searched through my drawer for a charger. I found a charger for my tablet, a charger for my old phone, but no charger for my stupid iPhone.

I sighed, deciding that I had to go to Felicia’s room to borrow her charger. Reluctantly, I stood up, eyeing my closet and dresser. I decided that maybe I could drag my search on and give Felicia time to cool down. Too bad Kirsten wasn’t home and Scott was too young for a phone. Usually I’d sneak into my younger sister Kirsten’s room, but I figured I might as well give her some privacy today.

As I sifted through shirt after shirt, I noticed a jacket I hadn’t seen before. It had a symbol resembling |-/ on the back, with twenty one pilots written underneath it. On the front, two symbols I didn’t recognize were in red like the roses behind them. The entire jacket was black and red, and looked like something Felicia would wear.

It was inevitable now. I had to go return the jacket to her, or she’d kill me. It was obviously twenty one pilots merch, and she hadn’t been a huge fan of anything until twenty one pilots. Typically, Felicia would become a super-mega-fangirl of something for a week or so, get all sorts of clothes and posters, and then give up on them and sell all of the stuff. This time, though, it had lasted longer than usual. I guess she didn’t need the money anymore, after all of the cash she had anyway.

As I was about to venture into the dresser, I heard a scream. A…happy scream?

“Felicia! What is it?!” I yelled, rushing into her room. Her face was glowing with happiness, an email open on her screen.

“WE WON! WE WON! ELOISE, WE WON!” she cried, jumping up and down. I didn’t call her out for my first name as I would with others; she was the only one with my permission. It barely crossed my mind, as to her I was Eloise though to the rest of the world I was Ella. I was confused about the winning, and she noticed. She continued to grin as she explained her prize. “I won two tickets to the music festival, and you’re going with me! I even won backstage passes to twenty one pilots!”

I froze, my mouth hanging open, my eyes wide as saucers. I didn’t know what to say. I was going to the music festival. I was going to the music festival! I WAS GOING TO THE MUSIC FESTIVAL! I ran over to Felicia and gave her the biggest hug I could manage.