Sparks Will Burn Out

Chapter 1

Flashback:

I had been waiting for summer the whole school year. Like most of my classmates. But this year, I had a good reason to be excited for summer. I. WAS. GOING. TO. WARPED. TOUR.

Warped Tour isn't really a big deal. I mean, the tickets are pretty cheap and you don't have to cross the ocean or anything to attend the show. But my parents liked travelling a lot, and I had never spent a summer in my hometown before this year. So I was pretty excited about finally being able to spend my summer break the way I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I liked going to places that I wouldn't have visited if it wasn't for my parents. I liked following them around cities like Paris and London, and getting to know other cultures. But staying in my city, with my friends, and going to the Vans Warped Tour was something that couldn't compare. I had been working at my parents' bookstore since the beginning of the year, because they wanted to see if they could trust me before letting me go to the festival.

And believe me, working at a bookstore every weekend, having to let people buy shitty books without being able to tell them that those books suck, was actually worth it. Because my parents finally agreed and told me that I could spend three days in New York with my best friend, Brianna. 

My parents didn't really trust me. Well, they did, but they were convinced that me being alone in a big city meant that I was going to get in trouble. They were convinced that everything would go wrong if I went to Warped Tour alone, and were on the verge of saying no. That's when I suggested to bring Brianna with me. Add Brianna to the equation, and suddenly, my parents were even more excited than I was about my trip to New York. They were literally in love with Bri. 

Which is kind of surprising, if you ask me. Brianna has a nose piercing, and a few other piercings and tattoos but it would take too long if I had to list them all (besides, this story isn't about Brianna's piercings). She's the kind of girl who would tell you if you had salad between your teeth, even if there was a cute boy right beside you. That basically sums up Bri's personality. I've read a lot of books where the main character was friends with someone like Bri (who is the kind of girl who doesn't care what people think), and the parents never liked her. But in my case, it was the opposite. If my parents could have done it, they would have adopted Brianna a long time ago. 

Brianna and I left our town on Monday. It wasn't too far from New York, so we arrived in the city quite early. And man, New York was beautiful. There were people everywhere, you could hear everyone shouting over the car honks and the constant noise. My mother told me that New York was too dirty, too noisy and a crowded place where no one cared about you, but I liked it. I liked it more than I liked the other places that I've visited with my parents. I liked it because New York was alive.

After visiting the city, we ended up in the hotel that Brianna's parents had booked for us, and spent our night fangirling about the bands that we were going to see the next day. 

What we did before going to the Darien Center doesn't matter. What I got for breakfast this morning doesn't matter either. The important part of that day was what happened when we were at the concert. I had lost Brianna in the crowd, but I knew that I'd eventually find her, so I was enjoying the music, when everyone thought that it would be funny to start a mosh pit.

I mean, I should have expected it. Of Mice And Men were playing, and I should have known that there would be a mosh pit. But me being me, I thought that I'd be able to stay in the front row and keep listening to the music without getting involved in the mosh pit. 

Man, was I wrong. I was in the mosh pit before I even realized it. And it wasn't the kind of "mosh pit" that you see in pop concert. It was the kind of mosh pit that you see on Youtube and think that the people who were in it were out of their minds. I ended up stumbling because someone had pushed me. And since it was clearly not my day, I didn't manage to keep my balance, and fell right on my butt. The music was too loud, and everyone was too busy doing their things and pushing each other, moshing like there was no tomorrow. That's when someone helped me to my feet, sparing me a long and painful death. But he didn't spare me the heart attack that I had when I looked up at him.