"HEY, YOU'RE LINDSEY Clayton, right?"
The sound of someone addressing her by name jolted Lindy out of her post-school fog, bringing her feet to a sudden stop. She had been so close to the exit too, only a few footsteps away until she had completed another Friday at school and was free for the weekend.
She turned and there stood Julianna Smith, a classmate from her advanced placement literature class. Lindy raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Uh, yeah. That's me." Realizing that Julianna had been unsure of her name despite having been in the same class with her for almost an entire school year, Lindy decided to take a jab.
"We've been in the same AP Lit class since August," she reminded her blandly.
"I know, I just . . ." Julianna trailed off, evidently caught off guard by Lindy's pointed remark. Lindy took this as her cue to keep walking, pushing open the school doors out to the parking lot. Julianna scurried after her.
"We have that big project on Hamlet coming up for spring break, and I was just wondering if you wanted to team up? And like do it together?" Julianna asked, sounding slightly nervous to be asking. Her valley girl speech did not fit Aberdeen's culture and Lindy wondered vaguely if she was originally from California.
She then fished a box of cigarettes from her jeans pocket, pulling one out and lighting it quickly with deft fingers, holding the squiggling light like a seasoned pro. Trae had reluctantly allowed her to smoke, even though he himself lit up all the time. Julianna stood by awkwardly.
"Yeah. That sounds good."
As badly as Lindy wanted to be enthused by a classmate seeking her out, she knew the real reason why the oh-so-preppy Julianna had asked for her help. Mrs. Matthews, their AP Lit teacher, adored Lindy and thought she was brilliant. Everyone knew it, and because of that, Lindy was always grappled over for group projects.
"You know, I heard you tell Mrs. Matthews the other day that you wanted to be a nurse. Shouldn't you not smoke then? If you're all pro-health?" Julianna questioned, a trace of snobbery in her voice.
Lindy couldn't help but laugh, assuming that Julianna's curiosity didn't stem from her generally bitchy personality, but because the vapid girl was genuinely concerned as to why she smoked cigarettes. She wasn't even that mad that Julianna had been eavesdropping on her and Mrs. Matthews' private conversation. Julianna's odd question outweighed it all.
"If you had listened properly, you would have heard me say I wanted to ensure the health of other people. Not once did I mention my own," Lindy said concretely, throwing her cigarette to the ground and stamping it out as she saw Trae pull up in his used Chevy Cavalier.
"Bye Julianna," Lindy waved, stepping off the curb as Trae pulled up and rolled his window down, beckoning his sister into the passenger seat. Lindy didn't look back as she climbed in.
"Who was that? New friend?" Trae asked, shifting the car back into drive. Lindy inhaled the smell of cigarette smoke and his black ice scented air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror.
"Nah. Some girl from class. She's using me for my genius level IQ," she wisecracked, pretending to snootily examine her cuticles in the same fashion Julianna did when ignoring Mrs. Matthews in class.
"Okay Einstein," Trae laughed. "Hey, before I drive us any further, I have a question."
"Shoot," Lindy said, kicking her feet up on Trae's dash though he was sure to push them back down. Even though the Cavalier was a piece of junk by anyone else's reasonable standards, Trae was adamant about keeping it in what Lindy thought of as his version of mint condition.
"Do you care if we swing by my friend Krist's house? His band, or I mean his buddy's band, is looking for a drummer and they're letting me try out."
Lindy threw her head back and groaned. "Ugh. Trae, I have so much homework and I can't just sit at some guy's house all night with you." She paused, and on second thought smiled. "Wait. You're joining a band?"
"Lindy, it will be like five minutes tops. Today is the last day they're seeing anybody before they make their final decision. And no, it's not for sure."
Lindy had been insisting that Trae join a band since she'd been a kid. She had always envisioned herself at his shows, nabbing a front row seat in whatever smokey venue they were in, where she could bob along to her brother's music amongst other fans. Unfortunately, Trae had always said a band wasn't for him and that he didn't have the time for it. Clearly, this Krist character had changed his mind.
She crossed her arms, sliding down lower in her seat. It's not as if she really minded going to the tryout with Trae, but she did mind his skeev-ball friends who either looked her up and down hungrily or acted like she was a little tagalong, content to ruin their teenage boy antics.
"If I say yes, will you buy me dinner?" she bargained.
"Dinner and dessert," Trae grinned, flipping on his turn signal and swinging down a lone back road.
"Who is this guy anyway?" Lindy queried. Trae had so many friends that it was hard to keep track of them all.
"Krist Novoselic? He went to Weatherwax a few years ago. I met him down at the record store. He's real cool."
Lindy nodded her head. That made sense. Trae was always meeting those interesting, musician types down at his job at the local Aberdeen record store, Spin City.
"And what about the guy who's running the band? What's he like?" Lindy pressed. If it wasn't his band, then who was calling the shots? Who had this Krist been to invite Trae anyway, and was he nice? Would he see the talent in Trae that Lindy had seen all of their lives?
"I don't know him that well. I've seen him down at Spin City but he never talks. He's a quiet guy. I think he was at Weatherwax around the time you started there."
"Oh?" Lindy asked. "Do I know him? What's his name?"
Trae shook his head. "Nah probably not. Like I said, he was even more quiet than you are. And I'm pretty sure he dropped out. But his name is Kurt. Kurt Cobain."
