"'Bye Lindsey!" I shouted as I walked out of Mrs. Larter's classroom.
"See ya, Macey! Don't forget that we're going to the concert on Friday night!" Lindsey yelled in reply before she headed down the hallway.
I sighed. Only four more days... I thought blissfully as I walked on. I was so lost in thought that I ran into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry!"
"Girl, get your head out of the clouds before you seriously hurt someone!" a familiar male voice said to me.
I looked up. "Hello Mr. Randall," I said.
"Hey Macey," the blue eyed man said to me. "You sure are excited about something, aren't you?"
"Yeah. I'm going to a concert with Lindsey, Ashley, and Stacey on Friday night," I explained.
"What concert?"
"The 14:59 concert. They're great! I can't wait to see them!" I said enthusiastically.
Mr. Randall smiled. "Oh, them. I've heard them a couple times on the radio. Pretty decent."
"Are you kidding? Decent? They're incredible! Especially Steve. Wow." I had never confessed my crush on Steve Ramone, 14:59's lead singer, before.
"Well, have fun at your concert," Mr. Randall said. "And pay attention while you're walking!"
I laughed. "Yes sir!" I said obediently. I quickly walked outside and got on my bus. I slid in the seat next to Ashley. "Hey, girl."
"Hey, where were you?" Ashley asked. "We almost left without you."
"I was talking to Mr. Randall," I explained.
Ashley turned up her nose. "You mean the janitor?" she replied. I nodded. "Ugh! Why would you want to talk to him?"
"He's funny and interesting," I told her as the bus cruised down the street. "And he's really a nice guy."
"But he's the janitor, Mace." Ashley put emphasis on the word "janitor". "That's a little stellar."
I bit my lip, upset that Ashley was calling me crazy. But I didn't respond to her, I just stared ahead as she dropped the topic and began rambling on about how much she liked Josh Selden, a guy in our gym class. I blocked her out by fantasizing about Steve.
"Hello...? Earth to Macey! It's our stop!" Ashley was giving me her "you-are-such-a-spaz" look. "Are you going to get off or what?"
I picked up my backpack and got up, wondering why I was still friends with Ashley Collins anyway. She's gotten to be a real pain in the ass, I thought as I walked to my house and opened the unlocked door. My musings of Ashley were interrupted when I heard the sound of some strange music blaring from the study.
"MOM!" I yelled. "What is that?"
My mom appeared, dressed in her huge Duke sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants, her hair pulled up into a sloppy ponytail. "Oh! Macey, you're home!" she said loudly.
"Mom, what the devil are you playing?" I shouted.
Mom gave me a blank look, clueless for a second. "That's just my old Lit CD," she explained.
"Oh." I shrugged and took my backpack upstairs. Mom had a habit of playing her old CDs when I wasn't home. She played music from bands and singers I had never heard of: Sisqo, Lit, Eminem, Beastie Boys, Limp Bizkit, and thousands more. It was all music that she had heard growing up, way back in the 1990s, stuff that should have been long since forgotten. Stuff that couldn't compare to the sweet sounds of 14:59, who Mom thoroughly detested. I walked into my bedroom, turned on the stereo, and 14:59's latest single, "Intergalactic Girl", began playing. I laid on the bed, closed my eyes, and began to dream that Steve was singing the song to me, and only me, until I could hear Lit on at full-blast.
"MOM!" I screamed. "Please!"
"Are you listening to 14:59 again?" she shouted.
"Yes!" I yelled. "Could you turn that down, please! This is my favorite song!"
Mom popped her head in my room. "Okay, truce, only because this reminds me of when I was your age and loved *NSYNC."
I gave my mother a befuddled glance. "N who?"
Mom sighed. "*NSYNC! They were one of the biggest pop bands of the '90s! I can't believe you've never heard of them!"
I can, I thought.
"They were about as popular as 14:59 is now," she explained, a reminiscent light shining in her eyes. "I remember when--"
I stopped her, knowing a long story was soon to follow that. "Mom, please, no trips down memory lane, okay?" I said. "Please, just turn Lit down."
"Alright," she said, getting off the bed. As she walked out the door, she began to sing to herself, "It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you..."
I rolled my eyes. "Another cheesy '90s song," I muttered as I stared at the poster of Steve I had on my ceiling. "Friday night is the night I make you mine," I said to him dreamily.