Begin Again - A.I

fifteen.

The sleepovers I had back home consisted of makeovers, gossiping, surfing the Internet, and watching romance films. Chloe and I had one about every weekend together, there was always something from the week to discuss. Sometimes we'd go to her house, but mostly mine. Her house wasn't as nice. And we'd just talk and hang and do our hair and stuff. It was fun, it really was. She was a fun girl.

"No, I'm telling you man. If I could be in one band, any band, it'd be damn Black Sabbath."

She was really good at painting nails, that was, like, her thing. I was good at makeup and hair and all that, but she was great at manicures. She used to joke and say she was going to become a professional nail artist. I used to say she couldn't, because that was a lame job, but deep down I thought she could. That was the thing with Chloe, she could do whatever she wanted to do in life. She was just that lucky.

"You can't say Black Sabbath. I said Black Sabbath."

"Well fuck you, I like Black Sabbath as well. You're not the only fan."

"Pass me the joint."

She would complain all the time about her appearance, but she was so pretty. Looking back now I realise that she probably knew she was pretty, and just wanted to bring attention to herself. She was that kind of person. She acted like she hated it, but she damn well loved attention. Chloe had everything, the figure, the looks, the wealth. I don't know why she complained so much. It got annoying really fast.

"Okay, what about this. Best lyrical genius?"

"Hands down, John Mayer."

"Pass the joint."

"Kurt fucking Cobain, man."

God, I treated her so well. I was the best friend she could ever ask for, and she treats me like she did? I was the only one in the entire school who could put up with her bitchiness, and that disgusting sweater of hers that she loved. No one else fucking did. But I put up with that, because I was just such a damn good friend.

"Can we talk about Jeff Healy for a second? Like, that son of a bitch was blind and could play guitar way better than I ever could."

"Luke, a lot of people can play guitar better than you. For one, my grandma."

"Fuck you, man."

I just didn't understand what at all I did to deserve this. Like, okay so I wasn't some Christian or whatever, but I wasn't necessarily a bad person. So I put myself first a lot, was that so bad?

"This song. This song. This is the world's best song."

"Led Zeppelin is my religion, man."

"Hey, Ella. You okay over there?"