Soul Quest

Chapter 13

Liv

Time - September 11, 2014

Place - Bowery Ballroom on Delancey Street,

Manhattan, New York

"The only real valuable

thing is intuition."

- Albert Einstein

We arrived at the Bowery Ballroom at seven. The first band to play, Girl in a Coma, was Amber's favorite. Jedd invited Ray to tag along so it felt less like a double date which was good. I was still confused about my feelings for Jedd and I had no clue about how he felt about me. I did not want to know how he felt about me. I was not ready to have a boyfriend. Beginning high school was enough to deal with.

"You guys are going to be so glad you came tonight." Amber yelled over the loud music. "'Girl in a Coma' totally rocks!" she promised.

The band was made up of three girls, two of them being sisters. I thought that was pretty cool. I decided to unwind and have fun with my friends. The campaign was over. What could be left to worry about? Brayan, Jedd and Ray seemed to be winding down too. Everyone was having a good time and it felt good. The bodies in the club swayed from side to side as if they were melted together into one large organism. When the music played faster the bodies jerked in rhythm. When to musicSLOWED the bodies seemed to sway to the new flow. It was an incredible feeling. The pure freedom of the movement gave me an adrenaline rush. My friends seemed to catch on to my vibe and followed my lead. We were all dancing, talking and laughing when we heard a familiar friendly voice.

"This looks like my kind of party over here." Laith shouted in our direction as he swirled and bounced his way in our direction. A group of kids followed him.

"Hi, guys." he smiled and gestured toward the people behind him. "This is my sister, Melissa and her friends Caroline and Fanny." The girls smiled and said hello.

Had Laith just introduced Melissa Small as his sister? They didn't look like they could be related.

"I didn't know Laith had a sister." I whispered in Amber's ear. Maybe I had misunderstood what he said. The club was loud.

"Step-sister..." AmberCONFIRMED enunciating the word, step. My eyes grew wide. Amber shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

"Wow, who knew?" I said mostly to myself.

"Tell me about it." Amber added quietly for just my benefit.

We both started giggling. I'm not sure why. Melissa Small has a tendency to make people nervous, I guess. Caroline Brown and Fanny Williams were recognizable as well being nearly as popular as Melissa. All three girls are cheerleaders and blond. Although, I can't be sure all three are naturally blond. I over heard a couple of girls in my Algebra class debating on Caroline's natural color. One girl thought she was naturally blond while the other suspected that she dyes it. Dyed or not the three girls are easily the prettiest and most envied girls in the freshman class. Brayan, Jedd and Ray were demonstrating this truth at this very moment. Introduce a few pretty faces and suddenly the male species can't remember how to speak. Laith was staring at us waiting for a response. I elbowed Jedd in the ribs.