|Concrete and Gold||dave grohl|

Chapter One•Learn To Fly

The boy next door. She'd catch glimpses of him taking out the trash or riding a skateboard with his friends. Her heart would skip a beat when he rang her doorbell to invite her to come outside and shoot hoops with him all the neighbor kids. She'd spend hours perfecting her hair and makeup for the nights when her mother would invite his family over for dinner. She'd try and avert her eyes when they'd pass each other in the hallway at school, trying to conceal her smile as she felt his warmth pass her.

Growing up, all David Grohl was to Eliza was the boy next door.

It all started the day she moved into her house. Eliza was twelve years old, and her parents had gotten a divorce, so her mother decided to move as far away from her old life as possible. That meant packing her bags, and moving all the way from Detroit, Michigan, to a small town in Virginia. Eliza was not excited in the least. She complained the entire ten hour drive, making comments about how her mother must have "thrown a dart at a map and chose to move there, because why else would they move to Springfield, Virginia?"

"Just wait and see, jitterbug. You never know. You might like it."

Nothing her mother could say would change her mind.

When they finally pulled up to their new house after the long trek it took to get there, Eliza was still underwhelmed.

"This house is so much smaller than our other one." She complained as she emptied their bags from the trunk.

"Well maybe it's because your mother has half as much money." Her mom scolded her as she held open the front door for Eliza.

After the pair took several trips unloading the car and finally, it was empty.

"Come here, jitterbug." Eliza's mom said as she led her to the front porch. "Let's sit."

Her mom took a seat on the rocking chair, and Eliza plopped down on the step.

"This place is pretty nice if you ask me." Her mother said.

"Not to me."

"Well your room is much bigger in this house than it used to be. It's a lot warmer in Virginia than in Michigan. Your school is so close that you can ride your bike every day. The Virginia sun makes your pretty blonde hair shimmer. Oh, and look. There's a big tree in our yard. We didn't have a tree at our old house. You could read under it, or put up a swing or a hammock-"

"Mom." Eliza cut her off. "It's just a tree."

"I know, jitterbug. But if you never look for the positives, then you'll always just be negative."

They both looked at each other and laughed at her mom's stupid analogy. Just as the laughter died down, the pair looked at the stranger who had appeared standing in front of them.

"Hi, I'm David." The stranger said as he stuck out his hand for both of them to shake. He was just a young boy with the biggest smile Eliza had ever seen in her life. He had dark brown hair that laid right above his ears. His brown eyes shimmered as the pair introduced themselves to him.

"I'm Catherine, and this is my daughter, Eliza." David looked down at her and smiled. "We just moved here from Michigan."

"Sick! I grew up in Ohio, so I know a thing or two about Michigan. I live here with just my mom."

"That's nice, David. I'll have to meet her sometime soon. How old are you?" Eliza's mom asked. It would be nice for Eliza to have someone close in age who was this kind to hang out with.

"Just turned thirteen, ma'am."

"Awesome! Eliza's twelve."

Eliza blushed, embarrassed by her mom's excitement.