School ended about five million hours later. By the end of the day, I felt like I should just get I AM RAFE KHATCHADORIAN’S SISTER tattooed across my forehead to save everyone the trouble of mentioning it.
When the last bell rang, Missy climbed into her jewel-studded limo, and I headed back to my bus. Three whiplash-inducing miles later, I was safely home with my friends Nanci, Mari, and Patti. (Yes, they let me hang out with them, even though my name doesn’t end in an i and we don’t go to the same school.) We were sitting at the kitchen table, munching warm chocolate chip cookies that my Grandma Dotty, who lives with us now, had made.
“So, Georgia!” Mari smiled through her crumbs. “Are we ready to rock?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Just one more cookie,” Nanci said, grabbing five. I have no clue why she’s so thin.
“What happened to your shirt?” Patti asked.
“Mashed potatoes,” I explained. “Someone flipped them on me.”
“That is so wasteful.” Patti shook her head as she smoothed her natural-fiber batik shirt. Patti is very eco-friendly.
“Next time, I’ll give the guy a lecture,” I promised.
Then we headed out to the garage to practice.
I turned on my amp and strummed my electric guitar. Yes, that’s right, I’m in a
Nanci, Mari, and Patti are friends I made over the summer. They all go to Rafe’s school, Airbrook Arts, and I met them at the spring picnic. Mom insisted that we all go to it, since Rafe would be starting at Airbrook in the fall. We brought dessert, which is helpful for making friends with food-eating machines like Nanci.
Patti and Mari were with her. We started talking about baking, then about art (Nanci makes awesome sculptures, and Mari and Patti are into painting), and then about music. It turns out that Nanci plays drums, Mari plays bass, and Patti plays the keyboard. “All we need is an electric guitarist,” Mari said.
So I said,
The next day I picked up my electric guitar and amp at a tag sale. Grandma Dotty loves tag sales, and somehow she managed to bargain with the guy who was selling them, until we paid just three dollars for both. And the rest is history.
Well… it will be history. Once we’re famous.
Naturally, Rafe was furious that I’d actually made friends at Airbrook Arts before he did, which only made me even happier to be in the band. We’re called the Awesomes! It’s our dream to play the school dance this year.
Mom let us keep our equipment in the garage, so we were all set up. “Should we do our theme song?” I asked.
“Let’s jam!” Mari shouted—and we blew the lid off that garage!
