I started out off in Montauk. My Grandparents didn’t own their haus anymore, but the people who lived there let me stay. There were all these little kids who wanted their hair made into dreads, so the big black man I was staying with braided one kid’s hair, and told the rest to come back the next day and he’d work on theirs. They scurried off, and I spent most of the day trying to knit another kid’s hair. I don’t understand. Later, I was sitting down with the man and he said, “Oh Emily, I’ve done a terrible thing!” How, I asked. You made that little boy very happy. He shook his head. “I gave him 18 braids, ya? He’s acting exactly the same..except he’ll only eat 18 pieces of food, will only clean his room for 18 minutes, will only do 18 homework problems.” I was reminded of myself. “What have I done?” He burried his head in his hands.

We left, and I sad with Anjuu on the bus ride home. There was some sort of model search going on, so we got distracted for that. I knew they would never choose me for a model, simply because I was so goofy looking. And sure enough, in the group picture they took to judge us, I looked really silly. I was wearing a beanie that didn’t fit right with pigtails, but my smile was natural and nice looking. I laughed at it a lot, and the model people seemed to be looking at me with that ‘we want her’ eye. I wondered if they’d be calling me later.

After that I was with Kirei for some sort of Battle of the Bands thing. It was a fairly big to-do, though the stadium it took place in wasn’t nearly full. I was sitting next to Jameses, who was terribly nervous, and giving Leonard encouragements as well. Finally the band stepped up to play. They were fantastic. Leonard was having a good vocal day, and the crowd loved them. They played Focus, during which a pocket of hardcore Kirei fans sang along, and I think it was..Sorry for the Silence. Leonard, I could tell, was hoping to play Tis, but they had to wrap it up. Not that it would have mattered if they continued playing, the crowd clearly loved them. Leonard pointed to all the members of the band. I ran close to the stage, and he gestured to me as well. Completely out of character for him. I could feel my face grow hot.

I went to sit back down, and people were asking questiosn about the band. Naturally, since I know everything about the band, I answered. One guy wanted to know if they were a group, or just a project. Group, I told him. Another girl wanted to join the band. She was very excited about it, a cute thing who had just moved to the area. She played the ancomp which I don’t think is real, but it made me very excited and I told her I’d ask Leona-the lead singer about it. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to call him Leonard or Triste Endymion. I went downstairs to the band’s area. Security wouldn’t let me through, so I started to try to persuade them..

Then my alarm went off.