Clove smoke catharsis (5)

"…You’re only there to watch me fall…."
The words of ‘Clove Smoke Catharsis’ echoed through my head. They seemed to fit my mood so exactly. Jen was only there to see me fall. She didn’t care about me, the real me, who liked obscure bands like AFI and Life House. She just wanted to see me fall into line with everyone else, all the other clones who drool over All-American Rejects, Good Charlotte (don’t get me wrong, they sing well, and they have good lyrics, at least GC do, or as far as I can tell.) and the like. She probably only liked (pop) Punk ‘cause it was fashionable. Alright, so a month ago I had been into even more obscure 80’s bands like the Cult and the Clash, and the The and the Jesus and Mary chain, but now I had modernised my tastes slightly. That didn’t mean I had to be like everyone else though, I could still be me, the freak who wore old peoples clothes (their description, not mine) and enjoy life like they did.

"… oh, and the hot Chinese guy, the one who bounced in the net, he was cool…" Alex’s words washed over my head. "… toast with green and brown sprinkles…" ! I snapped to attention,
"wha??? Green snotters?, Alex, what on earth are you talking about?"
"My superhero" was the only explanation she would give.

******random child’s POV***********

I could see that Scott wasn’t listening to a word Alex said, but then no-one really ever does. Sometimes for sanity’s sake it’s safer to block her out.
I was knackered after school, having been squashed, against my will, for several hours into a barrier at the ‘All American Rejects’ concert the previous night. It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. Still pretty crappy, but all in all, not so bad.

I could see Scott contemplating his future relationship with Jen, which wasn’t looking too bright from where I was standing. He had about as much of a chance with her as a moth does in a fight with a candle.

He was looking rather good though.