Girl Read Free Page A

they played since Julie’s party and I didn’t want to miss it so I called Mark Pierce. The show was in the afternoon and Mark picked me up and you could tell he had trouble figuring out what to wear. He had an old sweater with holes in it that maybe he thought was alternative or grunge or something. And he was nervous and he couldn’t find the place and you could tell he never went downtown. And then I saw the Outer Limits sign and I was like, “Turn! Turn!” but he couldn’t because he went too far. So we went around the block but he couldn’t get back because it was a left turn only. And he was getting so pissed and I felt bad for him and I thought I should have just taken the bus.
    When we finally got there Mark paid for me and we went in and another band was playing. There weren’t that many people but Cybil was standing by the side and she waved to me and I ran over. And she started telling me about the singer on stage whose name was Nick and their band was called Pax, which meant “peace” in Latin and wasn’t that cool? But I was like, what about Richard? She just shrugged. And I didn’t want to be a drag so I watched Nick sing and I couldn’t see Richard anywhere. And poor Mark Pierce was standing in the middle of the floor looking like a suburban jock in a holey sweater. And Cybil said, “What’s Mark Pierce doinghere?” And I said, “He brought me.” And we both looked at him and you could tell how out of place he felt. And Cybil was just in love with this Nick person and swaying back and forth with his music and I watched Nick but he didn’t seem that cute to me. He looked weird and sort of deranged.
    Poor Mark Pierce. I stood with him while Thriftstore Apocalypse played. And I wanted to dance but he didn’t want to but then some other girls did and I danced with them. And then afterward Mark and I sat on the curb outside and these two girls sat next to us and they were checking out Mark and then they lit cigarettes and started gossiping. And they had cool retro dresses and I had on my favorite Gap skirt which wasn’t very cool I guess. And then Mark said he didn’t think any of the bands were any good. He said he didn’t mind if they wanted to be artsy but if they couldn’t play their instruments why did they think they could go on stage? He said his friend Scott Haskell could play Scorpions solos and stuff off the radio and he wasn’t even in a band. Then he said that the Outer Limits people were pretentious and the girls were stuck up and they thought they were so cool but they were obviously losers.
    When the show was over Greg pulled up his station wagon and they loaded their stuff. Then he and Richard came over to us and Richard tried to say hi to Mark Pierce but Mark would only grunt at them. And then I told Richard I had one of their songs in my head and he got so excited. He was so happy. I even sang it a little, not as good as Cybil of course. He was ecstatic. He said that should be their first single. He said they were thinking of making a record and Mark Pierce scoffed and Richard tried to explain how easy it was and then Greg started talking about the studio he was going to build in his basement and everybody rolled their eyes, even Richard.
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    Then Cybil appeared and she wouldn’t look at Richard and they all got in Greg’s station wagon and drove away. I said to Mark that something was up between Richard and Cybil and he said, “Yeah, they’re having sex.” Then we got in Mark’s car and drove around the block and got stuck in that same left turn only. Mark got so mad he just drove over the partition and floored it. I felt sorry for him then because he was doing all this for me, wearing the sweater and standing around and getting checked out by snotty girls. So then we went to Scamp’s and had frozen yogurt and talked about neutral