Just the Girl

PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN ON HIGH SCHOOL NORMALITY

"Is anyone back there?"

"Coming."

"I find myself not so much in the mood for caffeine."

"I'd like to drink her coffee."

"Don't talk about her that way!"

"Why not?"

"Because--she's, well, special."

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"Move it, jerk!"

The four of us were in Aaron Stanwick's truck on our way to Avondale for Regional Auditions. Any time we had something for choir that required us to drive a long distance, one of us drove. Since I had driven to All-State Jazz/Show Choir auditions in Rebellion (my charcoal Pontiac), and Michael Florence had driven to Chandler-Gilbert Community College in his Jeep, it was Aaron's turn (Mark Adams didn't have his license, so he always got to be a passenger).

My name is David, and I'm a normal high school student.

And being a member of Summit Peak High School's choir made these little road trips all the more normal.

"Aaron, can you PLEASE put on some normal music?" We were listening to Flight of the Conchords, which Mark HATED, while the rest of us loved it. Our rule is that whoever is driving gets to pick the tunes, and since Mark couldn't drive, we tried to choose music that wasn't his fave. It was surprising that Aaron liked Flight of the Conchords so much being that he doesn't really like listening to vulgar things, but he actually found humor in it. I always blasted Coldplay, while Michael always blasted Michael Buble.

Before we hit the road, as was our usual ritual, we stopped by Coffee Plantation to grab a few necessities--some water bottles, a few muffins, and of course, a look at the beautiful new cashier, except that she wasn't there tonight. I wondered where she could have been?

"Well, David, people do go home from work sometimes."

"I can't believe you still haven't talked to her," said Michael once we were safely on the freeway. "I mean, it's been three weeks."

"I know, but every time I try, I just...can't." It was true. Talking to girls was never really my forte, even being in choir, where the girl to guy ratio was about 10:1.

"David, just go up to her, tell her that she looks nice, and take her to the back room."

"Mark, I'm not going to have sex with some girl that I've never even talked to."

"I didn't say you had to have sex. Although, maybe a blowjob would make you a little less tense."

"OKAY!" Sometimes we forget that Aaron is Mormon and doesn't like hearing such graphic terms.

"And I am not tense," I said as I looked out the window. All I kept thinking about was the girl, with her brown hair fastened in that delicate ponytail (okay, so a ponytail isn't exactly delicate, but it gets the job done). If only I knew her freakin' name. She never wore her name tag, unlike the other employees at the Coffee Plantation. I guess she preferred to be mysterious, which was sexy, yet annoying at the same time.

"WE'RE HERE," exclaimed Aaron as we approached the parking lot of Firelink High School, and it was BEAUTIFUL (that was sarcasm, by the way).

As we got out of the red truck, the rundown school came into much better focus. The parking lot sat on a torn up road, and the walls of the school were as dilapidated as an old shoe (the air kinda smelled like an old shoe too). The sidewalk was cracked, and there was so much graffiti on the walls of the entrance that it was hard to see the actual lettering that said "Welcome to Firelink High School, a Drug-Free School" (Yeah. Right.)

Ms. Connolly, our 24 year-old choir teacher, greeted us at the entrance. "Good, you guys made it alright."

"It's a wonder that we did with Aaron's driving."

"Hey, Mark," Aaron replied, "maybe you should take your permit test again. I hear SIXTH TIME'S A CHARM!"

Ms. Connolly directed us to the sign-in counter. That was where we would sign up for times for our sight-reading, and then our required solo. I would be singing "Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind," a piece based on a text from Shakespeare's As You Like It. It was the same one I auditioned with last year and made 1st alternate, so I figured that it wouldn't do any harm to audition with the same piece.

After I signed up for my sight-reading time, I turned around to find a place to sit and wait, but in the process, my eyes popped out of my head as I saw the last person I expected to see--the Coffee Plantation girl!

After Aaron signed up for his audition time, he walked over to me. "Well," he said, "this is interesting."

"What do I do?"

"Why don't you just talk to her?"

"Are you sure now is the right time?"

Just then, Michael popped out from behind me. "Is that--"

"The Coffee Plantation girl? Yes." My heart was pounding. The girl of my dreams was standing not 20 feet away from me, and I didn't know what to do.

"This reminds me of a porno I once saw."

"MARK!"

"Sorry, Aaron."

"Just go up and talk to her."

"What the hell am I supposed to talk to her about?"

"Ask her what song she's auditioning with."

"Or tell her what song you're auditioning with, and say that you'd rather her blow that winter wind."

"Ok," I said. "I am going to talk to Coffee Plantation Girl."

But before I could move..."Joy Harris?"

And without further ado, Coffee Plantation Girl, whose name was apparently Joy Harris, gave them her score sheet, and proceeded into the room to do her sight-reading audition.

"Well," said Michael, "that happened rather quickly."

"Kind of like--"

"DON'T SAY IT," we all said at the same time.

After that, things did happen pretty quickly. All of us auditioned, said "Peace out" to Ms. Connolly, and before we knew it, we were back in Aaron's truck listening to Flight of the Conchords. We were all pretty quiet for a little while, and then, of course, the silence was broken by none other than Mark. "Seriously, dude, she was RIGHT FREAKIN' THERE!"

"I know." That was all I could say. My mind was consumed with Joy--what a beautiful name. Joy--a name that described how I felt whenever I saw her. If her middle name was "Nervous", which it probably wasn't, that would have been even more perfect. But then I thought--did she see me when I saw her? Could she know how I felt? Could she have felt the same way--loving, but shy? And then for some strange reason I thought of my family; the monsters whose screaming disrupted any sense of normality that was included in my life.

Aaron dropped Mark off, and then Michael. And then, when it was just me and him, I told him what I was thinking. Aaron always seemed like the person who I could talk to about more serious things, like my family turmoil. "Aaron," I said, "do you have to drop me off just yet?"

"I guess not. Do you want to grab some dinner?" It was about 6:00.

"Yeah. Let's go get some pizza."

"Pizza sounds good. We'll split the price?"

"No, you were the one who paid ungodly prices for gas tonight. I can get the pizza."

"Okay," he said, and just like that, my Mormon friend and I headed out for a pizza and a night of deep conversation.

When you have three best friends, it's always good to have a conversation range for each one. Mark had all of the guy talk, Michael had the philosophical banter, and Aaron had the feelings discussions. They talked to me about everything, but I didn't mind.

A lot of people don't even have one good friend. I'm lucky enough to have three.

David Adler

Normal High School Student

Me and My Gang (Series Premiere)

"Dude, I have got to tell you about this girl..."

It was Mark Adams on the phone, of course.

"Fire away." This was my usual response, considering Mark called me with this kind of information at least twice a week.

"Okay," he began in his best storyteller voice, and described every detail of the girl. I was pretty used to this, so I tuned it out and when I realized he was done, I simply said, "Good for you, Mark."

I don't know why it was always me that Mark called. I didn't exactly have very much experience in the area of girls, but it was always fun to listen to his crazy hook-up stories.

My name is David, and I'm a normal high school student.

Well, as normal as anyone, at least. I'm in choir, I write for the school newspaper, I eat junk food, etc. But mostly, I hang with Mark, and our two other best friends, Michael Florence and Aaron Stanwick.

The following day after my conversation with Mark, I met my boys at the Coffee Plantation, where we convened every Saturday to unload with some coffee (hot chocolate for Aaron because he's Mormon), and just relax. Occasionally I would bring my laptop and do some writing while we were there. I find that I do my best writing at the Coffee Plantation (I know it's cliche, but...).

"She was really that flexible?" Hearing Michael's inquiry as I entered the room was an indication that Mark had told them about his latest "escapade" as he liked to call it. Aaron, looking disturbed (as was his usual response to Mark's stories), interjected excitedly, "Oh look, David's here! Everyone, it's David!"

"Wow, Aaron, I didn't know you cared that much."

"David," said Mark, "I was just telling the boys about Rhonda."

"And he was finished telling it, right Mark?"

"Aaron, it's all natural."

"I don't really think God intended for tongues to be in that general region," said Michael, not making things any better for Aaron. After a moment, I decided to grab a coffee while my friends could continue making the Mormon more uncomfortable.

There was no one at the counter, which was strange. "Is anyone back there," I projected.

"Coming," said a girl's voice from the back room. I turned around to observe my friends. They seemed to be on a different subject considering Aaron looked much more at ease. After a moment, I heard her voice again. "What can I get for you?"

I turned around and saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

"I, um, I, um..."

"Yes?"

"I find myself not so much in the mood for caffeine." And I turned around and walked back to the table.

"Dave," Michael said, "didn't you get a coffee?"

"Yeah, that didn't work out so well."

This statement caused Mark to look at the beautiful girl behind the counter. "I'd like to drink her coffee."

"Don't talk about her that way!" My comrades looked at me, almost astonished.

Mark had one response. "Why not?"

"Because, she's, well, special."

"You talked to her for like five seconds."

"That's all it took Romeo and Juliet to fall in love."

"Yeah, and they died."

After a couple more hours of meaningless banter, we decided to go home--me in my charcoal Pontiac (named Rebellion), Aaron in his red GMC truck, and Michael in his Jeep Wrangler, taking Mark with him considering the latter was the only one out of the four of us that couldn't drive.

The entire way home, all I could think about the girl behind the counter. She had brown hair, an angelic face, a nice body, and a very nice speaking voice. She was beautiful and seemingly perfect, yet all I could do in her presence is say that I wasn't ordering anything. What was her name? Was she new to town? I had never seen her before.

I pulled into the driveway, locked Rebellion, and came in the house, where my mom, dad, older sister, and little brother were in the midst of a family battle. Mom was yelling at Dad for once again making my 29 year-old sister Libby pay the rent. Jake was yelling at him too (he's 13 and has this problem with holding his tongue--he doesn't do it). Without saying a word, I went upstairs to my room. My family drives me insane sometimes with their arguing, even though most of it is completely valid. But I try to stay out of it. After all, normal teenagers don't have to worry about this kind of stuff.

As I was in my room alone, Mark was in his room--not alone. In a later conversation that we would have, Mark told me about the following "escapade"...

Rhonda had stopped by to tell Mark that she thought he was a jerk and hated that he played her like some old CD (his words, not mine). She originally had come to blow him off, but instead, she just blew him.

"It was the most incredible thing ever," he said on the phone later that night. "It was like the ultimate vacation--refreshing and full of paradise."

"Thank you, Mark, for those wonderful words."

Most would look at this exchange and ask me how I can be such a complete idiot to be best friends with a guy like him. Well, truthfully, I don't know what to say. When you've been through everything with people like Mark, Michael, and Aaron, you almost owe it to yourself to be a little bit of an idiot.

David Adler

Normal High School Student

Series Introduction

My name is David, and I'm a normal high school student.

Welcome to Summit Peak High School, where David Adler is a junior. While David is constantly on his search for self-discovery, trying also to be as normal as possible, his three best friends are always there to keep him up on his feet.

Michael Florence is handsome, smart, and extremely philosophical. He pushes many people away because he is afraid that he is not ready for close relationships.

Mark Adams is the "player" of the group. His hook-up stories are often a laugh for the group because of how ridiculus some of them are, but when he really likes a girl, his entire history of being a player escapes him and he forgets how to act. His heart gets broken often, leading him to continue using his "other head" to think.

Aaron Stanwick is a Morman whose ultimate goal in life is to keep Mark in check. He is always there for his friends, even though his beliefs often get in the way of his sentimentality.

Through the events portrayed in the blog, we will see that high school is anything but normal, and that David, as hard as he tries to avoid it, will find many bumps in the road, including love, loss, and complex homework assignments.

Keep an eye out for Season One!