The Saddest Song - By Susie Kaye Lopez Page 0,23

accident if you are wearing a new shirt.

My bedroom door opened again and mom’s head popped in. “Oh, I almost forgot. I made you an appointment for a haircut while I was at the mall. Your hair is so long it makes you look like a girl. They can take you at three.” She smiled and closed the door again.

Chapter 10

Rainey

My parents were so excited to hear that I was going out that when they asked what time I would be home and I replied that I had no idea, they simply said to stay out as long as I like. I texted Caitlyn to tell her to have a great time at Homecoming and then pulled open my closet to decide what to wear to the concert. It may not have been a date but I thought I should put some effort into my appearance. I didn’t want to embarrass Max in front of his friends. The venue was in Pacific beach, a really laid back area so I knew it would be casual. Pushing a variety of clothing aside I finally settled on a new pair of skinny jeans, heels and an olive colored blouse that Cait had chosen for me.

The doorbell rang and I headed down the stairs as my dad greeted Max. Mom glanced up at me and said, “You look so pretty!” as if I had never looked this way before.

I smiled and said, “Thanks mom.” I was wearing makeup which I had pretty much forsaken during the past two months. I never realized how different it made me look until I put it on today. I had to admit that I had actually liked my reflection in the mirror. I looked a lot less pale and the skinny jeans and high heels were flattering to my underweight body. I was shocked to see Max’s eyes widen in surprise too, and I wondered suddenly how horrible I looked on a daily basis. Time to add makeup back into my daily routine.

“Hey,” Max said. I saw my Dad do a double take and smiled. Dad was only a scant half inch taller than my five foot eight and now he had to reach up to kiss my cheek.

“Max, watch out for our super model tonight,” my dad said. I felt myself blush and hurried Max out the door.

Max opened the truck door for me and I was relieved when we were on our way. I noticed that the shirt he was wearing was new, and his hair was shorter, yet still long enough to hang over his collar.

“You cut your hair!”

“I had to, my mom was driving me crazy about it. I kind of thought it was a good sign that she noticed how long it was getting.”

“She seems a tiny bit better to me too. I mean, she obviously went shopping. You are wearing a new shirt.”

“She went to the mall this morning and I was apparently the reason why. There are several more where this came from,” he smiled over at me.

“Well, you’re lucky she has good taste. I love that plaid.” It was grey and turquoise and I didn’t say it, but it made his eyes look amazing.

“Thanks supermodel,” he laughed.

“Shut up. Very funny,” I said, but smiled.

We had dinner at a tiny hole in the wall that served a million types of burgers. We both ordered the basic cheeseburger and fries and then walked a couple blocks over to the venue. It was still a half hour until the concert started and I was surprised to see quite a line wrapped around the building. The headliner was Mark Kerrey, a new singer song writer who had a pretty good following. Max had given me a few of his songs to put on my iPod over the summer. I loved them and was excited to see him live.

When we got to the front of the line Max gave his name and showed the guy his ID. He pointed to an unmarked door off to the side and told us we could go in there. The door opened on to a long hallway that ended in a small room covered in concert posters and graffiti. I had never been backstage before and I was busy taking it all in when a cute brown haired guy called out Max’s name and came over to us pulling a short pretty blonde girl by the hand. Letting go of her he hugged Max.

“Hey Max, I’m so glad