A Girl Named Kid

It was just about 11:00pm. My father's breathing machine was resonating through the whole upstairs.  I looked at the clock and then back to the mirror.  I was almost ready.  I grabbed my purse and slowly turned the door knob.  I stopped when I got outside the doorway.  And I listened closely to the left. Nothing.  I continued down the stairs.

The Grand Father Clock that sits in the foyer would chime any second.  I always timed my escape to it, because then you couldn't hear the front door shut behind me as I left.  I would open the car door, and quickly start the engine.  As I reached over for the seat belt, I was already putting the car in reverse and heading out of the driveway.  I left the door open, until I made it a couple houses away.  As I shut the door, I would accelerate and turn the stereo up as loud as it would go. 

This was night.  This was my time.  My time away from my peers that didn't understand me, my time away from my family that disapproved of everything I did and was.  I was going to disappear into the darkness.  I smiled into the cloud of smoke that floated in my face, and began to sing.  This is the way you wished your voice sound, handsome and smart. Oh, my tongues the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart. On this night, these are my words, this is my anthem.

The best thing about living in a town this small is that there is inevitably some back country road to get you where you want to go.  Get you there with complete avoidance of everything you wish to avoid at 11:17pm.  I looked at my phone and back to the road.  Usually if my parent's haven't called within the first 15 minutes of me being gone, they wouldn't notice.  They had accepted quite a bit about their rebellious 16 year old daughter.  But there were things I was doing, that they would have hated had they known.  I was unwavering in my smoking habit.  I was spending all my time with 20something rock-stars, driving from concert to concert, and party to party.  But the more they told me not to do these sorts of things, the more I needed to.  I was a rockstar.

I was almost there.  I looked up at the red light in front of me, and threw on my right turn signal.  A block further and I turned the bass up, obnoxiously. I rolled down the window and I screamed as loudly as I could "I'm gonna blow up your house, mother fuckers." Then, I honked the horn a few times, and pulled in front of the driveway.  

The five guys standing in the garage looked up and smiled.  Three of them raised their middle fingers high in the air, as to say 'welcome back, friend.'  Frado flicked his cigarette in the direction of my car and yelled back "get your cute ass out here, Kid."  I put the car in park and let myself out.  I leaned against the door and lit up another cigarette as I began to walk over to them.  

They were of course and older group of guys, previously mentioned '20somethings.' But my age was never spoken around the guys, and that was the way I liked it.  It didn't matter what year I was born, it only mattered that these people seemed to understand me far better than anyone I had met my age.  They wanted to know me as badly as I wanted to know them.  I mean, I was a rockstar.  

 "Just got 2000 more fliers for the 24th, Kid." I looked down to a box, top torn open, and paper fliers spilling out the top.  A black sharpie marker was scribbled along top the box, reading "For KatieKid."  It looked like Chris' handwriting.  I looked up at Frado and smiled. 

 "And why would I want that?" I said with a giggle.

"Because you are the KatieKid and you're the best." the dryness in his delivery made this statement seem completely rehearsed.  It was.

  

I was their promotional manager.  I ran their street team, booking, and all things with their name attached to it.  But most importantly I was KatieKid.  Creator of KatieKid Promotions, street team leader extraordinaire, and future CEO of Skyline Entertainment.  

I was a rockstar.

I was 16.