"Long distance friendships are hard, yall are too far away"
"Yeah"

"Don't forget, our concert is tonight," Mrs. Roger calls as the bell rings after class, "I expect you and the middle schoolers here by 6. The concert starts at 7!"
"Hey," Clyde greets me at the back of the lunch line.
"Hey!" I smile.
The feeling of stress from the dance on Saturday had faded, we had even hung out some on Sunday. I'm not sure why I was suddenly so nervous at the dance. Maybe it was just because of how overwhelming Dances usually are.
We go through the line and head toward the usual table. As we sit down I watch Clyde unwrap his burger and sigh.
"I forgot ketchup for my burger," Clyde swings his leg over the tables bench seat and gets up, "I'll be right back."
"You alright Lana?" Rider comes up from behind me.
"Hey, you used my name," I laugh.
"Uh huh. Are you ok?" He asks again, sitting down on my right.
I nod, "mhm. Thanks."
"What are you two all buddy buddy about?" Clyde asks as he returns to the lunch table, setting his plate down.
"Nothin', just asking if she's spoken to Amelia," Rider lies.
"She was silent the whole ride after the dance," Clyde shrugs, "what'd you do to her?" He laughs.
"Hey, this one was pretty quiet too," Tristan nods towards me, "you do something to her?"
My face turns bright red, "no- he was an angel all night!"
Tristan laughs, "I know he was."
Clyde takes the seat to my left and scoots up close.
"You were pretty quiet though," Clyde admits.
"Dances are- overwhelming," I shrug.
Clyde places his hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry. I knew you didn't want to go-"
My shoulders tense at the touch, "it's ok-"
"Oh yeah, Clarissa wanted me to invite you to her Halloween party next weekend," Clyde removes his hand from my shoulder.
"What time?" I ask.
"Seven," Clyde smiles.
I nod, "I'll ask my parents, but that sou-"
"Amelia!" Rider stands and calls across the lunchroom, "let's talk!"
Amelia takes one glance at the group before scrambling away.
"You broke her man!" Tristan exclaims.
"I did not!" Rider objects.

I close what I had been writing on my drawing app and begin to speak to my mother as we drive to my concert.
"Clarissa invited me to her Halloween party at 7 on Halloween," I play with my fingers in my lap.
"Do you want to go?" My mother asks.
"Yeah, I can go after some trick or treating with the twins," I nod.
"Ok," my mother nods.
"I can go?" I ask.
"Its down the street, if I look out the window and it looks rowdy over there I can just come get you," she laughs.
The rest of us join in on the laughing until the car is put in park.
I get out of the truck and point my mom towards the gym where the concert will be held.
"Have fun!" She calls as we part ways.
"You'll do great!" Kelly waves as I look over my shoulder.
Becca just smiles and nods beside Kelly. I watch for a moment longer as my mom leads them to the gym. My dad would be coming a little closer to time for the concert to start but I needed a n earlier ride to get here.
As I walk into the strings room I spot a girl sitting on the floor rather than in a seat. All the seats in the room were taken, most of them by middle schoolers.
"Liking the floor down there?" I ask as I walk up to the girl.
"All the seats are taken," she looks up from her phone, "plus, I like sitting on the floor."
I laugh, "sounds good."
"Ok everyone! Let's practice some of the songs before we go out there!" Mrs. Roger claps her hands together.
I pull out my violin to play.

Once we'd practiced a bit of each song, we head into the gym to get set up. Someone else had set all our chairs and stands up so they were neat and organized but most of us didn't really know where to go.
"Here, we can sit at this stand," I choose a stand in the back with two chairs pulled up to it.
"Ok," the girl who I had met in the strings room nods.

"She changed the order of the songs-" Aubrey, which I had discovered was the name of the girl breaks off.
I nod and continue walking quickly back to the classroom.
The concert had gone well, despite the sudden change in song order, though Mrs. Roger's husband took the microphone for a painful five minutes in order to congratulate us and also to say happy eighth anniversary to Mrs. Roger.

Me: so I made a new friend at my concert

I flop down onto my bed. I hadn't changed out of my dress yet but I would after I talked to Ash.

Ash: Oooooo
Me: yeah!
Me: her name is Aubrey
Ash: Ooooo
Me: we hung out the whole time, it was cool
Me: we bonded over mutual confusion 😂
Ash: awesome!
Me: but I didn't get her numberrrrr
Ash: YOU GOTTA ASK HER FOR IT TOMORROW
Me: I knowwww

I get a message from a random number and I open it cautiously.

#: Is this Lana?
Me: Who is this?
#: This is Amelia