Life Isn't All That Bad

Beau Neil was not your average girl. She didn’t do anything expected. Rather than worrying about clothes, she wore her parents' old clothes, occassionally going to a thrift store for clothes of her own. She played video games. She liked zombies. All her favorite movies involved violence, blood and gore. She still liked Pokémon. She talked to herself. The child inside her never really grew up.

But what was strangest of all was her best friend. Elizabeth Owens. Liz, for short. They had grown up together in New York City. Of course, Liz moved away when she was 12.

Beau and Liz managed to stay close, even five years later. They visited each other for a few days every summer, and usually over winter break as well. The two were almost total opposites, yet they were still best friends.

Liz was one of those girls you'd picture being a model when she finished college. She was tall, standing at an impressive five foot eight. She weighed exactly one hundred and fifteen pounds. Her skin was tan and flawless. Her face was thin, with cheekbones that any other girl would kill to have. Her dirty blonde hair dried into naturally perfect waves. She had eyes that were the perfect shade of blue. She played flute, and sung in chorus. She was, quite honestly, perfect.

Beau wasn't like that. She stood at a short five foot four, weighing an average one hundred ten pounds. She was pale and her skin was often broken out. Her dark brown hair dried into a poofy mess of curls and waves that she fought to straighten everyday. Her emerald green eyes had awful vision, so she wore large nerd glasses. Her clothes often clashed. Her only musical talent was guitar; unlike Liz, she wasn’t given a good singing voice.

The only thing that really brought these two girls together was their love of nerdy things. The two would sing and dance to N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls. They'd sit and watch marathons of Pokémon. They both had vast collections of vinyl records and old comic books.

While Liz didn't openly flaunt her love for these things, Beau did. Liz was a popular girl, and although she didn’t care for her popularity, she didn’t want everyone knowing what a dork she truly was. Beau, however, wasn’t popular. She only had two friends, Liz, who lived several states away, and Danny, the fifteen year old boy who lived across the hallway from her. New York City was full of stuck up people who mocked her. Beau didn’t mind. She preferred to keep to herself. Her mother was always there when she needed her, and Liz was only a phone call away.

Despite not having many friends, or any real emotional attachments to the city, when Beau's mother announced that they were moving... well, it came as a surprise. She knew her mom loved the city. Catherine Neil was born a city girl. The fact that she one day just decided to move wasn’t normal.

Her reason for moving, however, was a little more understandable. For three years, Catherine had been alone. Her husband, Beau's father, was killed in a drunk driving accident. He, of course, wasn’t the drunk one. But that didn’t stop the other car from running the red light and killing him on impact.

For three years, Catherine was living in a city where everything reminded her of him. She figured that getting out of the city and moving somewhere a little less crowded was exactly what her and her daughter needed. And what better place to move than the town her daughter's best friend lived in?

*****

Garrett Nickelsen was sick and tired of almost every girl in his town. Most girls constantly threw themselves at him and his friends, knowing of their increasing fame. The boys of The Maine didn’t enjoy all the drunken flirts and pathetic attempts the girls made, but Garrett hated it the most. All he wanted was a girl that didn’t want his fame- someone that actually liked him for him.

Sure, he had girl friends that liked him for him, but he didn’t have a girlfriend that liked him for him.

The guys all talked about it at band practice- why the hell were there no decent, dateable girls in Tempe?

Well, Kennedy didn’t talk about it. He was dating Liz Owens- the most wanted girl in the school. Garrett didn’t get the hype. Yes, she was pretty. Yes, she was nice. No, she wasn’t a controlling bitch.

But Garrett could never find what Kenny found so special about her.

Apparently, Garrett's frustration was starting to affect his bass-playing abilities.

John noticed it first when Garrett completely fucked up The Way We Talk, playing everything wrong. "Bro, what is up with you lately? You seem... so out of it."

Garrett shrugged. "I'm just sick and tired of all these girls who just try to use me to get famous. I don’t know, I think I'm thinking about it too much."

Jared patted him on the shoulder. "You're bound to find a girl eventually."

"Unless some girl that likes video games and zombies moves in across the street from me, I doubt that I'm finding a girl anytime soon."

The guys just shrugged, and they returned to their practice. Garrett tried to focus, but his mind was simply too out of it. Finally, the guys gave up, and dispersed to their own homes, leaving John behind in his basement.

When Garrett got home and found out that someone bought the house across the street, he didn’t exactly care. When he found out they had a daughter his age... Well, Garrett was less than thrilled.

Just one more stupid girl in this stupid town.