The Questions We Ask, chapter 1

"Mom, why don't I have a dad?" I asked.

"Flannery, how many times do I have to tell you, we're a good enough family as we are. Without your father," Mom answered, frusterated with my constant questioning.

"Mom, how many times do I have to tell YOU? Please call me Flamma! Gosh, Mom! Why did you have to even give me this stupid name? That name is in POKEMON. Izzy plays that!" I whined.

"So?" My sister Izzy asked as she came in and sat down on a chair. She was playing Pokemon. "Yay! My Torchic just reached level 70! Do you know how hard that is? It's amazing!"

"Shut it!" I yelled. I rolled my eyes and sat down to pour my cereal. Fruity Pebbles are good. I don't even care if they're Izzy's, because I think it's not fair that she gets a good name AND a nickname. I would give anything to have been given her name, Isabella.

"Flannery! That's mean! And that's her cereal, you got the other stuff!" Mom put the box of Life in front of me. I shook my head.

"No, you thought I liked those, but only if they're plain, and I want milk, now! Back to the original question though, why did you give me a ridiculous name?" I asked.

"A million times before, I told you this: your dad named you. It wasn't my idea!"

"Then why can't you call me Flamma?" I glared at my breakfast.

"Beacuse, it's a silly name. What does it mean?" Mom looked me in the eye when I looked up.

"It means..." I muttered it. She would think it's dumb to be technically called flame, but that's my character. I'm a beautiful spirit that changed freely, but at the same time, I can burn quickly.

"I can't hear you," Mom taunted.

"Fine! It means flame in Latin," I fessed up. I finished breakfast soon enough to hear Zach honk his horn. "Bye!" I grabbed my Green Day backpack and rushed out to the black shiney ride.

"What's up, beautiful?" Zach greeted me.

"Again, Mom keeps calling me Flannery!" I huffed.

"Well, I have some good news." He looked over at me, then turned up the stereo, which was playing his American Idiot CD. "And this is a hint."

"You got tickets!" I exclaimed. I leaned over and kissed my boyfriend on the cheek, trying to not distract him from the road. "Wow, I can't believe it..."

"Yeah, and I can't believe that they're...BACKSTAGE PASSES!" I shouted for joy. Good thing it was a sort of long drive, because we sang along to a few songs, raising our spirits higher.

"When is it?" I asked.

"Next week! On Friday!" I cheered again, realizing it's only one week away, exactly. I love Fridays, school lets out early.

We reached school and separated to our classes. The day went by fairly quickly, so we headed to the park like we usually do on unfull days. We sped down the highway, but I noticed Zach took the wrong exit.

"Zach, I think you went the wrong way," I told him. He shook his head.

"No, I'm taking you somewhere else," He said with a smile. It took a while to get there, and I started to get bored. "Can you straighten up a bit, it's a bit of a fancy place." He said sarcastically. I brushed off dust from the earlier soccer match that
I just sat and watched, then I smoothed out wrinkles in my jeans and Adeline shirt, then I stuffed the hoodie that was around my waist into my backpack. I was finally a bit presentable.

Finally, we pulled into a huge stadium's parking lot. Hardly anyone was there yet, but a lot of them had mohawks and punk clothes on. It's a good thing we fit in, wherever we're going.

"Where are we going? Have you noticed that this is a stadium?" I asked.

"Yes, and I lied to you," he said laughing. I gave him a look.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see."