Jessie had decided to spend the night at my place since we hadn't seen each other in so long, and since we were both going to the concert with Alex the next day.

In fact, I awoke to the sound of her voice as she said, "Hey, Lana, guess what day it is?"

"I remember," I smiled, although it took me a minute before I could will myself to get up. It was interesting to note that sometimes just before waking, I dreamt of waking up and trying to make myself get up, or move my arm or something, but being completely paralyzed. That feeling was often accompanied by annoyance or even fear, and that's exactly what happened before Jessie woke me up. So I was grateful that she'd done so.

At the same time, though, I had slept better than I had in a long time despite the paralysis dream thing. I wasn't sure why, exactly, but I definitely wasn't complaining.

"I vote we stop for Tim Hortons on the way to go and get Alex," continued Jessie, "I have my license, so we can all drive if you want. Although it's really not far to the mall or the casino..."

"I kind of feel like walking today," I replied as I finally dragged myself out of bed to prepare for the day.

"Sounds good to me," replied Jessie. She was three steps ahead of me, having already gotten dressed and gotten her purse ready to go, ticket and all. She wore a light grey hoodie over a white T-shirt and light blue faded shorts. On her feet were her usual running shoes.

I decided to go with a pink tank top under a sheer white overshirt that was honestly a bit frillier than I'd usually wear. I paired it with a denim skirt and black leggings, along with a pair of black Doc Martins I'd gotten a few months ago for my birthday, from my grandfather. After running a brush through my hair Jessie and I had a quick breakfast before heading out to meet Alex at her apartment—after the aforementioned Timmies trip, of course.

On the way, Jessie went into detail about various things she had been building in her Minecraft world, most notably Nyan Cat pixel art, TMNT pixel art and a floating stained glass castle. That last one was something I wanted to see for myself as it actually sounded pretty cool.

"Hey, guys," Alex greeted us when we got to her place. She was waiting outside since it was such a nice day, and she'd chosen to wear a black dress paired with red flats and—surprisingly—limited makeup. A white hairclip held her bangs away from her face, completing the look.

"What's up, Alex?" I replied.

'Not too much," she said, "Last night's practice went pretty well. They liked my song lyrics."

"That's a plus."

"Yeah, I'd say so."

We decided to listen to music on Alex's phone as we walked, singing along to Avion Roe's 'Who I Am' as we neared the entrance to the mall. Something cool to note was that a guy passing by us sang along to a couple of the lyrics when he heard it, giving us a thumbs-up regarding our music choice.

As we were getting closer to the doors, though, we noticed Leanne and Nancy coming our way, both heavily made up and getting checked out by several passersby. When they noticed us, Leanne smirked and said something to Nancy before deliberately approaching us. "Check it out, Nancy," she said, "The emo triplets are on their way to Hot Topic again."

"Do these two look like that's their style?" Alex countered rhetorically, "Seriously, Leanne, you need to up your game."

"And you need to get a life," snapped Leanne, 'So I guess we're even."

"You know, it's funny you say that, because my getting a life has been a successful process so far," replied Alex coolly, "which is much more than I can say for either of you."

That comment must've really gotten to Leanne, because the next thing I knew she was aiming a punch directly at Alex's face—but she missed. Just as she was about to make contact, Alex ducked and Leanne's fist collided with the stone wall behind them. "Goddammit, Carmen! Look what you made me do!" she shrieked, clutching her hand in pain. From what I could see, her knuckles had instantly begun bleeding.

"You're the one who tried punching her," Jessie pointed out, "It was your own fault. Now how about you go be a jerk somewhere else for once, Leanne?"

"Fine! But you'll pay for this, all of you!"

"Oh, now I'm scared!" I replied sarcastically, but they were already out of earshot. "Let's just go."

"Nice reflexes, Alex," remarked Jessie as we finally entered the mall.

"Thanks," Alex grinned. For the next few hours, things were peaceful and awesome. We killed time shopping and otherwise wandering around the mall talking, stopping at the food court for lunch (Jessie opted for A&W while Alex and I got Taco Bell). It was a really fun day, and when we finally got bored we decided to head over to Jessie's to hang out for a while before heading to the concert.

While we were there, Alex and I showed Jessie all of the songs—both original and covers—that the band had posted on YouTube. Jessie was the first to admit that it wasn't her type of music necessarily, but that the band was incredibly talented. "How come you're not in any of these, Alex?"

"I only re-joined the band recently, so they haven't recorded anything with me yet," replied Alex, "Theydidn't start actually recording until after I left before."

"Ah," said Jessie, "Makes sense, then. Minecraft?"

"Sure," we agreed. We also ended up eating dinner at Jessie's and taking the bus to the casino from there.

"This is going to be epic!" I exclaimed, and Alex's eyes showed her agreement. The line moved surprisingly quickly and we were able to get through security no problem. And luckily for us, our seats were right in the front row!

We would get to see Amy Lee Hartzler up close!