“I hate today” Kaylee said to herself as she was running home from school covered in glue. Kaylee fell victim to foul play once again. Earlier at school everyone was busy getting ready for the annual middle school science fair. Similarly, Kaylee was working very hard on her own project, a laser cannon. In years past Kaylee had always won first prize for her projects and this year was not going to be any different. Being the top contender made Kaylee vulnerable to those who also wanted to be top prizewinners. Kaylee was looked upon her classmates as the big nerd everyone loves to hate. Kaylee has one friend, Lilly, who could see past Kaylee’s love of science and math. Lilly knew that Kaylee was a kind, warm-hearted person on the inside, not just a competitive science student that most people viewed from the outside.
Suddenly a classmate came up to Kaylee pretending to be interested in her project.
“I’m not finished yet, but it should be done soon,” Kaylee explained to the visiting student.
“Nice, but I think it needs more work,” replied the student.
“What do you think it still needs?” asked Kaylee.
Suddenly the boy turned around and poured a container of glue he hid behind his back onto Kaylee’s head!
When Kaylee finally arrived home, she ran into her mother’s arms, covering her mom’s new pink shirt with smudges of white paste.
“Kaylee! What on earth happened to you?” asked her mom.
“Nothing,” shouted Kaylee looking away from her mom.
Then Kaylee ran upstairs into the bathroom to wash off the glue. It took Kaylee over an hour to get the sticky stuff off her hair. After several attempts with shampoo, she had to ask her mom to bring up some peanut butter so the oily mixture could soften up the caked on glue mixture that still hung onto her strands of hair.
When Kaylee finally walked out of the bathroom, her mom tried to comfort her by talking about her birthday that was coming next week.
“Let me know what you would like for your birthday so we can celebrate your becoming a teenager,” her mom said in a friendly tone.
Kaylee hesitated, not sure if she should answer the question. “Well…you know that I love the band Green Day.”
“Oh,” replied her mom, keeping her daughter second guessing.
“What do you mean by “oh”?” asked Kaylee.
“I’ll let you figure that one out,” said Kaylee’s mom, trying real hard not to let her daughter think that Green Day tickets were a definite possibility.
That evening Kaylee kept tossing and turning in bed. What if she could get Green Day tickets for her birthday? When Kaylee finally did fall asleep it was just for a short while. She did not hear her alarm go off and her mom entered the room to get her up.
“Kaylee, wake up! You’ll be late for school!” her mom shouted with excitement while shutting off her blaring alarm.
“Oh my Gosh!” screamed Kaylee as she threw her covers on the ground and picked out a random pair of pants and shirt. She quickly got dressed, grabbed her backpack, and went out the door. As she was running to school she realized that nothing she had put on was matching! Suddenly she panicked. The kids at school would certainly make fun of her today!

As soon as Kaylee walked into homeroom, the boy who poured the glue on her stood up and shouted, “Hey look who decided to dress as a clown today!”

That day Kaylee went home “sick”. When Kaylee’s mom arrived to pick her up she knew right away that she was not really sick but looked rather upset instead. When they got in the car Kaylee’s mom felt so bad that she had to tell her what she got her for her birthday. Hesitating Kaylee’s mom said “I…I got you Green Day tickets for your birthday.” Kaylee went frantic.

“Oh my Gosh!!” Kaylee screamed. She felt so happy that all those terrible memories of school bullying were pushed aside and a new life began.

Kaylee was so excited that she had trouble sleeping again. This time she wondered what date was the concert and who could come with her. Was Lilly allowed to come?

Finally Kaylee’s birthday arrived and she anxiously ran down the stairs to see her parents in the kitchen.

Kaylee’s Dad yells “Happy Birthday!!”

Not seeing her mom Kaylee asked, “Where’s mom?”


“Right here!” Kaylee’s mom yelled as she was running down the stairs with an envelope in her hand. Instantly Kaylee thought these must be the tickets!!

“Okay I know this is no surprise but here you go.” Kaylee looked inside the envelope and there were just three tickets. She felt happy at first but began to feel doubtful about who was going to come with her: mom, dad,…. but what about Lilly?

“Thank you so much!!!” She screamed jumping up and down. She had to see it with her own eyes to believe such a wonderful thing could happen to her. She really wanted Lilly to come but she did not want to tell her parents about it in case she would disappoint them.

The next day at school Kaylee told everyone what she got for her birthday. At first she thought that no one would care about what she got but most showed a lot of enthusiasm over it. When Kaylee saw Lilly she ran over and told her about the Green Day tickets. Lilly got excited and asked, “So who are you inviting to go with you?” Kaylee did not know what to say. She knew there were not enough tickets to include her.

“Lilly my parents only bought three tickets….you can’t come.”

“But Kaylee, I love Green Day too. This would be a lifetime chance for me to go as well, so ask your parents if one of them will give up their tickets for a friend. Besides I doubt that your mom really wants to go if you know what I mean.”

Kaylee couldn’t believe what she had heard.

“ Lilly!” that’s all Kaylee could say because she thought Lilly would understand.

That evening at home her mom and dad were talking in the living room.


Kaylee asked, “ What’s going on?”

“Well I’ve been thinking. I don’t really want to go to the concert” Her mom said.

“ Really? Does that mean Lilly can come?” asked Kaylee in excitement.

“ Yeah…I guess,” Her mom said worried because she wanted her daughter to be safe.

A bunch of thoughts went through Kaylee’s mind at that moment. She wondered if Lilly would still come even though she was told that there were not enough tickets. No, she thought. Lilly would go because Green Day is her favorite band. She wanted me to ask my mom to give up her tickets. Well, luck is with Lilly now.

When Kaylee got to school she ran into Lilly in the hallway.

“ Lilly! You can come to the concert,” Kaylee told Lilly.

“ Really! So you got your mom to give me her tickets?”

“ Sort of,” said Kaylee. Kaylee realized that Lilly has been very pushy about this whole matter.


“ You know,the concert is in three days and I don’t know if I should bring you if you think you can push people around so easily.” Kaylee exclaimed in a loud voice to Lilly.

“ Okay! Okay! I’ll stop! It’s just I’m really excited and… I sorry!” said Lilly.

“ Well fine, you can come.” Kaylee said. “See you three days.” Then they both parted ways.

Three days later Kaylee woke up in excitement and yelled, “Today is the day of the concert!” Then she jumped out of bed and ran down stairs to see what was going on. She saw her parents and they both said simultaneously, “Get ready for the concert!” In a flash, Kaylee went upstairs and put on all of her Green Day clothes and accessories, looked herself in the mirror and said, “ Today is the best day of my life.” Then she ran down stairs to meet her dad in the kitchen. It was about ten in the morning so they would have to leave soon in order to pick up Lilly.

When they got to Lilly’s house, Kaylee jumped out of the car and rang her doorbell. She must of rung it four times because she was so excited. Finally Lilly came out in all of her Green Day attire. Kaylee complimented Lilly by saying, “You look great for the concert Lilly!”

“ Thanks, so do you. do you know what row we have for the concert?”

“ Not exactly, but I know it’s not all the way in the back.

“ Thank goodness! Hurry, we should get in the car so we are not late,”
Said Kaylee.



“ Yeah, let’s go!” They both went running into the car laughing which seemed like the first time in a long time.

After hours in the car they finally arrived in Pittsburgh. As they got out of the car they saw thousands of Green Day fans in this huge parking lot. Then a sudden thought ran through Kaylee’s mind. “ Lilly, Billie Joe is here right now, right where we are!!!”

“ I know, isn’t this great!?” Lilly screamed. Kaylee’s dad looked confused. Kaylee then asked her Dad, “What’s the matter?”

“ Everyone is leaving,” her dad said slowly and distinctly so that he did not have to repeat himself.

“ What? No, this can’t be happening, not today!” Kaylee cried in disbelief.

A parking attendant who happened to be walking nearby told everyone, “Ahh yeah, the lead singer for Green Day has just lost his voice so the show is cancelled.” Then Kaylee’s dad grabbed her by the shoulder so she wasn’t going to attack the guy. After a few minutes, Lilly, Kaylee, and her Dad walked away real disappointed, not saying a word. While going home all Kaylee could think about was her unhappiness in not seeing Green Day. What started out to be the best day of her life, was becoming the worst.

When they got home after dropping Lilly off, Kaylee’s mom yells from upstairs, “Why are you guys back so early?”

“They cancelled the show,” said Kaylee. The singer for Green Day lost his voice.”

About three weeks later Kaylee came home from school and her mom shouted, “ Hey guess what?”

“ What?” Kaylee asked curiously.

“ Green day tickets! There’s a make-up day for the concert. Are you ready to go?”

“Oh… my… goodness,” Kaylee said. “Do I want to go through this ordeal all over again? Is Green day, really worth it? How much do I love this band? Well, Mom, I’m ready when you are. Please come with us this time! I think it is very possible we can get an extra ticket for the make- up concert since it will be held in a larger auditorium. I really love you.”