Marichap2

�So�what�s up? Aren�t you supposed to be in school?� Zac asked.
Mari paused and then said, � Um�it�s a holiday�� Zac looked at her. A holiday?
� Well, if you�re skipping or whatever, it�s okay�.� He said still unsure, � What grade are you in?�
� I�m in 9th grade.� She said, then whispered to herself, �Though it seems like I�m in college with the amount of work and pressure.�
�What�s that?� Zac asked. He had heard, but he wanted her to tell him. Mari looked down at the table and then out the window to the far right. She had made a pact with herself to never let a stranger know how much being a smart kid hurt. She had told herself that she would live through it as a sort of detached robot, then go on with her life as if she had never had the extreme stress of honors classes. Something about Zac made her want to say something, but she held her tongue and waited for him to change the subject. �Well�you want to show me around town before my brother finds me and drags me back to the hotel?�
�Sure!� Mari said as the waitress walked up with their drinks. �Where do you want to go first? There�s the arcade, or the cinema� or-or there�s the library, it has an awesome attic that nobody goes in but me!� She was excited now. Zac looked at her. How could she go from strangely quiet, to very excited like that? Then again, he was known as the hyper one, so he just let it go.
�Okay. Let�s go to that arcade you mentioned first. Sound good to you?� Zac asked. Mari nodded her approval. They finished their drinks and hopped a bus that took them to the arcade. When they got there, they found that there were only two or three people hanging around. �This is awesome!� Zac exclaimed. And it was. The lonely ting of each game created the perfect ambiance for a long day of playing arcade games. Zac was on his third game when his harried older brother Taylor walked in. A look of intense anger crossed Taylor's face before being covered again by the angelic sweetness Taylor often potrays for a crowd.
   "Zac....it's time to go back to the hotel. Mother and Father are very worried about you." Taylor said. At the sound of his brother's voice, Zac flinched. To him his brother's voice meant yet another concert full of screaming fans, who demanded the best musically out of him. Mari placed a hand on Zac's shoulder.
   "They aren't always demanding." She whispered so that only he could hear. " Sometimes, they're simply there to escape the frustrations of their lives. Think of each concert not as a public event but as you sharing and hearing someone else's troubles. 'Listen not to the critics, who put their own dreams on the shelf.'" Mari quoted Garth Brooks. Her words were the best she could come up with for someone who shared the same feelings as her. Zac gave her a little half smile and walked off behind his brother. Just as he was about to walk out, he turned around and called out, "Hey, I never got your name!"
"It's Mari!" She called out. He waved and walked out of the colorful door, seemingly taking all the energy out of the arcade. Mari knew, though, that she would always have a bit of Zac's energy because of their own common bond. Together they had suffered through the demands of people around them. Together they had come up with a way out that didn't involve death...friendship.
   That night sitting in the hotel room after being given the lecture of a lifetime, Zac sat at his desk putting pen to paper to write a song. It was a song of freedom, of choice, and of the feeling you get while just being yourself. No longer did he care about others demands or what they thought about him. All this was thanks to a girl named Mari.