The day I dreamt the sleepless dream.
Sitting at the back of the classroom has its advantages. You see, by sitting at the back of the classroom you can easily look and study the people around you. You can count how many people are sleeping or daydreaming and at the same time be able to daydream yourself with a lower chance of being caught by the teacher. On this particularly hot day in June, I was doing just that. Math class was always a hard class to stay awake in, especially during days like this one. Looking outside of the classroom window I spotted a bunch of kids playing street hockey. Oh, how I wish I could be out there instead of in here! I could see a small stereo on the sidewalk beside one of the guys playing hockey. I started to tap my pencil against my desk and books, in an attempt to figure out what song they were listening to. The pencils rhythm started to fade into a background noise as I heard the hum of a guitar get louder and louder…
…As my vision started to focus, I looked down and saw a guitar in one of my hands. The guitar was new and so shiny it seemed as though an inner glow was coming from within it. Last I remembered my guitar was old, dull and even had a few cracks here and there. I looked up and to my utmost amazement found a gorgeous guy, with a similar guitar, staring back at me. I gave him a confused look and he smiled back. I turned around and there before me was my dream band; a guitarist, a drummer, backup singers, everything! I had dreamed about having a band like this but never thought I would actually come through with it. This was great! I turned on my heels when I felt the curtain behind me start to roll up slowly revealing a crowd of more than ten thousand people chanting my name, “Imelda, Imelda…
… “Imelda!” I looked up at the teacher. Clearly he needed a break. As the teacher sighed he looked at me and said, “So the answer?” I looked around at all the eyes staring back at me.
“Ten?” I whispered, saying the first thing that came to my mind. Big mistake! Everyone started to giggle and I could feel myself turning red. “Imelda, see me after class.” The bell rang right after he said that. I stayed seated as I watched everyone head out towards their freedom. “Imelda, your mark is dropping a lot. At this rate you need a miracle to pass the class.” He said frowning down at me.
“I understand sir.” I answered looking down at my fidgety hands.
“Good, do something about it. Run along now.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I walked out of the classroom still thinking about how I was going to break this to my parents. Unfortunately, I heard a voice calling out my name, disturbing my train of thoughts. It was Lily. Lily caught up to me and smiled.
“Imelda, Oh my god! Guess what? I know you’re like totally going to like, not believe me but like, I heard from a friend of a friend of mine that they totally saw Phil with another girl at the party Saturday. They were like, making out! Can you believe this? I was like no way! Phil would never cheat on Imelda. And they were like…”
… I stared at the audience one last time as the curtain fell and the band headed back towards our dressing rooms. “The crowd went wild for us tonight!” yelled the drummer. “That’s got to be the best concert we’ve had this season!” We all agreed and laughed. I opened my changing room door and found, to my surprise, a bouquet of around twenty red roses and a huge box of chocolates. I set my guitar aside picking up the card that was inside of the bouquet. ‘I love you.’ That’s all it said. I jumped as someone hugged me from behind.
“Surprise!” exclaimed the cute guitar player.
“What’s all this for?” I asked him looking down at the roses.
“Imelda! Don’t think I forgot! Today is our one year anniversary and it’s Valentine’s Day!” he said.
“Thanks.” I whispered, “I’ve never gotten red roses from anyone before...”
…I sighed silently nodding to whatever it was Lily kept babbling about.
“Lily, I have to go I want to get to music class early and practice a little.”
“Whatever, so about the party tonight are you coming? I made sure that the girl Phil was with Saturday wasn’t invited” Lily added quickly before I started to leave.
“No I can’t, I have a math test tomorrow. I should start studying. Sorry.” I said quickly turning around. I entered the empty music room. Sitting down I started to play my old guitar again, feeling alive in a strange way…
… “So, tell us what it feels like to just have been nominated as the World’s Best Guitarist!” yelled a reporter.
I looked around at all the smiling reporters, “Feels like a dream come true.” I said.
“What would you say is the key to your unbelievable success?” a man shouted.
I contemplated the small room where the interview was taking place and saw a bunch of my friends near the back of the room. They seemed happy. I looked down as I felt a vibration in my pocket, pulling out my cell phone I read the text message they had just sent. ‘Imelda! Don’t forget about your friends who still love you! Let’s get together for some coffee tomorrow! Your girls, xoxo’ I glanced back at the group of girls and waved at them.
“I would say practice and lots of support from friends, is my key to success” I replied…
…I jumped as someone shook me from behind. “Why do you practice so much?” asked Phil. I glanced at him, quickly looking away.
“I want to get better.” I responded silently.
He started to laugh. “Imelda, you know music isn’t your thing, you’ve been trying to play that guitar for the last year and you still haven’t learned anything.” He smirked as if he had just said the wittiest thing ever. I just hung my head and looked down at my guitar.
“What do you want Phil?” I asked almost inaudibly.
He sighed, “I know its Valentine’s Day and you’ll probably never forgive me but, we need to talk.” The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I managed to avoid everyone and only ran into my math teacher once. It was on my way home, when I started to hear applause’s again…
…Finally standing with the award in my hands I began to say good-bye to the reporters. I watched as the room started to get empty and saw my parents running towards me. “We’re so proud of you honey! We knew you had it in you all this time!” Mom exclaimed as she hugged me tighter than is humanly possible. Dad leaned in and kissed my forehead. They congratulated me on my success as a musician and Mom even said, “Good job with that guitar player. He’s a keeper!” I blushed and thanked them. I’ve never seen my parents so proud of me before. It felt so good...
…I arrived to an empty home as usual. I sighed as I made my way up to my bedroom closing the door behind me. I opened my math book and started to decipher what I could from it. Before I realised, I awoke to a knock on my door. “Imelda! Your Dad and I need to have a serious talk with you young lady!” I heard my Mom. I made my way down to the living room, slowly dragging my feet on the ground as I sat on the couch. “We’re very disappointed in you young lady!” Mom said. “Your math teacher called us to tell us you’re failing his class and that you fall asleep more than any other student he’s ever taught before! So your Father and I have decided to cancel your guitar lessons and get you a math tutor instead.” I didn’t respond, just stared at her as if she was from another planet. “Don’t give me that look! That guitar of yours just isn’t helping you boost your grades up. So, we’ve also switched you out of your music class and placed you into another class that will help prepare you for your future career as a doctor.” I shook my head, feeling the tears swell up inside of my eyes. For the first time ever, I felt like yelling like making the world know that I had a plan of my own. I stood up feeling the anger come out like a rush of unstoppable words,
“NO! I won’t let you take it away!” I screamed looking at my speechless parents. They had never seen me react like this to anything. “I’m tired of having to keep silent! Letting other people control my world! I may not be good at math, I may have no friends or be gifted academically, but I won’t let you take my guitar away! Without my guitar I really will be alone.” I said. My parents looked at me silently, Mom started to cry and Dad seemed speechless. I walked over to them and smiled at them, “Mom, Dad, I won’t give up until I’ve reached my dream…”
…I looked out at the group of people in the room. I saw my Parents smiling at me, my group of girlfriends I’ve known since I can remember. I saw as they all watched me with respect. I could tell by the way they hugged me that they were proud. I looked at the guy holding my hand and he looked down at me. “How do you feel?” He asked. I looked around one last time taking in every detail.
With a grin I looked up, “Perfect.” I whispered. “This is just perfect…”
Sitting at the back of the classroom has its advantages. You see, by sitting at the back of the classroom you can easily look and study the people around you. You can count how many people are sleeping or daydreaming and at the same time be able to daydream yourself with a lower chance of being caught by the teacher. On this particularly hot day in June, I was doing just that. Math class was always a hard class to stay awake in, especially during days like this one. Looking outside of the classroom window I spotted a bunch of kids playing street hockey. Oh, how I wish I could be out there instead of in here! I could see a small stereo on the sidewalk beside one of the guys playing hockey. I started to tap my pencil against my desk and books, in an attempt to figure out what song they were listening to. The pencils rhythm started to fade into a background noise as I heard the hum of a guitar get louder and louder…
…As my vision started to focus, I looked down and saw a guitar in one of my hands. The guitar was new and so shiny it seemed as though an inner glow was coming from within it. Last I remembered my guitar was old, dull and even had a few cracks here and there. I looked up and to my utmost amazement found a gorgeous guy, with a similar guitar, staring back at me. I gave him a confused look and he smiled back. I turned around and there before me was my dream band; a guitarist, a drummer, backup singers, everything! I had dreamed about having a band like this but never thought I would actually come through with it. This was great! I turned on my heels when I felt the curtain behind me start to roll up slowly revealing a crowd of more than ten thousand people chanting my name, “Imelda, Imelda…
… “Imelda!” I looked up at the teacher. Clearly he needed a break. As the teacher sighed he looked at me and said, “So the answer?” I looked around at all the eyes staring back at me.
“Ten?” I whispered, saying the first thing that came to my mind. Big mistake! Everyone started to giggle and I could feel myself turning red. “Imelda, see me after class.” The bell rang right after he said that. I stayed seated as I watched everyone head out towards their freedom. “Imelda, your mark is dropping a lot. At this rate you need a miracle to pass the class.” He said frowning down at me.
“I understand sir.” I answered looking down at my fidgety hands.
“Good, do something about it. Run along now.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I walked out of the classroom still thinking about how I was going to break this to my parents. Unfortunately, I heard a voice calling out my name, disturbing my train of thoughts. It was Lily. Lily caught up to me and smiled.
“Imelda, Oh my god! Guess what? I know you’re like totally going to like, not believe me but like, I heard from a friend of a friend of mine that they totally saw Phil with another girl at the party Saturday. They were like, making out! Can you believe this? I was like no way! Phil would never cheat on Imelda. And they were like…”
… I stared at the audience one last time as the curtain fell and the band headed back towards our dressing rooms. “The crowd went wild for us tonight!” yelled the drummer. “That’s got to be the best concert we’ve had this season!” We all agreed and laughed. I opened my changing room door and found, to my surprise, a bouquet of around twenty red roses and a huge box of chocolates. I set my guitar aside picking up the card that was inside of the bouquet. ‘I love you.’ That’s all it said. I jumped as someone hugged me from behind.
“Surprise!” exclaimed the cute guitar player.
“What’s all this for?” I asked him looking down at the roses.
“Imelda! Don’t think I forgot! Today is our one year anniversary and it’s Valentine’s Day!” he said.
“Thanks.” I whispered, “I’ve never gotten red roses from anyone before...”
…I sighed silently nodding to whatever it was Lily kept babbling about.
“Lily, I have to go I want to get to music class early and practice a little.”
“Whatever, so about the party tonight are you coming? I made sure that the girl Phil was with Saturday wasn’t invited” Lily added quickly before I started to leave.
“No I can’t, I have a math test tomorrow. I should start studying. Sorry.” I said quickly turning around. I entered the empty music room. Sitting down I started to play my old guitar again, feeling alive in a strange way…
… “So, tell us what it feels like to just have been nominated as the World’s Best Guitarist!” yelled a reporter.
I looked around at all the smiling reporters, “Feels like a dream come true.” I said.
“What would you say is the key to your unbelievable success?” a man shouted.
I contemplated the small room where the interview was taking place and saw a bunch of my friends near the back of the room. They seemed happy. I looked down as I felt a vibration in my pocket, pulling out my cell phone I read the text message they had just sent. ‘Imelda! Don’t forget about your friends who still love you! Let’s get together for some coffee tomorrow! Your girls, xoxo’ I glanced back at the group of girls and waved at them.
“I would say practice and lots of support from friends, is my key to success” I replied…
…I jumped as someone shook me from behind. “Why do you practice so much?” asked Phil. I glanced at him, quickly looking away.
“I want to get better.” I responded silently.
He started to laugh. “Imelda, you know music isn’t your thing, you’ve been trying to play that guitar for the last year and you still haven’t learned anything.” He smirked as if he had just said the wittiest thing ever. I just hung my head and looked down at my guitar.
“What do you want Phil?” I asked almost inaudibly.
He sighed, “I know its Valentine’s Day and you’ll probably never forgive me but, we need to talk.” The rest of the day went by pretty fast. I managed to avoid everyone and only ran into my math teacher once. It was on my way home, when I started to hear applause’s again…
…Finally standing with the award in my hands I began to say good-bye to the reporters. I watched as the room started to get empty and saw my parents running towards me. “We’re so proud of you honey! We knew you had it in you all this time!” Mom exclaimed as she hugged me tighter than is humanly possible. Dad leaned in and kissed my forehead. They congratulated me on my success as a musician and Mom even said, “Good job with that guitar player. He’s a keeper!” I blushed and thanked them. I’ve never seen my parents so proud of me before. It felt so good...
…I arrived to an empty home as usual. I sighed as I made my way up to my bedroom closing the door behind me. I opened my math book and started to decipher what I could from it. Before I realised, I awoke to a knock on my door. “Imelda! Your Dad and I need to have a serious talk with you young lady!” I heard my Mom. I made my way down to the living room, slowly dragging my feet on the ground as I sat on the couch. “We’re very disappointed in you young lady!” Mom said. “Your math teacher called us to tell us you’re failing his class and that you fall asleep more than any other student he’s ever taught before! So your Father and I have decided to cancel your guitar lessons and get you a math tutor instead.” I didn’t respond, just stared at her as if she was from another planet. “Don’t give me that look! That guitar of yours just isn’t helping you boost your grades up. So, we’ve also switched you out of your music class and placed you into another class that will help prepare you for your future career as a doctor.” I shook my head, feeling the tears swell up inside of my eyes. For the first time ever, I felt like yelling like making the world know that I had a plan of my own. I stood up feeling the anger come out like a rush of unstoppable words,
“NO! I won’t let you take it away!” I screamed looking at my speechless parents. They had never seen me react like this to anything. “I’m tired of having to keep silent! Letting other people control my world! I may not be good at math, I may have no friends or be gifted academically, but I won’t let you take my guitar away! Without my guitar I really will be alone.” I said. My parents looked at me silently, Mom started to cry and Dad seemed speechless. I walked over to them and smiled at them, “Mom, Dad, I won’t give up until I’ve reached my dream…”
…I looked out at the group of people in the room. I saw my Parents smiling at me, my group of girlfriends I’ve known since I can remember. I saw as they all watched me with respect. I could tell by the way they hugged me that they were proud. I looked at the guy holding my hand and he looked down at me. “How do you feel?” He asked. I looked around one last time taking in every detail.
With a grin I looked up, “Perfect.” I whispered. “This is just perfect…”
Melda~
Community Member