Carmen Chavez-Aguirre

Professor Jackie Hymes

English 115, MW 11:00-12:15
14 September 2014
A Night of Nirvana
This summer was one of the most memorable summers I have ever had. During
my senior year of high school I had created bonds that were, the best friendships I have
ever had, especially with three of my best friends Javier, Isa, and Luis. Two of them had
decided to go away for college, Isa to San Francisco and Luis all the way to New
Orleans. Javier had decided to come to Northridge with me. So we had vowed to have an
amazing summer together before they left Los Angeles.
During the last few month of senior year the boys had introduced me to their
favorite musical artist, Kid Cudi. I quickly fell in love with all of his music and became a
HUGE fanatic. We would spend countless amounts of hours just listening to him and
singing our lungs out. We had found out that Cudi was performing at the Uforia Music
Festival on Saturday August 16
th
, the last Saturday my boys had left in Los Angeles
before the started their new lives. It was set, all four of us were going to experience the
exquisite Kid Cudi live and in person as our last adventure together before we went our
separate ways.
I brought up the concert on morning I was alone with my mom.
Mom the boys wanna go to a music festival at Expo park before they go away
and they invited me to go with them, what do you say? I was nervous I knew I was
going to get rejected.
Estas loca, what do you wanna go to a music festival for. Para que fumes esa
pinche cosa verde? No. She looked at me as if I had just asked her to rob a bank. She
knew those kinds of things were infested with marijuana and she was not up for letting
me be around that.
I let the idea of asking for permission go, and I knew I had to find another way to
make it work. So I resorted to lying. I waited a few weeks then asked for permission to go
to Six Flags with my Nina and my cousins. She agreed skeptically. The only conflict was
my curfew was midnight, and I knew I wasnt going to make it home by then.
Thank you sooooooo much for covering for me Nina, I owe you BIG! I
graciously thanked her.
No problem mija, your mom forgets that we were young too once. Just dont get
caught because if you do, I had no idea. She said.
The concert was the center of our conversations and after buy our tickets it was
official, no one was bailing. A week before the concert we all made arrangements on
rides and how things were going to go. My phone rang and our saw our graduation
picture come up on my phone I automatically knew it was Isa.
So its settled, Im driving. Im picking you up first, then Javier. Luis said hes
meeting us there. Its a 9-hour thing but Cudi is performing last so we have time to get
there. We need to find a way to push ourselves to the front. Being close to Cudi is our
PRIORITY. Isa stated in the most serious tone I had ever heard him use. He was serious
about seeing his idol perform.
Well hello to you too, I giggled a bit before continuing Sounds good, what
time should I be ready? My voice drifted knowing Id have to calculate my own time.
My bad, heeeeeello! So Im picking you up by 12 just be ready by then he said,
his voice full of excitement.
I calculated something we like to call Isa Time (he was the biggest lagger of all
time and we knew it) and knew I would be getting picked up around 2 and not 12. I
calculated Isa Time, Ill be ready by 2 see you then I said.
His voice lightened up You know me so well, see you then.
I jumped out of bed at 8 in the morning knowing I wouldnt be able to sleep any
longer, the excitement had kept me up all night. I was beyond exhausted, but I got up and
took my time getting ready.
Heeeeeeeello, Im outside Isa laughed and then hung up.
I grabbed my stuff and ran outside. As climbed into the oversized green beat up
old soccer mom van he looked at me and smiled like he had just won the lottery.
Its only 1:50 Im a little less of a lagger on special occasions like Cudi he was
taunting how well I knew him but I didnt mind I was too excited to care.
Finally were all there, all four of us. We entered the gates and saw the stage. I was
only 5 and we had 6 hours to push our way through the enormous crowd to the front of
the stage before Kid Cudi performed at 11. I hadnt told them that I lied to go to the
concert so I thought id be best for me to confess before anything else progressed.
Okay guys confession time! I lied and told my mom I was going to Six Flags
with family and not the concert. Truth is if she knew I was here shed kill me just thought
Id throw that out there. Oh yeah, and my curfew is midnight but no biggie Im willing to
get grounded forever over this. I spoke so fast I barely knew what I was saying.
They looked at me dumbstruck, with their mouths wide open. Luis was the first
one to speak.
Well at least when you lose your voice tonight you can say it was from
screaming on all those rollercoasters! he laughed and high fived me.
This is defiantly an adventure for you then Javier laughed.
Youre crazy. Isa added before we all turned around to get to work.
Four long excruciating hours later we had finally reached our goal. We were
about 4 people away from the stage and we were right in the middle. Sweat filled our
faces; we were all pilled up like sardines. At this point we had no personal space, random
strangers there inhabited it all, we were all there for the same purpose to vibe with the
one and only Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi). It reeked of marijuana and other strange smells.
Truthfully I was afraid to guess what those other strange smells were.
CUDI, CUDI, CUDI, come on guys its almost 11 hes next! Luis started the
chant. Soon enough we were all screaming for him.
Finally the smoke rose, the lights went crazy, and then HE came out. Everyone
went crazy, screaming at the top of their lungs. Suddenly the adrenaline rushed through
my veins and the music filled my head. The bass was so loud I felt my entire body pulse
from head to toe, and we were literally a foot away from him. We were so close we were
able to touch him. He was 3/4
ths
into his performance when he stopped to look at what
was next on the playlist and take a sip of water.
Oh man, this is a good one, you guys are really gonna like this one. Kid Cudi
announced. The beat started and I instantly knew what song it was. Erase Me. The song I
had grown most fond of, and the song that Isa and I claimed to be our song. Our heads
snapped up and we looked at each other with the biggest, cheesiest smile on our faces.
We scream instantaneously.
She said I dont spend time like I really should, she said she dont know me
ANYMORE! our voices screaming out and aching from how much we had yelled
already. I think she hates me deep down I know she does, she wants to ERASE ME. At
this point we had all somehow managed to get together and hold each other for the final
moments of the performance. I was in the perfect state of nirvana. I had my best friends
right next, Cudi right in front of me and honestly I couldnt believe any of it was real.
Mescudi finally ended the performance with the most epic mic drop ever then walked off
stage.
We were all star struck. We had just spent an entire hour vibing with the one and
only Kid Cudi. Then reality hit me and I checked my phone. 12:30 am, 7 missed calls,
and 12 text messages. Messages so vulgar I dont even want to remember them. I quickly
rushed everyone to the car and had them on their best behavior as I made, possibly the
last phone call I would ever make.
Seriously, youre half an hour late and I havent heard from you all day. I hope
youre on your way home because if not Thats where I stopped listening.
Yes mom. Ill be right home I was in way too good of a mood to let the horrors
to come kill it while I was still with my boys.
Party killer! Youre supposed to stay out with us as we soak in the moment of
this amazing night! Come on Carmen dont kill it. Luis pleaded with me, with a full on
puppy dog face on.
Okay look, depending on if I dont get murdered when I get home Ill sneak out
and we can continue our night, deal? I didnt know what I was saying but I was going to
miss him so much I couldnt say no to him.
My key unlocked the door and I had barley put my hand on the knob when my
mom busted the door open.
Es tarde, go to bed Im sleepy. Ill deal with you in the morning. She said with a
stern voice, as she set the alarm. Without thinking I snatched the keys that were hanging
on the eggshell white walls and walked to my room as quietly as I could.
I contemplated the trouble I was already in and figured I might as well make the
night worth it. I pushed the curtain to my bedroom window aside and the bars on the
window laughed at me, but I was one step ahead of them. I cranked open the emergency
fire escape and the bars cried as they flew wide open. With one small push the screen fell
to its doom, and thus my escape route was open. I had stolen the key to the side gate
because that was my only option unless I wanted to set off the security alarm. I felt as
sneaky and lethal as a ninja in that moment. Finally I was out, I escaped prison. The boys
waited for me at the end of the block.
YOU DID IT! Luiss smile illuminated the dark van.
We ended up buying Jack in the Box tacos, and sitting along the beach laughing
and crying about how this was possibly the last moment we all spent together before
college tore us apart. Our emotions were everywhere but I had never been so grateful for
a group of friends in my life. There was a lot of silence that went on in the last few
moments of our adventure, but it was confortable silence. We knew that our new chapters
in life would send us different ways but we all had one thing that would connect us
forever. Cudi and that night.
I creped open the bars and pulled aside the curtain and then my stomach dropped.
SHE was sitting on my bed. Quickly I pulled my head back outside and closed my eyes
as tight as I could hoping that would make her disappear but when my eyes opened again
she was still there. In that exact moment I contemplated running away, but then I knew
that it was an unrealistic thought. As I made my way back into my room at 3:30 in the
morning she did not say a single word but the way she looked at me was crucial. The
phrase If looks could kill suddenly entered my mind. I was a dead woman walking, but
my night of nirvana was perfectly worth the death sentence I was about to receive. And
that was the high light of my summer and the death of my social life.