Chavez 1

Carmen Chavez-Aguirre
Professor Jackie Hymes
English 115, MW 11:00-12:15
14 September 2014
Word Count: 2391
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. We had vowed to have an
amazing summer together before Isa and Luis left Los Angeles.
During the last few months 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 16th, the last Saturday my boys had left in Los Angeles
before they 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 one morning when I was alone with my mom.

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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 because 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 had set it all up; my mom worked that day so she
wouldnt see who picked me up. My Nina covered for me, but I had to figure everything
out on my own. Honestly, the guilt of lying had begun to eat me up inside, but it was
completely NECESSARY that I went to that concert. I waited a few weeks then asked for
permission to go to Six Flags with my Nina and my cousins. My mom agreed skeptically.
The only conflict was that 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 conversations between my friends and me and after
buying our tickets it was official, no one was bailing. A week before the concert, we all
made arrangements as to rides and how things were going to occur. My phone rang and I
saw our graduation picture come up on my phone; I automatically knew it was Isa.

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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! 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 all 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 because I was too excited to care.
Finally we were all there, all four of us. We entered the gates and saw the stage. It
was only 5 oclock and we had 6 hours to push our way through the enormous crowd to

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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 it would 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 my 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 really 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.

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Finally the smoke rose, the lights went crazy, and then HE came out. Everyone
went crazy, screaming at the top of his or her 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 3/4ths 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 smiles on our faces.
We screamed instantaneously.
She said I dont spend time like I really should, she said she dont know me
ANYMORE! our voices screamed out, aching from how much we had yelled already. I
think she hates me deep down I know she does, she wants to ERASE ME. His
performance was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. You could feel the
emotion in his lyrics run through your body, transmitted by the bass. Cudi hyped us up
and kept us lifted. We were on a dosage of drug given to us by the man on the moon
(Cudis CD Tittle). Each song made us feel closer and closer to him and one. 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 to me, 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.

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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. The messages were so vulgar I dont even want to remember them.
I quickly rushed everyone to the car and had them be 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
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

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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 would all spend 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 crept 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 highlight of my summer and the death of my social life.

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Where were you, and I think its best you dont lie to me this time, she
exclaimed as she waved my concert ticket that I had left on my bed.
I knew it was all over so I confessed everything. Okay, I lied about going to Six
Flags and I went to the concert and I was out eating with the guys right now. Im sorry
but by next week theyre all gone. I needed to go and so I lied, I accept full
responsibility, I stated.
Im glad you confessed, but heres how its gonna go. For the next few weeks
before you start college dont even think about going out or even seeing daylight for that
matter. Babysitting and cleaning are now your life. I expect the house spotless. No
sleeping in either, I want you up before the sun and you better be doing something
productive. She left without a goodnight. I spent the next 3 weeks feeling like
Cinderella, except my clock had already struck midnight and my two princes had already
left Los Angeles.
I wasnt the type to usually sneak out or go against my mom; the truth is I had
spent all my life worried about my grades and being the perfect daughter. I was always
perceived as the goody good and at 18 I had no freedom. With all that, I felt like I had
done enough to give myself at least one night. Although the guilt still sticks with me, I
know it was for a good cause: a night of perfection, well perfect besides getting caught.