Crushed Dream by Morgan Johnson (reading comprehension books txt) 📕

I tuned my black guitar. Misty tapped on the microphone to make sure it works. Zelda played the drums. Me, Misty, and Zelda are going to be in a band. Our band is called Bloody Roses. We're a goth band. "Okay, let's try this song again," I said. We're trying to learn our first song Zelda made up. It's called 'The Dark'. It's really cool. I played the intro, and we started our song. When the song was done, we had to take a breath. "Okay, Olivia, you were a little off, but it was great. Zelda, you're the best song writer ever," Misty said. We played our song again, this time perfectly. "Let's go upstairs and get some water," Zelda said. This IS her house. We followed her. "Hi girls. Zelda...I see your still goth sweetie-pie," Mrs.Henderson said. "I'm not goth, more like...expressive," Zelda said getting three water bottles out of the fridge. I walked to the bathroom to fix my makeup. Zelda and Misty followed. Mrs.Henderson disapproves of Zelda's image. That's one thing we all share. Our parents don't like us being goth. "So, do you think we have a chance of being good at my brother's party tomorrow?" Misty asked. I shrugged. We walked to Zelda's basement to play the song again. After a few times, me and Misty had to go home. We said goodbye and went our different ways. I walked to my room. My room is so gloomy and dark. I love it. Mom walked in with hot chocolate-chip cookies. "Hey Mom," I said snuggling with my one-eyed teddybear. "Hi honey. How's your band coming along?" she asked looking around my room. When we first moved here, my room was all pink, and white. Now, it's violet and black. My two favorite colors. "Good. Our song is really awesome. You should hear it some time," I said taking a gooey cookie. "Oh no, I don't really like to listen to emo songs," she said sitting on my bed next to me. I shrugged. My boyfriend's emo. "Well, I like it," I said taking another cookie. "So, what's the cookies for?" "Just wanna give you a yummy treat," Mom said. I rolled my eyes. Mom walked out the door. I heard something hit my window. I opened it. It's Chris. I climbed down my big lemon tree. "Hey," I said kissing him. "Hey Olivia," Chris said. I held his hand. "Wanna go to the park?" I asked. "The park is really pretty," Chris said feeling sick to his stomach. I laughed. "We can sit in the not-so-pretty part," I said. He nodded and we started walking. When we got to the park, we sat down on a bench. Chris asked me about Bloody Roses. We talked for a bit, then we played around like we're ten. We drew pictures with chalk some random kid left here. Chris drew a big heart that says O + C in it. I kissed him and we walked back to my house bare-foot. We held hands as we walked. I love Chris, he's the best. "See you at school on Monday, and maybe I'll be back tomorrow," Chris said as I climbed up my lemon tree. I waved and he went back home. I was looking through my drawers when I found a poster my dad gave me. It says, 'Cheer up, emo kid!' I took a red marker and drew a big circle so it looked like the words were inside of it. I put a slash diagonally inside the circle. I hung up my poster over my bed on the ceiling. My dad gave it to me, but I don't like what it says on it anymore. That was before I met Chris. I went downstairs for dinner. Mom was making a salad. I sighed. "Dad's not coming over for dinner again. You can beg all you want, but that damn man will only come once a week," Mom said. My parents are divorced, so life is pretty rough. She gave me my bowl of salad. I ate fast and ran to my room. I slipped on my pajamas and crawled in bed. Mom came in to say goodnight, and went to her room. I waited a few hours for her to fall asleep. I silently opened my window. I climbed down the lemon tree and walked to Chris' house. I threw a stone at his bedroom window. He climbed down a ladder from the side of his house. I hugged him. "Olivia, I'm breaking up with you," Chris said. "What? Why? What did I do wrong?" I asked, tears swelling up in my eyes. "Look, I have too. My family and I, we're moving. Those long distance relationships never work out. I'm sorry," he said hugging me. I squeezed him. I sadly waved goodbye. When I got back, I took down my poster and ripped it up. I threw it away and screamed into my pillow. Luckily, my mom's a deep sleeper. Now, Chris can't go with me to junior prom! This is great. I didn't get that much sleep since I was crying eighty percent of the time. I woke up so tired that I went back to sleep and woke up around noon. I ate toast and told my mother all about it. She wasn't even mad about me sneaking out. I cried on her shoulder. Mom said today we can have a movie day, since it's starting to rain. We watched a movie. Most of the time, I was looking out the window at the pouring rain. It looked like an angel took a huge bucket of water and is just pouring it all down. When the movie was done, I had ice cream. Mom said when you brake up with some one, you should always eat ice cream. For some reason, it just makes me feel a little better. "Let's have a shopping spree! Okay, it's pouring. But we can still shop!" Mom said looking hopeful. I know she's trying to be the 'Best Mom Ever', but it's not working. I just hugged her and walked to the bathroom for a hot bath.

After my bath, I changed into another pair of pajamas and took a nap on the couch. I feel a lot better. It's still raining hard outside. I looked out the window. I saw Chris and his family moving boxes and furniture to a moving truck. I sighed. It's probably a good thing he broke up with me, our relationship would never work out if he's there and I'm here. I don't even know where he's moving to. Let's face it, after the first emo girl...I'll be gone just like that. It's crap, but it's not like he wants to move. Mom kissed my forehead and went out to her hair appointment. I painted my nails black. I called Zelda and told her everything. We got together to practice our song. When I arrived at Zelda's house, Misty was there. I hugged her and we walked to Zelda's basement together. "Hey Zeld," I say picking up my guitar. "Hey guys. Misty's brother's party is starting right now. Lets go over the song again and then my mom can drop us off," Zelda said. We played 'The Dark' again perfectly. Mrs. Henderson drove us to the Ora's. Rider, Misty's brother, was in the back with his guests. I've never been to Misty's house before. Rider is punk-rock, so he and Misty get along most of the time. We walked to the backyard, in our all black outfits. My hair was in a bun. I put in two chopsticks making an X in the bun. My black painted fingernails tapped nervously on my black guitar. I'm obsessed with the color black. Rider led us to the stage. I guess his dad built it. Rider wears eyeliner. Misty said he dyed his hair black without getting their parents' approval. We got ready on stage. Zelda was really nervous. "It's okay to be scared," I said, my arm around her shoulder. "I'm nervous too." We all nodded at each other. I played the intro. Everyone was looking at us. Misty held her stomach. We all took a deep breath...and played our song.

After we played, everyone was clapping. We stepped off the stage grinning. "How did we do?" Zelda asked Rider. Rider frowned. "Listen, you guys were good. But your not that good. I'll have you play at my parties when your better," Rider said. He walked away and started talking to a girl with long blond hair. We went back to Zelda's house grumpy. "I can't believe this. 'I'll let you play at my parties when your better.' I can't believe him!" Misty said, furious. "It's okay Misty," I said. Misty shook her head. "Can I spent the night Zeld?" She asked. Zelda yawned and nodded. I hugged them and went home. That was just Misty's brother. I wonder what the judges on The Next Top Band, will say to us.
I called The Next Top Band company. They said me and my band can get in tomorrow. I love how this stuff is always the next day. I thanked them and hung up. I called Zelda and told her and Misty what I did.

The next day, I was so excited. The thing about Chris can't upset me now! I got ready for school and ate some heart-shaped waffles. I drank my orange juice and was out the door. I sat next to my friend Griffin on the bus. I told him all about our band, and the TV show, and Rider's party. "No way." "Way." I said grinning. We hugged. "Griffin and Olivia sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Paige said. Paige is evil. She has an awesome name, but she's mean to me. "Shut up," I said. "Shut up, bitch," Griffin said. Paige stuck out her tongue. I walked with Griffin to homeroom. Misty and Zelda are close friends, but Griffin is number one. I sat next to him in homeroom. He gave me the answers to our math homework. It felt like homeroom just zipped past us. In language arts, I sat in front of Misty. Misty and Zelda don't like Griffin because he curses. I don't mind so much. It felt like language arts would NEVER end. I went into the girls' locker and changed for gym. My friend Emily lined up in the gymnasium next