Act I

Melanie Emilia Shanahan,

who preferred to be called Melanie (except by her best friends, who called her “Mel”), was a 19-year old girl with olive skin, oak-brown hair, and a pair of hazel eyes. She was slim and small and always active, but never any good at sports. There was a photo of her on the family house’s fireplace of when she was in the DECA state championship, wearing an oversized black suit and a pair of plastic-framed glasses. She switched to contacts when she got to college.

She also switched to the other side of Washington state, electing to go to university at Hill Valley College instead of the much closer University of Washington. She didn’t offer her parents any way of explanation beyond the fact that she thought the campus looked nice, but her father drove her all the way there regardless.

When we meet Melanie for our story, she had already gotten close to finishing the first semester of her as of yet undecided college career. She had also already made several friends, including her roommate who woke her up on this Thursday morning.

“Mel. Mel! It’s eight o’clock, girl.”

Melanie groggily got out of the bed. She wore a thrifted concert t-shirt for The Smiths and a pair of gray sweatpants. Her long brown hair dangled from her face.

“Shit, my phone didn’t go off?” she yawned out, turning towards her roommate. She was African-American, same age as Mel, with a neat set of dreadlocks that weaved into a bun at the back of her hair.

“I think so. I didn’t hear it.” The girl replied. Melanie gave a deep sigh.

“Well, thanks Fifi.”

Fifi smiled. “No prob, girl.”

Melanie went through her standard routine. She put on makeup, brushed her teeth, and tied her hair up into a high ponytail. She got into something more presentable — a plain camo-green jacket and some skinny jeans — then walked out for her first class of the day.

Melanie was outgoing. She always had been. Her problem was never with talking to people — perhaps with fitting in, but never talking. Beyond Fifi she had become close friends with Rocko, a part-Maui boy in her service organization, and Mary-Ann, a short blonde girl with thick black, rounded glasses that had the same English course.

It was that very English course that she had been running late for. Only a minute or so before the class began she sat in the back with Mary-Ann, who had saved her a seat. Melanie dropped her backpack down to her feet and slumped in the chair.

“Thanks for keeping a spot for me, Ann.”

“Still having problems with your phone alarm?” Mary-Ann asked. Her voice was high pitched, and nasally. But in a good way.

“Yeah. I think I might need a new phone, the whole audio thingy is messed up. It doesn’t even detect my headphones anymore, so I can’t walk to class while drowning out all the other noise.”

Mary-Ann gave a squeaky giggle. “That sounds like a nightmare.”

Melanie shook her head. The professor got up to the podium. “Oh, remind me after class. I have a funny story to tell you, about the weird guy at the cafeteria.”

The conversation was cut off by the professor beginning his lecture. Mary-Ann, for the most part, diligently took notes on her laptop. Melanie had a notebook that she kept in her lap, and occasionally scribbled down a slide title or two. But her attention was drawn instead to something else: the boys sitting at the lower rows.

Throughout her life so far, Melanie never had a boyfriend. This one pivotal life event had mostly skipped her by. It didn’t really have anything to do with her personally; while she was somewhat nerdy in high school, she wasn’t unpopular. Rather, she saw herself as better than all of that. That she didn’t need to debase herself to what all the other girls were doing.

But, in the summer between high school and college, her thought process began to change. Part of it was the dawning realization that, if she wanted a life partner, college was likely one of her last chances to get one. More deeply, however, it was the romantic part of her finally being awakened. For the first time in her life, her daydreams consisted of finding her perfect boy, leaning on his arm, and letting the wind flow through her hair.

When class ended, the two girls walked out together into the courtyard.

“So, what did you want to tell me about?”

“Huh?”

“You know, the weird guy.”

Mel snapped back to attention. “Oh, yeah! Okay, so, you know how I had the theory about him being homeless? Well, yesterday, I come in for breakfast, and he’s just laying there. His entire body sprawled on one bench, arms crossed, eyes closed. And there’s this group of people… I think I recognize them from the art club… and they’re talking. Anyway, Weird Guy is really clearly upset about the whole thing. He’s like, covering his ears and getting this really pained expression on his face. And all of a sudden he turns to me, and goes — oh, sorry!”

This wasn’t part of the story. Melanie wasn’t looking as she walked and almost got run over by a boy on a bicycle. He waved behind him after she apologized, and rode off.

“And, uh… so he turns to me, and says, ‘Don’t these people know how to be quiet? I’m just trying to sleep, for godssakes!’ And of course, I don’t wanna like… piss him off, or anything, so I just nod like, ‘Yeah, yeah!’. Well I think this was a bad move, cause the next thing he does is he gets up, and walks over to them, and starts talking. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but it’s clear the art club kids are just… confused as hell. So they talk a little, back and forth, and eventually Weird Guy heads back to his bench. He gives this biiiiiiig sigh, then lays right back down on his bench and falls asleep.”

Mary-Ann giggled, holding her books close to her chest. “I wish I was at the Nova dorms. Sounds like you guys have all the fun.”

The two waited at the corner of the street for the walk sign to light up. “Yeah, well, living in Nova comes with its ups and downs.” Melanie scratched at her ponytail. “Anyway, I think that solidifies my theory that he’s homeless. Otherwise, why would he be sleeping in the middle of the cafeteria? He could just go back to his dorm.”

“Maybe he lost his keys.”

Melanie spat out a laugh. “I don’t think that’s it, Ann. But I like your way of thinking.”

Mary-Ann smiled. “So, what’s your plans for the rest of today?”

The walk sign turned on, and the two walked the street. “Well, Fifi invited me to that party at Rodan. You’ve been there?”

“You mean Rodan Condos?”

“Yeah, yeah. Where they have all those crazy parties at. She invited me and said a friend of hers is going to be there also. You wanna come, too?”

Ann shook her head. “Sorry, but, um… parties aren’t for me.”

Melanie nodded. “Good on you. You should study, unlike us jerkoffs.”

“Well… I wouldn’t say I do that, either. But I appreciate you inviting me.”

The girls reached a plaza, where they were to go their separate ways. The two said goodbye to one another, and walked on.

…

Later in the night, Melanie and Fifi got ready in their dorm room. Her roommate walked into the bathroom wearing a tight red dress, as Mel looked at her while applying glitter under her eyes.

“Oh, so it’s that kind of party, huh?” Melanie smiled.

Fifi put her hands on her hips. “I’m just tryna show. You don’t have to dress up if you don’t want to.”

Melanie finished off her glitter, and began to tie up her high ponytail. “I think I’ll keep it simple. Maybe the black sweatshirt, and those short-shorts.”

“Sounds good to me. Wear what you want.”

Fifi drove the two down to the condos. It wasn’t too hard to find out which house was the right one — a few drunk college kids hung around a single complex that lit up with bright rainbow lights and vibrated with rap music.

As the girls got out of the car, they spotted a common friend — a silver-haired Korean girl named Maya. She was flanked by two taller, white boys.

“Oh my gosh, hi Fifi! Hi Mel!”

Melanie outstretched her arms to the girl, and the two hugged. “Hey Maya. You headin’ out?”

“For now, I might be back later. We’re hungry so we’re getting gyros.”

Fifi came round from the other side of the car. “I thought they were ordering pizzas?”

“They were, but I guess the order fell through. Anyway, seeya guys!”

Maya walked off with her entourage. The two girls walked towards the condo. While they did, Fifi muttered under her breath. “Knew I shoulda eaten something before I came.”

…

For the first fifteen minutes or so of the party, Melanie mostly kept off to the side. She gently nodded her head to the music, sipping from the alcohol from her plastic cup and surveying the crowd of people she barely knew. At some point in all of this, Fifi came around, laughing while a boy followed her closely behind.

“Hey, Mel… this is the guy I wanted you to meet.”

Melanie looked at him. He was a Latino student with fair black hair, neatly cut short. He wore a striped blue polo and beige chinos, which were perhaps out of place for the environment; but he carried himself well and had a bright smile on his face when he greeted Melanie.

“Name’s Calvin,” the boy said. “Nice to meet you.”

Melanie nodded in response. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“He’s a Poly-Sci major too. He’s in my Civil Rights course. He’s also on the board of the Young Democrats.”

“Oh, cool!” Mel replied, trying her best to seem interested.

“But, yeah. I think you two have a lot in common — you should ask him about his favorite band.” She winked over at Melanie. “Anyway, I gotta go see how my other babes are doin’. Catch you two later!”

“Uh…” Melanie reached out towards her friend, but Fifi had walked off before Mel could call out to her. She was stuck with the boy.

“So, what is your favorite band?” Calvin asked after an awkward moment of silence.

“Oh, um, well…” Melanie scratched the back of her head and looked nervously around. “I mean, I like listening to sort of, indie rock bands, kinda in the 80s and 90s… But I mean, like, I don’t know that much about genres and stuff, I just sorta listen to it.”

“That’s fine. I don’t know too much, either.”

“Anyway… I have a lot of favorite bands, but if I had to pick one… and the one Fifi is probably thinking of… I think it would be Heavenly.”

Suddenly, Calvin’s eyes widened. “No way, you listen to Heavenly?”

Melanie looked up. She smiled, and gave a short laugh. “Oh wow, you do too? I didn’t think anyone else really listened to them.”

Calvin nodded. “Yeah, they’re great. I’ve been listening to them for years.”

“Really? I just discovered them last year. Still going through the disco, but yeah. I love them.”

“You know, I saw them in concert when they were performing at the Penberry this summer. Did you go to that?”

Melanie’s face changed. “Huh?”

“Yeah, they performed at the Penberry. The little club downtown. It’s the tour for their new album. You listened to it yet?”

“Wait, I’m sorry… are you thinking of the Amelia Fletcher Heavenly? They haven’t been active for years.”

Calvin’s face suddenly lowered as well. “Oh, uh… no. I’m thinking of the Rick Garvangaris Heavenly. The grunge band.”