Daydream Nation

- The year this story takes place

is the year nearly everything

happened to me.

It was the year I moved from the city

to a backwards hick town

to finish high school.

It was the year an industrial fire

wouldn't stop burning

just outside of town.

In other news,

the industrial fire continues to rage.

- The year my dad

first discovered an itch

that much later became cancer

and, later still,

took all his hair

and then his life.

It was the year a serial killer

wearing a white suit

roamed the county,

leaving pretty young kids

dead in his wake.

But mostly, it was the year

where I tried to become someone else

for a while,

and for the first time,

I went crazy insane for love.

And it seemed

like the whole world

was about to end.

But in the beginning,

I didn't see any of this in my future.

I just crossed an X on my calendar

and suddenly I was once again

the new girl at a new school

where no one would talk to me.

- Whoa.

Got anything metal on you?

- Don't... think so.

- Well, you must.

What's this?

- A bowling ball.

- Mine now.

- Have you ever entered a room

where you just knew everyone hated you?

Now, multiply that by roughly a million

and you'll understand

my high school experience.

When I know people hate me,

instead of trying

to change their minds,

I get defensive and weird

and become the exact girl

they think I am.

But this school

wasn't just mean and gossipy;

it was full-on scary.

To give you an idea,

let me tell you

the legend of Laura Lee.

- Is it negative five?

- Laura Lee was a student at our school

who danced nights at a strip club.

Kool thing sittin' with a kiddie

Now you know you're sure lookin' pretty

- Nobody talked to her,

but the entire football team

would heat up coins

with butane lighters

and flick them at her

as she walked through the hallways.

Burning currency bounced off her

like hail.

I don't think so

I don't wanna

I don't think so

Kool thing let me play

with your radio

Move me turn me on

Baby-o

- But what's amazing,

is that this poor girl's

attendance record was perfect.

I mean, here she is dancing every night

until 2:
00 or later,

dodging fiery coins and, still,

she makes it to twice as many classes

as most people.

This is full-on triumph

of the human spirit,

but you never see this sh*t on Oprah.

And then, last March,

some girls were playing

in a field...

... when they found her body.

All over her legs,

splotchy and scorched,

were the burned imprints

of various coins.

Few details are known

about the ongoing investigation,

but police sources say

they are looking for a male suspect

wearing a white suit.

- And that was life at Hargrove High.

- People, get to class! Now!

Thank you.

- Hey. Wanna come smoke weed with us

after class?

- Um... sure, that'd be cool.

- It will be.

- Jesus Christ.

- What's your name again?

- Caroline.

- Well, I'm Paul.

Charles, Craig and Thurston.

- Yeah, we met.

- So why would you ever move

to a place like this?

- Ugh, well, my dad works

for this huge development--

- Dude, you're not even inhaling.

- I'm inhaling.

- You're basically making out with it.

You got your goober all over it.

- Ow.

Don't, I...

- I was now attending

the most drugged-out high school

in the whole country,

honest to God.

These guys smoked pot, sniffed glue,

snorted crystal,

did Ecstasy in toilets,

anything to kill the boredom.

But Thurston...

he had reasons of his own.

The face that you saw in the door

Isn't looking at you anymore

The name

That you call in its place

Isn't waiting for your embrace

The world that you love to behold

Cannot hold you

Anymore

In a matter of time

- Hey, Thurston.

It would slip from my mind

In and out of my life

- Okay, guys...

Guys...

... these papers are just...

Do you really hate school that much?

Is it me?

Is it because I let you call me Barry?

Look...

you know, I just...

I just moved back to this town

and I gotta tell ya,

this place has become a real sh*t-hole.

But I was you.

And I know you've got

real thoughts going on inside of there.

So for tomorrow, no reading.

I want you to write me

a three-page essay

on the historical or religious figure

who you most admire.

Okay?

Tell me who it is

that you think you are.

- I don't know why the idea

came to me when it did,

but I instantly knew

it would make life more interesting.

Don't we all wanna be

somebody different sometimes?

Someone smarter and sexier

and bolder than we really are?

Or maybe I just looked

and saw someone

that was as lonely as me.

After my mom died

and we started moving all the time,

it was like my dad and I

had all this love to give

but no one to give it to.

Or maybe I just went a little crazy.

- Thomas!

- For a while there,

it seemed like craziness

was in the air.

We were all just...

breathing it in.

- You wanted to see me?

- Yeah, I wanted to talk to you

about something.

- Go ahead.

- Well, I wanted to...

tell you that I am new here,

and so far I hate it.

- Okay, but... if you work hard--

- The guys here are...

so immature. And sexist.

And the girls are worse.

They eat it up. No self-respect.

And it's just all so... different

from where we're supposed to be

at this point in women's history,

you know?

- I wish I could argue.

- I went to this party

where they were passing out Rohypnol.

That's the date rape drug.

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