I fiddle with the cassette tapes in my hands, stressed out from school. Kids weren’t nice to my only friend and I. I pick out Tracy Chapman. It’d be a good break from the repetitive music in my head. Opening the cassette hurriedly, I then put it in the walkman as fast as I can.

Perhaps I should explain why listening to music is such a necessity for me. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but when I’m stressed (and sometimes when I’m not!), my head gets stuck on a few lines, or words from a song; on bad days, I get stuck on a few notes, repeating them again, and again, and again. The only way to stop this is to listen to music outside of my head. It’s like my brain gets an itch I have to scratch.

I am now putting the headphones on my head. As I listen to Tracy talk about a revolution, I relax back in my chair. Now, I can do my homework.