(NOTE: Based on today’s The Daily Post writing prompt)

I went to precious few “parties” in high school. That just wasn’t my thing and wasn’t what the group of people I regularly hung out with did. Some people would do something on New Year’s Eve, but for the most part when we got together it was to watch a movie or just hang out, not to “have a party.”

One of the rare occasions on which I was invited to a full-fledged party there was a band made up of people who were a year or two ahead of me. I think I was a junior at the time. We were all band and choir nerds so this wasn’t a crazy affair; No one was trying to sneak in booze or otherwise be irresponsible. It was strictly a chips and soda affair. The band was great, though.

Similarly made up of band and orchestra members, they played a lot of covers of popular songs from the early ’90s. The one I remember most was their version of R.E.M.’s “Orange Crush” that involved the bass player (I don’t remember exactly who was in the band) jumping up and down on the grass they were playing on, underneath the party lights that had been strung above the backyard. It was a rocking, upbeat and fun cover and she in particular seemed to be getting into it.

They played more R.E.M., some Van Halen and more over the course of the night. But every time I hear that song on the radio I’m transported back to a junior year party in someone’s backyard with a bass player who was having the time of her life.