There’s a recent Saturday I will never forget. It was my last opportunity to take an overnight at home, because the next weekend would be a closed weekend due to final exams. Of course, I decided to go home, but I wasn’t alone. My two best friends, Carly and Gadea, accompanied me for a wild night we never had intended on.

Upon getting in the car and driving to my beachside residence, Carly, Gadea and I had no definite plans for that night. None of the ideas we were throwing around seemed that fun or exciting. It was our last chance to loosen up and have fun before final exams, and the last weekend I would have with Gadea before she moves back to Spain for the summer. After a few minutes on the road my mother received a phone call from my father, proposing we go to Foxwoods casino. All three of us, very excited to dress up, go out to dinner, and walk around the casino, began to anticipate the night. Suddenly my mother received another phone call, once again from my father.

“Do you know the band Backstreet on the Boys?” My mother shouted over our loud gossip in the backseat. Mortified, I looked at Gadea and Carly. “Yeah it says here they’re performing at Foxwoods tonight. You guys should go!” Confused I asked, “Do you mean the Backstreet Boys?” thinking my mother must have gotten the name wrong. “Oh, yes. Excuse me, it’s actually New Kids on the Block.” I’d rather see the Backstreet Boys… Carly, Gadea and I had never heard of this band, and we were extremely bummed. Now we were going to be all dressed up with nothing to do but walk around and look pretty (which we did very well, thank you very much). “Girls, I think you should go. It might be fun…” My mom announced gleefully. I looked at Gadea and Carly anxiously, hoping they wouldn’t think it was stupid. Within a matter of seconds loud but rather catchy music blared through the tiny speakers on Carly’s blackberry. “Guys this is NKOTB. This sounds so familiar!” Next thing you know, everyone in the car was singing to their single “Summertime”! Immediately pumped after this exciting discovery, I agreed to attend the concert but with one exception—my mom buys us new shoes.

“Donna, get us to Marshalls!” I shouted jokingly from the backseat. Marshalls is a large department store that has lots of designer clothes for very cheap prices. Every girl’s dream? I think so. Immediately making our way to the shoe section, we went crazy! We frantically searched for a cute pair of heels that matched our dresses while offering our advice to each other freely. Being best friends, it was acceptable to tell one another what we really thought, even if it was a little harsh. My mother stayed far away, knowing that once we set our minds on that perfect pair of heels there was no going back. Gadea decided on simple, strappy brown pumps, Carly with midnight black pumps; I went with brown and gold pumps. You could say we all fell in love…who needs boys when you have shoes!

Pulling up to the casino, we were dressed like celebrities—but in a lame ride. Gadea, Carly and I were squished into the backseat of my dirty Suburban. Complete with the clutter of McDonald’s toys on the floor and the sweet smell of my hockey equipment in the air…it wasn’t exactly A-list status, but we made do. My parents, off to a nice dinner for two, had previously set up reservations for four: Carly, Gadea, my younger brother Jimmy and I ate at a restaurant called Junior’s. After a delicious meal we headed over to the MGM building for the concert, connected to the casino by a long and narrow glass tunnel. We had never anticipated how much fun it would be to go to a concert for a band we had just discovered that day.

We had reached our seats and within the first couple of seconds of being there, butterflies started to flutter in our stomachs. Even though it was a popular band in the ‘80s and ‘90s, we still knew how to have a good time. There was an expression of pain plastered on to my brother’s face. He was in a roomful of screaming, aged women, talking about how hot the boys in the band were. Poor kid. On the stage was a giant clock counting down the minutes, seconds, till the show would begin. With thirty seconds left, the room filled with girly shrieks counting down. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!!!!!!!” and the room erupted in screams. Gadea, Carly and I, immediately standing up and screaming too, decided to pretend as if we knew the band like the rest of the people in the room. That’s what made this concert so much more fun. My brother sat down, took out his PSP and tried to beat his high score…

Throughout the concert Gadea, Carly and I were attempting to sing along, even though we knew none of the words, and of course, we danced like maniacs. We were dancing so hard that we even decided to take off our heels! Most of the concert was spent dancing, laughing or both at once. We kept trying to sing the lyrics we didn’t know, imitate the boys’ dance moves on stage and scream their names like we were in love with them. I have never seen my best friend Gadea as funny as she was that very night. We found out one of the band members was named Joey, so at the end of every song Gadea would scream “JOOOEEEYY!! MAARRYY MEEE!!” It was absolutely hysterical. Our screaming and dancing got to the point where the people in front of us asked us rudely to shut up. Obviously we didn’t—the concert was too fun!

On the way back to the car, we had a long hike through MGM, the glass tunnel, then Foxwoods to find my parents. My brother took my Canon Rebel Xsi camera, which has a pretty bright flash, and decided to run around, in front, and behind us, taking numerous pictures, as if he was the paparazzi. If it wasn’t for the fun time I had at the concert I would have gotten mad at him, but it was just so fun, and who doesn’t love pictures?

Since then I’ve purchased almost every New Kids on the Block song on iTunes (sorry, Mom!), and they are somewhat of an inside joke for Carly, Gadea and me. It’s funny what you’ll find when you decide to try something new.