Prologue

"Get in!" a voice called to me from a navy blue 4x4 truck.

I followed the orders, slinging a backpack over my shoulder. The passenger seat was very spacious giving me enough room for my long legs. My black Adidas sandal fell off my foot while I was trying to get into the vehicle.

"Oh, come on!" I cried, "this happens every time I get in this stupid truck!"

"Hey, com'n Sheila is not stupid." Chris Heatley said from the drivers seat.

"Yeah, Sheila is a fine truck!" John Barry said rubbing the leather seat behind me.

I looked at both of them shaking my head and chuckling a little.

"Chris, we have ten minutes until school starts. Can we go now?" I said making myself comfortable.

He hastily put the gear into drive and peeled out of my driveway. He nearly took out my mailbox and unearthed the street leading out of my cul-de-sac.

John made a sort of snorting noise from behind me and said:"Ha! School doesn't start for twenty minutes."

"You liar, Caleb!" Chris yelled at me, I chuckled again, taking out my phone.

"Who could you be texting this early in the morning?" John said peering over my shoulder.

"I'm not texting anyone, it's just Facebook." I replied touching the screen of my phone.

"Hey, should I make a stop at Dunk's?" Chris said to both John and I.

"Yeah, I brought my Dunkin Donuts gift card," John said.

"Could you spot me?" I said to John.

"And me too?" Chris said almost laughing.

"Yeah... I guess," John said, the unsureness sounding through his voice.

Chris's gaze returned to the red Honda Civic in front of us. The truck turned left, and soon a big yellow and pink sign sporting two D's came into view. Chris pulled into the drive-thru lane of the Dunkin Donuts, and turned to John and I and asked what we wanted.

"Ugh..." John answered first, "I'll have a regular with three sugars, and a chocolate chip muffin."

"I'll just have an Iced Tea with three splendas," I said still looking at my phone.

"Emily says to get to school now," I said looking at Chris.

"I would," he began, "if this guy would hurry up his order."

"I thought you weren't texting anyone." John said sarcastically.

"I wasn't, she just texted me."

Chris's prayers were answered as a speaker box rolled up beside the driver's window. He called out to the speaker and placed our order, while a monitor next to it copied it down. The speaker box called back 'Okay your order will be at the next window'.

"Finally," I breathed, "ten minutes."

"I'm going, I'm going," Chris said pulling up to the window.

John handed Chris the gift card bearing the Dunkin Donuts logo, and he handed it to the girl at the window. I noticed this girl was very pretty and apparently the rest of the car did too because everyone went eerily quiet. When the girl returned with the food John flipped his long brown hair, although all for not because he was in the backseat and could barely be seen. She handed Chris two Styrofoam cups and two brown paper bags. She smiled at me before saying have a nice day. We turned out of the drive-thru and and onto the road that would take us to the school.

"Dude, that's like the third number you've gotten from a drive-thru girl!" Chris said laughing and handing me my drink.

There was a sticky note attached to my cup that read; 'To the boy in the passenger seat, Veronica Mertz, call me.' A series of numbers followed after that.

"It's so unfair," John complained, "she was definitely looking at me."

Chris and I laughed, but not for long for Chris then said seriously;"What's Emily gonna say?"

"Emily is not going to know about this," I said scathingly.

Emily Matthews was the girl I had been fawning over since my sophomore year of high school. We dated for three months which wasn't a long time, but we managed to remain best friends. I never stopped liking her, but I've been in the friend zone for two years.

"So, you gonna make a move on her, or what?" John said touching my shoulder for attention.

"We already dated," I said not looking at him, "it's hard to pick something like that back up again."

"Says you, I did it..." said John trailing off.

"Yeah, but you were dating a hag, who else was she going to date?" said Chris, making me laugh so hard I almost choked on my Iced Tea.

"True," John replied, "but, you've got to admit, she had a nice rack."

Chris and I both made sounds of agreement and nods of our heads. We passed a McDonald's, and a pizza restaurant. The school was now coming into view, and John sighed sarcastically. We took a left into the school parking lot, and slowed down for the speed bumps. Chris pulled into his designated spot that the school gave him and put the car into park. We all stepped out of Chris's truck and into the last day of our high school careers.

School's out

The cloudless blue sky represented my mood, happy and warm. The last day of school would be full of hugs and nostalgia. People would be saying things that they would have never said on any other day. People would come out of their comfort zones only to realize they were acting foolish ten years later.     

"Can you believe we've been here for four years?" said a familiar voice from behind us. 

Three girls were getting out of a car behind us. These were my other best friends, and now at school, my group reached six. One of the girls was Emily, and she was looking as radiant as ever. Perhaps it was the weather. The other girls were Lauren Gooding and Alice Lancaster. They were both looking ravishing, but I had eyes only for Emily. 

"I know, it sounds like a long time, but it went by so fast!" Lauren said as the girls were walking towards us.

As soon as they reached us Chris put an arm around Lauren. They were dating, for three years as I thought about it. Emily, John, Alice and I were all convinced that they were going to get married. We all began our walk to the school, which I really hoped was air conditioned. John told a funny joke as I opened the double doors for everyone that involved Chris's mother and himself alone at night. We were all laughing (even Chris) as we walked through science hall together. We usually all hung out in the mornings in the math hallway but lately Chris and Lauren took to going somewhere else together, which was reasonable seeing as they were going to different colleges and wanted to spend more time together.

"Hey, we'll see you guys later," Chris said predictably. 

"Yeah, i'll see you in first period, we need to talk," I said, and he nodded and walked away hand in hand with Lauren. 

"What do you need to talk to him about?" Alice asked. 

"Oh, it's about our special plans this summer. I actually need to talk to you guys too," I replied. 

"Oh that, well what about?"

"All of your parents are fine with it?" I asked. 

They all looked at each other rolling their eyes. 

"How many times have we answered that question," John said first. 

"I just want to make sure." 

"Well, my parents," Emily started, "are going on a vacation all summer anyways, so i'm good with that."

"Same with mine!" said John smiling broadly, "they're in Costa Rica right now!"

"Mine said 'as long as we don't see you on the news or something'," Alice said contorting her face and trying to sound like her father. 

"And Chris and Lauren said their parents are fine with it too," I said aimlessly, "and John, you said you can get your uncle's RV, right?"

"I already got it," he said puffing his chest and bearing a grin. 

"Is everyone packed?" I asked seriously. 

"Yes..." they all said in a monotonous tone. 

"Good, good. So how does everyone feel with leaving today?"

"Today?" Emily said uncertainly. 

Everyone was silent, obviously thinking about my proposal. The chatter of more students coming down the hallway distracted us, and made us look up. 

"Oh, it's Jake!" Alice squealed. 

She then ran off to accompany her boyfriend Jake Reynolds. I didn't like him much.     

"And then there were three..." John said to break the silence, "this sucks! Everyone is in a relationship but me!"

"Umm... Emily and I aren't in a relationship, so that's not true." I said. 

"Hmm..." John said rolling his eyes.

I looked at Emily who quickly looked back at me. 

"Could you make sure to ask her if she can make it today?" I said, and she nodded her head. 

"I can do it today," John piped up. 

"Alright that sounds good, Chris can just drop all of us off at your place," I said while watching a group of juniors laughing. 

"Do you guys mind if Lauren and I come too?" Emily said, "she was going to sleep over my house anyways so she's all set to go today."

"But... You're both... Girls," John said quietly. 

"What? You like girls, right?" Emily said causing me to laugh, "besides, we're all going to be living in the same place soon enough anyways, so why not get an early start?"

"I guess it's alright..." John said.     

The bell rang and signaled all the students to go to their first period classes. Many students still laughed and joked as if nothing happened. 

"Hey i'll see you guys later," Emily said giving me a swift wink. 

She vanished within a quo of giggling students. John and I both began to walk to first period together where we would meet up with Chris. 

"This summer is going to be awesome!" John said from my left. 

"Yeah it is! I can't wait!" I said excitedly. 

"Hey maybe you and Emily will get back together," John said nudging my ribs. 

I laughed before saying, "Likely..."

"You gotta have faith..." John trailed off as we walked into Mrs. Nelson's classroom, "so, why did you and her break up anyways? You never told us."

I paused, and began to remember sophomore year all over again. The first two months with Emily were great, carefree. We went out all the time together, we went to parties, and the movies, and dinner. Then as the third month began to near, I was under a lot of stress. We had big tests coming up, and I also had basketball practice everyday. We had no time to see each other, so Emily suggested that we take a break, which I unfortunately obliged. She promised me that when all the stress died down, we would get back together, but we never did. 

"It's a lame story," I told him, "I don't want to bore you."

"Alright," John said shrugging his shoulders and taking a seat at the far corner of the room. 

I followed him, making sure that there was another seat open for Chris.     

The classroom was loud, the teacher was sitting at her desk and chucking papers and staplers into a cardboard box. The students were either sitting on top of their desks chatting and laughing or doing chores for the teacher. Mrs. Nelson had asked John, Chris and I to help her start removing things from her room and storing them all in boxes, we obliged happily, but we weren't gonna start without Chris. John stretched his legs lazily over the top of his desk, and yawned loudly. I sat in my seat next to him with my arms crossed, and my eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought.     

John was right, maybe this could be the summer that Emily and I get back together. We had three months to rekindle something that I considered to be special, three months with our best friends, three months in a RV, cramped. After all, she did promise me. 

"Dude! Are you deaf?!" Chris was sitting in a seat in front of me, with a concerned look upon his face, "I just said, when are we leaving today?"

"Hmm?" I said uncrossing my arms, "oh! Ummm... I was thinking after school."

"That's no good..." Chris said somberly. 

"Why not?" John said his legs still above the desk. 

"Boys!" Mrs. Nelson yelled from across the room, clearly indicating the three of us, "are you going to help?!"

John quickly stowed his legs and let out a high pitched 'yes'. We hastily got up and rushed over to the nearest wall, and began taking down pictures of famous writers. Chris and I took down a picture of John Foxe, the author of "The Book of Martyrs", while John started to disassemble a portrait of William Shakespeare. 

"So why can't you go after school?" John said, trying to remove a rather nasty piece of tape from his fingers. 

"Isn't it obvious?" I said tearing down a picture of Robert Cormier, "it's Lauren, he's probably promised her something."

"As a matter of fact, Chris started, looking at me directly, "I did, and I'm sorry, but she's my girlfriend, and she comes first."

"Whatever happened to bros come before-" 

"So what are the plans?" John cut me off, his voice was uneasy. 

I was apparently trekking in dangerous territory, Chris's girlfriend was not to be tampered with. 

With his eyes still on me, Chris replied, "We're going to lunch, at the Olive Garden."

"Oh, please..." I muttered under my breath. 

"I thought she was supposed to sleep over Emily's," John said still shaky, he still had tape on his fingers. 

"She said she would cancel with Emily, she said I'm more important right now," Chris's chest swelled. 

No one said anything, Chris was still taking apart the same poster, while I had moved onto my fourth, John was still fidgeting with his tape. 

"Jeez! What do they make these things with? Magnets, and spider webs?!" John yelled, now resorting to flailing his hand around the corner of the classroom. 

"Look, let me see," Chris said gently. 

He took John by the wrist and with his other hand he quickly ripped off the tape. John let out another high pitch squeak, that sounded a lot like 'mommy'. His fingerprints were bright red, and chafed. 

"What the hell, man!" he said more manly, and slightly deeper than his normal voice. 

A girl from across the room who had been watching the entire business was laughing with her hand over her mouth. John smiled broadly at her, she then turned to her friend and they both erupted into giggles, it was a very awkward situation. I slapped him hard on the back and went back to my work.  "Thanks for the help," John said to Chris sarcastically.     

The rest of the class went on with out further outbursts. We took our conversations to small talk, such as sports, and girls, and current movies and television programs. John's mood had slowly but surely returned to its normal, happy, candid self. Chris and I without talking about it had resolved our earlier tiff. All returned to normal, and we had even finished our work. Mrs. Nelson appreciated it a lot and gave us all a piece from her secret candy stash under her desk. 

"So, when should we leave then?" John said through a mouthful of a Kit-Kat bar. 

"We could go after me and Lauren's lunch date," Chris said, munching on a large Milky Way bar. 

"When will you guys be done?" I asked, already knowing the answer. 

"I'm not really sure," Chris said, putting his head down to think. 

"How about we just go tomorrow?" I suggested. 

Chris clapped his hands together, and John sighed, resting his head on his fist. 

"That's perfect!" Chris said happily, "Lauren and I will be at your house in the morning!" he said to John. 

Just as I was about to say something, the bell rang, which gave definite meaning to "saved by the bell". John and I said our goodbyes and see-you-laters to Chris, as we were both going to the same Math class. We trudged down the hallway, reminiscing on the old times we all had together. John brought up the day we spent at the giant Sandpit in the hiking trails behind my house. I brought up the day we all went to the downtown plaza and came back with an old children's toy called a "Green Machine". We were both laughing as we walked into Mrs. Orazio's classroom.     

The room was deathly quiet, and we immediately tried to blend in, stifling our chuckles and walking quickly to our desks. I took a seat next to Emily, who had been saving two for both John and I. 

She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Mrs. O has a lesson planned for us today."

I groaned loudly, and then noticing the stares from my fellow peers I shoved my face in a book, pretending to read. 

"Are you kidding?" I muttered, not looking at her. 

"What? What happened?" John said leaning over to my desk. 

"The teacher has a lesson planned for today," Emily repeated. 

"What! On that last day of school?! And it's a half day for Pete's sake!" John complained, reaching for the math book on his desk. 

"What could she possibly teach us on our last day?" I said more to myself rather than the others.     

"Okay, class, today I wanted to teach you about what to expect in College level math courses," Mrs. Orazio said breaking the odd silence of the classroom, "I'm using the books to show you all that there are some things that may be repeated in your upcoming classes, but there will be new things as well." 

She moved over to the whiteboard and began writing random numbers and words that made no sense to me. After twelve years of school I had perfected the art of daydreaming. If I stared in the general direction of the whiteboard then I was free to let my mind wander. The teacher couldn't tell me to pay attention, because it already looked like I was, but my formula wasn't foolproof, if I was called on by the teacher, then I was in trouble.     

During a daydream of me becoming a basketball superstar I was poked on the shoulder by John. The teacher had her back turned, so now was the perfect time to converse. 

"You should tell Emily that we're leaving tomorrow, not today," he whispered. 

"Oh yeah," I said, running a finger through my book, giving the illusion that I was paying attention. 

I looked to my left, and there sat Emily. She was staring intently at the board, a pen in her hand and sort of in her mouth, and a sheet of paper on her desk full of notes on the lesson. Her dark auburn colored hair was falling into her face in locks of curls and vivacious waves, and the rest was neatly pulled back behind her shoulders. 

"Caleb!" Mrs. Orazio bellowed from the front of the room, "can you tell me the solution to this problem?"

"Um... No, sorry, I can't," I said, faking being ashamed. 

"As I thought! I suggest you stop staring at Ms. Matthews, and start paying attention to the lesson!"

Emily's face flushed bright pink, and she averted my eyes, and started writing down more notes. John sniggered from my right. Mrs. Orazio turned around again, and resumed writing arithmetic. I turned back to Emily, intending on doing what I meant to do the first time. I tapped her on the shoulder, and she didn't look at me right away. Instead, she finished scribbling the last note on her paper before she acknowledged me. 

"I'm sorry about that," I said scratching my head.  She gave a nervous whispery laugh. 

"That's alright, but did you want something?" she replied nicely. 

"Yeah, I did. We aren't leaving today," I said, and she nodded, "we're gonna leave tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you."

John was listening from behind me. He had fully perfected the art of slacking off, not a single letter was written on his paper, he merely had it out for show, and his book was closed. 

"I figured that. Lauren canceled her plans with me today, so I assumed she was going to do something with Chris," she said, looking at the whiteboard, transfixed. 

"Yeah," I sighed, "they're going out to lunch today."

"Must be nice," she said dreamily.

I didn't answer her, I didn't know how. So instead I started small talk. 

"I'm probably going to sleep over John's today then, and wait for everyone in the morning, if that's alright with you, John," I turned to him. 

"Yeah that's fine. It would be nice to have some company, seeing as my house is empty except for me," he whispered back. 

Emily turned to me this time, "do you mind if I still come, I have no other plans, seeing as Lauren dumped me."

"Yeah, that's cool, we're just gonna need a ride," John said apprehensively. 

"Oh, I can give you guys rides, I'll just need to get my stuff from my house after school, is that cool?" she said. 

"Totally," I replied assuringly. 

"So it's settled," Emily said happily, returning back to her paper.

The class had gone by extremely slowly. At one point I fell asleep, but was quickly scolded by the teacher and quietly laughed at by the rest of the class. John had resumed doing nothing and continued to do that until the bell. Emily was intent upon becoming the world's greatest note taker, as she underlined and scribbled until her hand cramped up. The bell finally sounded and there was a murmur of consent throughout the young adults of the classroom.     

One by one we all filed out, merrily. One more class and it was all over, high school was almost finished. I had a class with Chris, Alice and Emily next, so I bumped John's fist with my own and we went our separate ways. Emily and I headed for our Piano class, where we would meet an easy end to our high school careers. 

"Can you believe it, one more class and we never have to come here again!" Emily said amazed. 

"Yeah, I know," my mind was elsewhere. 

Two years ago, Emily and I walked these same hallways together, holding hands. 

"So what are Alice's plans for today?" I asked trying to make conversation, while dodging freshman. 

"I dunno," she replied, "I expect she'll be with Jake all day," we both rolled our eyes. 

We reached the classroom, it was full of instruments, but for this specific class the teacher had pulled out assorted pianos, and keyboards. We met Chris at the threshold, and he looked somber. He merely shook his head when we reached him. 

"What's up," I asked, one of my eyebrows raised. 

"It's... Alice," he answered tersly. 

Emily and I both looked into the classroom, and saw that Alice was balling her eyes out at a lonely keyboard in the corner of the room. 

"What happened?" I asked Chris, but Emily had already glided into the room and went to her friend. 

Chris and I followed. We picked up two keyboards and placed them next to Alice's. 

"What happened, Alice," Emily said gently. 

"Ja-Jake h-happened! He br-broke up with me!" Alice shouted. 

"What?!" I yelled, "I never liked him! I ought a give him a piece of my mind!"

Emily shot me a warning look. 

"No!" Alice cried, "don't, don't do anything!"

Her eyes were red from crying, and mucus was sliding from her nose. She looked like a mess. Emily wrapped her in her arms and gently patted her head. Alice only cried more into her friends chest. 

"How about you two go and get her a water from the vending machine," Emily said her eyebrows raised.  

Chris and I exchanged looks. 

"I didn't bring any money today, you," I asked. 

"No, I didn't."

Emily gave a deep sigh, and reached into her purse, "Here's one dollar and fifty cents, get her a Vitamin Water." 

Chris took the money and hurried out of the room, I bolted after him. 

"What a jerk, that Jake! That Jerky-Jake" I said as soon as we left the classroom. 

"Yeah I know, me and Lauren saw the whole thing go down last period. He did it in front of everyone, shameless. You should have seen the look on Alice's face, or better yet, Lauren's. She was about ready to crush Jake, if I hadn't stepped in," Chris trailed off as we passed a sophomore health class.  

"This could ruin the whole trip!" I exclaimed. 

"That's what you're worried about? The trip? She's really hurt, man," Chris said insightfully. 

"You're right, I'm stupid, Alice is my friend," I reasoned with myself.     

When we reached the classroom we saw that it was tear-free. Alice had cheered up a considerable amount, her eyes were puffy and still red, but the water works had stopped. 

"If only there was something we could do," I said as we walked towards the girls, Vitamin Water in hand. 

"There is. We can be good friends," Chris said. 

"Right again, man, when did you become so wise?" 

"I guess it comes with age," he replied handing the water to Alice who thanked us. 

"You're only a year older than me," I said laughing a little. 

"A year older, a year wiser."

We both laughed, and then noticed Alice who looked sullen and not her usually self at all. 

"I like to laugh," she said, "Jake used to make me laugh. Used to..." and then she broke into more tears, and sunk back into Emily. 

Emily looked at me and shook her head angrily. She looked almost motherly. 

"I guess we should start playing the piano, huh Chris?" I said, avoiding Emily's evil eye. 

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," he answered, he too was avoiding the eye.      

Chris was a genius when it came to playing the piano, he knew many rifts to random songs, and had even mastered some songs of his own, that was part of the reason Lauren fell in love with him. He cracked his fingers and went to work on Beethoven's Fifth, a hard piece to play. I was still in the beginning stages of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, although I did know how to play the Harry Potter Theme song, I made sure it was the first one I learned.     

The rest of the class was filled with noises of messed up keys, kids shouting at one another to stop playing while they were playing, and then the marvelous tunes that Chris played. Alice had even begun to play, but her notes were all on left side of the keyboard, making low and somber tones. Emily was a mediocre piano player and trying to play the jingle from a certain commercial. The bell finally rang, signalling everyone to leave school and not return for three months, or ever. It was barely audible over the noises of the classroom. The teacher had to announce that school was over, and to pack up and leave. Chris and I having brought nothing to school that day got up and left, the first ones to leave the school. We waited in the parking lot for the rest of our group to catch up.     

It was several minutes before John showed up at Chris's truck with Lauren, and Emily and Alice came a minute after them, Alice still shaken up.

"So what's going on today?" John asked the group, trying to get a thorough synopsis. 

We all looked around at each other, all trying to find someone to talk first.

Emily broke the silence as she said, "well, Caleb and I are going to John's."

"When?" Alice murmured.  Emily looked over at me and John, also needing an answer. 

"Right now, right?" said John, looking at me. 

"Yeah," I replied, "as soon as Emily gets her stuff from her house."

"Oh yeah! John, is my stuff still at your place?" Chris asked, his arm around Lauren once again. 

"Yeah it is," Lauren said, "don't you remember? You and I both dropped our stuff off a week ago."

"Oh yeah, your right," Chris said. 

"I wonder if I left mine there too," I said, putting my hand on my chin. 

"So what are you doing today, Alice? Are you hanging out with Jake?" John said, letting his arm hang into the bed of Chris's truck. 

Everyone's faces in the group (except John's) looked as though they had fallen to the ground. I slapped my forehead hard, Chris coughed awkwardly, Lauren looked up into the sky, and Emily looked down and shuffled her feet. Alice looked dumbfounded, while John looked at everyone as though we were all crazy. She didn't cry, she merely stood there, staring at John. 

"Do you mind if I come to your house too?" she said to John. 

Emily's head shot up, Lauren's came down, Chris's coughing fits died out, and I stopped hitting myself. There was a stalemate within the group, except for Alice and John, who looked like they were enjoying a nice conversation. 

"Yeah, no problem, the more the merrier, I suppose," John said happily. 

Alice smiled slightly, and began to walk towards Emily's car, followed by John. 

"That was weird," I said as soon as they were both out of earshot. 

"No kidding," Chris agreed. 

"Why didn't she yell at him," Emily asked. 

No one answered right away, there could have been many possibilities. 

"I guess, we're just gonna have to wait and see," said Lauren darkly. 

"Shall we leave then?" I said, making a motion to Emily's car. 

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Emily said following me, I could hear the clinking of keys behind me.

We reached the car, and Emily fiddled with the lock. Once the driver's door was opened she pressed a button on the side of it and a click sounded throughout it. I opened the passenger seat door and sat down, making sure to buckle myself in. John and Alice both took seats in the back, also putting on their seat belts. Emily got in the car and quickly turned it on, the roar of the engine making a resonating sound. 

"Everyone ready?" she asked looking into the mirror above the dashboard.

We all nodded and murmured consent. She put the gear into reverse, and slowly backed the car into the middle of the parking lot. She changed gears again and this time we moved forward. I saw Chris and Lauren getting into the truck, Lauren flipping her long blonde hair before getting in, and Chris waving an arm to us. John had his entire face on the window and was making rude gestures towards Chris's truck, Emily's car erupted into laughter. I took one last fleeting look at the school I attended for four years and laughed some more, I would never forget the memories I made at this school, I thought.

Leaving Town

The Townsend sky kept itself cloudless, and the perfect shade of blue. The air rolled in through my half open window and played with my golden brown hair. Emily had turned the radio to a significantly loud octave, at the request of John, and it was playing a song that reflected all of our moods at the moment, although I couldn't say anything for Alice. She hadn't said a word since we left the school, and she wore a blank expression. I tried to think of something nice to say to her, then I realized talking to her would be a bad idea.      

"So guys!" John yelled above the radio. 

Emily turned the volume dial below the dashboard down, making John's voice more audible. 

"About my house," he continued, "I'm going to need to set some ground rules."

"What rules?" I said looking back behind my seat. 

"Well first," John said, "you'll have to take off your shoes."

"Easy enough," Emily stated, "what's next?"

"Rule number two. And you have to do this or I'm kicking you out," he said in a serious tone, "nobody can wear a shirt."

Emily and I both started laughing, while John looked at us still serious and was waving his arms in protest of our laughter, even Alice cracked a smile. I looked at Alice, her hair was light brown, and tied in a long pony tail. Her eyes were less puffy than before. 

"Look, Al, Jake is a jerk," I waited for the warning look from Emily, but none came, John looked confused, "he clearly doesn't deserve you if he's going to treat you like that. You don't deserve that, you're a good person," I finished as gently as I could.  

"Thank you, I appreciate that," Alice said, smiling broadly. 

"Wait, what happened?" John asked, thoroughly confused. 

Neither I, nor Emily answered. That was for Alice to say, when she was ready.  

"Jake broke up with me," Alice said looking ahead through the windshield. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry..." John said genuinely. 

"That's alright, I'm over it," Alice replied.

"Really? That quickly?" Emily said, taking a right hand turn onto the road with her house. 

"Yeah, I have better things to look forward to. Like, being on the open road with all of my best friends," Alice said sweetly. 

"Aw shucks," John said, in his most girlish voice. 

"This is it!" Emily claimed as she slowly stopped the car on the side of the street.     

Her house was dark red, and the shutters were newly painted white. The front steps led up to a wonderfully built porch that overlooked the rest of the street. Two rocking chairs and a white table were placed on the far side of the porch, they looked worn down, probably from rainstorms and other maladies. Emily raced up the steps and opened the screen door and shoved a key into the doorknob. 

"My parents aren't home, so you guys are free to come in if you want," she said, slamming her hip into the door and nearly falling into her house. 

We all followed her up the steps, and were greeted by a welcome mat. John was the first one inside the house, and I was the last, making sure to close the door behind myself. Emily glided up the stairs which were right in front of us. A living room was located to the left of the stairs, and was decorated with lovely furniture. A kitchen was placed to our left.  

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Emily's voice called from some where in the house. 

"Yes! Please!" John yelled out. 

"There are drinks in the fridge, help yourself!"

John rushed into the kitchen and an immediate crash sounded throughout the entire house. I made my way smoothly after him, careful not to cause any noise. 

"What the hell was that?" Emily called from up the stairs. 

John was sprawled out on the floor, a big white dog on top of him, making ferocious licking motions. He was getting attacked by Emily's pet dog Kendall.

"AH! GET IT OFF ME!" John yelled through mouthfuls of fur. 

I shooed the hound away, and helped John to his feet. He brushed off the fur on his shirt and stuck his tongue out at Kendall, who only stared happily and panted with deep breaths. 

"My revenge will be swift, dog," John said, holding up a fist. 

Alice and I laughed while Emily stormed down the staircase and into the kitchen. 

"What is going on in here?!" she said exasperated. 

"Your mangy dog attacked me, I think it severed one of my lungs," John answered wildly. 

"Kendall! Out!" Emily commanded, pointing to another screen door with a doggy entrance at the end of the kitchen, Kendall followed orders, "I'm almost done, I just need one more suitcase."

"Alright," I said, "no rush," and Alice nodded vigorously. 

Emily flew up the stairs one more time, leaving the three of us in the kitchen. John walked over to the door in the kitchen that led out to the backyard. He made a funny face, at the screen, taunting the dog. 

"I told you, Kendall... Swift," he said ominously.     

Alice laughed again, while I took a quick tour of Emily's house. I walked into her living room, Alice following me. It was meticulously furnished, carefully placed paintings draped the walls, and the sofas and love seats were specifically color coded. I noticed on the bureau next to the television were placed many family photos, all gorgeously framed. An old looking strip of pictures of Emily's teenage parents was placed in the back, while in the front was a younger looking Emily holding her newborn baby brother. This family was obviously close, they all clearly loved each other, very unlike my own. My family was distant, not physically, but mentally. None of us talked as much as we should, and we never said "I love you" enough, not that I particularly complained.     

"Oooo! Cantaloupe!" John exclaimed from inside the kitchen.

I smiled at Alice, who returned a smirk to me.  Emily came bounding down the stairs once more, this time heaving three large suitcases. I immediately went to help her, taking two cases while she handled one. 

"Thank you," she said, out of breath. 

"No problem," I replied, "so is everything ready?"

"Yeah, I think that's it," she wiped a couple beads of sweat away from her forehead. 

"So let's go, to John's house!" Alice cried as she opened the front door and pranced down the front steps. 

"Okay," I said curiously, "what has gotten into her?" 

"It's the first stage: denial," Emily explained to me as she followed Alice to the car. 

"Girls," I mouthed to John as he walked out of the kitchen with a mouthful of cantaloupe.     

He took a suitcase from my hand and walked with me out to the car, Emily had already popped the trunk and was attempting to shove her suitcase into the car. She had it at the wrong angle, so I took it from her and put it away deep inside the small car. 

"I don't think these are all gonna fit," I said scratching my head and trying to come up with a solution. 

Emily threw up her arms in annoyance, "great! What do I have to leave?!"

"Relax," John said, stowing a large piece of fruit in his mouth, "just put them in the backseat with me and Alice."

"Are you sure? It's gonna get uncomfortable," Emily said earnestly. 

"Yeah, I think we'll make it," John replied tactfully, "besides it's not that far."

"Okay," I started, placing another case into the trunk, "it'll just be one with you guys."

No answer. John had already gotten into the car, leaving the door wide open so I could give him the suitcase. 

"Thank you, again," Emily said smiling, as I finished the business. 

"Don't tell anyone I'm this nice," I said jokingly. 

She giggled as she got into the car, I followed suit and once more the engine roared to life. 

"So, John, where do you live?" Emily asked looking back to see if there were any oncoming cars. 

"Don't you remember?" John said, "you came to my birthday party," he sounded taken aback. 

"I'm sorry, I don't remember that..." she said slowly. 

"Well I guess it's acceptable, considering I never invited you to any of my birthday parties," John said, this was followed by a loud holler of triumph. 

I laughed and so did Emily and Alice, John took another bite of his fruit. 

"How did you even get that open?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, my house didn't have any clean knives..." Emily stated. 

"I went like this," John replied, making a smashing motion with his fist. 

We all laughed again, John was acting very silly today, perhaps it was the anticipation of tomorrow's events. 

"So you smashed it open?" Alice asked still giggling. 

"Like a grape," John replied darkly. 

"So really, John, where do you live?" Emily asked again. 

"Take this left," I said as we approached an intersection of downtown Townsend.

I had been to John's house plenty of times to know how to get there from the next town over. We all lived in Pepperell, Massachusetts, except for Alice and Emily, who both lived in the neighboring town, the one we were in now. 

"Actually, I just remembered," Alice began, "I'm going to need my things too!"

"Ugh," I released. 

"It's fine, Caleb," Emily assured me, "we can just drop my things off at johns and then come back for Alice's."

"Are you sure, I don't want to be a bother," Alice said politely. 

"What, are you not gonna wear clothes on the trip, of course we'll come back for your stuff," I said. 

"I vote we don't get her stuff," said John foolishly, this earned him a hard slap on the arm. 

"Dammit! You made me drop my cantaloupe!" John exclaimed. 

"Oh no!" Alice said sarcastically. 

John pressed a button on the side of his door, and the window rolled down automatically. He reached down, picked up his cantaloupe and chucked it out the window. 

"Are you crazy!" Emily screamed, nearly swerving the car. 

"What?! They're biodegradable, right?" he said nonchalantly, and shrugging his shoulders. 

"You could have killed the guy behind us!" I said turning around to look out the back window. 

The man driving the car behind us was making very obscene motions with his hands, and his wife had a paper back over her mouth, it was very comical. The rest of the car ride to John's house was fun, loud, and quick. We had all taken to singing a song that was playing on the radio together. John the loudest and worst, Emily, gently swaying back and forth, Alice, bouncing up and down, and I was bobbing my head. We reached John's house alive, no thanks to him. His home was painted bright yellow, with white shutters on the windows, which were curtained neatly. A mailbox was nailed into the ground at the foot of his driveway, and it read, "The Barry's, 22". I lived only a couple houses from him, and so did Chris, the three of us all living on the same street.     

John exited the car first, galloping towards his home, he took a ring full of keys out from his pocket and unlocked the front door. He then came back to help me with Emily's suitcases. John and I placed the cases at the bottom of a  staircase, which led into the basement. His cat pranced over to investigate. We walked back up the stairs and out the front door. Both Emily and Alice were waiting outside the car, and when they saw us they got back inside, the engine turned on. I took my spot in the passenger seat, and John next to Alice. Emily slowly backed out of John's driveway. 

"So which way is the fastest to get to Townsend?" Emily asked as we reached John's mailbox again. 

I pointed to the right, and she turned the wheel in the informed way.  "I live on the Harbour, so it's not that far from here," Alice said smartly.     

Alice's house was shabby looking. It's windows were dirty, and the white paint was chipping away. There were no shutters, or wreath on the door, and the doorbell didn't work. It was small and shack-like, the roof only reaching fifteen feet. 

"You guys wait here," Alice said, as she got out of the car and walked up to her house. 

To be completely honest I felt bad for her. She was such a delicate, pretty, and a genuinely nice girl. It wasn't bad that she came from a modest home, it was just that I felt bad because came from a relatively well-to-do family myself. Alice arrived at the car, ten minutes later, with two suitcases of her own. I got out to help her, but she only told me to get back in the car, after a minute of trying to help her, I obeyed. When she finally got back into the car again, Emily started it up. 

She looked at all of us before saying, "now, do we need anything else, before we go?"

I thought about it, racking my brain, "Do we need any food for the RV?" I asked. 

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that," John said lazily. 

"There's a supermarket up the street, we can go there," Emily suggested. 

"Sounds good," I said, tapping my leg to the rhythm of the song on the radio. 

She put the car into gear and tore up the street. We passed a variety of restaurants, gas stations, ice cream shoppes, and barber shoppes. Finally, we arrived at a plaza where a local super market was located. We parked in the the lot closest to it, and exited the car, Alice's door the last to slam shut.

The sliding doors to the market automatically slid open for us as we approached it. Emily took a shopping cart from the several stuck together. 

"Any ideas anyone?" she asked as we progressed into the store. 

"Cantaloupe! Lots of cantaloupe! I plan on spending lots of money on cantaloupe!" John exclaimed. 

I laughed, while Emily and Alice rolled their eyes. 

"We should get cereal, and easy-to-cook food," Alice said intelligently. 

"Good idea," Emily said. 

We found the isle that had easy-to-cook foods in stock. We picked up things like chips, varieties of crackers and snacks, peanut butter and jelly ingredients, popcorn, pasta and different kinds of sauces. John had explained that the RV had a microwave and a stove and oven, and also a mini-fridge, which made our search all the more easier. 

"We should get Ice-Cream," Emily breathed, as she pushed the cart to the frozen foods section. 

We picked up about seven or eight different ice cream selections, also frozen TV dinners. Finally, we reached the fruits section. John threw a very large amount of cantaloupes into the shopping cart, Emily's eyebrows raised to dangerous heights. 

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it," John said assuringly. 

"You better," Alice threatened. 

The lady at the cash register was very nice, she didn't even ask about our selection of fruit. John payed for a majority of all the food, Emily also helped. I promised that when we got back to John's house I would pay them back. Trying to fit all the groceries in with Alice's suitcases proved a difficult task indeed. After many do-overs and retries we finally figured out the solution: John and Alice were to sit with the groceries.     

The road home was easy, Emily had remembered the way back, so she no longer asked for directions. She yawned loudly, and looked at the clock on her dashboard, and read aloud that it was six forty-two. 

"I'm kinda tired," she said, "I haven't had a coffee all day, does anyone mind if I make a stop a Dunkin Donuts?" 

We all agreed that it was okay for her to do whatever she pleased with her own car. We were just along for the ride, John pointed out. The next Dunkin Donuts was down the street, and it was the same one that John, Chris and I all went to this morning. Now that I remembered it, I left my Iced Tea in Chris's truck.      Emily's car pulled into the Drive-thru lane and rolled it's way up to the familiar speaker box. 

"Does anyone want anything," Emily asked. 

"No," we all answered at once.

"Alright then," she said slightly frowning, "hi, can I please have a hazelnut iced coffee?" she said to the box. 

"Of course," the box voiced, "just pull up to the next window, please."

She did as she was told, accelerating to the window labeled "one". This was the window she had to pay at, the next would be the one where she got her drink. The man at the window gave her some change and she accelerated once more, this time to a window labeled "two". The same exact girl who gave Chris the food this morning was still working. She looked a little tired, but still pretty. John let out a gasp, which made both Alice and Emily look at him in disgust. 

"Hey," the girl said, as she handed Emily her drink, "you're the boy from this morning," she was looking at me. 

"And you're the girl from this morning," I said, making her laugh a little. 

"I never did get that call, you know," she said smiling. 

"Yeah sorry, I've been pretty busy," I replied, "and you still seem to be working."

She pouted her lips, "I get off at seven, so 'll be expecting a call," she said. 

"Alright," I said chuckling a bit, "but I left my drink in my friends car, that means I lost your number."

"Well that's no problem," she said still smiling, "I'll just give it to you again."

She turned around and went further into her booth, unseen. 

"Drive, drive now!" I said to Emily, laughing a little. 

She floored it, making sure to leave the resonating sound of a car screech. John, Alice and I all turned around to see the girl poking her head out of the window, with a frown.

"What was that all about?" Emily asked when were halfway down the street. 

"That was Caleb's secret admirer!" John answered, before I could. 

"It wasn't really a secret, dummy!" Alice said. 

"This morning, Chris, john and I all went there and she gave me her number, on my cup of Iced Tea." I said truthfully. 

"Oh," Emily said, "she seemed kind of odd."

"You mean hot!" John said, "Caleb, you realize, you can never go there again. She'll probably spit in your drink or something."

"Yeah, I guess your right."    

The rest of the car ride involved making fun of me and my new girlfriend, the "Dunkin Donut's Girl". I did find it funny, I knew how to be a good sport, but I was more than relieved when we arrived at John's house. John and I took Alice's bags in, while the girls took the groceries. John kicked open the door, and led us all inside. He and I brought the bags down into the basement while Emily and Alice brought the food into the kitchen. We met the girls in the kitchen and started to help put away the groceries.  "So what are we gonna do?" Alice asked, as she skipped over the numerous bags of cantaloupes. 

"I figured we could order a couple of pizzas and watch a movie," John said, the most logical thing he had come up with in hours. 

"That sounds good, but we should order it now though, before any pizza places start closing," I said looking out the window. 

The sky was darkening. It was growing a darker shade of purple from the sun setting. 

"I know Pepperell House has really good pizza," John said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cell phone, "what do you guys want to order?"

We all exchanged looks of wonder. 

"How about a regular cheese, and then a pepperoni," Emily said, looking at everyone's faces, trying to find looks of protest. 

"Alright," John said. 

He ordered the pizzas, but he gave the guy he was talking to a hard time, by telling him not to mess anything up or he'd exact a swift revenge. We all traversed to the basement which was beautifully ornamented. A long couch curved around a large coffee table, a flower pot placed in the middle of it, and a plasma screen television was mounted on the wall across from it all. A pool table was set some five feet behind the couch, and a large bookcase filled with numerous things stood up against the walls. A screen door set at the back of the room led out to the patio, backyard, pool house, and an in-ground pool.     

The girls walked over to one of the bookcases to try and decide what movie to watch, while John and I set up the TV and DVD player. 

"The RV has one of these things, you know," John said as he turned on the TV. 

"Really? Jeez, is your uncle rich or something?" I asked trying to find the power button on the DVD player. 

"No, my uncle's name is Dave," John said laughing at his own joke. 

"Ahh, I get it," I said not laughing. 

"But, all kidding aside," John started seriously, and pressing the power button for me, "he is rich, he wrote some novel for Dungeons and Dragons, and now he's making a lot of money."

"That's pretty cool, well minus the Dungeons and Dragons part," I said. 

"Yeah... Wait 'till you see the RV..." John said somberly. 

"Why, what's wrong with it?" I asked, "it sounds pretty awesome already."

"You'll see," he said. 

This made me worry. Whenever John got serious, it meant something bad was going to happen, from my experience anyways, and I'd known him for a long time. 

"Hey guys," Alice called from somewhere to our right, "how does a horror movie sound?"

"Great," John answered joyously, "which one?"

"I don't know those kinds of movies all to well," Emily said, as she scanned the bookshelf. 

John abandoned the television and walked over to the shelf next to Emily, and began helping her look for a movie. 

"How does a Freddy movie sound?" he said after a minute of looking. 

"That's fine, I'm probably gonna fall asleep halfway through it anyways," Emily said yawning loudly. 

"What about your coffee?" Alice asked. 

"Oh, it's gonna take a lot more than one coffee to keep me awake," Emily said derisively. 

The doorbell rang, making the sound of grandfather clock chimes. 

"That must be the pizza," I said leaving the TV and making my way to one of my suitcases, "I guess I did leave my stuff here," I said to anyone listening. 

"That was fast," John said slightly amazed. 

I intended on paying for the food with my own money, considering John and Emily payed for the groceries. I skipped two steps at a time going up the staircase to the foyer. As soon as I opened the door the pizza guy thrusted the food into my arms with a force that knocked me backwards and into the railing. 

"Those are so hot!" he cried waving his hands and hopping a little.  He was right, the pizzas were extremely hot, it didn't really bother me all that much though. The smell of the food wafted under my nose, causing me to sniff loudly. 

"That'll be twenty-four ninety-five," the guy said, regaining some of his dignity. I extended my arm and dropped the money that included a tip into his outstretched hand. 

"Thanks a lot man!" he said as he practically galloped his way back to his shabby looking car. 

"He was really weird," I said mumbling to myself as I shut the door and started on the stairs to the basement. 

"I smell something good!" John stated, coming over to meet me and help with one of the boxes. 

"Careful, they're hot," I said, setting down the box in my hands on the table between the TV and the sofa. 

"It looks good," Alice said, her mouth watering. 

"I'll go get plates," John said, reluctant to leave the pizzas. 

"Don't worry, they're still gonna be here when you get back," I said noticing John's face at the staircase.  His expression loosened heartily and his steps bounced as he went up the stairs. 

"Maybe... I'm starving..." Emily said under her breath, while she took a slice out of the box of cheese pizza. 

"Jeez! Are you like, pregnant or something," Alice breathed, hearing Emily's comment. 

My head shot up, my eyebrows arched, and my throat almost choked on my own saliva, all of this going unnoticed. 

"Oh, please..." Emily replied laughing, "and who would be the father?"

Alice looked like she was thinking, her hands on her hips and her foot lightly tapping without rhythm. 

"What about Danny?" she said after some time. 

"Danny who?" Emily said covering her mouth. 

My eyebrows were now reaching new found heights. 

"Danny Gray!" Alice said. 

"Oh! Danny?! No, we never..." Emily's voice trailed off, only to return a few seconds later, "although... There was that one time-"

I hadn't blinked in over two minutes, my eyebrows were now lost in a sea of hair, and my teeth were clenched so hard I thought they might shatter. 

"Em?!" Alice cut her off.

"Who wants plates?!" John yelled bounding down the stairs and coming to destroy the awkward moment.

No one responded. Alice was locked by the eyes with Emily, who only returned her gaze stupidly. I had taken to staring unblinkingly at the decorative flowers placed in the middle of the table set before me. 

"What's going on?" John asked almost as awkwardly as the conversation he had just missed, "never mind, I don't care. Look I got plates with little pieces of fruits on them. So when you finish your meal, you have more food to stare at!"

This broke the silence between us three, but for some reason I couldn't find my appetite anymore.      The rest of the night went by smoothly. After completely exhausting herself from screaming, Emily had fallen asleep on the couch, just as predicted. Alice wasn't awake much long after, she had given one last hearty scream of horror and fell asleep almost instantly. John and I stayed up to watch the rest of the movie, although our yawns and noisy stretching drowned it out. John was snoring almost as soon as the screen went black with the credits slowly rolling upward. I took my place of rest on the floor next to the couch, above me laid Emily, completely blanketed and sleeping, curled up like an armadillo. Alice was further ahead on the couch, sleeping serenely, and in the same position. John was sleeping soundly on the floor with me, but on the other side of the table, crammed between that and the sofa.     

I couldn't get Emily off my mind. What had she done with Danny Gray? I didn't even know that they had dated. It seemed that as well as I thought I knew Emily -through all the years, starting from the third grade- there were still things unknown about that girl. What was the there to find out? and what if I did find things out and didn't like them? I was deathly afraid of changing my feelings for Emily Matthews.     

The sun rays woke me up the next morning. They shoved their beams of light through my closed eyelids, making me see everything around me in the color red. Another one of my senses was acting strange too, my nose was smelling something... something delicious. I sat up, feeling my back crack. Maybe sleeping on the floor wasn't the best idea, I thought as I looked around to my surroundings. John was snoring only three feet away from me, the coffee table between us, but I wasn't really focused on that. The girls were missing, both of their stations riddled with blankets and strewn about pillows.     

Now standing, and the blood now circulating to my brain, I could see the situation clearly. A wonderful aroma, the girls missing, John drooling profusely could only mean one thing: the girls were cooking breakfast, and John was never gonna wake up. I walked to the staircase, slowly, and scratching myself. The doorbell rang, causing John to let out a whelp. 

"OJ Simpson is innocent!" he cried, his eyelids half open and spittle covering his mouth. 

"I'll get it!" I yelled incoherently. 

My legs didn't want to move, they were more asleep than I was, but still I trudged onwards, up the stairs and to the door. Chris and Lauren stood under the threshold, both wearing broad grins.  "Hope we didn't miss breakfast!" they both said at the same time.  I would have shut the door in their faces if it wasn't for the fact that my arm holding the door had fallen asleep at that exact moment. 

"Me either," I mumbled as I walked up the short staircase to the living room and then kitchen. 

"We planned that," Chris said somewhere in the background. 

The girls were playing old, rag time music as they cooked, probably one of John's mother's old records. Eggs and pancakes were being tossed into the air to the sound of Emily humming and Alice singing. 

"I think I'll help," Lauren said over the sound of sizzling bacon. 

"Oh, please," Alice said a little too loud for my eardrums, "we need someone to watch the pancakes."

"You boys just go into the living room and wait," Emily said pointing a finger to the hallway. 

"Okay mom," Chris said, making Emily smile sarcastically. 

I followed Chris out of the kitchen, scraping my feet across the floor. 

"Dude, you look like crap, did you just wake up?" he said from over his shoulder, as we reached the sofa of the living room. 

"What time is it?" I said, sitting down and ignoring his question. 

"It's about eight forty-five," Chris said looking at his phone for conformation. 

"In the morning?" I questioned further. 

"Well the sun does come up in the morning," Chris replied sassily. 

It was too early to rack my brain for a comeback so I merely sat there with a blank stare. John came up the stairs, almost zombie-like. His long hair was disheveled and sticking up at odd ends, instead of its normal wavy pattern. He sat down next to me and sighed horribly. 

"What time is it?" he asked slowly. 

"The morning," I said. 

"Jeez, when did you guys go to sleep?" Chris asked, now concerned. 

"The night," John replied sullenly. 

"Okay, well, I'm going to go and help the girls," Chris said after a minute of silence, "let me know when you guys wake up."    

It was some time before we actually did. John went back to sleep, while I stared at the curtains in front of me like they were disappearing before my eyes. Finally, as if a wave of water splashed over my face, I was awake. My sight became clearer, the aromas of breakfast became sharper, and my limbs were no longer limp. I got up from the couch and made my way to the kitchen. 

"It smells great in here," I said as I walked in. 

The music, singing and humming all stopped. Now the only sounds in the place were the clinking of plates and utensils. 

"You came just in time," Alice said, traipsing her way towards me with plates of bacon and waffles, "you can carry these."

She shoved the things into my hands and forced me back out of the kitchen and into the dining room. Chris followed me not long after, he too was carrying dishes full of breakfast foods. 

After we set the plates and bowls down he said, "So, when are we leaving?"

John came waltzing out of the living room at that precise moment, his hips swaying like a ballerina. 

"I smell bacon!" he sang.

"Somebody's awake..." Chris said emphatically under his breath.     

The girls arrived in the dining room almost ten minutes later, all carrying trays of food. The smell of the food waged war under my nose with John's morning breath. 

"What's with all the food?" Chris said taking a plate from the stack next to the perfectly diced hash browns. 

"It's the last time we're gonna be home for a while," Emily started, fixing a plate for herself, "we thought it would be nice to have a good memory of this place while we were gone."

"That makes sense," I said nodding my head. 

"So, let's eat," John said, taking up a fork and gouging a steaming sausage. 

After a minute or two of listening to mouths chew and the clinking of utensils against plates I looked up to see my company. 

"When does everybody want to leave?" I practically blurted. 

Emily set down her fork and looked at everyone.

"Well, Lauren, Alice and I all discussed on leaving after breakfast," she said. 

Something seemed different about Emily. I couldn't tell what it was, she looked the same, I just felt different about her, but nonetheless I nodded my head and looked around for complies. 

"That's so soon..." Chris said looking at his plate. 

"What?" Lauren said, waving a butter knife in the air, "don't you want to leave?"

"Of course I do," Chris began, "it just all feels too unreal..."

"I know what you mean," I said through a mouthful of eggs, "two months ago, this trip felt like a lifetime away, and now it's finally here."

Chris nodded his head with agreement. 

"Don't talk with your mouthful," Alice said sternly. 

"Sorry."

"John, you haven't said a word," Emily said from across the table, "are you okay?"

John looked up, his face gave me the sense that he wasn't paying attention to the conversation at all. 

"Oh yeah, Emily, the food is great," he said hypnotically. 

"John, when do you want to leave?" Emily said, ignoring his comment. 

"Leave for what?" Chris threw his arms up in obvious annoyance.

John looked thoroughly bewildered. 

"Leave for the trip, the road trip, John," Lauren said, keeping focus on Chris. 

"Oh that... Well, I'll go when everyone else wants to go," John said returning to his breakfast. 

Chris arms reached higher heights this time. 

"So it's settled!" I said loudly, just as Chris opened his mouth to say something, "we'll leave after breakfast. When everybody is ready of course."

Emily's eating utensils hit the table with a resonating clang, and her chair scraped against the floor, creating a grinding sound. 

"I call the bathroom first!" she yelled dashing away from the table and running down a hallway adjacent to the staircase. 

"I'll get her plate," I said, picking up my own, having been done with breakfast also.     

The sun and the sky had resumed their weather rituals from the day before, the heat being borderline unbearable. I stood up against the door to John's garage that, at the moment, harbored a jet black Cadillac. Another garage was set far into John's backyard, this one being much larger, and holding in it; his uncle's RV. Chris and John were both kicking around a stray basketball, both looking bored. Our bags were taken outside, sitting in the hot sun. We were all waiting for the girls, who were, when we left, fighting over the bathroom. 

"I don't get why Lauren has to use the bathroom," Chris said abruptly, "she used it before her and I left today."

"You know girls..." I said, trailing off. 

Chris nodded his head absentmindedly. John rocked back and forth on his feet, waiting for Chris to kick the ball back to him. A loud crashing noise came from from inside the house, then a cry of pain. I, being closest to the door, ran inside to inspect the happenings. Emily had fallen down the stairs, one of her suitcases at the bottom of the staircase. I made my way to her as fast as I could, all the while she was making noises of utter pain. I yanked the suitcase off of her, and helped her to her feet, slowly. 

"Are you okay?" I asked as she shook her arm, probably trying to see if it still worked. 

"Yeah, I think so," she said, now looking directly at me, "thank you."

"No problem," I said smiling broadly. 

Alice and Lauren came bounding to the top of the stairs. Alice had curlers in her hair, and Lauren was actively using her toothbrush. 

"What happened?" Lauren said, barely audible over the brushing.  

"I fell..." Emily said, taking a suitcase and starting to heave it to the door. I helped her again, taking up the suitcase that fell on top of her. 

"Where's the other one?" I said. 

"I'll come back for it," she said lazily.    

After an hour of waiting with baited breath, Alice and Lauren finally emerged from the house, both carrying large suitcases.  John gave a yelp of joy as he kicked the basketball as far as he could. Chris ran over to help his girlfriend with her bags, and I did the same for Alice. John led us to the garage with the RV in it, he was skipping merrily. 

"Can you guys believe it," I said, almost out of breath from carrying Alice's bag. 

"I know, it's crazy, we're finally here," Lauren said from somewhere behind me. 

"We've been planning this for, like, two years," Chris said jovially. 

"This is it!" John exclaimed from some ten yards ahead of us. 

He looked around the large garage door, feeling all of its parts. 

"What are you doing?" Emily asked curiously.  It took John a moment to answer, he was still feeling around the door. 

"This door has a code to open it," he finally said, "I just can't find the... Ah, here it is!" 

His hand slid over a lid covering, and he lifted it. He punched in the code, and the garage door started ascending, making loud creaking noises. A large motor vehicle was slowly sliding into view, making Chris give a sarcastic "Ooooo" noise. The door was finally open, and our two year old plans were finally in perspective. This was going to happen.     

"This is it?" Alice said, sounding a little let down. 

"What's wrong with it?" I asked. 

Alice walked to the side of the RV, looking at it intently. 

"What does 'NiteRunner' mean?" she said looking at the loopy writing on the side of the vehicle. 

"Oh, that," John said, walking to meet her, "my uncle wrote for Dungeons and Dragons, and, I guess this was the name of the transportation his character used."

"Why is it purple?" Chris asked half laughing. 

"I'm not sure I want to be seen riding in a purple bus," Emily said, also betraying a laugh. 

John sighed and shook his head, "Look, do you want to see the inside, or what?" 

"Of course!" I said. 

"Well, first, we should put our bags away," John said, "over here."

He brought us further into the garage, but he was still facing the RV. He pulled a latch and brought up part of the van, then pointed to it. 

"This is where you put your stuff," he said, stowing away his own things. 

"But what if we need to get some things while we're on the road?" Lauren asked. 

"Then I suggest you bring essentials and such into the RV," John replied. 

Lauren nodded vigorously, and began to sort her things. We all followed suit, and after about fifteen minutes, we had sorted all that needed to be sorted. John opened the door to the van, and hopped inside, leaving it ajar for us. I was the third one in, after Emily, and before Chris. The inside of the RV was beautiful, it was enormous too. Leather trimmings decorated the lavished furnishings, the rug was the color of gold with maroon endings. Closets were installed after large boothed tables, and a sink sat next to an oven and microwave. Another section was curtained off, with dark purple drapes. 

"Let me show you guys around," John said, moving over to the driver and passenger seats in the front of the vehicle, "this is the cockpit. This is where all the driving takes place," he pointed to the steering wheel, "oh, and it can be sectioned off, so the driver and passenger can have private conversations," he pulled a sliding glass door out from the wall, and then tugged on the curtains to make the other side unseeable. He then took us to the middle of the RV where he opened a closet. 

"This is where we can put our clothes, and other sundries," he said intelligently, "also a TV swings out of here," he pressed a bright red button on the inside of the closet and a plasma screen television swung out on hinges. 

"This is awesome!" Chris voiced, admiring the TV. 

"Agreed," Lauren said in awe. 

"Over here is the table and booth, where you can eat food, to a nice view," he said pointing to a currently curtained window behind the booth, "it only sits four, though..." John said moving farther down the isle, "and to our left is a couch, this extends, by the way, a bed comes out of it." he pulled on a lever from the side of the brown leather couch, a large window behind it.

The bed that spawned from the couch completely leveled Lauren, sweeping her off her feet and sending her on a long descent, as the bed was on the floor, finally she hit the ground with a loud thud. 

"Sorry about that," John said nonchalantly, after Chris helped Lauren to her feet, and all the laughter died down, "over here is, essentially, the kitchen," he now brought us to the sink, oven and microwave, "I imagine this will come in handy."

"No kidding... This place is amazing!" I said excitedly, while looking up at the ceiling. 

A ladder on the side of the closet we saw before was reaching an unopened latch. It looked like the latch opened a kind of door on the ceiling, which would eventually lead to the roof. 

"And back here..." John said, lifting the purple drape at the back of the van a bit, "this is where the magic happens, this is the bedroom!"

He pulled back the curtain completely and revealed a very large bed, nightstand, lamp and three windows.  The bed was in the shape of a circle, and wasn't high of the ground at all, and the nightstand was placed adjacent to the lamp which stood in the corner of the room, the windows were stationed at all three walls. 

"Oh, my," Emily gasped. 

"This is so cool," Alice breathed. 

"Is there a bathroom anywhere?" I asked over the awes. 

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot," John said slapping his forehead. 

He brought us back out to the middle of the RV and stopped next to the kitchen area. Another closet was set next to it, and John opened it and showed us all the inside. 

"Well obviously, there is a toilet and a sink and mirror," he said waving his hands absentmindedly. 

"No shower..." Lauren whispered to herself, but just audible enough for us all to hear.

"No, there is one," John said reaching for a lever on the side of the toilet. 

Something clanged outside. 

"That was the shower head," he said, peeking his head out of the window he just opened, "a curtain pulls out so no one can see you."

"That's great!" Alice exclaimed, "but, where does all the water come from?"

"Oh, we're gonna have to fill the water tank up when we're on the road," I said putting the latch back to its normal position. 

"So this is it," John said, walking out of the bathroom, and holding out his arms as if to hug. 

"I can't wait any longer," I said, finally letting go of my breath, "we need to leave now!"

"Seconded!" Chris exclaimed, he was now heading towards the cockpit. 

"What makes you think you're driving," Emily said suddenly. 

Chris turned around, his face was showing signs of sarcastic confusion. 

"Because," he said smirking. 

"Fine!" Emily said briskly, "I'll drive next!"

"How about we come up with a schedule," Lauren said smartly. 

"Good idea," I interrupted, "but, we'll come up with one later, let's just get this thing on the road first!"

New York

The town of Pepperell was blurring by right before my eyes. Family owned businesses, separated by large trees, were whizzing away, giving me a sentimental feeling. This would be the last time I this place for a long time, but at least my last memory would be a good one. Leaving this town was easy, considering it wasn't very large, the population was somewhere around five thousand, and we had, as I remember it, two stop lights, both being on the only two roads out of the town. Our van, at the moment, was sitting in front of one, engine raring.  

Chris was a very good driver, but sometimes he drove a little hectic; taking wide turns and speeding up before them. 

"Chris, relax," Emily said from the passenger seat, "take this left."

He followed orders, making sure to take the turn slowly and cautiously. Lauren and I were distributing the groceries that Emily and John had bought to their rightful places, while John and Alice had started putting their clothes away into the closets.

"So what are the sleeping arrangements?" Lauren asked as she leaped over the copious amounts of cantaloupe. 

"I call the bed!" Alice yelled from the bedroom, she was putting away her clothes in the bedroom closet. 

"You can't just call the bed!" John exclaimed, "you don't even have its number."

I laughed and so did Lauren. 

"Look," I said after I caught my breath, and I had successfully placed all the chips into a cupboard according to color, "how about the girls take the bedroom, and the boys take the... well, whatever this is,"

I didn't know what to call where we stood. 

"This is the foyer," John said slowly, his eyes were extremely wide at the moment, "and no! I want the bedroom!"

"Alright," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "as long as it's okay with the girls..."

Lauren and Alice both said "no!" at the same time, Emily came in a little late with hers. 

"Hey Caleb!" Chris called to me from the cockpit, "any idea where we're going?"

"Can you hang on? I'm kind of in the middle of something," I called back, I was now working on the fruits.

"Do you just want me to pull over?" Chris said. 

"No, just keep driving!" I tried to remove five cantaloupes from the same bag at one time, one of them fell out of my arms and landed on my foot,

"OWWW!" "Oh, let me help..." Lauren said sweetly, picking up the fallen fruit, "do we even have a place for all of these?"

"Yes," John said immediately, "we can put them in the bedroom."

"Those are not going in my room!" Alice yelled from behind the purple curtain. 

John's mood had dropped a considerable amount after that comment. After Lauren and I finished with the groceries, I traded places with Emily in the front seat next to Chris. I brought the map that I had lodged in one of the bags that I had stowed onto the RV. This was a map of all the major highways throughout the country, it would have been easier to use my smart phone, but this just felt better, adventurous almost. 

"Dude, that thing's huge," Chris said taking his eyes off the road for a split second. 

From somewhere in the back of the RV I heard John call out, "That's what she said!" 

"I know," I said ignoring John and unfolding the map. 

If placed against the RV's windshield, the map would have blocked it out, making anything out of it impossible to see. 

"I just need to find where we are," I said, taking my finger and tracing the highways. 

"I think we're over here..." Chris said, his head tilted, to look at the part of the map that landed in his lap. 

"Thanks," I replied, flipping the side he had over to me. 

I reached into the pocket of my jeans and took out my black sharpie marker, it was slightly warm. Finding the spot that Chris had indicated, I then drew a small circle over it, marking the spot, that way it would be easier to find again.

"So, where to?" Chris asked, rhythmically tapping on the steering wheel. 

"I remember Em saying she wanted to go to New York first," I said, still looking down at the map, "the best highway to take is coming up in a few miles."

"Alright, keep me updated," Chris said, fiddling with the radio system, "what is this," he then said coming across a peculiar button. 

"I've got no idea," I said, "press it."

He gave me several looks of apprehension, his hand still on the button, until finally, I pressed it. A light next to button flashed red for a second. I pressed the button again, longer this time, and the light remained red for as long as I held the button.  

"What do you think it is?" I asked, what seemed like twice, as my voice sounded throughout the entire van. 

"I think it's like some kind of megaphone," Chris said, pressing the button himself and humming. 

His throaty noise carried through the vehicle, proving his theory. 

"What is going on in here?" Lauren came striding into the cockpit, her arms crossed. 

"We found a PA system," I answered lightly. 

"That's great..." she said, quickly seizing the button, "John get out of my room!" 

From somewhere in the back of the RV came a loud groan of dismay.    

The next couple of miles consisted mainly of Chris and I repeating rude phrases into the PA speaker, which we found on the dashboard. On the third time that Chris had said, "John's mother was a trollop," Emily threw her shoe at us, causing me to laugh so hard I thought I was going to burst. The exit that we had to take would come within the next mile, according to the green signs on the side of the road anyway. I got up from my seat next to Chris, which made him look up. 

"Don't leave me here, all alone," he said sadly. 

"I'm sorry," I began, "but, take the next exit, that's the one we need to go on."

"Alright..." he said in a low tone. 

I walked out of the cockpit, leaving Chris alone. The sun shone through all the windows of the RV, making me squint and raise my hand to shield my eyes. John was sitting on the couch with Emily, while Alice and Lauren sat at the table playing with a deck of cards. 

"Will someone go and keep Chris company," I said, "he's pretty lonely."

"I can't go," Lauren said, her eye on her hand of cards, "I have a great hand," she then clapped her free hand to her mouth. 

"Fold..." Alice said solemnly, "I'll go hang out with Chris."

She got up from her seat, leaving her assorted cards on the table, face up. I saw that it was a very bad hand indeed, that is, if they were playing poker. Alice disappeared behind the curtain of the driver's quarters, her hair giving one last flick. John got up from the couch, stretched, and finally sat back down, this time next to me. Emily followed his example, planting herself next to Lauren. 

"So, what are we playing?" John asked. 

"Poker," Lauren announced, "do you guys want to play?"

"Yeah!" Emily said with more enthusiasm than needed. 

I opted to play, seeing as my only other option was sitting and watching from the couch. 

"Okay," Lauren began, "two's are high, and aces are low."

"Wait! Wait!" John slapped his hand on the table before Lauren could begin dealing out cards. 

"What now, John?" Emily said, slightly smiling.  John looked at Emily with such an expression that even gave me shivers. He stared at her for a mere ten seconds, then turned to Lauren and began to speak. 

"I want to up the anti, just a smidge," his expression had lightened, and his chiseled jaw heartened and relaxed. 

"I'm not getting naked," Emily said flatly. 

Apparently the unspoken altercation between her and John hadn't phased her in the slightest. Ignoring Emily,

John elaborated on his idea, "if we win, then we get the bedroom, if we lose we stay here, in the foyer."

Emily let out an audible gasp, and I highly anticipated Lauren's reaction, however, it was not what I expected. 

"Who's we?" she said. 

"Boys versus girls, as it should be," John replied darkly, and glaring at me from the corner of his eye. 

What ever he meant by that I will never understand. So shaking off his strange remark I instead asked if he was sure about this decision, for I knew Lauren was especially good at playing cards. 

"Of course I'm sure," he said haughtily, "we've got nothing to lose, we're already here."

Lauren took one look at Emily who nodded hesitantly, then said, "your on."    

I had drastically regretted ever deciding to play cards with John and Lauren, they were the two most competitive people I knew, and it wasn't until the second game of poker that the couch began looking more and more comfortable. 

"Keep your eyes to yourself!" John yelled at me.  

I had glanced at Emily for a second to see if she was just as unsure about this as I was. She was indeed. 

"They are the enemy right now!" John continued. 

"Just relax, your causing a scene," I said snidely. 

"Is that- is that sass?" he set down his cards, "I don't  have time for sass, Caleb, I need to win this bedroom so we can sleep comfortably tonight."

"I don't really think it's that important, I mean, the whole reason we're here is to just be together, right," I said sincerely. 

"Hippie," John muttered, returning to his cards. 

I saw Emily giggle with laughter from the corner of my eye. Seeing her smile lifted my spirits, and just watching her laugh frustrated I became. It wasn't until my name came up in a hushed conversation behind me that I decided to come back to reality. 

The Promise

New York was beautiful. We finally arrived after six hours of driving and at last it felt like this trip was finally happening. Reaching the first destination was the first step, and now that it was complete we all felt accomplished. However, the each of us celebrated this accomplishment in very different ways.    

Emily and Audrey celebrated by splurging their money on fine clothes and different arrays of cheap jewelry. Chris and Lauren spent their time at a wax museum, taking silly pictures and such. While, John and I milled about the city, taking in all it's views and sounds. We all agreed to meet back at Central Park in a couple of hours.    

The rain from before seemed to cease just as we reached the outer reaches of the capital, which made walking that much nicer. The sky was darkening drastically now, and the sun was on its last legs. John and I were lazily walking through Times Square and filling our eyes with all the colorful billboards and advertisements. 

After about a half hour of walking and taking in the sights, I began thinking of Emily again. I couldn't help myself. I just knew that somewhere in this city she was there, and I hoped and wished that she was thinking of me. But, in the deep recesses of my mind I knew she wasn't. I knew how she really felt about me. We were just friends, and she had no problem with that, but I did.   

"So what's going on with you and Audrey?" John asked from somewhere to my right.

We were walking right in front of the building from where the city drops the ball on New Year's Eve. A pipe was protruding out of the wall next to us, and as we passed it, it threw up a billow of smoke. It was a putrid smell, and caused me to crinkle my nose and wipe tears out of my eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said truthfully.

"Sure you don't," John retorted, "I saw the way you two were in the RV together."

"Okay, now I really don't know what you're talking about." What was he trying to get at? I asked myself.

"I just think you might really ruin your chances with Emily, if you mess around with Audrey."

"Oh," I sighed, "you think there's something going on between us?" He nodded, and I continued, "I can assure you, that nothing at all is going on. And nothing ever will."

"I'm not telling you what to do, man," John said, holding his hands up and shrugging, "I'm just saying, be careful."    

I had no idea what he was talking about. To be honest I didn't care either. Audrey was the farthest thing from my mind. All I cared about was Emily, Audrey was just a friend.    

"Anyways," John began, "how are you and Emily?"

Could he read my mind? John was very insightful when he wasn't making jokes out everything. I didn't know how to answer him without telling the truth. I couldn't see myself getting out of the conversation without telling him what was actually going on.

"I don't know exactly," I said as I pressed the walk button on the stoplight, "things are sort of complicated."

"Try me," he offered.

"Okay," I said playing along, "you know how we dated, right?"

"Yeah, one of the greatest love stories of all time, I know," he replied sarcastically.

Ignoring his comment I pressed on. Nobody had heard this story before. As far as I knew, Emily and I were the only ones who knew the full tale.

"It all started in the third grade," I said, and he nodded quietly, "I first met her in Mrs. Day's science class. She was the new girl, and by far the prettiest I had ever seen. I knew even from then, that one day she would be mine."

"So far, this story sounds a bit stalker-ish," John said laughing at his own joke.

"Then, she finally was," I continued, again, ignoring him, "in sophomore year I asked her to be my date to the fall semi-formal. She agreed, and from there we dated for three full months. The best three months of my life."    

As we crossed the street all of those old memories began flooding back to me. I remembered Christmas at her parent's house, dinners at my family's home. I remembered all the long hugs, and sweet kisses, and even her scent wafted under my nose. The simple smell of cherry bliss, the perfume I had gotten her for her birthday before we started dating. I missed her, more than John or even I could imagine. It was like my heart yearned to relive those days. To be a part of something more than myself again. Emily Matthews wasn't just a girl to me. John couldn't see how I really felt. To him it probably seemed like I just had to get over it, move on. That a three month relationship was nothing. To me however, that relationship may has well of been years long.    

"We broke up before my basketball season started. We made a promise to each other that we would get back together after it was over. We both had really big tests coming up, and, I couldn't focus on everything at once. She understood, and we broke it off. We never got back together though, obviously."

"But that's why we're on this trip," John said quietly, "this is your chance to get her back."

"That's what I thought at first," I answered him, "but I just found out she dated someone else." John didn't answer.

I took his silence as a moment to think. I thought about the break-up. What was said, how it was said. I began to analyze every detail as if I were some CIA operative and it was my mission.    

I stood in the doorway of her room. I was back two years in the past. The window was dark and a glare sent light rays into my eyes. She was cleaning off her bed so I could sit down. I couldn't help but smile as she threw laundry into the open closet a few paces away. Her hair was flicking sharply behind her as she moved faster and faster.

"I was just made a captain of the team," I said excitedly.

"Really?" she had stopped cleaning and turned around to look at me, "Caleb, that's great! You've always wanted that."

She set down a pair of pants that were about to be thrown into the heap and embraced me with such a long hug. The smell of cherries filled me with a swelling sensation.

"Sorry, I'm really sweaty," I said as she hugged me tighter.

"I don't care," she said into my ear.

I took her by the arms and kissed her. Not just any kiss, but one that made my heart stop beating for a moment. When I finally released her she breathed a deep sigh.

"I really have to study," she said after some time, "I have a huge bio test tomorrow, and I need your help."

"Of course," I said, setting my book bag down on her floor.    

She motioned for me to sit next to her on the bed, patting an empty space and beckoning me forward with her hand. I sat down expecting to be bombarded with school materials. I was right. Immediately she showered me with biology books, notes, papers, pencils, basically the entire contents of her school bag.

"Ouch!" I cried as a particularly large book fell onto my hand.

"Sorry!" she said. For a moment her hand touched mine, and our eyes locked. I could feel the beginnings of a smile working its way across my face.

"I really do have to study," she said softly.

"You've been studying a lot lately."

"I have a lot to study for."

"Maybe you can do it later."

"No," she whispered, "I have to do it now."

I frowned. Emily looked at me with her big brown eyes. I loved those eyes.

"Will you help me?" she asked.

"I honestly can't. I don't know anything about biology."

Now she frowned. I averted my eyes, scared to look into hers.

"We have a lot on our plate," I said, standing up, "I just became a captain, and you just got a job. And we both have a lot to study for."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, there won't be a lot of time for us to see each other. In between everything, the only time we'll be together is in the hallways at school."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Don't put this all on me," I said, and I couldn't believe my own ears after I said it.

"I'm not putting anything on you," she answered quickly, "it sounds like you want to take a break."

I didn't answer her. I was at a loss for words. How could she figure me out so quickly?

"Look, Caleb," she said, taking me by the hands, "I understand where you're coming from. It's like, all of the sudden we have all this responsibility. I'm overwhelmed too."

I looked into her saddened eyes. A tear was welling up and beginning its way down her cheek. I wiped it away as she continued to speak.

"Maybe a break is the best decision right now. If our relationship is meant to be, then we'll get back together."

"I hate that phrase, 'meant to be'," I said laughing a little.

"Then how about this," she said, holding my hands tighter, "after your season is over, we'll get back together. All of the stress should be gone by then."

"Promise me, Emily. Promise me we'll get back together."

"I promise. I love you."    

A beeping car horn brought me back to my senses. John and I were standing at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to tell us to go. I stuck my hands in my pockets just as the rain began to pick up again. My mind was still reeling, but as I thought more and more about Emily, I realized something. She was the one who broke our promise. She said we would get back together after my basketball season ended.    

"You said she dated someone else," John said from my right.

"Yeah," I said, not really paying attention.

"Was it Danny Gray?" I felt a jolt of energy surge through my brain. John knew about him? why hadn't he ever told me?

"Yes, yes it was," I said, more interested, "how did you know?"

John turned his head. It appeared as though he did not want to answer my question. It was especially odd because he brought up the topic himself.

"Okay," John started, "I'm going to tell you something, but you can't get mad."

"Just tell me already."

"She dated Danny last year. She wanted to keep everything under wraps, so she only told a couple of people, Audrey and I included," he said, "look, I don't know why she didn't tell anyone else, but, they broke up within a month or two."

"How did I not know about this?" I asked.

"Well, you weren't exactly talking to any of us at the time. You were so caught up with basketball," he said simply, "and, we understood that it was important to you," he added when he saw my face, "she told us not to say anything, and at first we didn't know why. But, now it makes sense, she didn't want to tell you because you were probably under the impression that you two were gonna get back together."    

My mouth slacked. In fact, I could feel my whole body go numb. I sat down on the curb right before the crosswalk light turned green. A quo of people walked in front of me, bumping my sides. I didn't care, all I could think about was what John just told me.    

Once the people crossed the street and the light turned red again, John sat down beside me. He put an arm around my shoulder and patted me on the back.

"I'm sorry man," he said, "but maybe it's time you got over her . . ."

"But, you just told me that this was the reason we were on this trip, I have to get her back."

"I know, I know . . . and I'm sorry, but, I don't think Emily feels the same way."    

John was right. I couldn't deny it. If Emily didn't have the decency to tell me things were over, then she wasn't worth my time. She wanted to lead me on, she wanted to make me feel like I still had a shot. She was playing games with my head, and quite frankly, I was done playing.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.08.2012

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