When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 31

So I graduated.

Wait, hold on. First, I cleared out my locker and had to suffer through the entire day of teachers telling us all the bullshit they're used to saying – "You're gonna do great things" and "There are limitless possibilities for you". Then there's the hour of us walking around the cafeteria asking people to sign our yearbooks because. Just because.

I mean, honestly, a lot of people signed my thing. Which surprised me considering I was right next to the Gay/Straight Alliance for the entire time. My soccer people came up. Harper wrote a long message about how awesome of a friend I am. Even Julia came up to sign it. Just her name, though. Wouldn't want anyone to think she still cared.

But she asked me how I was before leaving. And the way she asked it was...weird.

And then I graduated.

Went to the graduation party. They had the gummy things, which made it for me. Seniors tried to pull a "Carrie" moment with white paint on one of the teachers. Oh, and I think Austin Eckleson got someone pregnant because he was drinking on the gym steps muttering to himself when I decided to leave.

Carly Simonson organized the graduation party. Damn, does that girl got talent.

Owen and Paige pretty much left town immediately after graduation, just like they said. I was there when they left. I mean, so was the rest of the Gay/Straight Alliance, but whatever. Owen smashed his phone ("A symbolic gesture of familial rejection." His words.) in the driveway, and everyone congratulated him. No one in his family was there when they left. Paige's parents drove them somewhere, and Harrison followed them with two dining chairs and a couch hanging out the back of his dad's station wagon. Don't know where they went, but they said they'd keep me posted for when I go out with them.

Like, less than a week later, Mom, Dad, and I're on the train to Aberford. It's raining and the train car's hotter than legs in black leather pants in the middle of summer. In a sauna. That's on fire. It's hot, okay?

"Jackson, sit up," Mom grumbles. Probably for the seventh time since the train's started.

I'm stuck to the leather seat covering. But I do anyways. I move my backpack to underneath the seat and people watch while I can. More people get off until we're the only ones in the car. Port Lindsay, Cape Mitchell, and Alabaster Cove go by.

The train shudders, and I look at Dad. "...are we there yet?"

Dad drops the newspaper he's reading. "Morris River's next."

I wanna say I'm in this trance of going through my phone's pictures over and over, but it just makes me sadder the longer I look at it. Pictures of me and Julia're still on it. Me and the soccer team. Before I know it, most of my pictures are deleted, and I have this, like, big sad hole in my heart that hurts when I breathe too deep.

I'm still hoping that I have enough reception to text Rory. I have no bars, but I still hope. I messaged him, like, 4 hours ago before we got on the trains and he hasn't gotten back to me. And look, I get he isn't a fan of being romantic with me in front of his parents (I wouldn't wanna, either). But it's fucking texting. Rory's a good liar. He'll survive.

God, it's so fucking hot on this goddamn train.

Mom hands me some clean, balled-up tissues because I've started dripping sweat. Even she starts dabbing herself.

The train car shudders when it hits an open stretch of track. And then there's South Aberford, almost blacked out because it's so dark. The lake's turned dark blue by the weather, and the wind's kicking up waves. The mountains hang over Aberford like boogeymen waiting to strike.