The Last Summer

Cara

Heather getting a phone number and a promise of a date; good, great even. Amanda going into a sour mood after bumping into someone and getting knocked down; bad. Very bad. Amanda had bad enough mood swings when she was on her period, but this one could give those a run for their money. I’m not saying it’s bad that she was upset about getting knocked down, that’s reasonable, but she went off like a rocket. That was not reasonable.

“Okay how about we all pick a group of three, or four, and then we all go around and look at some of the shops and then we meet up at a restaurant for dinner.” Juliet suggests.

We all agree and split into the groups. Juliet, Sofia, and myself were one. Isabelle, Ruby, and Cameron were another group. Which left Sarah, Lucy, Heather, and Amanda in the last group. I figure that’s alright, I mean if anyone can get Amanda to calm down and relax it’s those three.

The three of us travel down the road and I stop short, nearly letting Sofia and Juliet bump into me, when I see the Logos Books & Records store sign.

“Jeez Cara.” Juliet says. “Can you give us a warning next time?”

“Sorry.” I say turning to face my confused friends. “But I saw books and freaked out for a second.” I point at the sign and Sofia and Juliet smile at each other before the three of us go in. We’re nerds, I’m not afraid to admit it.

“Okay so Maybe it’s not 100% books,” Juliet says, “but it’s still pretty big.”

The three of us split up in the book section and I look through some of the titles. I recognize a few titles, mostly older ones we had to read in high school english classes, but not a lot of more recent releases. I look around a bit more and then bump into a slim figured man.

“Oh I’m sorry.” He says with a half smile.

“No it’s my fault.” I say quickly looking over his shoulder to see Juliet looking at the back cover of a book and making a face. “I was looking for a friend. Found her.” I brush past him and go to Juliet. “‘Sup?”

“I found a really interesting book.” She says quietly.

“What’s it about?” I ask looking at the title. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test?”

"I think it's about teenagers getting high on drugs." Juliet says, her eyes scanning over the back cover once more.

“What kind of drugs?” Sofia asks joining us.

“Probably acid.” I say pointing at the title.

“Oh yeah,” Juliet says, a thoughtful look on her face as she puts it back on the shelf. “I forgot that it was.”

“Oh well.” Sofia says. “I found more weird books like that in here. Not our kind of book store.”

Juliet and myself nod as we head to the exit. I once again bump into the slim figured man. “Sorry again.” I blurt out quickly.

“It’s alright.” He shrugs. “Happens all the time.”

“Jack! New shipment needs unloading.” A voice yells from down the store.

“Coming!” The slim man, Jack, yells back. “Have a good day ladies.”

“Well that was odd.” Juliet says as we travel down the street further.

“I bumped into him before catching up with you guys.” I explain as we pass a street performer.

“Okay.” Sofia says as we cross the street.

For once I’m a little grateful Amanda isn’t here. She’d probably want to read at least one page from that Kool-Aid book and would’ve hinted at something when I mentioned bumping into Jack. Then again she’s probably happy doing something with Heather, Lucy, and Sarah. Knowing those four they’re probably singing songs in some thrift store trying on ridiculous outfits.

“I know we kind of just ate,” Juliet says, “but that Cold Stone is looking pretty nice.”

Sofia and I shrug as we head inside and order some ice cream before heading outside and eating said ice cream happily.