Walk With Me

5

"Which high-school are you going to?" I asked.

"Red Brooke."

"You went to Red Brooke Junior, right?"

He nodded.

"That's cool. I went to Parkland Heart."

"I've heard of Parkland. My friend goes there. Mike, you know, from camp?"

"Yeah I know. His friend called Maria a burnt candle."

He was silent, looking away, seemingly embarrassed.

"Remember Maria?" I asked. "A darker Hispanic. Tall. One year above us."

"I remember."

"You helped her get with Mike's friend."

"Yeaahhh," he scratched his neck awkwardly.

"You still friends with him? Landon, I mean."

"Landon was a racist piece of shit." A scowl was etched onto his face. "Of course I'm not friends with him."

"He goes to your school, right?"

"Unfortunately," he grumbled. "Since we're not in the same grade, I don't see him often. But still, some of my friends ditch me for him."

"Do you know why?" I asked.

"He's surrounded by girls."

I snorted. "I should've known." A gust of wind messed up my hair, but I wasn't that irritated by it. The day had gotten warmer, to where all I needed was a pair of leggings and I could freely wear a t-shirt without getting cold.

"I don't want school to start," he told me.

"None of us do."

"We still have like three months left, right?"

"According to my calculations, approximately twelve weeks and two days."

"I have a feeling you searched that up beforehand."

"I did."

"Of course," he gave a small smile before digging in his pockets, before turning to me. "Do you have any money on you?"

I blinked. "I think so. Why?"

He pointed down the street. "Look, ice cream truck."

"Oh!" I beamed, watching as the giant white truck came rumbling down the road. A faded nursery song seemed to play in the distance, but really it was just quietly playing from the truck.

I dug in my bag, which was hanging from my shoulder, and handed him two dollars. "Here. It's so rare we get an ice cream truck around here, usually they always came 'round the main cabin at camp."

"Don't remind me," he mumbled, as the truck pulled up. "It was so annoying when we didn't have any money to buy anything. And when kids actually remembered to bring money we'd just sit there realizing that that had been our only chance to buy ice cream for a long time."

"Yeah," I handed the guy in the truck three dollars, and he gave me back thirty cents change and a Sponge Bob popsicle. Levi did the same and got one designed as Batman. "I asked my mom for some money, obviously she said no, and I had to suffer watching them eat ice cream without me. I think Abby had some as well." I gave a dramatic sigh. "She didn't even share."

"I wouldn't either, no offense."

"None taken." I watched as a few kids from houses on the street came out and bought their own share of ice cream and popsicles.