After Us

Chapter Two

The Town Summer Spong had just begun and Oliver and I decided to not be antisocial for once, and go. It was our first step to having our dream summer. The Summer Spong was a huge end-of-the-year party that was hosted by the Jensens every summer. It had been a tradition since 5th grade however it has changed a lot since then. All the parents used to come and there used to be games, a bouncy castle, face painting, and swimming. Now, no parents are even allowed. Now there are depressed teenagers, alcohol, drugs, and drama from all the high maintenance girls. I used to enjoy it, but now, it just wasn't my thing.

"Thanks for dropping us off Mr. Parker," Oliver says to my dad. He smiles and tells him it's no problem and drives away.  We walked up the endless concrete stairs and I could feel the sun on my back. I just hoped I applied enough sunscreen.

Stephanie Jensen, the host, lurched towards us and I knew she was drunk just by watching her stagger. "Hey you two," she smiled, giving us both a hug. "welcome to the party," she said, her high-pitched voice sounded drunk and scratchy.

Oliver laughed, "Steph how are you already drunk, the Party just began." She swung her cup around and grabbed Oliver's hand.

"Come on, have some fun!" she said, dragging him away to the drinking table. I didn't follow and just stood and smiled. As much as I hated being left alone at parties, the area where the table was placed was surrounded by the school drunks so I didn't bother going near. I looked around making sure I wouldn't bump into Ben or his ex girlfriend tonight. I kept telling myself that if I did, 1st it wouldn't be a problem because I had moved on, but I still hoped I didn't see them, just in case I wasn't emotionally stable enough. I made my way over to a group of kids who I recognized from my math class. I didn't know them too well but we talked about math a few times and they were cool.

"Hey," I awkwardly said.

"Ann hey," Ryan replies. He was never awkward so he was the perfect person to talk to. We barely talked all year so I was surprised he remembered my name.

"I didn't know you came to these." A really smart girl named Jessica said.

"That's because I don't, it's kind of a one-off." I laughed. Ryan smiled and some guy with blond skater hair, who I didn't know standing next to him reached out his hand.

"I'm Conner," he says, saying it almost like he's a local personality I should somehow know.

I shook his hand, "I'm Ann."

I turned away from them and looked behind me to see if Oliver was okay. He and Steph were just laughing and he looked as if he was trying to take a beer bottle away from her. I laughed seeing Oliver trying to fit into such an awkward situation. He was always so genuine and kind to everyone.

"So Ann, are you going anywhere this summer?" Ryan asked.

I turned back around, "I don't think so, not this summer," I say. "Are you?"

"I'm going to Greece with my family for 3 weeks next month." he said. Lucky, I thought to myself. I hadn't been on holiday in so long with my family, my brothers are just always out and would never come anyways.

"I've never been there but it looks amazing."  I try not to kick myself for sounding so stupid and awkward. I bet these two boys and Jessica didn't even notice it but I'll judge myself for anything. Before we could carry on with vacation talk I couldn't help noticing a boy who came up the same stair entrance as I did. He looks super familiar, tall, dark brown eyes and chocolate colored messy hair, wearing black pants and a light blue t-shirt.

"If you're not doing anything this summer and end up staying here you could always come to hang out with me and my friends." Conner offered. I smiled at such a sweet offer. I never get invited to things so I wasn't going to turn down the invitation. Besides, this could be my invitation to a big friend group I've never had.

"Yeah that would be fun,"  I said. I wasn't quite sure who his group was but somebody inviting me to something made my whole year.

Later on, Oliver and I meet up again and this time he looked a little drunk.

I laughed, "You okay Olive?" I ask.

He laughed whilst holding onto my shoulder support to stand. "I can't believe you talked me into coming," he said. I grabbed the cup that he was holding and placed it on a random table nearby. It looked like it was going to tip any minute now. The same boy that I saw earlier that looked familiar walked past.

I turned back to Oliver, "I swear I know that boy," I say quietly making sure 'that boy' didn't hear.

"Where from?" Oliver asked, looking up and down at the boy seeing if he fancied him himself. I nudged him knowing exactly what he was doing. He laughed and looked back down at me.

"I don't know but he looks like somebody I used to know," I said.

"Ann, I know this might sound insane but did you know that you can talk to anyone you would like?" His sarcasm was jerky but still made me smile. We made our way to another random friend group and I got to know some girls who weren't drunk but high, unusual in this crazy town of teenage drinkers. Other than them forgetting about what we were talking about every five seconds, they seem pretty nice.

"So, question," the Blond one starts, "do you consider yourself pretty?'' she asks. I didn't reply and she carried on, "If not, you're lucky. Girls find you a threat if you're pretty. So if you're not pretty you're nobody and you have no shit to worry about."

Her friend next to her laughed, "That's why girls hate us." she smirked and winked. I just smiled to be friendly. The whole night was actually pretty exhausting. Trying to blend in with everybody whilst being friendly fake, was tiring. I said goodbye to the two High girls and Oliver and I made our way back to the entrance and went home. We were both tired but in great moods, because we remembered my mom said Oliver could sleepover tonight, which meant late-night ice cream and movie night.