After Us

Chapter Three

    I spent the first week of summer helping Mrs. Gram with her pots and plants. Not a great start but I needed the money. I asked Lora to do it with me but her family was already on a road trip. Lora was my other good friend as well as Oliver. She goes to a different high school but we both try and hang out as much as we can. I've known her since kindergarten and our friendship has never changed.

    I wasn't really thinking of a summer job but a couple days ago I started learning how to drive with my dad and accidentally scratched his car. Luca, my older brother's car to be exact. I told my mom they could just take the money out of my bank account but she told me I needed to earn the money, which made absolutely no sense, and, so here I was.

    "That's right hun, more water for the bigger ones." Mrs. Gram was hovering over me the whole time and I hated it. You would think for an eighty-four-year-old she would be in bed or sitting down but no, not Mrs. Gram. All she cared about was her garden.

    My heartfelt anger boiled as I was digging through the weeds. Here I was doing this dirty summer job. All my other friends and people from school were on vacation and just living their lives.

    The garden gate clicked open and a boy my age stood there wearing black jeans and a hoodie. It was baking hot. I was over heating in shorts and a T-shirt so I couldn't imagine how he felt as overdressed as he was. He probably one of those types, who wore shorts and a T-shirt when it rained or snowed in middle school.

    Mrs. Gram turned around and then back to me, "Oh yes, Annalise this is Josh. He's also is going to help me this summer as well." I was hoping it was just her grandson coming home but instead it was somebody else to hover over my shoulder.

    "Sup," Josh said, walking over to where I was. Mrs. Gram grabbed some more equipment from the shed and Josh started to dig over the garden. I tried to stay positive about him helping me but every positive thought I had vanished when he turned the water hose on and sprayed it all over me. You would think that an apology would have been the first thing he said but instead Josh laughed and said, "Damn this thing can do a lot of shit for only being on for a few seconds." I have two older brothers and one is exactly like him, so I was used to all this. I got up, soaked, and grabbed the watering can. Luckily it already had water in it and Mrs. Gram was inside. I walked past him and poured some of the water onto his hair.

    "Damn," I said, "so can this one."

    "Dude you did that on purpose." he said. He took off his hoodie and underneath it was a green gaming shirt. I just smiled and walked off to the other end of the garden.

    The rest of the days working with Josh were all the same. At the end of each day, I would either be soaked, covered in mud, or plants all over my hair. Worse of all, it wasn't just Josh and I working. There were three more people who joined as the weeks went by. It wasn't even that big of a garden but all these kids needed money the same way I did. There was Nancy and Ruby. Both were in eighth grade and looked like they were nine. They would show up in pink hats and dresses for garden work. Then there was Travis who was a freshman at a different high school. He was Josh's best friend and Josh went to the same school. I soon figured out that Josh was in the grade below but just at a different school, probably the reason why I hadn't recognized him. He would always wear his hoodie with either jeans or sweatpants every day for work.

    My brother's red truck pulled up and I gathered my stuff and headed out. I didn't even care to say goodbye to this bunch of misfits. I hopped in his car, hot and tired.

    "You look terrible," Austin smirked.

    "So do you," I said, resting my head back on the passenger's seat. I couldn't even bother to put up with his rudeness. I have two older brothers. Luca is nineteen and in college and Austin who is eighteen and practically lives in his room. He has extreme anger issues but I suppose that just comes with being the middle child. Then theres mom and dad and and our cat and dog Mouse and Mars, who are, no joke my best friends.

    "Mom told me to give this to you." He said, handing me a glass of the most refreshing, icy cold water. I knew that mom had made it and told him to bring it along for me when he picked me up. She always did such caring things for me since I was little and I loved it. Precious and sometimes surprising gestures of kindness made me know how much I was loved.