That One Summer

Chapter Two - "The Boy Behind The Gate"

     I turned twords the sound of the voice, except there was no one. My stomach dropped and my senses were on high alert. I remember what happened last time I heard voices. My eyes darted to the large privacy fence, someone was standing behind it. Suddenly a head sprang up above the fence. My mouth dropped and I crawled onto the trampoline.

     The bouncy fabric made my legs wobble. I knelt down and pushed up, launching myself in the air. I was met with the face of a boy about my age. “Hello.” he said once our heads were leveled. “Hi.” I answered. When our eyes met again he frowned. I was pushed back down by gravity and pushed back up. “What… is… wrong?” I had to ask him this in three parts due to gravity.

     “I've… never… seen… orange… eyes.” he answered in five parts. I stopped jumping and sat on the trampoline. “Watch out!” he screamed. With one large jump, he flew over the fence and landed on my trampoline. I flew back from the force and hit the net. “Sorry.” he muttered. Now that he wasn't jumping, I could see him clearly. His light brown hair was spiked up, his sparking blue eyes danced across me. He wasn't muscular, but I could tell he was strong.

     “Skylar.” I reached out my hand and he smiled. “I'm Hunter.” he took my hand and shook it. “So, do always jump into girls backyards, or…” I asked, my voice trailing off. He shrugged.

     “So, you're new here?” he asked. “Yeah.” I muttered, laying back on the bouncy fabric. “Well, first off you need to avoid the Sharps. They are… er, their daughter is…” his voice trailed of and grew in pitch. “What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. He scratched the back of his neck and I sighed. “Never mind. Do you know anybody yet?” he asked, sauntering over to me. He plopped down next to me.

     “Only this one really strange guy. He jumped over my fence.” I muttered, tapping my fingers against my knee. “You have a lot of nervous energy!” he exclaimed, grabbing my hand to get me to stop. “Sorry.” I muttered. I've been like that since Jake died, always expecting something bad to come around the corner. “Don't be, you can't control it.” he sighed. I felt a twinge of pain on his choice of words. I found myself inching away from him.

     “Do you have a last name?” he asked, tugging down at the hem of his shirt. “O'Dell.” I muttered. He tilted his head to study me. “You don't look like an Irish, that is where it's from right?” he asked. I nodded slowly, pulling my knees up to my chest. “My grandpa is Irish.” I whispered. This was a lot of talking for me, and I was starting to become frantic.

     Hunter noticed my uncomfortable state and stopped talking. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. When he handed it to me, a game of hangman was playing. “We can take turns.” he suggested. I whinced when the alphabet started mixing itself up. I pressed the first one I saw and I got it wrong. “Z? Interesting choice.” he whispered. I don't know why we were whispering, it just seemed right.

     I cringed and gritted my teeth as my face became red with embarrassment. “Go ahead.” he handed it twords me again and I tapped a random letter. “Um… no offense, but you a really bad at this game!” he said laughing. I glared at him and he made his move. Handing me the phone he had it so I could solve the word. To me it looked like "cGorye tS_re" I whinced at pushed the phone twords him.

     He tilted his head until reality slapped him in the face. “Are you dyslexic?” he asked, looking down in guilt. I quickly shook my head, I got teased a lot for being dyslexic. “No, I just--” he put a hand over my mouth and shook his head. “It's okay, I'm color blind.” he spoke with ease, he wasn't afraid to tell me this? “What kind?” I asked. I wanted to kick myself for asking. “I have a sensitivity to blue light.” he muttered. “But you can tell that my eyes are orange?” I asked. He nodded. “It's a mild color blindness, but I still get them confused.” he muttered.

     I stopped prying and just sat in the silence, letting it all soak in. Someone trusted me with this, someone I just met. And for some reason, I'm not afraid to trust him either.

***___***---***___***

     We sat in the silence for a good half hour before my mom came outside. “Time for dinner!” her high pitched voice broke the silence and made me jolt up. Hunter chuckled and I glared at him. “See you tomorrow?” he asked, his voice sounded hopeful. I nodded and he started jumping, getting ready to leap across the fence. I hopped off the trampoline and walked inside.

     “Make a new friend already?” asked my mom. I shrugged, I wasn't really sure if he was a friend. I walked into the kitchen and noticed that we didn't have any pictures up, it made the rooms feel gloomy, better than before but they didn't have that spark of life that every house has. You can't see our story if we don't show you.

     I picked at my food before excusing myself up to my room. Boxes of my stuff were piled around the room. A bed sat in the middle, underneath the large window. I looked at my empty wall and frowned. This wall was entirely black, a bucket of chalk sat next to it. I went to get the bag that I brought with me and pulled out my camera. Standing in the oval mirror, I took a picture of myself and printed it through my moms computer downstairs.

     I shuffled my feet down the steps, gripping the banister until my knuckles turned white. I always hated going down steps. I ran into the kitchen and took the picture from the printer. Racing up to my room, I taped the photo to the chalkboard wall and next to it I wrote in light purple. First Friend, First day.