Daydream Believer

cviii. warm weather and lazy days

cviii. warm weather and lazy days

Aaron and I were relaxing on the grass after a long day at school. Justin was at guitar lessons, so he couldn’t be there. It was a shame. I had really been closer to Justin lately. He knew how to handle me.

 

“The clouds are really pretty today,” Aaron said.

 

I looked up and noticed fluffy cumulus clouds floating past us. “I guess so,” I said. “I miss talking to you.”

 

“Me too,” Aaron said. He folded his hands behind his head. “I’m glad we’ll be done with school soon though.”

 

“Same, but we still have to get through two more years until we’re out of here for good,” Aaron said. “I’m just so done with school.”

 

I agreed with Aaron. It would be nice to go to college somewhere far away and put all of this behind me. It would just be a tragic past that I didn’t particularly want to reminisce about. “What are you going to do after high school?” I asked Aaron.

 

“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “There’s nothing I’m really good at.”

 

“You’re a nice person,” I said. “That’s something.”

 

“That’s not enough to get a job,” Aaron said.

 

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe we should get jobs over the summer or something. I know my family could use the money.” Most kids would want to work for some extra pocket money, but it had been a struggle to pay Brooklyn’s medical bills, and I was certain that Dad and Shonali would appreciate some extra cash.

 

“That’s actually a good idea,” Aaron said. “What about you? Do you know what you want to do after high school?”

 

“No,” I said. “I have a few ideas though.” Really, all of my ideas involved going into a field that didn’t involve interacting with people, but that didn’t seem to exist. I liked isolation, but the whole world seemed to disagree, unfortunately.

 

Aaron shrugged. “We shouldn’t worry too much. We have time.”

 

“That’s true,” I said.

 

I had plenty of reasons to worry though. Nothing had improved with Brooklyn, and it was obvious that she would never walk again. Everything was messed up, just because of something I did back in September. I felt miserable, and I had felt that way ever since the accident. Brooklyn was so strong though. I never could have gotten through that at her age. I’m not even sure if I could get through that now, and I’m nine years older than she is.

 

“That cloud looks like a bird,” Aaron said.

 

“It looks more like a heart,” I said.

 

“It’s obviously a bird.”

 

“No it’s not,” I said.

 

“Yes it is,” Aaron countered.

 

“I’m not going to argue with you.”

 

“It looks cool though,” Aaron stated.

 

“Yeah,” I said. “It really does.”

We stayed there for a while, just staring up at the clouds. It was calming, being next to Aaron. It made me feel just a little bit better about everything.