Home is a Four Letter Word

chapter twenty-four

Early May

"This is so dumb... like we don't know how to walk already." Aaron grumbled, staring up at the sky.

"You say that, and then your dumbass is gonna come on through the wrong side of the field." Jake rolled his head back to join him in his distant stare.

"You just gotta follow everyone else, it's not that hard."

"Think it's gonna storm?"

"Don't think so. Heard it's just passing."

"Mmm." He hummed back, hoping that was the case.

The last thing he needed was rain to ruin his unofficial date night.

"Alright, now seating H through M." The principal spoke into a microphone in the middle of the field.

"Shit." Aaron mumbled, bringing his attention back down to reality.

Jake pushed his best friend's shoulder back towards the end so he could fall back into his place in the alphabet before the teachers caught them out of order. Although he wasn't too fond of the arrangement, Jake was the first one to lead the line, and he probably would be on graduation day too if they split them up by last name again. The thought of all of it was terrifying, but at least Aaron was only a couple seats away from him—or at least he was supposed to be.

He walked across the field with the clouds lurking overhead, the sun just barely threatening to peak out between cycles of gray. It was beginning to get hotter and hotter everyday. Jake only feared what kind of temperatures that would mean for mowing this summer.

Hopefully Aaron didn't break his fainting record from last year. Last summer, when Jake picked up a few yards after quitting at the barn, Aaron had a habit of passing out in the middle of a job, forcing Jake to drag his ass back to the shade so he could wake up again. They never really told their boss because, at that point, he might've split them up so that Aaron was on his team instead so he could make sure he was staying hydrated. Overcast days were always the ones that bit them in the ass—especially Aaron. Jake would tan pretty nicely when the sun was out, but Aaron burnt quicker than an egg on a sidewalk. On the overcast days where neither of them paid any mind to sunscreen, one or both of them always suffered the consequences on the unbearable ride home. Jake figured although the two of them should have known better, that this summer would be the same.

"Remember to stay in order. No switching." The principal stated very clearly as the row behind Jake sat down with them.

"Okay N through S, come on down." He waved them on.

"Fancy seeing you here." A familiar voice from behind him mumbled into his ear.

Connor.

Jake smiled as Connor's arm leaned on the back of his chair. He didn't even need to look back to know where Connor was, he turned his head ever-so-slightly to the left side where Connor's voice sounded the clearest, knowing if he turned anymore they would have been way too close for comfort.

"Are you directly behind me?"

"Yep."

"Where's Kaylee?"

"Nowhere near me that's for damn sure."

"She left you here to talk with strangers?" Jake joked.

"Ah-huh, so funny." He can almost picture the way Connor rolled his eyes. "I don't think she actually gets to sit down here with us until the first half or something."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I don't know."

"Too bad you don't get a fancy speech, Mr. Salutatorian."

Connor grabbed onto his left shoulder with a one-handed grip that brought way more comfort than it should have. For a fleeting moment, Jake allowed panic to sink in thinking about how either of his friends would react if they saw Connor Morgan touching him, but this was graduation practice and he was surrounded by people who didn't know the first thing about him, so hell with it all. He leaned into it.

"Please... you should be thanking me for not doing one."

"Gentlemen in the back, let's stop slapping each other's behinds and get in line please. Thank you." The principal grumbled over them, so evidently done with everyone's shit.

The same gentle laughter erupted through the crowd as everyone turned to look at the left side of the field. As everyone's attention shifted, Connor took his hand off of Jake. Sometimes it felt like Connor could read his mind. Or maybe he just felt the way Jake's shoulders tensed when he realized everyone wasn't lost in conversations with their neighbors minding their own business anymore. Any one of them could have been looking at the two of them instead. It sent a surge of adrenaline through Jake's body that he would've given anything not to feel.

"Y'all laugh, but most of you are already adults. I'm terrified that you'll be in the workforce now."

Chuckles across the field turned into sly remarks between friends. Jake couldn't help but smile as Aaron caught his eye, leaning forward to look at him down the line of chairs.

"He's talking about you." Jake said, making sure to enunciate his words so Aaron could read his lips.

His best friend visibly rolled his eyes as he leaned back behind the girl beside him to the point where Jake couldn't see him in the crowd anymore.

"Alright the last of y'all, get over here." He waved on the stage to the T through Z kids standing on the side, slapping each other's asses apparently.

"We're going to do a quick overview of all the events and then you're free to go. So if everyone stays quiet we should be outta here in like thirty minutes. Deal?"

Jake nodded his head because even though he knew it was a rhetorical question, he still felt the need to respond.

"Alright, let's wait for everyone to get seated."

"We still doing something tonight?" Connor leaned forward to talk to him again, despite the fact that the principal explicitly just said to stay quiet.

Jake actually allowed himself to turn in his seat a bit to look at Connor this time.

"Um... yeah if you're still good."

"Yeah, no, I'm good."

"Okay."

"But like, what are we doing?"

Jake grinned and turned back around to ignore him.

"You're seriously still not gonna tell me?" Connor leaned further in as Jake pretended not to hear him.

"Jake–"

The principal cut him off. "Okay, looking good. If we can do it like this on Friday we'll be good to go."

Shit, it's really on Friday.

Only six more days and he would be done with this school for good. He didn't quite know whether to be happy or sad about it. He had made so many memories here, both good and bad. The AP labs gone wrong, the fight in the cafeteria last year when Hunter decided to throw hands with Kaylee's new boyfriend, the highlight of his athletic career on the muddy football field, the after school parking lot races that ended in detentions for those who got caught—while Jake never did, Aaron wasn't so lucky.

There was so much he was leaving behind, but also so much he had left to gain. So many things he still needed to find, to achieve... to build and to break. Things he would never be able to do here, in this school, in this town. Maybe Connor was right to want to leave. The more he thought about what he achieved here, the more he realized what he didn't because he was here.

From this school to the next. One door closed, another door opened. Jake was terrified of what was behind the next door. The unfamiliarity of what else was out there threatened to scare him back down the hall. But the room inside held choices and opportunities and chances he could make and take. The sheer hope that maybe he might end up liking it more was always followed with the dread of knowing the return home was inevitable after he had been inside.

"Alright."

The principal looked out into the crowd who had since fallen silent.

"Let's begin."

Here's to the future.