Quarter Mile

Joints

TW// drug use

The weeks started going by in a blur. Dakota and Beck were spending a lot of their time together. Parker had become quite the third-wheel, but he didn't mind at all. He loved seeing Beck happy and he loved how nicely Dakota had fit in.

Eli and Harvey had started to catch on that something was happening between the two boys but they knew better than to pry. Parker, Eli and Harvey would sit at the track, watching Dakota and Beck walk over from class and coo at how cute they were together.

They had been to more parties than Dakota could count on his fingers, and he had made a couple of new friends that he would occasionally see around school.

There was Noah; a raven haired boy Dakota had met in his biology class when Parker had skipped and left his seat unoccupied. Noah had sat down and introduced himself, telling Dakota he played football with Harvey. They had bonded over their lack of eye anatomy knowledge and laughed about how ridiculous it was that they had to learn what a cornea was.

There was Otis; a boy with the bluest eyes Dakota had ever seen. They met at a party one Saturday night when his friends were playing spin the bottle. He had passed on the game and instead went to sit with the host's dog, an old lazy retriever who didn't seem to love the raging party. Otis had come to sit on the other side of the dog and the two soon got to talking about their love of animals.

And there was also Macey, Peggy and Luke; Peggy had since apologised about her behaviour at the party, stating she had been wasted and couldn't remember a thing until Macey had filled her in the day after. Dakota told her it was fine, but in actuality he wanted to say 'it's not fine. If it were the other way around and it was me drunkenly harassing you, there would be way worse consequences.' Macey seemed lovely and he understood why Parker had the eyes for her. Luke was chill and easy to get along with.

He and his mother had started a weekly Sunday morning tradition. They'd head into town at eight thirty in the morning, right when the local ice cream shop was opening and they'd order a double scoop cone and sit on the bench outside. It was their way of saying 'fuck you' to the world. No one was going to hold them back. They could eat ice cream at eight thirty in the morning if they wanted to. Sometimes Parker would tag along, sometimes Beck would too, but most of the time it was just the two of them, and they loved it.

Dakota hadn't heard from his father since he left. He didn't care. He was past the point of being sad and hatred had replaced that feeling. He never wanted to see him ever again. His mother was doing better too. Not long after they had moved to Arizona, they had gone through all of their old photo albums and burned the ones with Dakota's father in them. It was therapeutic in a way.

The heatwave had since subsided. In fact, the heatwave had lifted after that day of torrential rain that had caught Dakota and Beck off guard at the lake.

The boys sat by the track on a Friday, discussing the possibility of another party at Macey's on Saturday night.

"I'm skipping last class," Parker exclaimed as the bell rang. "Who's with me?"

Eli and Harvey were quick to jump on the opportunity, yelling 'me' in a sort of tragic harmony. Beck huffed a 'yep' to Parker and then all four boys turned to face Dakota, who was yet to say anything. He had never skipped before. It wasn't that he was scared or nervous about his mother finding out — she probably wouldn't care anyway. It was purely because he felt no real need to.

But now, sitting there with four pairs of eyes drilling into his skull, he felt a change. Perhaps it was the fear of missing out on something fun happening. Maybe it was the sudden surge of adrenaline coursing through his body. Or maybe it was because for the first time ever, something exciting was happening in his life.