Meet Everett Earnshaw, a restless teenager who's willing to give up anything to fly a plane. But despite the support of his friends and family and the joy of befriending the newest RAF cadet Amelia, life is far from evergreen.
The most wasted of days is one without laughter – E. E. Cummings
*
Unfortunately for Everett, the day he'd chosen for his friends to meet up was one with quite a bit of rain. Of course, he hadn't intended for it to be that way – in fact, he'd checked the forecast obsessively to be sure the weather would be good, but it looked like the universe had other ideas. But he'd have to make the best of it, so he rolled out of bed to prepare some cheese rolls and gathered his picnic foods together. Breadsticks, olives, pasta salad: these were all somehow stuffed into his small backpack in Tupperware boxes.
He was going to put on his favourite puffy grey coat when Mum stopped him.
"You can't wear that; it'll get wet! Put on your raincoat."
Grumbling, he searched through his drawers to retrieve that gaudy green raincoat. It was barely big enough, but it'd have to do. He laced up his black and white Nike look-alikes and got into the car quickly with Mum. The rain was really starting to hammer down, making dry dirt turn into mud and enlarging puddles on the pavements. Nearly everyone outside was brandishing an umbrella.
"Has Hassan met Amelia before?" asked Mum as she kept her course on the motorway.
"Not yet. I think they'll get on well because they both like similar music and, well, you know Hassan, he likes pretty much everyone."
"That's true. Is there anyone he dislikes?"
Everett pondered for a while. "I think he dislikes Freddy. Yeah, he definitely does, because he gave him the middle finger in year 8!"
Mum smiled. "Fancy Hassan doing that!"
Everett grinned, remembering the laughter that day when Hassan casually showed Freddy what he thought of him. Actions certainly did speak louder than words.
Before Mum could even park the car, Marty and Hassan were running down the hill like a pair of lunatics. They could only have been there for a few minutes, yet their clothes were already soaking wet. For a moment, Everett considered taking off his raincoat so he could join them, but Mum glared at him before he could undo the zip. He got out of the car swiftly.
"So, Mr Weatherman, you call this 'cloudy with sunny intervals'?" said Marty. Now Everett really regretted sending weather updates on the WhatsApp chat.
"To be fair, there are clouds."
"Yeah, rain clouds! Oh, here comes Jade! And Amelia too!"
Jade looked prepared for a storm to come with her purple raincoat, wellies and umbrella. Amelia, on the other hand, just had a navy raincoat with casual blue trainers. Her brown hair was starting to stick to her coat.
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"Can we eat right away?" asked Jade, "I'm starving."
"Hold your horses; we've got to find a spot that isn't wet first!" said Marty.
"Good luck with that," muttered Hassan.
The friends trudged up the hill together and talked about their weeks and all the usual things. Everyone was fed up with GCSEs (except Jade). No one had flown a plane for ages as the cadets' sessions were currently focusing more on other, more mundane skills. Hassan would throw up if he tried to fly a plane.
Eventually, they found a bench kept dry by the trees above it. Everett sat in the middle next to Marty and Amelia. Now it was time for the grand reveal...
"What have you got?" Jade asked Hassan.
"I've got cheese strings, mini pizzas, egg mayo sandwiches and strawberry smoothies."
"I love smoothies!" said Amelia excitedly, and everyone smiled. Then, one by one, the friends showed each other what they'd brought until it was all laid out on the picnic table. There was no shortage of good food: there was an assortment of crisps, including Skips, hula hoops and wotsits; a plethora of triangular sandwiches that were filled with cheese, tuna and even avocado; cupcakes and biscuits were plentiful. There was also lots of food that Everett and Hassan couldn't have, like pork pies and scotch eggs, but they could easily ignore them.
No one talked for many minutes as they tucked into their food, not even Marty. They ate with voracious appetites until they could eat no more, and still there was enough food left over for another picnic altogether! Amelia drank her second strawberry smoothie.
