Castle On The Hill

Chapter Eighteen

Francesca pulled into a parking spot and when she shut off the engine, Tammy, Cate and I all cheered. The other day Tammy was telling us about taking her daughter to Niagara Falls last month, and I admitted that I've never been and have always wanted to go. Mama Tina, Mrs. Wendy, Francesca's mom and Tammy's mom are all carpooling when Mama Tina is off work so we can take our senior pictures. We all climbed out of the car to the sound of the roaring falls not far from us.

"Are you excited?" Francesca squealed.

"To seethe falls, yes."

"What about the pictures?"

"Part of me wishes Shane was here to get pictures with us."

"You and him can take pictures another time. Nick and I plan on going to Letchworth to do ours, right where he asked me to be his girlfriend."

"I thought you two were broken up." Tammy pointed out.

Francesca shrugged. "I still call him my boyfriend. We always come back to each other. It's love."

"Sounds toxic to me." Cate snorted and we all laughed.

Francesca grabbed my hand, dragged me to the closest viewing point and I felt my jaw drop. Miles of roaring water pouring over the edges down hundreds of feet, causing mist and the water sounds. I pulled out my digital camera and started taking pictures. I will truly eat up being a tourist today.

"It's even prettier at night because they have lights that makes the water shine different colors." Cate pointed out.

"We will be here for that, right?" I asked.

"We should. Mama Tina works until five, half hour ride, half hour to gather the troops, two hour drive. It'll be eight at least." Francesca sighed.

"We should go on Maid of the Mist." Cate suggested.

"That could be fun." Tammy added.

"I want to walk around and have a photoshoot. Is Maid of the Mist a boat?" I asked.

"Yes. You a sared?" Francesca teased.

"I laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha."

The four of us giggled and started walking, at least until we walked past a smoking section, causing Tammy and Cate to have an urge to light up.

"Let's go down closer while they smoke." Cate suggested.

"Okay." I replied.

She grabbed my hand and we ran away from the other two. There was a sign that gave information about the falls and one comment said the falls pour six hundred thousand gallons of water per second. That's a lot of water!

"Are you going to college?" Cate asked.

"No. I didn't apply anywhere." I admitted.

"Why not?"

"I'm going to have to get an apartment and things like that first. Maybe in a few years."

"There is GCC in Dansville. You could take part-time classes and work full time."

"Something like that could work too."

I picked up my camera and stasted taking more pictures to stop the college talk. I know they are all excited to move on in their life, but I am still so fucking scared. Shane agreed to take a gap year with me and we plan on getting a place, as long as I don't move and our relationship survives three more months.

After the other two finished smoking, we walked around talking. We wanted to go to the Canada side, but I don't have an ID. I think I'm going to need to go to City hall and get one in order to get a job.