Wish You Weren't Here

You're The One That I (Don't) Want

You're The One That I (Don't) Want

Walking down the halls of Westview, I turn the corner and cringe. Kris and Tyler Steadman are steadily making out, Kris against the locker, Tyler pinning her hands back. I don't know how she finds that arousing, but it seems a little like 50 Shades of Grey to me.

I sigh, knowing I'll be the one either spoon-feeding her ice cream or restraining her from slashing his tires in a few weeks after whatever goes down between them. I love Kris to death, but she's reckless with her heart, and never sees pain coming till it slaps her in the face. She had one boyfriend over most of the summer named Josiah, and he was from California. He was visiting for the summer, and they hit it off, but when he had to go back, they decided to break it off. Tyler's her first boyfriend this year, but I have no doubt she'll have at least two more by Christmas, or as Kris the atheist likes to call it, Kris-mas.

I, on the other hand, have had approximately four boyfriends. In fifth grade, Eli Reynolds asked me to homecoming and we 'dated' for about a month. I don't really know if that counts. In eighth grade, we got to have a winter dance, and I went with Nick Jacobi, who I dated for probably five months after that. He was pretty cool, but he ended up moving to Illinois, so we shrugged it off and continued following each other on Instagram with no tension. Over spring break of my freshman year, I went to Austria for a week and a half, and I met this gorgeous guy named Sergio, who was from Italy (WOOF) and we never actually dated, but we held hands, he kissed my cheek, and he showed me this awesome little secret hideout of his under some rocks, so we practically dated. A bunch of people tell me Sergio and Eli don't count, so I guess I've only had two, but, hey, Sergio was hot and Eli got hot, so joke's on you.

And the last--well, the last, he's a bit more complicated than a winter formal, a homecoming, or Austria. I met Cody Kent the summer before sophomore year at an abandoned beach house in Destin, Florida. Like destiny, or just a really cheesy movie, I tripped very gracefully on the point of a rock, and he caught me in his arms. I stuttered a thank you, he grinned a you're welcome. "Cody," he said, and I replied, "Summer." We had a sort of bittersweet, week-long summer love, then we went our separate ways. Or, more accurately, we went separate ways, then I got slung the same way he was going. My parents told me two weeks before school started that we were moving. We did, and I showed up at the new school shy, new, and a goody-goody. I took a seat in the back of the class, and, two minutes after the bell rung, a much revised Cody Kent swaggered in. I didn't notice him behind his sunglasses, and I didn't have much time to look at him anyways, seeing as I blushed and turned away right after he plopped into the seat next to mine and smirked at me. I met Kris in second period, and she took me to sit with her friends at lunch. They were all awful and clever and unsympathetic. The worst, who everyone called Harlo, decided it would be fun to reunite me with Cody in front of his friends after hearing a majorly cheese-ified version of my summer love. Cody's friends were not impressed, and he blew me off as another one of his girls. I cried, Harlo smirked, and Kris comforted me. I made Cody jealous, he made me jealous, then we ended up together, laughing in his car as we drove off into the sunset. Unfortunately, life keeps going after the end scene; it doesn't just stop.

But that's a story for another time.

"Boo."

I snap my head around, nearly colliding with Cody, who's bending over to my height.

I sigh and continue walking. He takes a catch-step to match my stride as well as he can with his lanky legs. "Not gonna wait up for your friend?"

"Kris."

"Right, Kris."

"And no, she seems pretty occcupied."

"Yes. Warn her about Tyler. He's trouble," he continues in his usual mock preppy voice.

"I've already told her he's a--"

Cody shushes me. "Not in front of the children."

I stop and make a face at him, then roll my eyes at him and keep walking.

He trails behind me the rest of the day, chattering my ear off animatedly. I swear something's wrong with him.

Kris takes me home after school, and she goes to hang out with Hanna-From-Algebra, leaving me with nothing to distract me from stressing about my interview this afternoon. As much as my parents insist on paying for college next year, I'm not going to let them pay for all of it. I need a job this year. After telling my mom I'm going to Kris's, I take the drive to Janice Lane's studio. Janice Lane is a photography and modeling organization that has a base in our town. I don't really talk about this much, but I've always longed to be either a model or a designer. The glamour, the interviews, the excitement, the rush of it all, it's everything I long for. I used to tell people that I wanted to be a model and they'd say, "Well, that's silly, Summer. Don't you want to be a singer or a dancer?" It was either that or, "I'm sure once you grow up you'll realize that you want to be a mommy." I was young and impressionable, so of course I thought they were right, but once I started growing up, I didn't realize I wanted to be a stay-at-home mommy, I realized I wanted to be a model or a designer and, if I met the right person, a mom as well. The only person I've ever told about my dreams is Cody, but I wouldn't even think of telling the Cody he is now, or, more accurately, the Cody I now realize he's always been.

Once I get to the studio, I check my clothes, hair, and makeup.

I shake off my nerves, open the doors, and strut inside.

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)::):)

whoa. I'm starting this again or something.
~AC