Sweet Summer

Chapter One

Step by step we come closer to our bikes. On the narrow paths she walks in front of me, and I watch her ponytail sway, and when we walk side by side I turn my face towards hers at times. It strikes me how the freckles on her cheek along with a few blemishes look so similar to constellations.

Andrea and I have been friends for a bit over two months now. It was odd that she joined our class at the end of the school year, but I have yet to ask about it. I've overheard others question why and the vagueness of her answers made me create a rule for myself to not. Due to my exhausting curiosity at a younger age my parents advised me not to ask when the subject seems too taboo. Their advice has so far not had any shortcomings.

I kick a small stone to the side and propose going to the beach tomorrow with Sarah, my closest friend, who's been eagerly waiting for summer to come around and now wants to make the most of it. Though in just a few days she's traveling south to visit family and staying there almost the entire break, a yearly occurrence. I've always dreaded summer since when Sarah has to disappear I'm left alone, but now that Andrea is my friend too it shouldn't be so bad.

"Sure, that sounds nice," she replies with a grin, letting the small gap between her two front teeth show. "We can bring fruits and snacks to have a picnic while we're at it!"

I smile back and nod, searching through my bag for the bike key. Andrea never locks her bikes, just gets on and waits for me to do the same as she puts one of her earbuds in. She hands me the other one and puts on a playlist. We have different tastes in music, though the few songs I've come to recognize I hum along to. Before I would never bike and listen to music since I'd worry about not hearing traffic, but biking alongside a friend, feeling the wind in my hair and hearing a faint melody has now outweighed the fear of getting hit by a car.

Andrea and I live in the same neighborhood, containing small houses with chimneys and backyards with large fences in an attempt of privacy though any sounds made by neighbors are heard all too clearly. When we arrive at the street that we have to part our ways we slow down enough for me to easily hand the earbud back and say a quick goodbye. I have the last song that we shared replaying in my head the rest of the way home.

The heat of the sun and my attempts at keeping up with Andrea's biking pace has left me with beads of sweat and short quick breaths. As soon as I close the front door to my house I kick off my shoes and head to the kitchen, opening the fridge to just stand there for a while cooling off.

"Not even a hello?" I hear my moms voice from the living room and the sound of a page turning. As usual she's reading, no doubt with a hot cup of tea no matter the weather.

"Hello," I mumble, forehead leaned again the fridge door. I scan the inside and find a lonely water bottle. After several big gulps of it I head towards mom and take a seat on an armchair opposite her, crossing my legs and resting my head against a pillow.

"What have you been up to today?" She puts the book down on her lap with her finger in between the pages as to not loose where she was. My mom is away during the mornings since she works an early shift at a bakery, but she makes sure to catch up on me later on in the day. Some days she'll bring home desserts and we'll chat all afternoon while scarfing them down but by bit.

"Me and Andrea went to a thrift store, I got an old comic book from the sixties."

"I've been wondering when you were going to add to your collection of comics," she takes a sip of her tea and I a final gulp of my water, "The weather's been great today. When your dad gets home I'm thinking about using the grill for dinner, maybe some halloumi."

"Yeah that'd be great. I have to go take a quick shower though, the weather's been a bit too nice."

I head upstairs and get fresher clothes from my room, then peel my tank top off on the way to the bathroom. I can feel my hair sticking to my neck, a very long shower is needed.

Once I'm under the stream of water I think of the plans for tomorrow. Since we're going to the beach I guess I have to shave. I wish I didn't feel the need to, but since every girl I've seen is hairless from the neck down to their toes, the pressure is there. There's been times over the years that I've wished I was born a boy, especially when it's that time of the month. But then again I probably wouldn't wear skirts because of the social stigma. And I really do like a good skirt. Andrea bought one at the thrift store, it was a long and flowy, dark green with small white flowers. I hope we get close enough to borrow each other's clothes like me and Sarah does. I hope in general we'll grow closer over this summer.