Whatever (2023 rewrite)

Chapter One | Summer Nights and Hazy Days

Summer

I'm sitting on my knees, my feet situated beneath me as I stare, lost in thought, out of the open window in front of me. The branches of the nearby Aspen weave and bend in the slight breeze that whisps through the air, air laced with the faint hint of humidity that lingers just long enough to leave a sticky film of translucent sweat on your skin. It smells like summer, like recently burnt charcoal and sunscreen, almost reminiscent of the years past, and certainly preparatory of the months to come. Just one more day, I think to myself, one more day and I'll be free of this hellscape, of this constant masquerade. One last huzzah and I'll be on my way. Only, that wasn't what was going to happen, not really. I just didn't know it yet.

BUZZ BUZZ! The phone situated on the windowsill in front of me lights up, vibrating violently, nearly threatening to send itself over the edge. The sight of it throws me back into reality and out of the haze my thoughts had sent me into. I glance down at the LCD screen and let out a puff of air I didn't even realize I had been holding in.

From: Abby

Girl are you coming or WHATT?!?!

It's so like her to exaggerate everything, and the final party of the year is certainly no exception. I glance out the window one more time, letting the idea of simply not attending the party cross my mind for one, brief moment. It would be so simple, I just wouldn't show up, and in the morning, I'd already be on my way out of here with no one the wiser. Only, I would be back in August, school would be starting again and unless I save face now my reputation would simply fall off by the time I got back in town. I shake my head, my pristine blonde curls that I had just spent the last half hour on *yuck, not my idea of a fun time* billowing around my face as I push the thoughts of my warm, cozy bed out.

"It's just for a couple hours. No, an hour. Just give them an hour and you can be back in bed by 2. No harm no foul, come on Summer you can do this!"

To: Abby

Leaving now, see u in 30!!

I take one last, long look out the window, at the stillness of my neighborhood in the late hours of the night. I take it all in, the trees that have been in the same place every year, the yellow house situated directly across from mine, every light put out save for the humble porch light that stays on 24/7, 365 days a year. I've lived here my whole life and not a single thing has changed except for the people, and boy have they changed. But I suppose we all do at some point, right?

_________________________

I stand at my locker, packing the last book in my bag just before the final bell rings. The harsh tone swells in my head right before I pop my last earbud in. My finger catches on the bar of my iPod and slides, the music replacing the sound of the bell that shouldn't have caught me off guard like that. I need to be more careful; I think to myself as I grab the strap of my backpack and sling it over my shoulder. The solitude and peace I find in the music only lasts a brief moment, as soon as Vivian Campbell's solo in It Don't Matter swells to its peak, I feel a quick tap on my shoulder. I look over just in time to see a familiar hand yank the right earbud out of my ear, the swell of hallway conversation abruptly hitting my ears. I grimace, "I hate when you do that, Jeff," I seethe. I pull the left earbud out, I can never deal with two different sounds clashing in my head at once, its already heard enough to acclimate to one.

"And I hate when you call me Jeff," he returns. I shift my gaze from his infuriating smirk down towards the end of the hallway, where I catch a fleeting glimpse of him. It only happens briefly, but my gaze remains so focused, the rest of the world tuning out around me to the point where, moments later, I feel a second quick tap on my shoulder. I snap my head back around.