The last summer

3

Boneyard

Between tidying up the house and emptying my bag, the evening went by quite quickly. So, now I find myself lying in my bed and looking at the stars that my dad put up on the ceiling. 

I'm feeling excited about seeing my friends again, but a part of me is also scared. A lot can change in ten months. I even changed in those months, so they probably did too.

I throw my legs over the side of my bed and look at the clock that's right above my door. Of course, the batteries ran out. I stand up and walk over to my desk, where I search for my phone. My hands fly to the backpockets of my jeanshorts to find my phone sitting there. 

I take the phone out and look at the hour, twelve o'clock. I lift a brow in shock that they're on time when the lights of the twinkie shine in my room. I don't like to get stereotypical, but I think it's safe to say that most Pogues are always late.

A smile creeps onto my face when I open my window to meet my friends outside. While climbing through my window, I make as little noise as possible. The last thing I want is to fight with my parents on our first night back. 

My feet finally meet the gravel that's lying all around my house. I run up to the twinkie to be greeted by Kiara with open arms. "Girl, you took your time to come back."

We step into the back of the twinkie, where I'm met with two familiar faces, JJ and Pope. I hug Pope while Kiara closes the door of the twinkie. 

God, I missed this. I even missed the twinkie. The twinkie is probably older than all of our combined ages and stinks of beer and rotten food, but it's this sacred thing that holds many memories of our friendship.

I break the hug apart and look at John B, who's already looking at me with a smile on his face. I have been friends with him for years, and never has it been as weird between us as after the disappearance of his father. 

I don't think he hates me, but I think some part of him questions why his father has been taken and not my mother. "Welcome back, Lana." He smiles and turns around to reverse the car from my driveway.

The chaotic car ride is filled with Pope saying he's going to be sick of John B's driving, Kiara flirting with John B, and JJ sticking his head out of the window. Luckily, it only lasted ten minutes before we arrived at the boneyard. 

Remember how I told you that the twinkie is like something sacred? Well, the boneyard is the same except it's three times better and three times more sacred.

It's kind of like a three-layer burrito: you have the pogues, the working class, fish for the sharks, or whatever you want to call us.

Then you have the kooks, our natural enemies. 

Thirdly, you have the tourons, easy to manipulate. They're too much fun to be classified in the same category as kooks, but they're also too clueless to be pogues.

John B parked the car on the side of the street that's overseeing the boneyard. The party seems to have started a couple of hours ago already, I notice as we walk down from the sand hill. 

There are people making out on wooden branches that washed up on the beach, but most of them look like they're having a good time dancing to the music. 

JJ, John B, and Pope are already gone searching for the beer barrel, leaving me and Kie to fend for ourselves. I go to say something but stop talking when I hear someone yell.

My eyes dart to Sarah Cameron, the Kook princess, who seems to be having the time of her life. She's dancing and yelling around with her pathetic boyfriend, Topper Thornton, running behind her like a little dog.