𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

fourteen

sam, dreadfully so, woke to head to the pool for her shift the next morning. she got there with just enough time to change into her classic lifeguard bathing suit and get on stand. on her way out of the locker room, she passed by her step-brother, whose shift had just ended. "nice uniform shitbird."

"very funny jackass." she replied, lowering her sunglasses. sam completely ignored him most of the time, but figured she would get a kick out of talking back to him this once. she quickly walked out of the door, leaving billy alone in the lockers. he'd been flirting off and on with mike's mom all summer, as well as flirting with heather, another lifeguard at the pool. karen wheeler would return his interest and for the most part keep billy's attention on stand.

after watching the pool for her whole boring shift, sam blew her whistle loud twice, calling for a coworker taking her place on stand. while headed back to the locker room to change, she ran, once again into her step-brother. when he tried to say an insult, she slammed her locker, ignoring his presence completely.

sam changed out of her life guard suit into her jean shorts and a random stripped tank she found in her locker, slipping on her beaten up white converse and grabbing her bag. she hadn't had to go into the pool at all that day to save a random kid from drowning, or to grab a popped pool toy at the bottom, so she handed her unused towels to the freshman boy that ran the front desk, smiling politely to him.

sam made small talk with the boy for a second before bidding her goodbye and heading out to her car. she was going home to hang out with max, as they usually did on monday's. she gently hummed along to whatever was on the radio as she pulled into the driveway, which was as bare. she immediately noticed max skating.

the girl had mixed feelings about her sister constantly being one out of two girls in the party. while it was a great friend group to hang out and bond with, it was just el didn't really like max for whatever reason. sam, although not affected by the girls occasional abrasiveness, couldn't imagine what it was like for max or other party members.

sam walked her way into the front yard to watch, not that max had realized sam was there, found joy in the determination of her sister. after attempting a trick, her skateboard rolled away from her, and as both girls rushed to get it, it was picked up by someone else. eleven.

"hi." el stated, handing max her skateboard.

"hi?" both sisters said.

"can we talk?" el asked.

sam, max, and el quickly made their way inside the mayfield house. max then lead the way to her room as sam locked the door. el was concerned with mike and needed some girl advice.

"and then he said he..he missed me. and then he just hung up." el explained, watching ad max paced the room.

max turned to face el. "he's a piece of shit."

"what?" el asked.

"mike doesn't have jack shit to do today. and his nana obviously isn't sick." sam stated.

"i guarantee you, him and lucas are playing atari right now." max followed.

"but friends don't lie." el reinforced.

"yeah, well, boyfriends lie. all. the. time." max said, looking to sam who was nodding in agreement.

el who was sitting on max's bed seemed to still be confused. "what do i...do?"

"you're going to stop calling him. you're going to ignore his calls." sam told el, who oddly enough could remember the exact moment when she told max this too.

"as far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist." max deadpanned. "doesn't exist?"

max and sam were like the dynamic duo when it came to advice. "he treated you like garbage."

"you're gonna treat him like garbage. give him a taste of his own medicine." max emphasized. "give him the medicine." el repeated.

"mh-hmm. and if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass." max explained.

"hell yeah." sam laughed.

"come on." max said, picking el up off the bed.

"where are we going?" el asked.

"to have some fun. there's more to life than stupid boys, you know." max finished, tossing sam her car keys.

"how about we head to the mall?" sam asked.

"the mall?" el repeated, confusion written all over her face.

the three girls piled into sam's car, and turned her stereo up. they began to sing and dance along to whatever song was playing at that time. giggles spilling out of sam's rolled down windows. she began to think that maybe this was the start of something new for the two girls. maybe she had put her sympathy in something that didn't need it at all.

the mall was always crowded. to no surprise, it didn't shock sam to have to drive around the parking lot in an endless loop looking for a parking spot. when she finally got a parking spot, it just so happened to be in the back of the lot.

she had to walk with two chatty teens all the way up to the entrance of the mall. el seemed on edge by all of the cars, people, and busses. like she had never been out of the house.

she was living with hopper so it did not shock her at all if his strict parenting skills forced her to stay locked up like he had already done months prior to summer.

"so what do you think?" max grinned.

"it's a bit glamorous if you ask me." sam followed, earning a confused look from el.

"hey, what's wrong?" max asked.

el looked around once again at all of the people pouring in and out of the mall. "too many people. against the rules."

"seriously?" max asked. "you have superpowers. what's the worst that could happen?"

the trio finally made their way into the mall and el had a stunned look on her face. she was so taken back by all of the shops and lights and colors.

"so what should we do first?" max asked.

"you've never been shopping before have you?" sam giggled. earning a shaking head from el.

"well then, i guess we 're just gonna have to try everything." max smiled.

"meet me back at scoops in 2 hours. okay?" sam ordered.

"yep got it. 2 hours!" max called.

"be safe!" sam shouted back, but it was really unlikely that max actually heard what she was saying.

sam began the usual route to the ice cream parlor. from where max had lead them it only took her about five minutes to get to scoops. she figured once the mall is less brand new it will only take little time to get there.

she walked in to see robin growing irritated with a group of little girls. the main one pushing her buttons, was erica sinclair. sam had vaguely met erica before, and could see robin was barely hanging on with her patience.

sam snuck her way behind the counter, and grabbed robins hat to place on her head. she just waited for robin to head to the back while she began trying to serve erica and her friends. working at scoops didn't seem so bad.

"alright, babysitting time is over..you need to get out there." robin ordered from the break room.