When It's Just Us

Opal Wilson: Open Up

It was mid summer break and the hot night wind was blowing against the trees. In the distance, you could hear children laughing and playing in the backyard of our family's annual summer party. Sammy's family was also invited since they were our neighbors and by that time, him and I were already close friends. The house was booming with chit chat of people all around and music playing throughout the house.

I was inside with Sam. I was drinking some of the fruit punch that my mom had provided as Sammy talked to me about something he was doing in Minecraft.

"Honestly, the new server my friends and I made is going awesome. We already made so much progress and it's only been three days!" I smiled at him and drank more of my fruit punch. The sour and sweetness lingered. "I'm glad you're having fun." I turned to see the table behind us with the fruit punch bowl trays of food for guests.

"Opal, sweetie!" I heard someone call out to me. I turned around to see who it was. It was my aunt Josie. I never had a good relationship with her. She was always bossy and judged my weight, even though I was only 10. Aunt Josie would still say that I needed to watch what I drank and ate.

She walked towards me, smiling. Her stupid smile irritated me. Her smile was so ugly. Not because of her face, but because her smile always represented something bad was going to happen soon. Like a bad omen. I sighed and looked at Sammy who also looked nervous. He knew how I felt about her. Actually, he knew everything I felt. I would say that the way he read emotions was a little too accurate, but it was helpful so I'm not complaining.

Aunt Josie reached for my shoulder and looked into my eyes. "Opal, sweetie. Remember what I told you? You need to watch how many calories you're eating." I glared at her, trying to hold back the words I so desperately wanted to say. I only nodded. She smiled at me, satisfied that she had won over what to do over my body once again.

20 minutes had passed and I was thirsty. I asked my mom for some water but she said there was none left but adult drinks and I should just drink the fruit punch. I looked around to make sure that my aunt wasn't looking and scooped more into my cup. As I started to head back to my seat with Sammy, my aunt grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. "Are you kidding me? Are you actually fucking kidding me? I told you to stop drinking that shit," her voice booming across the living room. Everyone stopped their conversations to see what was going on. Aunt Josie slapped the cup out of my hands. The pink punch juice spilled over my clothes as she continued yelling at me. "You ungrateful brat! I told you to LISTEN!"

Tears started to form in my eyes. I looked down at the ground. My clothes were wet and stained. I was also being publicly humiliated by my aunt. A teardrop landed on the ground. "Did you just cry? Are you fucking crying? ARE YOU CRYING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU'RE WRONG?" Another tear fell to the ground. Then another. And another.

She kept on yelling as the whole party watched the scene. "I CAN'T BELIEVE MY SISTER WOULD RAISE SUCH A-" A hand pulled my arm. I turned around to see Sammy smiling at me. Aunt Josie continued to yell as she tried to stop Sammy. My mom finally came into the room and pushed her aside so she wouldn't get physical.

Sammy led me to the outside of the house. The warm summer breeze hit my face, as if trying to dry my tears. Sammy sat down on the front stairs of the house. The crickets chirped softly in the background as the wind blew against us again. Tears were still rolling down my face. I couldn't comprehend anything that just happened.

"It wasn't your fault." Sam said, looking down. I looked at him. The wind blew through his hair carefully.

I burst out crying and sat down on the stairs next to him. My clothes were still stained. It felt stuck to my body now with the sugar it had in it. Sugar. I didn't care anymore, though and dug my face into my sleeves. As I cried, Sammy hugged me close and whispered sweet nothings into my ear, "I love you Opal. I think tonight is the time we both open up."

His voice stayed calm as I cried into my sleeves. "I know your aunt can act rude. But know that you are perfect and you're still young. You don't need to watch what you eat. You are perfect."

Those words lingered in my ears. Slowly I started to catch my breath as I started to calm down a bit. "Your aunt should be the one who needs to watch what she eats." I laughed at his comment a little. He turned my face towards him and smiled. He used his jacket to dry my tears and my stained pink clothes. "Everything will be okay. I know your mom will know you weren't in the wrong here." I nodded.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and there we sat for the rest of the party. Saying nothing and enjoying each other's company. That was one of the most scary and loving memories I can remember. Now I think that I do like Sam Wallace. The boy who was there for it all.