Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 14

Isla

"So, I guess I will see you guys towards the end of summer," I ask, trying not to get too sad. If I was getting too sad about them leaving just for over a month, how would I be able to see them leave for school next year? So far, I've been meaning to just go to school in the state, but a lot of the schools my friend's want to go to are out of state. The distance would be far, and I knew it would be hard to keep up with friends then.

Rylie pouts, hopping over her bags on the floor and moving swiftly toward me. She throws an arm over me and says, "Yes. We will be back to spend the last bit of summer with you."

"Last bit of summer," I echo, hugging her back. After the beach day, the girls spent the night over at my house. It's been a few days since then, and now they were coming around to say goodbye to me before they drove up to their college for the summer. I was so sad to see them go, but I was happy for them. If I was into volleyball as much as them and devoted all my life to it instead of using it as pass time, and I got the opportunity as them, I would take it with no questions asked. So I was excited for them.

Kayla makes her way into the hug, squeezing Rylie and me in the process. I let out a chuckle as the impact of her hug made me stagger back a step. Kayla laughs, squeezing us one more time before letting go and looking over at me. "Isla."

"Kayla," I say, resisting the urge to stick my tongue at her because we have never been this serious with each other. She bursts into laughter before me and reaches over to Rylie to wrap a hand over me personally. I laugh under her comfort, and she says, "We are leaving you to your own devices. Have a fun summer."

"Oh wow," I say through a fit of laughter, because with that, she releases me and heads off toward her mom's car. Her mom was taking Rylie and the girls to campus and dropping them off. Kayla jumps into the passenger side seat, and I throw the middle finger up at her. She chuckles, blowing me an exaggerated kiss and closing the door behind her.

Rylie shakes her head at our ridiculousness, and I laugh as she gives me one last hug. "Have a fun summer,"  she tells me, and then releases me from the hug. As she walks over to her car, I watch them go, feeling a sense of pride and sadness at this feeling. But my friends were going to have fun practicing cheer and meeting a lot of people that would help them in the future. That was a good thing.

"Have fun!"  I shout out as Kayla's mom pulls out of the driveway. Rylie pulls the window down and shouts out, "You too, Nova! We love you!"

"I love you guys so much more,"  I tell them, and then snap a last picture of them on my digital camera. I went through the photos the night I came home, and the entirety of the trip was documented. I went through all of them, and once I got to the ones with just me and the guy I spent two full days with, I felt weird looking at them. But I looked through them, and when I got to the last picture, one where I kissed him on the lips, I cringed.

I said goodbye to him, and to make matters worse, I decided to seal it with a kiss. I threw him a surprise, and it seems to be my pattern to do so with a kiss. I shook my head and put the photos in an album before using another SD card for the camera.

I wave goodbye to my friends now and then head inside my house, ready to figure out something to do with my summer.

•

After a lot of internet surfing, I narrowed my list to a few things.

Volunteer at a shelter
Start college applications for next year.
Get a job.

While I loved the idea of helping out a shelter around this area, when I called the locations to ask them about it, they all said that they were booked. You would think that they would love some extra hands, but apparently this summer a lot of people got jobs, and me helping out wouldn't be necessary. That was kind of the same response for the other locations, so after calling the fourth shelter, I decided to move to the next one on the list.