I hate summer

Episode 18

PRESENT TIME

"I think we should go back to Savannah." Tyler says, his eyes glued to his untouched food.

"Alright," Ashlyn rubbed her forehead, obviously annoyed. "Let's take some time to think on it again and have a group vote later tonight."

"Why not after school?" Tyler immediately questions.

"Because I have ballet class today." Ashlyn says dully.

"So what? Skip it." Tyler forces.

I give Tyler an annoyed look and Taylor looks up worriedly at him. "Uh, Ty... we have stuff to do after school, too. You have baseball practice and I have a mechanics meeting." She reminds.

"I, um, have to help with the flower shop today..." Logan mentions shyly.

"I have culinary, medical, and math classes after school." I count, adding a few extra events silently. Aiden gives me an 'are you serious right now?' look.

"Even with what's happening, we can't just neglect school and our future. You need baseball. Let's just wait till tonight—" Taylor continues but is interrupted.

"We're not going to have a 'future' if we're dead!" Tyler yells.

"It's not just our future." Ashlyn glares. "If we drop everything to focus on fantasy like events we can't prove, we're going to end up in a psyche ward. Do you think that's going to make it easier or harder for all of us to have meetings during the day?"

"She's got a point, y'know." Aiden rests his hand against his palm. "Generally, we're what people people would call 'crazy'" Aiden spins a finger around the side of his head.

"Whatever." Tyler groans. He then picks up his tray and stomps away. However, he quickly turns around and grabs Taylor, glaring at us all. He leads Taylor away who gives us all an apologetic look.

There's awkward silence. I feel a hand tap my finger and I look up to Aiden who pushes his tray between us. We then build a mini battle field.

                                    2:36 p.m.

Father:
Hey pickle. Be home by 4:30, practice starts at 4:45

You:
Ok. Doing homework

I feel the bus come to a stop. Ashlyn gets up and waves bye to me. I wave back and raise a brow when Aiden and Ben get up. They were at least another mile away.

I look back at my homework but a minute later hear my name being called. "(Y/N)!" Ashlyn calls. "Come with me." She glances at Aiden and back at me. I chuckle, grabbing my stuff.

I follow behind them, jotting a few more answers in my book. I look at Aiden as he nudged me. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"All your homework with no internet. I usually have AI do it for me." Aiden shrugs, smiling as usual.

I laugh. "Tutors. Ever since kindergarten. Dad wants me to be a genius at everything."

Aiden groans. "I'm so glad my parents don't do that to me."

We all walk into Ashlyn's home, wiping our shoes on the rug. "I'm home." Ashlyn groans. I can tell she's socially drained.

"How was school?" Asks Ashlyn's mom, Emma.  "Aiden and Ben are over? I thought you had ballet today?"

"Yeah, about that," Ashlyn mentions. "Aiden, Ben, and (Y/N) want to see where the studio is located. Do you mind if they come along?"

"Come along?" Emma asks.

"Yeah."

I giggle slightly at Mike's and Emma's shocked faces. They both look at each other and nod.

Emma grabs Ashlyn's shirt collar and pulls her over and behind the couch.

"AH-" Ashlyn shrieks in shock.

"Give us a second." Emma's head poke up from the couch with a sweet smile.

Aiden gives a thumbs up. "Cool beans."

Aiden begins to hum, thumping his feet and picking his fingers. Ben shows me some neat drawings in his journal as we wait.

Not even 2 minutes later Aiden groans and whispers into my ear. "I'm bored."

Before I could respond, he grabs me by the hand and Ben follows shortly. Seconds later, I found myself in a circle with Aiden, Ben, Ashlyn and her parents.

"What are we talking about?" Aiden asks.

Ashlyn and her parents give us a shocked look at how we popped from thin air.

"Sorry, got bored waiting." Aiden smiles, chuckling slightly.