Short Story
The party of the summer. Every year my mother had to throw this huge back to school party, claiming that it's one of the many things that our family, the Vanderburges', had to do to keep a darn image up. Everyone in my senior class was invited to our house, to come and just spend our last night of summer vacation together. Amber was standing by me the whole night so far. Her blond hair was done in curls and her make-up was most likely done my some type of cosmetic artist. Our parents were convinced that we were meant to be together, concerning they were another big high end family. This was the fourth year having this party and it was the last, so of course my parents went bigger than ever, but in all honesty I was bored. It was the same people and basically the same thing every year. Amber had one arm hooked around mine as we walked through the house, crossing from the dining room to the living room, passing in the foyer when the door opened. I looked up, stopping knowing I had to greet each and every one of my guest, when a girl I had never seen walked through. Her eyes widen as she looked in every possible direction taking in the surroundings. In an instant my mom was walking past Amber and me, to greet her. "You must be Elliot Hendricks!" My mom spoke in a very cheery voice as she opened the door wider, reviling her parent. She didn't smile, but nodded. Her mother on the other hand had a smile plastered onto her face. "Hello Mrs. Vanderburge. How are you?" The older woman spoke in a very polite and soft voice. "Just fine." My mom nodded and closed the door behind them. My mother looked up at me and waved me over. "This is my son Liam." My mother smiled proudly as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hello, nice to meet you, thank you for coming." I smiled reaching out my hand to shake their hands. Mrs. Hendricks kindly accepted, and shook my hand, while Elliot just shrugged. "Elliot." Her mother scolded but she brushed it off. "Well hello Liam." Her mom spoke and smiled. "Liam, these are the Hendricks, they just moved here." My mother said with a smile, giving a small background to them. "Elliot, here, will be joining you and your friends at Grant High tomorrow." She said as I smiled and nodded. "That's great news." I said. "Well Mrs. Hendricks, why don't you come join me and the view others to a glass of wine, while Elliot here can go be a social butterfly and go make a view friends." My mom smiled as Mrs. Hendricks nodded and followed. I was about to turn to Elliot and say something but she was already gone, walking into the living room, and Amber was already back by my side. "She looks like a freak." She mumbled as I rolled my eyes ignoring her.
So the back to school party was lame, and everyone there looked like a bunch of snobs. I could tell that my last year of high school was not going to be fun and it was going to be hard to even get a sliver of acceptance from people there. Yeah, I guess you could say that at least I knew one person, but its not like Liam was every really going to talk to me, especially with the chick hanging on him like her was a coat rack. I slipped on a black V-neck and put on a pair of my dark skinny jeans, with my converse to finish my look of the day. I grabbed my army green bag and the keys off the table. "Bye mom!" I shouted and I was out the door. I climbed into my dad's old jeep, that had no doors or room and backed out of the drive way and headed to school. Once I had got there, my mouth had almost dropped. It was gorgeous and huge, nothing like my old school, and I knew for the second time being here, I was out of place. I parked my car and grabbed my bag walking into the building, looking at the small blue piece of paper that listed my classes, and locker number and combination. I got to my locker and placed my bag inside, along with a couple of folders and notebooks. I really didn't want to be here...no scratch, that I don't belong here. I grabbed a pen and notebook and started to look for my first class. This place was huge and there were a lot of people. I looked down at my somewhat destroyed converse as I glanced at all the other girls that wore heels or flats, anything that was a type of gym shoe. I looked back up and the next thing I knew Liam was walking next to me. "Hey." He smiled. He wore a purple a purple t-shirt that read 'Grants Football Team' and a pair of cargo shorts with a pair of Nikes that looked like they just came out of the box...which they probably did. "Hi." I said as I looked at him confused. "So you're new here?" He asked, obviously making small talk. "Yeah, didn't you hear your mom last night?" I said as I rolled my eyes. "Well yeah." He nodded and shrugged and kept walking with me. "Listen Liam, why don't you go find that girl or your friends and leave me alone? Just because I'm new doesn't mean I need to be treated like some charity case." I snapped, annoyed. "Hey, I'm just trying to be nice." He said putting his hands up in defense. "Aww did your mommy tell you to be nice to me so you can keep your image up?" I questioned giving him a 'sad' face. I looked up at him and his expression changed. I think I just hit a nerve, a bad one. "No." He shook his head. "I was just trying to help you." He said flatly. "Anatomy is right a head on your right." He said and turned around so fast that it was almost like he disappeared into thin air. I sighed. I really didn't mean to upset him, I just figured. I continued to walk, following his directions on where my first class was, and I could tell that today was going to be extremely long.
So a few weeks had passed. I've been in and out of school, practice, and the formal parties that my parents had forced me to go to. In all honesty, I just needed to get away. I got up off my bed and grabbed a hoodie and made my way out the house. I had one place that I wanted to go and that was the graveyard. Strange I know but going to my grandmothers' grave always gave me peace. I pulled up and parked my car on the side of the road and made my way into the depths of the grave yard. I as I was walking I looked seeing a figure. Curiosity peaked my interest as I changed my direction and started to walk in that direction. The closer I got, the more I saw that it was the new girl. "What are you doing here?" I questioned as I walked to her as she slightly jumped and I choked back a laugh. "Apparently my dad's father is buried in this cemetery." She spoke softly as she folded her arms. "What about you?" "Needed to escape my home." I shrugged. "So you come here?" She questioned. "My grandmother used to be the person I would go to, so now I go to her tombstone." I spoke as I blankly stared into space. "Sorry for your lost." She said, sounding sincere. I my eyes scanned her body and her features. Her hair was dark and curly at the ends. She had curves to her figure but she was thin. She ran her tongue against her bottom lip and then would gently tug at her lip ring with her teeth. She was completely different from girls at Grant. They were like bright colorful people, but she was dark and mysterious. We had a couple of classes, but we still didn't talk much. The only thing I really knew about her was the fact she was new to our school, to our town. "So how do you like Grant?" I questioned as I took a seat on the ground, forgetting about my grandmas' grave. "The school itself is amazing. Everyone in it, well that's a different story. I mean it's hard to like a place and be yourself when you know that you still won't fit in or be good enough." She spoke and for once it wasn't a sarcastic remark or something sassy. It was like she was someone completely different away from a sea of people. We sat on the grass for over an hour just talking about everything and anything. Somethings were more personal, some just an opinion or something that we both had in common. Elliot was actually a really fun and entertaining person. I liked talking to her and I felt more connected with her then any other girl. She made me feel like the real me was out and that it was okay to be someone else.
Talking with Liam was great. It was like I could just be relaxed and talk about everything and just be normal, without putting up a wall. It was like I craved him because I could be myself. "You don't want anything that your parents have instore for you do you?" I questioned as I looked him up and down carefully. He hesitated and sighed. "No. They have the perfect girl and the perfect job and the perfect image all set out for me, but I don't want it. I want to be myself and do what I want and like, not what they have planned." He confessed. "It's like I need some type of high, without actually being high." He chuckled, as if it was a joke but I knew exactly what he meant, because I needed that too, and as if we both had the same brain, we looked at each other with a same crazy thought.
"What if we use each other?" I spoke, with my adrenaline pumping. It was crazy but I know Elliot thought of it too. We both felt insanely comfortable with each other with barely knowing each other and people always told me that it seemed like there was a certain type of tension between us. "Fine." She bit her lip thinking further about this topic. "No strings attached, we use each other when things get to hard to handle." She nodded as I did too. "Agreed." Once that left my lips there was no going back. We both had tension; we both had problems that we wanted to escape briefly and in that instant my lips were on hers, our make-out session, being our high, us using each other.
