I Ate the Apple

Chapter 2

The second we get off the plane, I feel anger rise in my system, and I march up to the desk.

"Fuck you both."

"You're going. Matt was telling me about this party and everyone you know is supposed to be there." James grabs my arm and drags me out of the airport and into Salt Lake City.

I'm cursing horribly at both him and Kathryn. He shoves my suitcase in the trunk and gets in the back. Kathryn gets in the front.

"Drive." James says.

I cross my arms, glaring at the world.
"I can't believe you guys brought me here. You know how bad it fucked me up last time!"

"Well, it'll be nice for you to see familiar faces. We'll chill with you and Matt." James says.

Pissed off, I start the engine to the truck.

They've never been here. I moved to Alta alone with the intent of finding Channing, but I went crazy within two weeks and went right back to them.

Pissed off, I drive the familiar route out of Salt Lake City and into Alta.

They're quiet, watching the town I grew up in fly past.

We're all quiet.

I drive to the fucking house I still own from when I moved here, swearing up a storm when we get out.

"You don't lock the door?" Kathryn asks, her jaw on the floor.

Her and James both grew up in Boston.

James went to college in California and Kathryn was at Harvard with me, but they're used to the city.

"There's no reason to." I say.

I don't even lock the car.

We all stand in the middle of my living room.

"The party starts at eight." Kathryn says. "It's at some park. I'll call Matt and ask-"

"There's only one park." I cross my arms. "It's on the lake, on the lttle beach, which is the lake." I sigh.

"it's a beach party." Kathryn shrugs.

"Let's get dressed and you can take us around."

So, I put on a black bikini and throw a t-shirt over it. I shove flip flops on my feet.

Kathryn and James get dressed, and we get in the rental car.

I take them all over, starting in Salt Lake where my granparents lived,, then where my fake parents were, then my real parents, then my old school, Clark, then northside where Channing and I went, and around eight, I park across the street from Channing's old house and kill the engine.

They're both quiet for a long time.

"Did Channing live here?" Kathryn asks, grabbing my hand.

I nod slowly.

"We had our first make out, right there, on that swing." I smile at the memory, my eye filled with tears of pain, and happiness. "I sneezed on him." I laugh. "He teased me about it forever."

They don't' say anything.

We sit outside for over an hour, but I see smoke from the other side of the lake.

Sighing, I start the engine.

"The party is over there."

I drive to the other side of the lake and park next to Matt's ford.