Rolly Polly

Chapter 1

Before {Harper}

"What do you want to do?" I found myself laying next to Connor on his bed. He is leaning against his headboard drawing in his sketch pad. He simply grunts in response, so rude. I reach over and poke him in the leg.

"Connor..." He merely looks at me over the pad. Moving myself to a sitting position, I reach over and grab the notebook from his hands and set it in the space between us. He glares at me and stretches to reach for it. When his hands are about to grab the book I take a hold of his large hands in my small ones. They aren't small, not really. Compared to all the girls around my age they are huge. My mother tells me I have piano hands, but back to the point. I look him in the eyes, all deep and meaningful like, in an attempt to catch his attention.

"Connor. It is a Saturday, it is senior year, and we are sitting in your room like any other day of our lives. We need to get up and do something! We need to go somewhere! We need to take advantage of our youth and live! What do you say? Are you ready to live?"

After this great declaration you would think I would motivate him. You think I would get a standing ovation, or at least a slight smile. Instead, what do I get? I get a blank stare. That boy has the audacity to just look at me, like he could care less. Evidently he can care less.

"If you want to do something exciting then go do it. You obviously aren't going to let me sit here and draw, so I am going to take a nap." He then proceeds to pull the blankets over his legs and shimmy down until he is laying. I can barely contain my horror. This is the beginning of the summer we have waited our whole academic careers for and he wants to take a nap? Not on my watch. And so, I do the only thing a friend girl can do in this situation, I jumped on him. The mixture of complete terror and surprise on his face is enough to send me into fits of giggles which of course get a laugh out of Connor. My giggling is the secret to getting what I want out of this boy that I love dearly.

"Connor. This is our senior summer. You are not going to take a nap on the first day, so let me tell you what is going to happen. When I get off of you, you are going to get out of your bed, put on an actual shirt, and some converse. Then you are going to grab your phone and your sunglasses and follow me down the stairs. We are going to tell your mother you are leaving and then I am going to make sure that you spend this day properly. Is that understood?"

***

10 minutes later we were sitting in Connor's car blasting music. Our windows are down and my hair is blowing in my face, but for once, I don't care. It is warm outside and I am with my best friend. What more could I ask for? I see an intersection ahead and get the quarter out.

"Ready?" I ask him? He just nods at me as I flip the silver coin. It lands in my palm face up. "Looks like it's right" I tell him. With a small laugh he checks his mirrors and turns on his blinker to make the right turn.

"How many more turns do we have until we get there? Where ever there is..." I laugh at my best friend. I love him to death, but sometimes he seriously needs to liven up.

"I think 15..." We only have 3 turns left but I want to see his reaction. As expected, he explodes.

"WHAT?! HARPER!" I can't help myself, I burst out in laughter and laugh so hard that I can't breathe. I can feel my face getting red as I continue laughing. Connor on the other hand is torn between believing me or seeing through my joke. But as true friendship goes, within seconds he sees straight through my scheme and just glares at me. As if that will do anything.

"But seriously, how many more?" He asks me. Already we are out in the country, headed towards whatever town is next or maybe just a dead end somewhere. The sun is still high in the sky, but within the hour it should begin to set. The hills around us are brown from the sun, a random tree here and there. Before us is what seems to be an endless stretch of road. These are my favorite memories, the road trips with my best friend. We never know where we will end up or what we will do, and that makes it more worthwhile.

Three turns later we find ourselves at an abandoned barn with a forest behind it. Around the property is a fence with an abandoned road. Looking at each other we grinned and got out of the car.