Lifeline

June

A/N: To be honest, I can't wait for June. I'll be on summer vacation, sleeping and skating and living my life without fucking homework and school and life... I'll miss my friends, of course, but God I could use a break right now.

Devin tapped his pencil impatiently against his leg, his eyes on the clock. He had finished his last final and cleared out his locker; when the time hit the hour, he was free. For the last few classes on campus, none of the faculty actually cared about where the students were as long as they were in a classroom, so all five of the friends (and Ian, who was beginning to just be a part of the group) were sitting together.

Everyone was talking loudly, conversations about summer plans and vacations buzzing through the air. Someone mentioned something about a big party at another junior's house (or did they count as seniors yet), but none of the friends felt like going. They had never gotten into the party scene, preferring to spend time together rather than in a crowd. Anna told the girl next to her, Molly, about the trip to Europe her parents had booked, and Nick listened in as Sam and Todd discussed a baseball camp hosted by a professional team. Christie and Bella were busy playing Speed with a deck of cards, laughing as Bella got too excited and spilled one of the decks on the ground. Ian was excitedly convincing Bella to come to his youth group over the summer, describing a game that they always played; Devin just kept his eyes on the clock, tapping his foot in favor of his pencil.

Just as the bell rang for the last time that year, every kid in the room jumped up and raced for the doors, excited to finally be free from school for the next three months or so. Christie swallowed the urge to belt out that one High School Musical song, but Anna couldn't resist.

"What time is it?" she called to her friends as she backed towards the door, facing them.

"Summertime!" they replied, some enthusiastically and others a bit grudgingly. Someone did it every year. The girls giggled and led the way out towards the student parking lot, scheming about how they were going to spend the next weeks of freedom. Devin had just gotten his license and his parents handed down their old Suburban, so he suggested a small road trip to celebrate the completion of another year of school. Everyone agreed quickly, and they piled into Ian's SUV to hang out at a park near a few of their houses.

At the park, Anna, Christie, and Bella made a beeline for a hill, dropping their backpacks in the shade of a tree and rolling down the slope. Ian, Nick, and Devin just shook their heads at the girls, splaying out under the tree and pulling out the deck of cards Christie had stashed in the water bottle pocket of her backpack.

"Get back up here and let's play a game," they yelled, rolling their eyes as the girls just laughed, staying immobile at the bottom of the hill.

It was summer; there was no rush.

~*~

"So this might have been a horrible idea or a great one," Cody said, inching into the living room where the rest of the band was sitting. They had much more time to relax and hang out since their album had been released, and sometimes they weren't quite sure what to do with themselves. Cody had locked himself in the bathroom that morning with a bag from the grocery store, and two hours later he emerged... with green hair. It wasn't even a subtle green; it was a loud, attention grabbing, deep emerald green.

Blair, Mitch, and James were sitting side by side on the part of the couch that faced the television with their backs to him. James, however, was in one of the gaming chairs on the floor and spun around when he spoke, his eyes growing wide as he took in his friend's new hair. The three on the couch looked at his expression (disbelief bordering on laughter) and turned to look at Cody. They were all speechless; he hadn't given any warning for this sudden decision and they weren't sure whether to laugh or ask what the hell he was thinking.