New Friend
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It was Friday of June, the last day of school, and I was sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria all by myself. I was too preoccupied to feel sorry for myself about losing my friends just recently. I had decided to make a list for the summer so I would have things to do other than stay home and do nothing all the time. I called it A Bumper List of Pointless Things. So far I had:
1. Watch at least one chick flick without vomiting.
Chick flicks nauseated me sometimes if I watched too long.
2. Watch the sunrise at The Mountain.
The Mountain was basically a very high and steep hill that overlooked the town of Newedge. It was pretty obvious as to why it was called The Mountain. It looked like a freaking mountain, minus the snow and whatnot. I had never went before dawn or even before dusk, only when it was midday. That was why I added that to my list.
3. Kiss in the rain.
4. Get a boyfriend in order for number 3 to happen.
The chances of getting a boyfriend were very slim. I wasn't particularly attracted to anybody at Newedge High because most of the guys there seemed as though they wanted one thing and one thing only. It was a shame that there were only few of them who were nice and respectful, like proper gentleman. The sad thing was, as far as I knew, they were all taken.
5. Go for a night swim.
My former friends used to tell stories about their drunken midnight swims with guys. Wearing nothing. I wanted to swim one night, except it would be the total opposite of what my old friends had done.
That was all I had written down. I wanted at least ten. I stared down at the open notebook in front of me, trying to come up with what I could add in on there. An idea popping into my mind, I pressed the tip of my pen on the paper underneath number 5 on the list.
6. Camp out in my backyard.
It would be great to escape the house for a whole night, even if it was just outside in our backyard. I couldn't handle the depressing aura inside of my house. Maybe I would live out in the backyard until I turned eighteen. It would be a lot more bearable.
7. Say "yes" to everything for a full day.
What was the worst that could happen?
8. Play hide and seek at the mall with my twelve year old cousin.
I mindlessly added that to the list but I didn't bother erasing it. I decided it would actually be fun. I was almost finished with the list, all I needed were two more and then a piece of my summer would be complete.
9. Get colorful hair streaks.
My mother would never allow me to do something like that but she was too caught up in her grief that she probably won't even notice anything or anyone else for a while. It was something I had always wanted to do anyway.
10. Find a friend who will never leave me.
Just as I finished writing that down, I heard a chair being pulled back across the table. I instinctively looked up, the tip of my pen remaining on the paper, and found the very familiar boy seating himself across me as if we normally sat together like every other school day at lunch hour. He was an exchange student from England. He picked up his spoon that was set on his tray and began scooping up pasta from the bowl, staring back at me. I probably looked confused.
