Holidaze (camren)

7. America the Beautiful

Summer had been my savior, as it was practically every year, but that year especially. Camila and I barely saw each other during finals week, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We were preoccupied with studying for our individual exams but we still made time to talk on the phone before bed. I figured out how to be sneaky towards the end and feigned ignorance when it came to American Literature so she'd help me study for the short essay answers. We shared that class together so it worked out quite nicely that it happened to be our last test of the week. We cleaned out our lockers, threw our notebooks in the trash, and kissed McKinley goodbye for the next three months. The only thing we had to worry about was my Cheerios pre-season at the end of August and Camila's show choir camp that was the last week of June.

I intended to make the best of every single day that summer had to offer me. Whether we were lounging outside near my pool, or taking a road trip to the lake with whatever choir members were left behind, it was beautiful. It was the last real summer we had before we had to deal with real life. We knew the following summer would be filled with dorm accessory shopping, orientations, and college things. We knew that it would end with tearful goodbyes to Lima and everyone from the town. The summer before our senior year was going to be spent drama free and not one regret was going to be had.

We escaped Memorial Day weekend with minor scratches, it had the potential to be catastrophic but it actually turned out all right. Camila, Taylor, and I spent the remainder of our last day talking outside and just being entirely honest with what we turned into. Camila told her in proud detail about how big of a romantic I was when I turned the clock back on New Years eve, she told her how she'd always felt a magnetic pull towards me but didn't realize what it was until we shared our first kiss that night, she explained the drama surrounding our boyfriends at the time, how we were both fighting our attraction on Valentine's day only to know exactly what we needed to say to the other person in our apologies, the misunderstanding surrounding our St. Patrick's Day fiasco, she told her all about Naill's lies, and even how scared she had been to break up with Shawn.

Taylor sat in rapt attention the entire time, only interrupting to ask questions. She'd nudge my shoulder playfully when I'd blush at Camila's word choices occasionally and made sure to have appropriate noises for whatever part of the story Camila was telling. It was an entirely embarrassing experience that I never wanted to repeat again, but by the way Camila was gushing through the various stories made me believe that she was just dying to tell someone about our relationship. So when she left something out I made sure to do a little gushing myself to let my sister know just how great Camila was to me.

We didn't end up leaving until nearly 11 o'clock that night, both Camila and I begging to stay another night so that we could continue to hang out with my sister, who was surprisingly cool again. We grumbled and fought but ultimately lost, we changed into our pajamas and dragged our feet down the driveway to the waiting Volvo. It came as a surprise when my mother hopped in the driver's seat and suggested that Camila and I use the back seat to get some sleep. I couldn't be sure if it was a trick or not but I actually was exhausted. We were knocked out before we made it to the highway.

The first few days of summer were heaven. My expectations were high but I wasn't disappointed. The only dark cloud in my otherwise sunny mind was the fact that Camila was attending her sleep-a-way camp so soon after the end of school. We had an amazing week together and then she was taken from me so that she could excel at things that she'd already mastered when she was ten years old. I wasn't thrilled and I wasn't shy about it, I even made a big deal about not going with her dads to drop her off at the camp. She pouted and told me I was being selfish and I told her that she was the one that was selfish for leaving me. Regardless, I was at her house an hour before they were scheduled to drive the four hours into Pennsylvania and even joined her fathers when they cried on the drive back. It seemed that they had at least 3 burned CDs of sad songs to sing along to on the long drive home. It was torturous but I welcomed it graciously as I realized just how much I was actually going to miss my little spitfire.