The Summer

The Party- Emma

I pulled out my large purple suitcase and smile excitedly. In a few days, my family and I would be going to San Antonio for summer vacation. I couldn't wait to get to beaches and palm trees and away from boring old Des Moines. I love my hometown, and I would never move away from my cozy pink house and friends that I had made over the years at my middle school, but the days here can get to be repetitive and unexciting.

I heard a buzz come from my phone over where it was charging so I got up from my spot on the floor by my suitcase and unlocked my phone to see who it was.

I'm having a party at my house on the twentieth. Able to come? Zach had texted me.

Oh no. I was leaving the day after, and I knew my mom wouldn't let me go. I had to pack and clean and make sure to get a good night's rest. There was no way my parents would let me go!

Also, Zach is a boy. Obviously. And I didn't think my parents would approve of that. Even if there is nothing between us and never will be. See, they're a little protective of me, which I'm perfectly okay with. And I had a gut feeling that the party would be really awkward, considering Zach and his friends can be pretty weird around... females.

This might sound mean, but I was a little relieved that I couldn't go. I didn't want to suffer through the awkward I knew would come that night. Of course I think they're great friends, and I felt terrible for thinking that, but I couldn't help it. I'm not very comfortable around boys, especially not in public. That's something I'll definitely have to work on.

I told him I couldn't go, and that I felt terrible. But I knew it would just be easier in the long run. He tried to reschedule, but I didn't want to seem rude. For some reason I'm really careful about that, even if it's something that no one though of as rude. I don't like being a nuisance or an inconvenience to people.

I went back to my spot on my bedroom floor.

"Bailey!" I giggled. My extremely fluffy ragdoll kitten decided to plop his fat body into my suitcase. He's too adorable. I picked him up and put him on my bed, and with a "meow" he jumped down and exited my room.

I looked into my closet. Texas is hot. But how hot? I lazily got up AGAIN and opened up the weather app.

100 degrees or above all week! I decided to look at Iowa's weather..

"HAHA RAINY!" I laughed out loud. Honestly it didn't surprise me. June tended to be thunderstomy in Des Moines.

I sighed and picked out a cute tank top with a panda wearing sunglasses. Then I grabbed a pair of shorts. That's one outfit done. I packed the rest of my clothes and threw my suitcase over to the corner of my room. I would do the rest of the packing later. I had more important things to do, like download music for the long road trip.

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"We're finally here guys!" my mom cheerfully piped. My dad got out of the driver's seat and opened up the door to our white minivan. All of my four siblings plus me jumped out of the car and grabbed out suitcases. This was easier said than done. Seven people trying to pull stuff out of the car is a very difficult task! Anna and Joe, my little sister and brother, started yelling at each other about who's backpack was who's.

We walked to the front of the house we had rented out for the weekend. It was beautiful. The brick siding was covered in vines and there was a huge picture window right above the cute red door. We walked inside and I felt as if I was in paradise. The house was too wonderful to describe! There was a cute little kitchen and I dining room with a tall table and chairs. The living room had a fireplace (which we never used because it was a billion degrees outside) and a large flat screen tv perfect for light night movies. My room was awesome. It was an extremely soft bed with simple white bedding and a desk perfect for my laptop, cell phone, and writing journal. Remember that awesome window I was talking about? It was in my room! The view outside was amazing.

But the best part about the whole thing was the swimming pool. The landscaping around it consisted of exotic flowers and palm trees. The pool had a beautiful bluish-green color to it. There was a diving board and a little waterfall that cascaded down rocks into the swimming pool.

We were only there for ten minutes before Anna and Joe started pestering my mom and dad about swimming.

"Well first we have to go to the store and buy some food."

Food is good.

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That night I collapsed into my cozy bed. It had been so much fun just hanging out in the house, and I couldn't wait for tomorrow. We were going to Sea World!

I put Lego House on repeat; that was my current song obsession. I let Ed Sheeran's soothing voice drift me of to sleep, when all of a sudden I was startled by a text from Lynn.

Apparently Zach's party was as awkward as I thought it would be, if not even worse. Lynn, who was currently "really really really close friends" with Jensen, told me the whole thing.

Apparently Mandi and Lynn were the only girls there (that made me feel terrible for not going) and it was extremely awkward. They decided to play hide-and-seek, and out of nowhere Jensen "broke up" with Lynn.

I felt so bad for her. How could Jenson just end everything in one quick second? Did he not even like her in the first place?

I didn't dare text that back to her though, if I did I would've made her even more sad.

We talked a while after and decided that we still needed to be nice to him. Show him we're the bigger person and be mature about it. Besides, I still wanted to be friends with Jensen and I didn't want to start any drama.

I went to sleep thinking of how exciting tomorrow was going to be.