The Almost Summer

An Epilogue, and Several Thank Yous♥

I tap my pencil in time with the clock ticking on the dreary grey wall of the maths classroom.

"You know, that's actually really irritating," Matty muses, and I fight the urge to slap him.

"You're telling me," I sigh just as the final bell rings; signifying both the end of the school day and of term.

Piper walks over to join us as we pack away our things, gripping her phone in her hand with a dreamy look on her face.

"Texting Jake during class again?" I tease, nudging her elbow as she grins goofily. Once the question would have felt alien on my tongue, but now it's as natural as asking what time it is. Piper smiles shyly in response: we still tiptoe around each other about this subject, but we're getting better. I suppose the distance must help, I conclude. The distance and Lucas.

"Arranging plans for this week," She replies as her phone buzzes again, causing her to practically melt. Rolling my eyes good-naturedly, I turn to Matty on my other side.

"Band rehearsals tonight?" I ask, to which he nods distractedly. "Everything okay?"

Matty glances over to the corner of the classroom, where a group of girls are stood looking over. Lowering his voice conspiratorially, he frowns before asking: "Do we know them?"

I suppress a small smile.

"No Matty," I grin, tugging him along behind me out the door. "But they definitely know you," His eyebrows lower in confusion, and he glances over his shoulder at the girls. One of them waves flirtatiously at him, and he turns back to face me, blushing furiously. "I don't understand," He whispers, and this time I don't bother to hold back my laugh.

Being in a band certainly improves dating prospects, I mused as we headed down the stairs leading to the main hall. But, seeing as one was taken and one now openly played for the other team, Matty had to carry that responsibility all by himself.

"I'll tell you when you're older," I inform him just as Halle appears, muttering under her breath in French.

"What's got you worked up?" Piper finally rejoins the conversation, putting her phone into her pocket.

"My French teacher's been on my case about some summer homework we had to do," Halle grumbles, hitching her bag further onto her shoulders forcefully.

"We've been back at school for an entire term," I point out, to which she only shrugs, not bothering to even pretend to look contrite. "What was the homework?"

"To write an essay about what we did over the summer," She replies, as we carry on walking down the corridor.

"L'été de l'amour," I reminisce, which puts a smile back on her face. Not for long though, as she groans.

"A summer of love for you two, maybe," She huffs, poking me and Piper on our shoulders. "I still have a grand total of zero guys interested in me,"

Matty has his head turned away from me, but I can see that the tips of his ears have turned a faint pink colour, clashing magnificently with his coffee coloured skin, but just about hidden under his thick black hair from Halle's view.

"If only you knew," Piper smirks, and we exchange a short laugh when our eyes meet.

"What does that mean?" Halle grumbles,

"I'll tell you when you're older," I repeat, as we push open the doors into the packed foyer.

*

I wrap a thick scarf around my neck before braving my back garden, wincing at the cold air that rushes in to form clasps around my numb fingers. We're firmly into the season that gave me my name: Halloween decorations are advertised in every shop, I drink hot beverages far more frequently than I do cold ones, and I can't even begin to fathom the possibility of shorts.