The Summer of My Life

4.

Hi guys! Sorry this is crappy, I've been busy out of the house all day and... Yeah. Sorry for my parentheses and stuff, those are markings for me tomorrow, as I typed this on my phone. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!

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It was days before I dared to leave the house. Even then, it was only because Becca complained I had turned into a turtle.

The day I finally left my shell, I was wearing all black, quietly sneaking out from behind the house. Once I made it to the park, I sighed in relief. I hadn't even dared to bring my Penny, in fear the brightness of it would have caught unwanted attention. That means that when I got to the park, I realized that I needed to walk over to Becca's house. I sighed and trudged slowly in the sickly afternoon summer heat. As I turned around for a split second, I could see the neighbor's door opening. I turned and sprinted as quick as I possibly could in a black hoodie, black jeans, and black shoes, in the middle of summer. (normal lettering)Stupid? Yes.

So I finally get there and slam the doorbell. Becca finds me panting, sweating.

"Jesus, Nora, what the hell happened?"

"Long story... Explain later... WATER." I manage to pant out before she lets me in. I collapse on her couch and she goes to get me water. I take it gratefully and finish the thing in one go. As she fetches me another glass, I explain to her my next-door boy problems.

"Dang Nora, I really should've bought the cow. What are you gonna do?" she hands me the second glass.

"I'm not sure yet, I've gotta see what happens," this time I'm able to sip slowly, "wait did you just make a joke out of my problems? S-M-H Bec."

We both start laughing now, because I seemed so stupid. If anyone saw me running here, oh man, they must've thought I was insane. We sit and watch a a few episodes of that new show, and then we attempt to bake chocolate chip cookies, but eat all the dough raw before the oven even finishes preheating. Sometimes I wonder if people are just trying to rain on my parade, or if anyone has actually gotten salmonella from eating that stuff. I mean- dang- it's just as good as the cooked stuff. Becca says she has to get ready for soccer, so I nod and leave. She offers to walk me home like a loser, but I tell her no, it's ok. If anything happened, I would just run inside, right? So I walked home. Fortunately, the sun had started to go down, so it was a lot more comfortable in my clothes now. I walk up to the front door and fish out my key. When I open the door though, a small slip of folded paper falls out. I open it. It's full of horribly scrawled lettering.

To Whatever-Your-Name-Is,

I wanted to talk to you today. A neighbor should know their other neighbors, right? I saw you leave your house, but by the time I got past the door you had disappeared. So then I wrote a note. This one. And unless it gets lost, this is the only note I will ever write because it's by far too much work. If you get this, could you walk to the house directly to the left of yours? Great thanks and then we can party.

-Benedict

Benedict. Benedict.