The Candace Clique

Chapter Ten

“I’m sorry I’m late!” Anastasia heaved through her pants, “I knew I was going to be late so  I already bought pizza. The subway was crowded, I didn’t have a choice,” she said all in one breath, placing the box of pizza down and throwing her arms in the air.

       Her three friends propped themselves up on their elbows, their sunglasses falling on the brim of their noses. Julia was only in her underwear but Bridget and Candace were both in bikinis, all their eyebrows raised. Candace was the first to speak, “So why were you late?”

     Ana smiled, taking her hoodie off, followed by her scarf and her pants were the last to go. She landed butt first on the beach chair next to Julia, tying her hair up into a messy bun. She turned to her friends while she reached for a pizza, “I’m getting my book published!”

   “What?” the three of them shrieked, smiles plastered on their pretty faces. Bridget jumped out of her seat, running to where their little friend was and enveloping her into a hug, “Oh, my god! That’s wonderful, Ana,” she extracted herself from her friend giving her a light ruffle on the head.

   “Congratulations,” Julia breathed, giving her friend a hug, “good job, kiddo!”

   Candace nodded, a smile on her face, “My, oh my, Anastasia! You’ll be a New York Times best seller in no time!”

   “Well, yeah,” Anastasia replied, biting into her pizza, “that would be amazing.”

   The four friends collapsed on their beach chairs, letting the chill of the air whip across their bodies and the sun toast their skins at the same time. When silence stretched around them, Candace was the first to speak, “Do you remember the guy from the band? Aiden Garcia?”

   Bridget took her sunglasses off, taking a slice of pizza across the table, “Yeah, of course. Why would we forget?”

   “Yeah, what happened with him?” Julia countered.

   Anastasia nodded, “We never got into the details.”

   “Well,” she curled herself into a ball, taking her cellphone, “we had a date down at Sophia’s and then we had a bargain.”

   “And what might that be?” their red highlighted friend asked.

   Candace shrugged, taking a slice of pizza and a can of Coke that Julia had brought in a cooler, “He asked if he can see my art and I said that he can but he has to play for me, too.”

“So did he?” Ana leaned across the beach chair, looking expectantly at her friend, “Did he play for you?”

Their friend nodded, a smile on her face. She dusted her legs off, chewing the last pieces of her pizza before turning to her friends, “What’s happening now with you, Jules?”

“I am officially really scared about college,” Julia answered, propping up her cheek with a hand, her biting her lip was a sign that shows just how much she’s over thought the situation, “it’s really scary if you think it through, which obviously I did,” she bit on her nails, her vision straight towards the thrashing waves, “I’m scared I won’t pass the school or schools I want to go into, I’m scared that I would be having a hard time. I’m scared of the unknown,” she watched the seagulls deep down to the surface of the ocean, its mouth open, anticipating the fish it had been eyeing from above, “I’m scared that I wouldn’t catch up to what my parents expect me to be or do; I don’t know what’s going to happen to me in college. I’m just scared and everything’s just so hard lately,” she fingered her red highlights, twirling it around her index finger, “I’m trying to study for it and I really hope all the efforts I put into those count, you know? Trying to understand what you’ve learned for the high school years and compacting it into a few months just so that you can pass that darn SAT’s.”

When Julia finished, everyone was quiet. Their gazes didn’t meet each other, it was like a silent ritual that when one of them was having over thought thoughts, they wouldn’t speak until everything felt fine again, the four of them looked out at the sea, the never ending turmoil of the water against the quiet sand.

Julia Becksmith bowed her head against her arms and the three other friends crowded around her on her beach chair. Their arms linked around each other, their heads bowed against each other. And with that simple gesture, they knew that they were going to be there for each other no matter what turmoil was brought to them by the water that was life.

Author's Note:

Yes, yes, I know it's short but why would you write down something long when friendship isn't that complicated, to begin with? :) I won't be updating in a while because I'll be having a trip away with my family. Yes, I am going to leave you with this :) hahah. Again, if you have any suggestions as to how the story might go, I am open to anyone's opinion and my inbox is hungry for all your mails :) thank you so much. Please don't forget to vote/like, comment, and share :) 

Much love,

Maybelle