The Summer of My Life

7.

UGH WHY IS THIS DANG THING SET ON PG-13

DOES SOMEONE WHO'S SMART WANT TO TELL ME WHY I DIDN'T SET IT LIKE THAT I SWEAR AND I CAN'T CHANGE IT BACK.

Also I'm sick and my mom told me to stop writing but I HAVE A COMMITMENT TO YOU ALL SO I WRITE IN SECRET seriously ily guys so much but I feel like poop ugh hopefully I get to miss school tomorrow and blog and write all day like a happy fangirl :D yeah.

Wow this took so long to write I literally spent all day on it.

SHRUTI GO GET A WATTPAD

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A week passes by way quicker than I thought it would, without Becca. There is not one day Benedict and I don't hang out together. Even when I'm busy, say, with volleyball, we manage to find some time to skate around a little. Sometimes, Andy tags along on his little scooter. Once, we even went to the nearest grocery store and bought a legit lunch there. We decided to skate back to the park and eat it, since Andy wasn't with us. Every day was a good one that week. I even stopped counting the days until Becca came back. I was hosing off my filthy board when Becca walked in on me.

"Hey," she says, in a relatively bored voice. She's much tanner now, and I wonder where she went. She has her board with her. I turn off the hose.

"Wait, did the door seriously not creak?" I ask her in amazement. Usually, the wooden door to my yard made the most horrific noises ever when opened. Like a dying cat next to a trumpeting elephant.

"Nope," she says, "Not a single squeak." She sounds more interested now.

"Wow, Nora, why is your board so dirty?" she looks in disgust at the blackened water flowing into the grass. I shrug and explain to her my adventures. She stops me when I start talking about our attempts to skate on sand and soil.

"You seem... Interested. Is he attractive whatsoever?" she tilts her head.

"Oh, interested is an understatement," I  confess in her, nodding furiously. I just hope Benedict isn't outside listening to me right now, in his own yard.

"Can I meet him?" Becca says, clearly awed by the fact that I would ever be into anyone.

"Duh," I say, returning back to the hose. I watch as bits of dirt slowly peel off my board. And then I grin.

"Hey, Becca, do you have your phone with you right now?"

"No, why does that ma-" she screams loudly as I turn the hose on her. "Excuse ME!" she screams, and grabs the hose from me.

"GET SOME!" and soon I'm soaked too.

"I'm glad you're back," I say, between the screaming and laughing.

"Yeah, me too," Becca says. At that instant, she arches the hose upwards, spraying water over the fence onto our neighbors. I cringe as Benedict's back door opens. It's his mom.

"What on earth?!" the tone isn't mad, just confused. Becca laughs.

"Sorry, Mrs. Talbot, my friend doesn't know how to use a hose," I yell to her, through the fence.

"Nora? Are you Nora?" she asks in return. Becca snorts like, so the parents know you too?

"This is her, yes."

"Oh, Benedict talks a lot about you. Are you the person he goes out to meet everyday?" I feel my cheeks begin to burn and redden. Becca is literally rolling on the floor laughing, the laugh where you laugh so hard you're silent, and tears stream down your face.

"Really?"

"Yes." somewhere from inside the house, Andy yells something I can't make out. "Well, it was nice meeting you- or hearing you. Benedict went on a grocery run with his dad. He'll be back shortly. I'm sure he'll be right over at your door the second he gets home." I thought I could hear smugness, but also contentedness in her voice, like she was remembering what it was like in her own teenage years. She sighs and walks inside. I'm still red, when Becca finally gets up.

"So, looks like your little eggs benedict is more than into you, too," her eyes are still glittering with laughter. The glittery silver liner she's wearing today really emphasizes that. I can't help but laugh at the name she's now given him.

"Nah, the eggs benedict is happy with everyone. You'll see." I slowly return back to a normal color. We go inside and dry off, changing from my soaked pajamas into clean clothes. I take this opportunity of being soaking wet to brush my hair out and let it air dry down. Somehow, Becca's makeup is still perfect and in tact. My mascara has run down my face, so I fix that too. I've just finished putting on a pair of socks when the doorbell rings. I already know who it is, and I'm about to go get the door, but Becca beats me there. She flings the door open, and then she freezes, for no particular reason. I look at her, even snapping my fingers under her nose, but she stays frozen, mouth slightly open, just staring at Benedict. I laugh.

"She called you eggs benedict earlier today, you know," I tell him.

"Wow, more nicknames for me, I guess, although I do love me some eggs benedict," he seems particularly happy today, I don't know why. Becca is still frozen, so after about five minutes of screaming in her face from the both of us, I decide to just push her over. She hits the ground with a thud.

"Oww, what was that for?" she asks, rubbing her elbow.

"Well, considering the fact that you froze for legit five minutes, it was to wake you up," Benedict crosses his arms.

"Are-are you Benedict?" Becca still hasn't gotten up off the floor.

"Yesiree," Benedict replies with his usual goofy grin.

"Becca, get your stinking butt off the ground," I say. Becca pouts.

"No, I don't want to mommy." she crosses her arms and kicks like a little kid. It takes both me and Benedict to get her to stand up.

We don't do much that day, sit around and eat. At one point we bake a cake from a box, but as the impatient people we are, we burn our mouths on it trying to eat the bare cake straight out of the pan while it was still hot.

We then decide we weren't meant to be cooks, and take a gas station run instead. There, we find a twenty dollar bill on the floor, and having forgotten to bring money, it was a score for us. we buy a family size bag of barbeque chips and some water. Since it was so nice out, we opted to skate back to the park and eat. Benedict finds pina colada popsicles, so we steal a few of those. In the end, Benedict has to go to dinner with his family, and Becca and I have a sleepover.

My mother comes home and cooks us gourmet spaghetti with her mothering skills, and we run off to find entertainment around the house. Just before falling asleep, Becca says,

"You know, I froze because he was actually attractive. I never thought you would be able to see that in anybody. You're a girl, Nora, can you believe, that?" she jokes.

"No, not at all," I mumble.

"Anyways, goodnight."

"Yeah, you too."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'm sure you love Benedict more."

"Now, that just isn't true."

And then there's silence for a while. Then both of our breaths begin to slow and steady. And then we're fast asleep.

You're a girl, Nora. Can you believe that? You actually act like a girl.

No, I can't believe it. But I don't need to. It's my reality. It's happening right now.