Six Months // pjm

/1/

I woke up when Olivia's hand slammed into my face as she rolled over. This girl had no sense of personal space- if you slept in a bed with her, you were just part of the bed. Over the years of our friendship, I had woken up several times with her laying on one half of me while the other half of me was hanging off the bed.

The slap to the face made my senses rush back to me after sleep, as the sun shone through the curtain of our hotel room. I eased out from under Olivia's arm as I quietly got off the bed and went to my suitcase for clothes. As I was making my way there, I noticed a slip of paper by the room entrance that someone must've slipped under the door earlier this morning.

After changing quickly out of my pajamas into a new outfit I walked over and picked the pamphlet up off the floor.

Everyone's first visit to sunny California should start with a lovely stroll down Hollywood Boulevard!

I guess we never had really thought of what we would do once we got here- we just assumed we'd have plenty of time to do everything since we'd be here for six months.

Our parents had promised us that if we both graduated with honors, they would let us go for a six month trip anywhere we wanted- as long as we checked in constantly and let them know what we were doing. I don't know how we suckered them into that deal, but here we both are.

"Olivia. Wake up." I walked over to her with pamphlet in hand as I wiggled her arm. I then heard a groan of annoyance.

"We have six months to do crap. Can't we just sleep today?" She pleads as she turned over and smashed a pillow over her eyes so the sunlight wouldn't hit her face. She never was a morning person.

I looked at my phone screen. 8:00 am. She wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. But I wasn't going to sit here and wait for her to wake up- we were in California.

I walked over to the balcony door and pulled it open. A warm breeze made me smile as I stepped out onto the cement floor.

As I was leaning on the railing looking down, I opened the pamphlet and started to look through it. There were many categories- entertainment, eating, landmarks, celebrity hangouts. Celebrity hangouts? Who cares? I for one felt very awkward when I saw the tabloids going around claiming so many things about celebrities personal lives. How can anyone be okay with having every aspect of them being analyzed in public? I would hate that kind of lifestyle. I turned my attention back to the pamphlet.

Some recent notable sightings of celebrities on Hollywood blvd . - Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Halsey...

I stopped reading the list- I felt icky just thinking about how some people would just come here to stalk. This place was so gorgeous, why would anyone come here to do that? Or be a paparazzi worker in the first place?

Olivia and I had wanted to visit California since we were fifth graders. We would talk about it at every sleepover- it was our dream. Then in eighth grade, we started talking about traveling to Korea. I even started taking lessons on the language for a few months. I wasn't an expert or anything- but maybe conversational.

We almost went there instead of California- but decided against it since this would be the first time we both went somewhere just by ourselves. Besides, we could do that later down the road.

"Any ideas about what to do today, Amanda?" Olivia asked as she walked towards me, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was still in her pajamas, with messy caramel hair, and the comforter wrapped around her. I giggled at her and passed her the pamphlet.

"What about this?" I wasn't going for the celebrities, but there were some places I wanted to see.

"I thought we should start off slow, and do the bigger things as we go along and get used to this place. We could go window shopping." I threw that last part in because I knew she wouldn't say no to shopping.

"Oooh. Yes! They have that one store that I told you about. Let's go!" We each got dressed and put on makeup to get ready.

Every time I was with Olivia, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful my best friend was. One of the reasons I told her we were friends back in fifth grade was that I would protect her from all the boys who chased her around at recess. Since then, I really had become her boy-body guard. Boys asked her out left and right. She always told me she would do the same for me, even though the opportunity to tell off boys for me definitely did not come up often. Maybe a couple times, but over all- neither of us had been in a serious relationship.

We were okay with that, though. We wanted to spend our time with each other and friends as much as we could before we went to college. Finding a boyfriend was at the bottom of my priority list as of right now, especially since Olivia and I were finally getting to live out our dreams.

"Ready for the first day of the best six months of your life Amanda?" Olivia asked me anxiously. I nodded at her as we walked out the door.