Summer in London

Chapter 4: Good Thing I Didn't Bother Doing My Hair

As soon as I was to my car in the driveway, the heat had already rushed me like a tidal wave. Once to the main road which led downtown, I rolled down the windows in my car for a little wind action. My hat almost flew off; luckily I caught it in time before it flew out the back window and ended up on the side of the road. I breathed in the fresh coastal air, inhaling the salt of the ocean. I had to take advantage of the limited time I had in my home state. Soon I would be far, far away from everything I knew.

Pulling up to El Mambo, the local breakfast place, I saw Sophie's car parked right out front. I looked around to see if Christie was here, but I didn't see her silver Volvo in the lot yet. There were a lot of other cars there, it seemed crowded. I parked and got out of the car. I glanced in the side view mirror. It definitely showed that I didn't spend any time near a mirror this morning.

Walking in, I smelled freshly cooked bacon. I realized then that I was super hungry. I looked all around the front of the restaurant for Sophie, but I only saw an older couple eating breakfast together. With that, I walked around to the back, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

"SURPRISE!!!" I heard, from all different directions. At least twenty of my friends and peers were all in the restaurant, standing and grinning at me. Music was playing in the background. Sophie came running up to me from the front of the group, smiling from ear to ear.

"Hey!" she said, her eyes bright with enthusiasm.

"How did you pull this off?" I said, smiling and giving her a tight squeeze. "I literally told you twenty minutes ago to meet me here!"

"Well, you know me! Plus I had to make sure everyone sees you before you leave tomorrow!" she explained.

"Yeah, we're going to miss you so much!" Christie came running up to me, arms open for a hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around me.

"And how did you get here? Did you know about this?" I asked, surprised to see her.

"I rode my bike here," she laughed. "It's a nice day! And yes, Sophie texted me saying we were getting everyone here. I thought it was a great idea, of course!"

"Oh my goodness, you guys. This is amazing, I still don't know how you did all of this!" I said, with genuine gratefulness in my voice. "Thank you, everyone, for coming! It means so much, I'm going to miss you all so much this summer!" I said, speaking over the music. Everyone started yelling things like "We'll miss you, too!" and "Keep in touch!"

In the midst of the little party, I suddenly became aware of myself. I probably looked like a homeless person. Good thing I didn't bother doing my hair, I thought, with complete sarcasm. Almost reading my mind, Christie pulled a comb out of her purse and I graciously took it. As I was brushing my hair violently, Nick came up to the table where Christie, Sophie, Ashley, and another girl were sitting and greeted me.

"Hey, thanks for texting me back!" he said, smiling. "I'm glad I could make it here, though. Why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"Oh geez, sorry! I completely forgot!" I said apologetically. I pulled out my phone and sent him a quick reply. I laughed. "There you go! And I found out late last night, after the party. I can't believe my parents are making me go!"

"Are you kidding? You're gonna have such an awesome time, I'm so jealous!" he said. "Take me with you?"

"I so would! I wish I could take all three of you," I said, motioning to Christie and Sophie as well.

"Oh yeah, that'd be so sweet," he said, flashing a smile again.

"Well, you'll you just have to call or text, that's the best I'll be able to do!" I said, grabbing his phone.

"Yeah, just take my phone, it's cool," he said sarcastically, laughing. I laughed too, and I went to my contact in his phone, changing my name to "YOUR BEST FRIEND, WHO YOU WILL CALL/TEXT EVERYDAY! <3" I gave it back to him, and he laughed when he saw what I did. "Thank you for this, your wish is my command, Mel."

"That's what I like to hear!" I said jokingly.

"Nick, get over here man! Your food is here!" I heard from across the restaurant.

"I'm gonna go eat!" he said as he walked back to the table he was sitting at before. I saw him sit down to a huge plate of food.

My food came minutes later, and I dug in right away. Sophie ordered an Elliniko Cafe, which is Greek coffee. She let Christie have a sip, and she seemed to love it. She ordered some for herself immediately. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

After everyone finished, we all went out to the parking lot and took a bunch of group pictures to remember the morning by. Luckily, I looked presentable by that time; my hair was brushed and I had on some makeup lent to me by Christie.

"Well, what should we do now?" I asked the couple people who were still with me after the pictures. Everyone else had to leave, which was not a surprise. Soph and Chris had pulled this together last minute. Still in the lot with me were Sophie, Christie, Nick, Josh, Ashley, and Jenny Reynolds, who was Ashley's younger sister.

"How about the water park?" Ashley suggested. "It's the perfect day for it!"

"That actually sounds awesome, should we go?" said Nick.

'Yeah, let's go! I need to do something fun before I go to England." I made a face. Everyone laughed and agreed. "I'm going to drive back, grab my suit, and meet you guys there!"

"See you soon!" they all yelled. I smiled, ready for a day to remember.

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My house smelled of smoke when I walked in through the garage door at around six p.m. I went into the kitchen to find my dad attempting to cook pasta.

"Figures," I said laughing as I approached him. He looked at me, laughing too.

"Hey now, you know I'm not usually the one to cook dinner. This was supposed to be a special dinner for you because you're leaving," he explained, frantically stirring the burning noodles. My mom was sitting at the dining room table, waiting to be served by my dad. She smiled at me, giving me a look that said "your crazy father!" I laughed with her at my dad and his non-existent cooking skills.

"Well thanks for trying," I said and kissed him on the cheek. I ran down the hallway to my room to change and put all my water park gear away. I came back to the kitchen ten minutes later.

"So you're home early!" my dad said as we sat down to what was left of the dinner he had tried to make. "What did you do today?"

"Well this morning, I had breakfast at the restaurant, and Soph and Chris threw a little send-off party for me and invited a bunch of people at last minute." I laughed and continued. "Then we went to Sun Splash til four and then hung out at Nick's place until around six. And that's about it, it was a fun day though. I'm so glad I got to spend time with everyone, I'm going to miss them."

"Sounds like a great day. And I'm really sorry you're going to miss your friends, but you really need to do this," he said. My mom nodded in agreement.

"But why? I mean, I'm going to make the best of this, but is it really necessary that I'm going?" I asked.

"Yes, it is. Now go pack before dinner, you're going to need to pack for the whole summer," he reminded me. This is going to be the worst summer ever, I thought. With my head drooped low, I made my way back to my room to pack for tomorrow. I made sure to pack a brush.