WWIII

Chapter 1

I remember the day it all changed. Well, not all of it. I mean, the war would still be on, and Sam would probably still be in the little make-shift intensive care unit they had a couple of bunkers down. But it was still a day that changed my life forever.

It was graduation day at Carlson High in Anchorage, Alaska. It was a huge town, probably 30 square miles, but there was only a population of 10,000. There were only 2 high schools in all of Anchorage, Carlson being the smaller of the two. Anyway, it was graduation, and one of my best friends Ally was really excited because her dad was coming home for a week to see her graduate. Everyone was excited. We were all going to different colleges, Sam, Ally, and I, so we had planned to spend one year together before we went back to school. Kind of like a break just to hang out with the two people you probably had spent most of your life with.

Anyway...

"Oh my GOSH! Just think, in only like, three hours, we are going to be high school graduates!!!!!" Ally said. Ally's the kind of person to get excited over well, just about anything. She was one of those preppy girls; the one that everyone wanted to be friends with, the one invited to every party, the one all the guys wanted.

And then there was Sam.

Sam was her best friend, but if i said that Ally and Sam were polar opposites, well, that would have to be the understatement of the year. Sam was the athletic, tough "look at me the wrong way and ill rip you throat out" kind of girl.

And here is where I came into the story.

I'm literally as average as average can get. I didn't have girls begging for me to ask them out. I didn't have straight A's. I wasn't the star QB of the football team.

I was just plain old Nate Cunningham.

So here we have the popular one, the toughy, and the totally average. And somehow, we were all best friends.

Well, almost all of us.

You know how I said Sam was the kind of person who could take you out without even trying? Well that's exactly what she would do to me. From pushing me in the freezing lake by the church, to spray painting my name over all the windows in the school, getting me suspended for two weeks.

Why?

Well, I'm pretty sure its because one time when we were kids, we were having a competition on who could pull the best and biggest prank.

The thing is, my prank wasn't even really big.

I went around to all my friends, and had them spit into a sandwich, then the next day we had a cook out for, I think it was the last day of school, and I gave Sam the sandwich. I was so excited about the prank. I mean, having a life as mediocre as mine, it was probably the first time I'd done something, well, unmediocre. When I told Ally, she looked all scared, and told Sam immediately. After that day, I didn't hear from or see Sam for like two weeks. And damn was I terrified. I figured she was at home planning the best revenge in history of all history itself. But nope. Nothing. From that day on, she just made sure my life was as worse as it could get.

But, I mean, come to think of it, it was probably the lamest prank ever. It's not like it could have killed her.

But back to the story.

We were sitting in the basement of Ally's house. It had been our number one place to be, anywhere, at any time.

"I'm so excited!" I said "And I still can't believe that I got a scholarship to New England Tech! I mean, it's gonna take me forever to get there, but-"

"Oh my God, will you just shut up!" Sam interrupted.

"Sam!" Ally said. At least she had some respect.

"Don't worry All's, Sam's just jealous that we're graduating and she's not. " I said

"Yeah right. And for your information, I got excepted into University of Oklahoma,"

"There's a difference between a university and a community college."

"yeah, but in New England, they call community colleges 'institutes'. "

"N E T-"

"N E T I,"

"Guys stop fighting!" Ally said, frustrated. "I figured you two would be over this by now, but your acting the same way you guys did when we were in middle school."

I looked at Sam. She was sitting in Ally's orange beanbag, while Ally and i were sitting on the floor, leaning against the cold, cement wall.

"You know, in a way it's kind of sad." Ally said.

We didn't even have to ask her what she was talking about. It had been something on my mind since the first day of senior year, and I'm positive Sam was thinking about it too.

"I mean, we've been best friends since, what, sixth grade? And now here we are. Done with school. Going on to start a new life." She sighed.

"promise me that we'll always be here for each other. No matter what?"

Nobody said anything. We just all sat there, thinking. Sam looked like she was about to cry, and i felt something drip down my own face. It couldn't happen. No matter how much we wanted it to, we couldn't all be together forever. Our childhood had been unravling before our eyes. We still had one more year before collage, but that year could only last so long. No one could stop time. We could only sit here, and think of the life we used to have.

We were all lost in thought when Ally's older brother, Jason came down the stairs. Jason was 30, and Ally had lived with him ever since their dad joined the military, 5 years ago. Ally got so happy his third year in the military, because he would finally get to retire and come home for good, when she and Jason got a letter stating that he had been upgraded to Coronal, and would be staying in the military for another 4 years. Ally was devastated, but he said he could come home more often, and she couldn't be happier.

And now he was coming here to watch in awe, as his daughters childhood ends.

"It's 10," Jason says, looking at us. I can imagine all the things going through his mind right now. Sam and I had always been here more than at our own houses, and this basement was our escape from life. We could all just come down here and talk and laugh and be us. The us only we knew about.

We get up and follow Jay up the stairs, get dressed into our gowns, and I watch Sam and Ally do their hair, tears in their eyes, tears in mine, because we all knew that we were only dressing up for the end of our childhood. There would be no more dreaming about our future, only dreaming about our past.

.