Sweet Summer

Summer

The last exasperated gasp of the bell brings cheers of joy to the impatient students of Sacrificiaque Intermediate School. The horde of sweaty students left their classrooms to stampede through the hallways, leaving Summer, a tired soon-to-be eighth grader, to sweep the crinkled old notebooks into her already overfilled backpack. Sweat drips from her forehead as she pulls down the sleeves of my beaten, blueish-gray hoodie for the fifth time since lunch. A single, dusty note falls out of her desk as she check the insides of it once more. 

Mrs. Chen wanted you to pick up milk from the store. -Matt

"Thanks, Matthew." 

It was an old note. A glance at the black ink that bled through the back revealed that the crusty paper dated back to September 5, 2018. The beginning of the school year. 

"Sure brings back memories, doesn't it. Hey, didn't you-"

"Wah!"

A red mark slowly fades onto the face of a young, grey-eyed student. His eyes glistened with humor as he slowly reached to rub the fingerprints left on his cheek, and looked up at the tall, golden-brown haired girl standing before him, looking at him with eyes that held a hint of regret with a splash of shock. 

"Oh, god, Matt. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you so hard! I was just surprised, I'm sorry, I'm sorry if it hurts, if you need me to I can get you an ice pack! Ahh, I'm-"

"It's fine, it's fine. I shouldn't have surprised you like that. Don't apologize so much, I won't hate you for something like that." He ended the sentence with a light chuckle. That chuckle of his carried an energy of some sort, something that couldn't be described with words. Some people called it annoying, how he ended every sentence with that trademark laugh, but Summer thought of it as a pleasant, familiar symbol. Perhaps she could even call it attractive. 

"Oh, bye the way, I wanted to ask you something before you, well, you know."

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that."

"It's alright. So, I wanted to ask you if you were still going to the party tonight, or if you changed your mind or something."

"Ah, the party! Yeah, I was planning to go, but I'm not too sure if I'm going to be able to come. You know, got stuff going on at home, gotta take care of my little brother, things like that..." Her voice trailed off, the way it did when she lied. She slowly twisted her fingers and slowly chewed on her lip, the way she did when she was nervous. Matthew seemed to notice, as he always did. His eyes thinned into slits of doubt, and he played along. 

As he always did. 

"Aw, that sucks. Well, I hope you can come over later. Don't forget to change, too. Don't want to see you show up in the same sweater you've been in for a week!" The door closed with a snap, and the hissing of Matthew's old sneakers on dirty tile slowly faded into the distance as Summer zipped her backpack closed with a final crack. 

She spoke again in a crackling whisper, her lips dry in the summer air. 

"Haha... yeah."