Love Him

Part 11

On the report card day pick-up, I didn't come across anybody from "The Squad," except for Mariah - who stuck around to hang out. Later that day, "The Squad" group chat was active and we all revealed our results. None of us had failed a single subject. Well, nothing too important for grade nine at least... Joshua was a bit disappointed with some of his marks, but he literally got above 80 for everything. He had honestly done the best out of all of us. Anyway, Nick brought up the ice cream celebration idea since it was now the beginning of our summer vacation. Everyone seemed up for it.

A few days later though, it only ended up being me, Nick, and Mariah. We still had a good time. "The Squad" group chat wasn't as active since Lance was on a short vacation and Josh was in a Judo competition somewhere in the States with his family. Me and him texted once in a while. Nothing too deep. I felt like that was gonna stop eventually. Just like the calls had.

Once July 1rst hit, the activities around Canada started. Near us, we had fairs set up and fireworks organized for the night. I spent the day with Mariah and Nick at the fair – convincing Nick to win a stuffed toy for Mariah at one point. It started to rain as it got dark, so we got our parents to pick us up before the ten o'clock fireworks – my mom driving Mariah home. That same week, me and Mariah went hiking through this large park with Nick and his little sister. She was only eleven but literally more active than almost all of us. And I certainly wasn't dressed for the hike. My feet were killing me in my Vans. After about thirty minutes, I was sore. Grateful for the exercise, but sore. I was happy when Nick bought us all food afterwards and we hung out for a bit in the shade. His sister was still very active, so we watched her play in a playground park for a bit before bringing our fun, sweaty afternoon to an end. *

Lance came back from his vacation the following week, and Josh came back from his tournament. I didn't expect him to call me when he did the evening after he got back. I was happy to hear him sounding a little more lively. "How was your tournament?" I was sitting on my bed, in front of my dresser mirror, doing some mini braids on my natural hair as a protective summer style. I had Josh on speaker.

"Uh, it wasn't too bad. Won for the most part."

I smiled. "That's great. How long did it all last?"

"About two days. But we stayed to visit some family and travel places."

"Sounds dope." It really did.

"Yeah. It was a good time."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Yeah." Pause. "I heard you've been hangin' out a lot with Nick?"

Oh? That comment caught me a little off guard. "Um, yeah. Me, him, and Mariah."

"Hm... Well, I know he's been trying to get the whole group to hang out."

"Yeah, we probably should, soon."

"Yeah." Pause. "Do you miss school?"

What? It felt like our summer had just started. We were still only in July. I frowned. "No! Do you?"

"Yeah." I heard him emit a little sigh. "It's the only real time I get to actually be around my friends."

"Aw." I pouted mockingly. "Do you miss us?"

He chucked, though it sounded half-hearted. "Maybe...?"

"Me, the most I bet," I teased, going for a light mood.

"Well..."

I laughed. That said it all. "We should really hang out." I meant it. Things between us felt normal in this conversation. I didn't wanna lose our special bond. Especially not over anything stupid.