Upside-Down World

Summer Vacation

As trees rushed by, I looked out the window, excited for our upcoming adventure. My friends Mavis, Natasha, Amy, Melanie, and I were all going to my grandparent's private island for a whole month. You see, we just graduated high school and since we were now adults, we obviously had to celebrate. We were on a bus, heading to the airport where we would fly out to California and then take a boat. That's where the private island was. Just a few hundred feet away from the coast of Cali.

"Only 15 more hours til we're partying on an island!" Melanie cheered, drawing my attention away from the window.

"We can stay up as late as we want playing games!" Amy added.

"You guys can, I'll be asleep," Mavis said, leaning back in her seat.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Where's the fun in that? C'mon Mavis, it's summer, we don't need a strict schedule anymore."

"Yeah, but I like having somewhat of a normal schedule."

I laughed, Mavis was definitely very different from me in many ways, but we always clicked perfectly. All of my friends were different in their own ways, and that's what I liked about our group. Everyone from different backgrounds somehow found a way to become the best of friends and it was amazing. Amy was the sporty type and was always competitive when it came to anything related to winning. Natasha was more reserved and seemed to have her head up in the clouds all the time. Melanie was the party girl and always knew the best ways to cheer someone up. Mavis, on the outside, seemed to be serious and scary but that's definitely not her personality. She was so fun to be around and you could talk with her for hours about the randomest things. It was great.

And then, of course, there's me. You know how there's a cheesy nerd in every group? That'd be me. I know so many random facts about things related to science. I guess that would be expected since I want to become a scientist.

Anyway, that is our group and I love spending every moment with them. They are practically my sisters, minus the annoying part.

"Helloooo, earth to Alyssa, are you there?" Melanie smacked my head, drawing me from my thoughts.

Okay, maybe the annoying part was there. But I still love them all the same.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

"Alyssa, wake up, we're here!"

I slowly opened my eyes, trying to process everything around me as I woke up. We were stopped at the docks and I could see a decent-sized boat waiting for departure, that was probably the one we were going to get on. I stretched and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, looking around at my friends who were already getting out of the car. I stepped out as well and felt the warm sun hit my face. The sun was starting to set, creating a nice orange-ish reflection on the water. It felt very peaceful and I decided to enjoy the tranquility a moment longer.

"This is the perfect spot for a picture!" Melanie cheered.

I turned to see she had already pulled out her phone and was trying to gather everyone for a group picture. We all grouped up and smiled, letting Melanie take the picture.

"That was perfect!" She said, reviewing the photo.

She showed it to us and we all agreed. It was a very nice photo, and the setting sun made a perfect backdrop.

"I totally need to take more."

"You can do that when we're on the island. Let's get our stuff on the boat and get going! It'll only take about 20 minutes to get there." I replied and grabbed my bags from the back of the trunk.

We got our stuff on the boat, laughing and joking as we discussed past events and possible things we would do. Once we were all settled, it was time for departure. As the docks got further away, the island got closer and my excitement grew. I had gone to this island with my family almost every summer and this year I would be able to share it with my friends. I could tell they were also excited, I mean, we did spend most of the trip talking about all the stuff we could do.

 We slowly pulled up to the island and once we stopped, we gathered up our stuff and headed down the short path to the beach house. I always think this house is similar to the tents in Harry Potter, small on the outside and big on the inside. That's what this house was exactly. It looked small and cozy but inside it had a huge living room and kitchen and then five bedrooms upstairs with bathrooms in each room. I knew my friends would be in awe when we entered the house. I turned to watch as the boat that dropped us off slowly left the island, heading back towards the mainland. Our summer vacation officially starts now.

I led my friends inside the house and showed them to their rooms so they could unpack.

"Holy Woah! This place is like a mansion! How rich are your grandparents?!" Mavis yelled from her room.

"They actually bought this place in a very run-down condition, no one wanted it and my grandparents fixed it up so that they could have a family vacation spot," I explained as my friends exited their rooms.

"That's pretty cool. This place is pretty special, maybe we should make something to add to it! And to thank your grandparents for letting us stay." Natasha suggested.

I nodded "there's a shed out in the back that has some supplies, my grandpa says they're free to use."

And yet another plan was added to our list.

The unpacking took a while, mostly because we were goofing off or exploring all the cool stuff in the house, but after a few hours, we finished and relaxed on the couch. The sun couldn't be seen, only illuminating the sky to a nice purple and blue color.

"What should we do for the night?" I asked, looking around at my friends.

"Slee-"

"No." Melanie interrupted Mavis.

Mavis pouted, folding her arms and sinking into the couch.

I smiled, "how about we play a board game?"

I stood as everyone agreed and walked to a closet and opened it to reveal selves full of many games and puzzles.

"Which one should we play?"

"MONOPOLY!" Amy yelled, jumping up and nearly knocking me over as she grabbed the box.

After I recovered from the slight shock, I followed Amy back to the couches and sat on the floor as she got out the game and its pieces.