The Summer Before

Chapter 1

June 2nd, 2010

"Well here we are, class of two-thousand and ten. It's been a long journey for us, we've come a long way from freshman year, these four years have shaped up into who we will be for the rest of our lives," I begin my speech. "High school is now over; the future begins now Richmond High class of two-thousand and ten. Some of us are heading off to college where we'll be stuck in classrooms for another four to six years, some of us are shipping out to join a branch of the military, and some of us are diving right into adulthood and joining to workforce. We are all heading down our own separate paths, but the thing we will always have in common are the bonds and memories we have created here at Richmond High School these past four years. I will forever be grateful for these two things, but I think I can speak for everyone when I say thank god it's graduation day! Thank you to our amazing parents and to the phenomenal staff here at Richmond for helping each and everyone one of us get here today. And most importantly congratulations to us all, we made it. Thank you." I finish my speech, shake the hands of Vice Principal Crest and Principal Mitchell and return to the crowd of students I came from.

I sit back down next to my best friend Nora, hoping the rest of this ceremony goes by as quickly as it possibly can. To say we're excited that high school is over would be the biggest understatement of all time. We have been counting down the days, hours and minutes till we got to this moment since senior year began. Nora and I have big plans this summer, it's the last summer we will be together in full until we go away to our different schools in the fall and we have to make this one count.

"You did amazing Lia," Nora began. "I still can't believe they chose you to give a speech at graduation though girl, I mean no offense." She did have a point, although I kept good grades and attendance my personality and attitude tend to get in the way of the Richmond High staff from liking me as much as others.

"Me either," I replied. "Would you believe me if I told you I made that entire speech up as I went?" She looked at me with a stern disappointing look, then began laughing as did I. She shook her head at me and faced forward back towards the stage as Principal Mitchell took the stand. He began to speak into the microphone about how he was proud of this year's graduating class, and how excited he was to see what the future hold for each and every one of us. All a complete load of bull if you ask me, he spent most of the year tucked away in his office letting Vice Principal Crest and Dean of Students Mrs. Jacobs handle most of the issues that were brought to him.

"It is now time," Principal Mitchell began to wrap up his speech. "Class of two-thousand and ten I formally congratulate you on all of your success, and only wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the graduating class of two-thousand and ten!" With that we all through our caps up into the air and caught them as they came down, we were finally done.

"Congratulation's honey," my aunt Bethany said as she gave me a hug. After catching my cap and giving Nora a hug, I went on my way through the crowd of people to find them in the quad. "We are so beyond proud of you Amelia; I know your mom is too."

"Thank you, Aunt Bethany," I replied. "It means a lot that you guys came."

"Well where else would we be Mel?" My uncle Luke asked me. "You know we wouldn't rather be anywhere else but right here celebrating our favorite girl!"

"I don't know, it's not like you guys had to come. Obviously, mom knew that." I said.

"Oh, Amelia don't let her ruin this day for you, you sent her the invitation she was the one who decided not to show up for you. You did your best to try and get her to come here today, you know how she is Amelia." Aunt Bethany truthfully replied to my comment. She was right with everything she said, my mother liked to make everything optional in her life including but not limited to motherhood. I've learned to deal with it, but not fully get over it.

"I know, I know I shouldn't dwell on it. I just wish she would show up for me every once in a while." My aunt and uncle give me an agreeing look before both pulling me into a gigantic bear hug.

"We know Mel," Uncle Luke whispered in my ear. "Just forget about her for the rest of the day, today we celebrate you and all of your accomplishments before we send you away in the fall. So, let's all go home and change then we'll go out to your favorite restaurant. Wherever you want to go Mellie Belly." I laughed as my uncle called me a name I haven't heard since I was a little kid. I nodded my head as we pulled away from one another and headed for the car.

The drive home was full of my uncle belching out the songs on the radio and me and my aunt exchanging eye rolls in result of his singing. Once we arrived at our home, I quickly ran up the stairs to my room and change into some more comfortable clothing for dinner.

We had decided on going to the nice Italian restaurant in town, I should say the only nice restaurant in town. Richmond Connecticut is a small homey town, with roughly about eight hundred people in it. It was a great town to grow up in as a kid, but now that I'm older I honestly couldn't wait to get out. As a kid Richmond was everything I could have ever wanted, the schools were nice because the class sizes were small, they held festivals and all sorts of different town events that my aunt and uncle would always take my cousins and I to. I've come to realize as I got older though, that small towns have their downsides as well.

Since Richmond was so small everyone knows everyone which means if one person or their family has any sort of drama, the whole town knows. Over the years my family had become the talk of the town on numerous occasions, people liked to stick their noses in our business because theirs weren't fulfilling enough for them I suppose. A lot of the gossip about my family started when I was in middle school, I remember hearing people talk in the streets as I walked home from school every day. I'd hear the women talking about my mom and my dad as they dropped their kids off at school, they thought I couldn't hear them, but I could. Of course, I could hear them I'm not deaf and they were certainly not quiet.