The Summer Before

Chapter 2

After dinner, the rest of the night went by quickly and easily. Aunt Bethany, Uncle Luke and I played board games while watching some of our favorite superhero movies. Then around nine o'clock the two of them went to bed and I stayed downstairs in the living watching Friends re-runs. A little while later I could hear my phone starting to ring, I reached around the couch searching for my phone, I finally find it and bring it to my ear without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Amelia," immediately I knew it was Nora who was calling. "Get your scrawny ass outside right now, it's party time baby!"

"My goodness Nora calm down, I completely forgot. I need to get changed quickly, be out in five." I responded laughing. I turn off the T.V and race upstairs as quietly as possible to ensure my aunt and uncle wouldn't wake up. Sneaking out is something I have gotten very good at doing since moving in here with them, at first I was just doing it to get out of the house and get away from all my family drama, then as I got older it turned into me sneaking out to see a boy, or go to Nora's house. My aunt and uncle know that I do, they have since the beginning, after the first time I snuck out my aunt confronted me about it in the morning. She told me that they weren't going to ground me and that she understood why I did it, she told me that as long as I kept my phone with me and made sure to be safe, she wasn't going to stop me.

I finished getting dressed and headed out the front door, locking it behind me. As soon as I walk outside, I hear the music blaring from Nora's car, laughing at her I climbed in the car. She smiled at me and backed out of my driveway onto the street. I didn't bother to ask where we were going tonight, I knew she either wouldn't tell her me or she didn't even know herself. That's how these nights worked, she'd text or call, I'd come out and we'd drive. We'd drive to a party, to the beach or simply to the park across town, never really caring where we ended up at the end of the night all we knew was that we needed to escape.

Nora's home life has never been classified as your typical American household by any means. Her parents were never married, she was the product of a one-night stand turn into an eighteen yearlong connection. Her parents couldn't stand being in the same room as one another for most of her life, up until a few years ago when her mom married Phil. Nora's dad had been in and out of her life as long as I've known her, I guess it's gone on ever since he found out her mom was pregnant with her. Phil was like a gift from god to her and her mom, he started coming around when Nora was ten years old and has been more of a father to her than her biological one has ever been. Nora would never tell me this out loud, and I would never ask her to, but deep down I knew that she considered him to be her real dad.

"Amelia," I was shaken out of thoughts by Nora. "Were you even listening to me?"

"No sorry," I said. "I was a little spaced out, it's been a long day."

"Come on Lia, the night has just begun. It's graduation night, we are going all out!"

"Oh, so you actually know where we're going tonight? That's a shock." I said looking her direction with a smirk on my face.

"As a matter of fact, I do but I am certainly not telling you." I don't even know why I tried when I knew what her response would be. We continued driving for what felt like two hours, then we finally pulled into a parking lot attached to an abandoned building of some sort.

"Umm Nora?" I question. "Where in the world are, we? Are we even in Richmond still?"

"Well not exactly," she replied.

"What do you mean not exactly Nora Rae?"

"We may or may not be in Kipling." She wouldn't make eye contact with me as she replied to my questioning. Kipling was the next town over from Richmond, it was even smaller, and even more gossip came with it.

"And why in the world are we in Kipling, Nora Rae Ferndale? I did not agree to cross through city limits with you this evening!"

"Amelia live a little, there is a huge party at this abandoned high school tonight that a bunch of people from school are coming to, so I figured we could check it out." With that she turns off her car, hooks her keys to her belt and head out towards the building. Rolling my eyes, I followed her lead and headed towards the building as well.

The old high school was completely boarded up and spray painted all around the outside, I was beginning to question the party Nora was talking about even existed with how quite it was here. No cars were in the parking lot except ours, and no noise or lights were coming from inside the school building. I continued to follow Nora into the building through a partly boarded up window on the first floor, then suddenly I heard and felt the base of an EDM blaring from what I assumed was the old gym.

Nora and I followed this sound till we reached two battered wooden doors, as they opened it revealed the true party. Bodies dancing everyone on the old wood floors, the lights were colored and flashing everywhere, and the music made the entire room shake. I looked to where I thought Nora would be, but when I turned to my right, she was gone into the crowd of dancing people. Instead of standing around waiting for her to come back and find me I decided to take things into my own hands and start heading in the opposite direction as her, hopefully at some point in the night we'd meet in the middle. I turn to my left and start walking towards what looked to be the drink station, arriving at my destination I look over my options and decide on grabbing a can of beer unopened.

I grab my drink and head towards the dance floor. I find a space near the middle and start to dance to the loud base music. I start to sway my hips back and forth and side to side along with the song that was playing, I didn't recognize it, but I was thankful it was easy to dance to. Dancing was always a good way for me to past time by at any party for me, I got lost in my own mind when I was dancing. So much so that I didn't feel the pair of eyes that were staring me down from across the gym until it was too late, and the pair of eyes were moving towards me on the dance floor. Continuing my movements, I tried to distract myself from the tall figure approaching me, until I couldn't run anymore, and a pair of large hands were placed on my waist as I continued to saw my hips to the music.

"You really know how to move baby," the voice whispered in my ear. "Should really take a better look at your surroundings before you start moving like that."

"Don't call me that," I spoke through my teeth, anger rising inside of me at the man's revolting words. "I am not your baby and let go of me asshole." I tried to pull myself out of his grasp, but he only tightened his grip on my waist.

"Oh, don't try to leave now the funs only just beginning." I kept trying to get out of his tight hold, I squirmed and pulled away, but nothing seemed to help loosen his grip.

"Please let me go, please just let me go. Go find someone else on the dance floor." I tried to reason with him, but again nothing seemed to work. I felt tears start to puddle against my waterline, I couldn't get away, nothing was working.

The struggle continued for what felt like ages until finally his grip was loosened and pulled away from my body. I immediately fell to the floor, I turned around to see the face of the disgusting man. Instead I see the man on the floor with another standing over him, both equally as scary as the other.

"She said to let her go!" The man said as he continues to kick my attacker. Soon enough he stopped and looked over at me. We made eye contact as he approached me, I started to scoot away. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're okay, love." He came closer to me and I let him, he crouched down next to me as I was still looking down at the floor. He brought his hand to my chin lifting my face up so our eyes would meet, looking into his eyes was like looking directly at the clearest ocean in the world, they were the brightest color of blue I have ever possibly seen in my life. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," an almost inaudible whisper came out of my mouth. "Thank you for getting him away from me." He simply just nodded his head towards me. "What's your name?"

"Finn, you?"

"Amelia. Do you want to maybe help me off this floor?" He laughed quietly and reached out his hands towards me as he stood up. I grabbed onto them and lifted myself off the ground with his help.

"Want to take a walk?" Finn asked me, looking at the doorway. I thought about Nora for a moment, wondering if she was even still here or if she had left me already. I wondered if she was still here, was she looking for me? Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I nod my head in agreement and we started walking towards the exit.