Quaranteens

beach party

The sky was clear, sprinkled with bits of cloud here and there, and the sun was mercilessly warm and pleasant. Birds were chirping, bees were buzzing, and the grass sometimes wiggled along with the breezes. It was the perfect day for a beach party.

"I would have never pegged you as a hair bands enthusiast," Jeremy said, catching the beach ball and tossing it to me.

"Well, I'm just full of surprises," Grace replied matter of factly. Hysteria by Def Leppard played over the speaker, and overall the atmosphere was warm and fuzzy.

"I keep being reminded," Jeremy laughed. Grace tossed the ball to me, and we kept going like that, in a little triangle of towels and beach ball tossing.

The song faded as we talked about AP exams and how terrible the new format was, and how we were all going to fail on purpose in protest.

"I didn't even have to pay for my exams, the state paid for one and the county the other."

"Lucky for you, we ended up having to pay for two of them," I muttered, catching and tossing, catching and tossing.

"Which two?" Jeremy absent mindedly asked, just barely interested in the conversation. He hadn't taken any AP classes outside of the digital tech pathway.

"AP art and AP lit," I responded, "those were the two I knew I'd do good on."

"Of course they are, you nerd," Grace teased, scrunching up her nose.

"What are you guys going to do after quarantine gets lifted?" Jeremy changed the subject, eyes suddenly focusing in on me and Grace, like he had just woken up.

Grace and I looked at each other, both contemplating what to say, together.

"I'm still going to try and live on campus," Grace broke the silence, "I want my college experience, even if fall semester gets digitized."

"Same," I agreed, "I'm just hoping college isn't cancelled."

"Ah, which school are you going to, Wicker? I know Grace is going to UGA." The reminder sent a little pang through my heart, Grace going to UGA. I knew she'd go to some prestigious university, somewhere people wanted to go, and I always knew I wouldn't be able to follow.

"KSU," I responded, "hooty hoo."

"What?" Jeremy said excitedly, "me too!"

"No way, you're serious?" I enthusiastically matched his energy, catching the ball and forgetting to toss it.

"Yeah, oh my God, do you have a roommate?"

"No, my housing portal opens up tomorrow," I spoke quickly, liking where the conversation was headed.

"Dude," he said in a burst of laughter, "we could be roommates!"

"Oh my God yes, let's do it."

"I would shake your hand, but that's socially frowned upon."

"So this is what it feels like to be a third wheel," Grace said wistfully, planting a hand on her chest, "it's so bittersweet."

I rolled my eyes, but Jeremy laughed.