Wish

Chapter 29

"WE'RE FREEEEEE!" I yelled as Emma and I were walking out of the school after our English Lit exam, our last ever exam. It was finally over; school was finally finished. We were met by Justin, Phoebe, Oliver and Max at the school gate. They had all already had their last exams and were waiting for Emma and I so we could all celebrate the end of school together. Well, we still had our Leavers Ball to attend on Friday, after that we had results day in August and then school was completely over. For now, we never had to attend school again and the thought made me want to jump around in happiness. I didn't always hate school, but this last year has made me very excited to never have to walk through those halls ever again.

It was a warm, sunny day at the end of June and the six of us were walking down the street talking about all the things we wanted to do over summer, starting with going to the beach. Which was exactly where we were headed. We were walking to the nearby train station to travel the short train journey to the closest beach. We could have driven but it was quicker to get the train and we all wanted to be together rather than separate into different cars. Emma and I had brought our beach stuff to school with us so we could change when we arrived, while the others were already decked out ready for the beach. At least we weren't in uniforms.

The train journey only took twenty minutes and soon Emma and I were squished into a disabled toilet changing into more beach worthy clothes, ditching our jeans for shorts. I had decided to wear my one-piece bathing suit as a top as it had enough coverage and was basically a regular bodysuit. Phoebe yelled at us to hurry up from outside, eager to get to the beach and finally start summer. I yelled back telling her to stop being so impatient or we'd deliberately take longer. That shut her up pretty quickly.

The beach was quiet as it was mid-day on a Tuesday so most people were at work or school, so we managed to find a nice spot not too far away from the sea but not so close we had to worry about the tide coming in and soaking our stuff. Phoebe was the first to rid herself of her clothes and jump in the sea, followed swiftly by Oliver who was chasing her and threatening to 'get' her. The rest of us were sensible and stayed behind to put sun cream on. Oliver, being the fair skinned redhead he is, would most likely burn within five minutes but he was already long gone, frolicking in the sea with his girlfriend.

"Want me to get your back?" Justin asked, already pouring the cream onto his hands and motioning for me to turn around.

"Any chance of a massage while you're there?" I teased but was low-key completely serious. My back was killing me after being hunched over a desk writing non-stop for two and a half hours that morning. Surprisingly, Justin did give me a little massage as he rubbed the sun cream into my skin and I could already feel my muscles relaxing.

"Jesus, you're so tight." Justin said ad his thumb worked out a particularly tough knot by my left shoulder blade.

"Babe, we're in public!" I teased, earning myself a scolding pat on the bum. "You try sitting an English a level exam for hours, you'd be the same." The massage was over sooner than I would have liked but I had a feeling it wouldn't take much to convince Justin to give me a thorough massage later.

Oliver didn't stay in the sea very long once he realised he'd forgotten sun cream and was subsequently dragged back to shore by Phoebe who was telling him that he was an idiot and that melanoma is no joke. Phoebe had brought an inflatable ball which she started blowing up for us to toss around in the ocean. I offered to stay behind while the others went to play to look after our stuff, perfectly content sitting under the warm sun and watching the people I cared most about have a good time. I lounged out on a beach towel, my legs stretched out in front of me and my hands placed behind me holding me up, sunglasses perched on my nose. There was a constant smile on my face as I watched my friends giggling away whenever someone failed to catch the ball, giggling myself when Phoebe 'accidentally' hit Oliver in the face with said ball causing them to have a mini domestic, much to the others amusement. Phoebe and Oliver bickered like an old married couple but it was all out of love and never serious.