The Brightest Stars

Kristen

We walk around the park with Luna. I asked Luna if she wanted to do a party like we did with Annabelle. She went ahead and decided to have a party with everyone, so a picnic was the first thing that popped in my mind after that conversation.

We've been so occupied with school on graduation and finals that we're finally refreshed. The funny thing is that Luna's birthday is on Senior Ditch Day, so it was pretty fun to sneak out on the parking lot and race to the park to organize the picnic.

Now, we sit at the tables after cleaning them and Xander lights up a few candles on a small cake he bought during our ride here. We all clap and start singing the Birthday Song. I sit next to Belle. It's not the same anymore as we still carry the same tension from our last argument.

But I'm glad that she's at least smiling and laughing along with some of the conversations going on at the table. Even if it is fake.

We finish up our food and cake, and relax. My eyes land on Nate from across the table where he listens to something that AJ is talking about with Ty. He's been leaning on my brother ever since Max died. It isn't the same, but at least he's coping. His eyes land on me when he feels me looking at him. I give him a wink with a small smile and he returns my loving gesture with a playful wink.

"Hey. Why don't we take a small walk around," Luna says to us.

"Why don't you girls take a walk while the guys clean?" Xander says as he stands up and starts cleaning up the table.

"That sounds like a great plan!" Julia says with a teasing smile. Diego rolls his eyes with a groan and starts to clean up.

"None of us agreed to this," Nate says as he puts his legs on the table and gives Xander a smirk.

"Then maybe you should do it at least for Luna's birthday," AJ says as he moves his feet away from the table. Nate sighs and stands up to pretend like he's being productive.

"I've never seen such a lazy person that says he's going to be a doctor," Ty says quietly to him and then gives him a smirk. Nate rolls his eyes and starts to clean for real now.

I chuckle at them while we get ready for our walk. I catch eyes with Nate. When he sees me, I blow him a kiss and he catches it to put it in the pocket of his leather jacket. I smile at this and join my lady friends.

Julia and Luna are talking about clothes. Skyler quietly looks around the park. I've noticed that my little sister has changed lately. She's more observative. She's always been like this, but this time she analyzes everything.

"Talking about bracelets," Julia says as she looks at Skyler's wrist. "That's a really cute bracelet you have there, Skyler. Where did you get it?"

Skyler gives her a smile, but she quickly covers her wrist with her sleeve. She shakes her head and says, "It's nothing."

"Huh. That's weird," Luna says as she narrows her eyes at her wrist. "I swear I've seen Xander wear that same bracelet."

"Ty and Nate, too, now that I think of it," I say quietly. Skyler gives me a stern look and this leaves me in surprised.

Skyler then looks at our friends and smiles. "It's just trendy, I guess."

Julia shrugs along with Luna and they talk about colleges now. I listen to them, but my eyes glance over at my sister. She has that serious expression that leaves me wondering what world she's in. For sure, she's been escaping to another world. Last week, Sky wouldn't answer her phone after Softball practice. So I guessed that she would be in her orchestra class as usual. But when I opened the door, instead I saw the orchestra teacher making out with the choir teacher.