Let's Go To The Mountains

Chapter 2

Thomas

My day passed as uneventful as any other until school ended. I went to all my classes and finished my classwork in a heartbeat. At lunch, I went off campus to some fast food chain and returned a few minutes before the warning bell rang, making it to class with time to spare and a meal to eat. My teachers don't care about their students eating in class as long as they don't make a mess.

After school, I met up with my teammates at Dunkin. They all have girls to bring and girls seem to love that coffee. We typically go there or to Starbucks. I personally like Dunkin more: there's donuts.

I don't have a girl. I haven't been in a relationship since Sarah. I've always been looking for her. I don't want to be the cause of some girl's major heartbreak that ends up shaping the rest of their life. My heart will always belong to Sarah; it's not fair to anyone I'd get in a relationship with. Not to mention, as the decades have gone one, every relationship has become more superficial. Everyone's there for the status symbol or false ideologies. The fifties were better.

While all my friends chatted, each with an arm slung around their girlfriend's shoulders or waist, I scrolled through my social media. Yes, I have social media, and yes, that is a huge risk. I don't post or do anything on my platforms; I just use them to keep tabs on people. It's hard to go through high school these days without an Instagram or Snapchat account. I have plenty of Facebook accounts as well. Thomas Williams is a surprisingly common name.

When everyone left, I lingered at the shop. I don't quite feel like going back to my empty apartment just yet. I walked through the doors, grabbing the colorful handles on my way to the front counter. I didn't order anything when anyone else did. I'm treating myself now.

"Welcome to Dunkin! What can I do for you today?" the girl behind the register asked with a cheery voice. She wasn't in there when my friends and I were, so her shift must've just started.

"Nothing special," I replied, fishing my card out of my wallet, "I'll do a medium iced coffee."

"Okie dokie," she said, the volume of her voice dropping with focus as she typed the order in.

"Decaf," I hurriedly added as I remembered.

"Ah, there's where you're special. Decaf is not where it's at. You'll go home to do your work and then you'll fall asleep," she sighed, shaking her head jokingly, "Total is two dollars and forty-nine cents."

"I'd much rather fall asleep than do homework," I chuckled with her.

She moved behind the counter making my drink for me. I recognize her from my science class: she's shy and never talks out of turn, though she's incredibly smart. The semester just started and I'm already fighting her for the best grades in the class, not that she knows that. It's not like I'm trying, though. Again, I've done this literally hundreds of times. The material is carved into the folds of my brain at this point.

"Here you go, Thomas." She handed me my drink. Well, I guess she knows my name.

"Thank you- uh," I paused waiting for her to fill in the blank.

"Olivia," she supplied.

"Right. Sorry. Thank you, Olivia."

I watched as a blush rose on her cheeks, before I smirked and turned around. I don't do girlfriends, but that doesn't mean I can't flirt from time to time. I commit her face to memory, determined not to forget her name. She has olive skin and blue eyes with dyed blond hair: probably of middle eastern origin. Judging by the color of her roots, she's a natural brunette who got a lot of highlights and completely changed her hair color, not that it makes her look bad. If anything it makes her features sharper.

Sarah had sharp features, too. I smiled to myself as I remembered the way she ran down that dirt path with her hair tumbling behind her. I haven't forgotten what Sarah looks like, but I don't have a clear picture of her face in my mind either. She's a brunette with plain eyes. If memory doesn't fail me, she has freckles. I think she does. She could have gotten so tan that they've faded away if she lives in the sun, or they could be the most prominent thing about her if she lived in... I don't know... Alaska?

The door made a ding dong noise as I pushed it open and walked out into the fading daylight. Time hasn't sprung forward yet, making it seem like it's way later than four thirty. I looked over my shoulder at Olivia through the window and found her looking at me. She hastily switched her gaze elsewhere when I caught her, and my grin widened a little more.

Sarah

"Hey, girl," one of my roommates said, opening the refrigerator behind me.

"What's up, Kelsey?" I was working on my homework before I came out of my room to grab some dinner.

"Nothing much." She leaned back on her heels while she surveyed the food, clearly unsatisfied with what she saw.

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" I asked.

"Food. Though, none of this looks appetizing right now. I want brownies," she muttered to herself. "I'm making brownies."

She began pulling things out of the fridge and piled them onto the counter, effectively displacing me. I shoveled the rest of my mac and cheese into my mouth, throwing my dish into the sink before running back to my room. Kelsey can do the dishes later.

I got back from work an hour ago. My homework has been sitting on my bed while I've been procrastinating doing it. Just because I know all of the material doesn't mean that I want to do it. Teachers really know how to give redundant material.

I sighed and opened up my laptop to complete my essay for English. Other than the essay, I only have to do a math sheet and make a quick power point for my elective class. It's not that much work, it's just really boring. Everything is due at the end of the week, so I don't have much motivation to do it. I'll get it all done tonight, but only because I have nothing better to do.

Cameron's out with some of her other friends. She tells her parents that she's with a study group, but I'm her study group and we finished hours ago. She's probably sneaking off just for the fun of rebelling. From what I understand, her parents were never too serious about her grades until high school started and they began to matter. Cameron's a great girl, but she hates school and learning all together. She won't put any more effort into her education than it takes to please her parents which is the only reason for her B average. That would be much lower if she had anything to say about it.

After I finished gossiping to myself, my homework was near done. I quickly answered the question for math and added a few fancy words to a generic, but amazing all the same, presentation.

"Done," I sighed, throwing myself back on the pillows. I looked over at the clock: seven thirty. That's too early to sleep. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and began to scroll through my social media.

In the grand scheme of things, social media hasn't been around for long. It's amazing to see how much people rely on it these days. Not to be that grandma, but in my day I survived off of occasional letters and running around the town with Thomas. 

Having social media is not the smartest decision in the world. I guess you could blame it on my need to stay in the loop... or being a girl if you are really like that stereotype. If I keep an account for too long then people start to figure me out. Luckily, I can just make new accounts on Instagram and Snapchat every time I start over- which isn't too often, I mean, most of these apps have been out for less than a decade and I stay in one place for eight years: I've technically made two accounts on the most recent platforms- but even then, I hardly post pictures of my face. I hardly post at all.

As I went through my Instagram feed, I saw an 'aesthetic' post with a really long caption at a coffee place from some girl I don't know. I followed her freshman year when I thought she went to this school, or at least one in the county, but it turns out she moved to the East Coast in seventh grade. That's why you shouldn't always trust those recommendations. I don't unfollow her, though. She's like me and posts, like, three times a year, so it's not a nuisance to keep up with. I was also just too lazy to unfollow her when I found out I didn't know her. I'm still too lazy, so Olivia Jensen is staying on my feed.