Whiskey [H.S]

Chapter 4

“I don’t know how I am going to get through this year,” Jennifer says as she parks her car a couple hundred meters from the beach. It is dark and the bonfire started two hours ago - but we are usually late. Not because we want to be fashionably late, but because something always comes up or we get caught up in a Sex & The City episode we have watched a hundred times before.

“How come?” I ask her as she shakes out a cigarette of her Marlboro Gold pack. There is always a pack of cigarettes in her car. She lights up and looks at me. Then she shrugs.

“Well I have a plan for how I am going to get through this year,” I smile. 

She raises her eyebrows. 

“I am going to study hard - college, you know, and then I am going to go out on fridays, but not saturdays. Every sunday will be for studying and I will keep my focus on anything but boys.” I almost feel proud of myself for setting those goals, but there is a little nagging in the back of my mind that says it might not be as easy as I hope. 

“Why exclude the boys?” Jennifer asks.

“Because they are distractions. And - like you said earlier - there are no boys in East Haven that I could imagine myself dating.” It is not that East Haven boys are disinteresting. Most of them are kind, smart and some even very good looking. But truth is that this city is so small, that you feel weirdly close or distant to everyone. You have a relation without actually having one, and starting a new relationship in the last year of high school seems like the dumbest thing one could do in East Haven. Next year I will be elsewhere, and maybe then I will meet someone new. Someone with an interesting perspective and a desire for adventure. But this year will be about school, my friends and college. 

The fire is burning bright and the beach is filled with East Haven High students. Almost everyone is carrying a red cup, even those I do not recognise (the new freshmen). I remember Miss Sander’s words earlier, but like everyone else, I fast forget them. The basketball team brought their big stereo system (as usual) and the music is filling the entire beach. On this day the beach houses must hate us East Haven High kids. I would have hated us if I lived by the beach.
Jennifer is smoking her second cigarette. She breathes the smoke in deeply, exhales and then looks at me. “Shall we find Kat and Anna?” 

I nod. We were actually planning on going together, but Kathleen had plans with Thomas after school and Anna said she would just meet us here. Now the only question is: Where are they?

Jennifer and I walk around for a short while, until Kathleen’s familiar voice shouts my name and then Jennifer’s. We both turn around, and there, a bit further away from the water, Kathleen, Thomas and Anna are standing. 

I hurry to them and Jennifer follows. 

“There you are!” I breathe.

“We have been looking for you everywhere,” Jennifer adds. 

Kathleen laughs a little, “Well at least we’re all here now. So anything to drink?” She holds up a bottle of tequila. 

“Oh yes please,” I cry out. Kathleen grins. Out of the four of us, I am known for being the only one who can drink tequila without grimacing. 

“You’re so gross,” Anna nudges my shoulders. 

“Indeed,” Jennifer agrees and I roll my eyes. “I would do it if we were talking body tequila,” she then admits.

“Of course you would.” Thomas speaks for the first time. I look at him and he sends me a polite smile. He has grown a little over the summer and his blonde hair looks longer. It is bleached from the sun and seawater. I notice that his arm is around Kathleen’s waist and feel my smile widen a little. They might not make it after high school, but we all wished for a high school sweetheart when we were younger - so seeing Kathleen with Thomas makes me somewhat happy. It it a sappy kind of happiness.