Summer Birdie

S

"Seriously!" Bubs shouts loudly. Passing students around you stop and stare as you pull her away to a more private area.

"Not so loud..." You hiss.

"Sorry, sorry!" She giggles excitedly for you, pulling some of her dark curls behind her ear and out of her eyes. "I mean, he's never- I've never heard him get close to anyone! You minx! How did you do it?! And in such a short amount of time too?"

"It's a long story..." You sigh, sliding down the school wall until you're sat in the dirt, hugging your knees close to your chest. Bubs sits next to you and sips on her carton of milk.

"We have forty nine minutes left of morning break," She states, "Do you think you can summarize?"

"If you don't mind a childhood of angst and sadness- sure, I can try."

She laughs and nudges you in the side and you over-exaggerate the pain by rolling around the ground as if she punctured a vital organ.

"I'm all ears."

You tell her about the past, meeting Hawks as children and sneaking him food, playing together in the summer when all your friends went on holiday, the car accident, your mother forgetting and most importantly when Hawks disappeared before you could tell him how sorry you were. You turn around to face a shocked looking Bubs.

"Sorry!" You instinctively cry, "I didn't mean to unload all that information all at once on you-"

"No-no, it's fine...I just needed a second to process all of that." Bubs said taking a final sip of her milk before throwing the carton at the recycling bin but misses. She gets up and put it in properly. "Must have been hard, keeping all that in you for so long, how do you feel?"

You release a breath that you didn't realise you were keeping and gaze back up at Bubs. You felt a lot better. You know that you still had your friends back in England to talk to about all this but it wasn't the same as talking to a person in the flesh. 

"Like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders."

Spring time went by very quickly and before you knew it summer was around the corner. Thanks to Bubs (and of course your mother, and Hawks), you were able to brush up on your Japanese in time to avoid the extra summer classes and finally have some free time!

The sweltering summer heat hit you hard as the sun blaze brightly in the brilliantly blue sky, and barely a cloud in sight. It was so long since you've felt a summer like this one.

Laying on the cold wooden floor, in the comfort of your air conditioned living room, you feel a buzz in your pocket but feel too lazy to pluck your phone out of your pocket and groan in time with its vibrations.

"Honey, you'll catch a cold if you sleep there." You hear your mother say as she packs the last of her things into her bag. "Now are you sure you're going to be alright on your own for the summer?"

"I'll be fine, I'll be eighteen soon, I can handle a few days- no problem!" You say, your voice distorted by the vibration of your phone.

"I'm so sorry that I won't be here for your birthday!"

"Mum, it's fine-"

"What kind of a mother am I to leave my own child on their birthday, DURING SUMMER for work!?"

"MA!"

Snapping her neck to face you, you lift you head from the floor to face her. "It's important work stuff, and besides we can always celebrate when you get back, it's not like you'll be gone all summer long."