When We Meet Again

Chapter IV

"Yo, you ready for this party tonight? It's gonna be amazing!" Tony said over the phone in an excited tone.

"I've never really been to a party that wasn't more than a small get-together, so yeah I'm pretty excited," I said in return.

"I can't believe we're finally done with eighth-grade, bro. We're practically already adults!"

A kid from our school was holding a massive party as a "middle school graduation" party. These middle school years were probably the worst of my life if I'm going to be completely honest. Reflecting on how sixth, seventh, and eighth grade went, not much good had come from it. My father passed away, I lost a tooth in a crazy fist-fight, I realized garden gnomes are horrifying, got rejected by at least five girls, and so much more that I don't even remember. Although the vast majority of those years were terrible, there definitely were some perks. I met one of my good friends, Theo, and I finally got the nerve to ask Chloe to be my girlfriend. I've known Chloe Burbanks since the third grade, when she moved in from Portland, Oregon. She has shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes, a pale complexion, and a heart bigger than all of Mount Rushmore. I'm about a head taller than her, and she has the prettiest smile. I've had a thing for her ever since she moved in, and she and Tony are practically my best friends. She's always been there for me, and I was genuinely surprised she felt the same way for me.

I wrapped up the conversation with Tony and found out that I had gotten a text message from Chloe.

yo

I responded almost immediately.

Hey Koko!

u coming to flynn's party?

I was just about to ask you the same thing!

haha cool

What time is it at?

i think it starts at 5

K cool, cya then!

byeee

I walked out from my room to meet my mom in the living room, sitting on Dad's old recliner, watching Hell on Wheels on the T.V. with a water bottle in her hand. She was wearing her pajamas, a pale pink T-shirt with red plaid pants. On her feet, she had an old pair of slippers too large for her own feet that belonged to Dad. She looked like she hadn't slept at all the night before, and she appeared to be dozing off every few minutes.

"Hey, Mom?" I said quietly as not to disturb her.

She slowly turned her attention away from the T.V. screen and said, "Yeah?" in a worn-out voice followed by a yawn.

"Can I still go to Flynn's party?" I asked.

"Who's Flynn?" She asked while wincing, assuming that he was some psychopath that would get me hooked on crystal meth.

"He's the kid that got stuffed into a locker that one time, remember?"

She paused for a moment, staring at something I couldn't see, trying to remember. She then replied with another question, "Didn't he also hack into the intercoms and blast the Ninjago theme?"

"Yeahhh! That's him!" I snickered

My mom smiled and turned her attention back toward the T.V. "When does it start?"

"It starts at five o'clock, and they're having it on his ranch," I said. Luckily, Mike wasn't home, so we wouldn't need to get any verification from him. She turned her head toward the analog clock mounted on the wall on the right of the sliding glass door which read "4:02".