“No, Chase, don’t go. The movie isn’t even over yet,” I muttered in my sleep. I was having an amazing dream that I was on a date with this hot guy in my class named Chase, but he was saying that he had to go home. I just wasn’t ready for it to end.
Then, of course, my alarm went off, erasing the already one-sided choice altogether. “Dang it,” I mumbled, sat up, and rubbed the fog out of my eyes. Finally, it was the last day of school. I slid quietly off my bed, thoughts rushing through my head. My last day as a freshman, I thought with a smile, then heard my cell phone go off. My ring tone cut through the silent room, and I quickly snapped open the phone to silence it; the sound was far too loud for my hardly-awake ears.
“What?” I said blearily as an opening, and heard Kaliyan’s voice on the other end. She was my best friend in the universe; we’d known each other since we were just barely considered toddlers.
“Hey, Em,” she greeted me. “Ready for the last day of school?”
I sniffed. “Sure.”
“Why ‘sure’? I mean, we’re almost sophomores. And more importantly, we’re almost not freshmen,” she said, and I mumbled my agreement, still waking up. “So, anyway, we’d better get ready for school.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, my voice clearing up now that I’d been awake for a while. “Anyway, yeah, I’ve gotta get dressed. Seeya!”
We said our goodbyes, and I snapped my phone shut, looking forward to a good day at school. Kaliyan and I were in almost all the same classes, since our intellects were almost identical. I couldn’t wait for today to be done—Kaliyan and I were having a slumber party marking our 13th ‘anniversary’ at my house the next day.
I dressed quickly in loose khaki shorts and a light blue tee, pulling on a pair of ankle socks and my favorite VANS. Then I grabbed my messenger bag and climbed onto the bus, just in time. It seemed like seconds before Kaliyan walked onto the bus, but it was about 14 minutes. She grinned and waved jauntily.
“Hey,” she called from up the aisle, flashing a smile. I grinned back and patted the seat beside me. She got the message and sat down. “I can’t wait for today to be over. It’s gonna be kind of awkward not to get homework today, though, you know?”
I nodded. “But we’ll probably get that reading journal…”
Finally, we arrived at school. I quickly unpacked my bag, stuffing my lone binder into my otherwise empty locker. Then I headed over to Kaliyan’s locker, keeping my mind carefully blank. When I was right behind her, I thought, BOO! She jumped about a mile into the air, which was a lot higher than she usually jumped. “Jeez, Em! What the heck was that for?! You don’t need to do that every day, you know.”
I shrugged. “I dunno. I guess I figured that you’d get used to it, since I’ve been doing it all year so far. You still don’t expect it…It’s weird. Anyway, I did predict that you’d jump pretty high today, so I was kind of eager to do it.”
She chuckled. “Sometimes I forget that you’re psychic.”
Yeah, you heard me right. My best friend can read minds, and I’m psychic. We’re pretty quirky that way.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At last, school was over! I rode the bus with Kaliyan again, practically vibrating with exhilaration, and occasionally throwing comments over my shoulder to the people in the seats around me.
When Kaliyan made to get off, I grinned and thought to her, Seeya tomorrow. I was extremely excited for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day…sleeping in on Mondays seemed like a far-off dream. I smiled to myself, then noticed that the bus had arrived at my stop. I stood, walked down the aisle.
“Have a good summer,” the bus driver said as I got off. I nodded, and thought, Will do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I opened my eyes, immediately awake. I was on my couch, and it seemed like I’d just closed my eyes at 10:30 pm, after instant messaging Kaliyan, Paige, and Genesis for hours last night. I checked the clock. Sure enough, it was 10:31. I sighed, then immediately noticed that the sun was shining through the window. It was 10:31 in the morning!
My eyes opened, and I got up, practically inhaling a breakfast of cinnamon toast and milk. Then I remembered that I still needed to decorate for the party, which started at noon. I checked my cell phone’s clock: 10:41. So I still had plenty of time. I put up some balloons, a banner saying “SUNNY DAYS”, and a few streamers in the living room. I stifled a grin as I took it all in: it was pretty pathetic, if I did say myself.
It was only 11:03, so I flipped open a book and read for a while. I got so into the story that it took 8 times for me to notice that my phone was vibrating on my leg. I picked it up and slid it open, quickly reading Kaliyan’s message that she was on her way, and would be there at exactly noon.
“Cool,” I responded quickly, then returned to my book.
Hardly 4 pages were turned before the doorbell rang, and I got to my feet and opened the front door, thinking, You’re a minute early. Kaliyan rolled her eyes and I opened the door wider to let her in. “Wow, Em, this is pretty pathetic,” Kaliyan said jokingly, and I poked her in the side.
She flopped down on the couch, and soon the hours were whizzing by as we stayed up until the wee hours playing True Colors, Truth or Dare, and tons of other teenage-y games. Let’s just say that lots of giggling ensued as we talked and talked.
I woke up at about 7:30 the next morning, and since she wasn’t up, I shook Kaliyan awake. She blinked, muttered, “Noooo, Dusk,” then woke up fully, complete with a scowl, just for yours truly. “What?”
Shrugging, I stood up and changed into some forest green sweat shorts and a lime green Capri-sleeved shirt with “Grand Cayman” written across the chest—my ‘lounge clothes’. I yawned, and went downstairs to make us some pancakes.
When I got downstairs, I quickly fixed the pancakes. When they were done, I kept them on the oven burners, but turned off the oven so that the pancakes wouldn’t burn. Then I went back upstairs to find that Kaliyan was dressed and ready to go.
“Pancakes are ready,” I announced, and soon enough we were both downstairs, enjoying the pancakes to the chorus of our two voices.
Kaliyan stood up. “Come on, let’s go to the mall! We’re going today, right?”
I nodded, hoping Kaliyan didn’t read my thoughts, which were: I bet she wants coffee… because she REALLY needs caffeine.
What I said out loud was, “Yeah, we’re going. MOA, right?” Kaliyan nodded her assent: MOA—or the Mall of America—was gigantic, and it was only about 4 minutes from my house. It proudly donned the title of first mega mall in the United States.
In only a few minutes, we were there, at the mall. We stopped by JC Penney, Aeropostale, Hollywood Movies, and a music store, until—finally—Kaliyan spotted a Caribou Coffee. I wasn’t surprised when she headed towards it, and quickly followed behind her, quickly purchasing an iced coffee and heading towards the nearest vacant table and stirring my drink around.
Finally, Kaliyan joined me, her coffee in hand, and we chatted idly for a long while, sipping our coffees and people-watching, just generally relaxing and taking in the summer atmosphere. We watched as teen after teen entered the store and crowded around tables, gossiping and laughing and having a great time. Strangely, we weren’t jealous of their laughter; we were comfortable in our silence.
Moments later, my life changed forever.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment