Don't Say Goodbye

Part One

It was almost time, the clock was showing that there were only five minutes left. Five minutes until the end of senior year. Five minutes until the start of summer. Five minutes until we were all free to live life as we pleased! I turned to look at my best friend and chuckled; we had matching smiles on our faces. Everyone around us looked excited, watching the clock just like us. The teacher was talking about protons and neutrons, but no one was listening. We were all staring at the clock, seeing the small handle go around the big handle to reach the goal. It was like we were watching a race and we all had placed a bet on the small handle to win.

Three. Two. One. Brrriiiiiiinnnnnggggggg!

“Summer is here!” I yelled and jumped off my seat, throwing my notebooks in the air. Everyone in the classroom cheered and threw their notebooks as well and ran out of the classroom as if being chased by a pack of bulls. I laughed when I saw the chubby guy in our class beat everyone to the door first and take a breath just outside the door.

“We’re finally free!” I yelled and raised my hands to the ceiling, thanking the God’s above.

“Not so fast, Mr. Armshaw, since it was you who threw the notebooks first it’ll be you who picks this mess up.” I turned to look at the teacher and frowned. He was fixing his glasses as he pointed to the mess around the classroom.

“C’mon, professor, school is over so technically I’m not a student here anymore. Let one of the janitors do it,” I grumbled and crossed my hands. Andy, my best friend, shook his head and began picking up the notebooks and straightening the stools around his area.

The teacher placed his hands on his hips, “Technically I can still give you demerits which will keep you from walking on graduation day this Saturday, Mr. Armshaw.”

I sighed in defeat and began cleaning around my area as well. It wasn’t fair! Okay, I admit it that it had been me who started throwing things around, but why should it only be me who cleans this mess? Granted that Andy was helping me, but still! I knew that the teacher had something against me from the first day of class and now I was practically sure of it. I grumbled as I cleaned and placed the notebooks back in their places.

“Stop being so grouchy, Quinn.” Andy said with a soft chuckle as he sat next to me while I placed the books in the right order.

“I’m grouchy? Dude, the teacher was practically steaming! Did you see that vein popping on his forehead?” Andy shook his head and rolled his eyes. I laughed and whistled as I finished placing the books back.

Once I was done and the teacher had inspected that I had done a good job, Andy and I headed to the front gate to retrieve his bike so we could get home. The air was warm since it was summer and I had started to sweat a bit from being inside a classroom with no A/C all day. I took my school shirt off and was left in only my muscle shirt underneath. Ah much better, I thought as I kept my pace to Andy’s walking.

We were almost at the front and I noticed that Andy was silent. He wasn’t the most talkative guy on this earth and I liked that because I never stopped talking; we balanced each other well. However, Andy usually wouldn’t shut up when it was just the both of us but today he was quiet. As a matter of fact, he had been quiet all day even during study hall. The boy was a chatter box in study hall! I turned to look at him and frowned. He had his lower lip between his teeth and his brow was furrowed, something he did when he was upset about something.

“What’s got you splitting your lip in half, Andy?”

That caught him off guard, “Huh?”

“I said what’s-“

“Quinn!” I turned to look at who ever had interrupted me and smiled.

It was Freddie Oswell, the fuel to my every waking fantasy. Damn, that boy was fine! He was in the volley ball team, which meant his skin was a golden color because of the sun. The shaggy brown hair and full lips along with his strong build and flat abs made him look like a Latin Adonis; and that only made him even more perfect.