Carpe Aestatem (original)

Chapter 2

Jenna puts on Måneskin as she gets dressed in a light purple T-shirt, baggy jeans, black Converse and her UCLA sweatshirt. She heads down to the kitchen and turns on the espresso machine as her fourteen-year-old brother, Grant walks into the kitchen with his AirPods in, blaring rap music. He looked very similar to Jenna: blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles. "Why do you have your guitar out? You don't have guitar lessons today." Grant said, grabbing the corn flakes from the pantry.

"I'm going to Sam's house straight from school to film something."

"What is it? Can I come? I'll be good! Please Jenna?"

"It's top secret. Little brothers aren't allowed. Sorry bud. And you have skating this afternoon."

"Oh, right."

****

"Samantha! Look who's home!" Sam's dad shouted from downstairs.

Sam put on her Nirvana T-shirt, her denim shorts, her favorite blue sneakers and her gray Hamilton hoodie. When she arrives downstairs, she sees her older sister, Michelle, whom she likes to call Shelly.

Michelle is a little different than Sam. She has dark brown hair, gray eyes and just came home from her year abroad in Liverpool. "Shelly! I missed you so much!" Sam exclaims, tackling Michelle in a hug.

"I missed you too. The girls are coming over this afternoon, correct? You want to film a music video?"

Sam nods. "How was Liverpool?" Their mother, Penelope, asks Michelle.

"It was great! I loved being surrounded by the music, and took some really cool videos! I want to show them to you later. How's the end of senior year going?"

"It's flying by." Sam replies. "Hard to believe I'm graduating next weekend, right after Senior Week."

"My little Class of 2023. And 2027 at UCLA." Their father adds.

"Remember? Sam deferred her admission, Howard!"

"2028, sorry, Sam. Have a great day, and I'll move your drum kit to the other garage!"

****

Olivia's phone alarm beeps. She turns off the alarm and finds her Rolling Stones shirt, her denim skort and her sneakers. She also grabs a University of Ljubjlana sweatshirt, which was a hand-me-down from her mother. Olivia walks to the kitchen and makes some toast, as her dad is on the phone with her grandmother. Her dad is the only one home as her mom is in London for a conference. Liv feeds her dog, Lola and heads off to school. Olivia and Avery live right next door to each other but travel separately.

****

As Olivia is the last to arrive, she heads to her group of friends. "Are we excited to film?" Sam squeals.

"Of course!" Olivia replies.

"The first thing my brother asked this morning was 'Why do you have your guitar out?' I told him about us meeting up after school to film and he asked if he wanted to come."

"Your brother is hilarious, right?" Avery chuckles.

"Alright! We'll reconvene at lunch. Have the best day!" Olivia says as she heads off to her first class, as do the rest.

At lunch, Avery has a Senior Committee meeting to finalize Senior Week details. "It's a little crazy to believe next week is our last week!" Jenna said.

"I know! It's getting harder to keep up now." Sam adds.

"And we will be together for another year. Making music!!" Olivia adds. "I really want to play the Grand Ole Opry. It's been a dream of mine since I picked up the guitar."

"I've been playing guitar since I was around eight, and I've played at birthday parties, and it's like an outlet for me."

Avery is the last one to arrive at Sam's house. "Avery! Get over here! We're waiting!" Sam shrieks as Avery gets her bass guitar out of her car.

There is a platter of chips and water bottles waiting to be eaten. Jenna and Olivia get tuned up as Avery plus into the amplifier and Sam plays around with her bass drum. "Are you four ready?" Michelle asks.

"Yep!"

"And we are rolling in three...two..."

And then the amplifier dies. "Shelly? The amplifier just died." Sam says.

Michelle tells Avery to unplug so she can get a better look. "I think we need to change the batteries. Sam, can you get two AA batteries?"

"On it." Sam says.

After the batteries were changed, Michelle starts recording. "We are rolling in three...two...one...now!"

Olivia sings the opening lyrics to the song and everyone else joins in on their instruments. Within three minutes, they finish the song. "Olivia! You were so good!" Jenna says, hugging Olivia.

"Hvala. It means 'thanks' in Slovenian. Also, I understood every lyric perfectly. It's making my mom proud. If we win, she'll be really excited for us."

They edited the video with Michelle's help, and uploaded the video. "Now we have to wait and see what happens." Jenna says after the video uploads.

"I tagged all of you so you can all get it. I hope we get picked." Sam says.

"If we don't, at least the video goes viral, we hope."

"Liv, you have such a great voice! You should sing more often!" Michelle says.

"Thanks."

"Onto the next next big thing, graduating!!"