What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 16

6 years ago

2 weeks before

The sea sparkled in the sunlight, making it appear as if hundreds of little diamonds were thrown around each time he splashed through the water. Alyssa and Josh were well on their way to being soaked. But that was mainly because they were each other's target. Carter just stood there and laughed at his friends as they chased each other through the glittering water.

It was summer, and the last school week had just begun, concluding Carter's last week of Middle School in Hayland, and his last week of summer in Port Hayland. The fact that this was really the case, saddened Carter, but he wanted to enjoy his last moments with his friends in full happiness.

He looked at Josh and Alyssa. Their happy laughter filled the air and Carter couldn't help but laugh along with them. Alyssa's curls danced around each time she ran through the water to dodge Josh's splashes and the skirt of her dress was completely drenched.

"Don't just stand there!" Alyssa called out to Carter splashed some water at him. Carter giggled and splashed some back at her.

"Sorry," he said. "I just liked what I saw."

Alyssa and Josh stopped splashing the water and looked at the other, probably noticing his sudden sadness.

Alyssa then let out an audible huff before she walked closer to Carter. "You know," she said. "My mother once told me that the sea connects every single country, every single land and therefore every single person with each other. Underneath every land, there is water. So stop whining about being separated from us, okay?"

Carter smiled. He knew this was Alyssa's way of comforting someone, even though it wasn't appreciated by some people.

Alyssa then splashed water in Carter's face again and grinned. "We'll be friends forever, okay? You won't be gone forever, right? Maybe after high school, you can come back, and we'll be together again. Just stop being sad, okay? We'll never stop being your friends."

Now

At the end of the day, when classes were over and students were gathering their books and jackets from their lockers, Carter walked through the hallway, looking for a particular blonde girl. Melanie had told him where her locker was when they met in the hallway a few minutes ago. He just hoped Alyssa hadn't already left. If she had, then Carter would go to her house. He still knew where she lived, after all.

Thouh that appeared to not be necessary when he saw her grabbing books from her locker. He quickly walked up to her, a little nervous about talking to her after their fight but he knew he had to.

"Alyssa," he said and stopped at the locker next to her. "Hey, can we talk for a moment?"

Alyssa appeared to be a little surprised to see Carter talking to her, but she closed her locker and nodded her head. "Yeah, sure," she said and hung her backpack over her shoulder. "But not here. Let's go to the auditorium."

"The auditorium?" Carter asked, though he walked along with her when he was pulled by his wrist. It was rather crowded in the hallway now, with all the students retreating outside to the busses and cars, and Carter had to sometimes squeeze himself through a few students in order to keep up with the just slightly shorter blonde. He wasn't exactly tall. Most of the people who knew him would even call him short.

Carter had never been in the auditorium before, nor did he ever feel the need to enter or visit one to see what it looked like, but now that he was inside, he thought it looked really nice.