Like Yesterday

1st ♬

1st ♬

"So how did it go with Sam? Did you get the job?" Claire asked.

"I... yeah," I vaguely answered. "I got it."

"You sound distracted, Burnett." Mason gently nudged me with his elbow.

"A bit," I admitted. "Well, Sam's doing great. He's healthy as ever. He told me that he recovered just fine after spending several weeks in the hospital."

"Great. I'm glad, really. But, Reese, we weren't asking about Sam," Claire pointed out.

I threw them a skeptical look. "I thought you were asking about his health."

"We've lost you since breakfast, Burnett," Mason pointed out, laughing as he threw his head back. He was one of my best friends. Fair height, black curls, and one wicked smile, which was his best charm. He was also good with things like computers. Techy stuff. Without him, I'd never survive computer lab.

"What is bothering you? Did your mom pick a name from the chocolate bowl again and ask if it was any good?" Claire went on. As for my other best friend, her best charm was her hair. It was platinum blond and made her face look innocent. But, on the contrary, she was blunt and honest. Striking green eyes also did a great job in matching her beautiful locks.

Claire stood as tall as I did, five feet and four inches. We could easily be mistaken as siblings, because I had a sandy blond hair—a darker shade of ash blonde, almost brown. I also had the same eye color as Claire, only that mine was deeper. Hers was striking.

"She did not, yet," I said to her.

"So what's wrong?"

"Okay, I can't believe you guys haven't noticed yet," I breathed out.

"Notice what?"

"Did you get a new haircut that was somehow very identical to your usual one?" Mason guessed, pointing to his shoulder. I usually get a shoulder-length blunt cut.

"No. It's not that," I told them, kicking off the sands in my flip-flops as I exhaled in frustration. Why now? I mean, why should he be here out of all the places to be? It wasn't like I owned this island, but this was my last summer before college. Why should it happen now?

"Is this a guy, Reese?" Claire asked.

"Well, technically, yes."

"Is he hot?" She teasingly eyed me.

Well, yes. Frustratingly. But I said, "No?"

"Claire, I'm right here, baby," Mason reminded her.

Claire looked over her shoulder, throwing him a flying kiss. "Love you, boo!"

"Eww much?" I pretended to be sick.

"You should get over it." Claire wrapped her right arm around my neck and pulled my head down.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I can't breathe..." I tried pulling her arm away.

"Oops, sorry," she muttered, letting me go. Claire and Mason were also a couple. I was the odd ball, but they kept me around. Nothing much had changed, to be honest, aside from them acting in love and all that. When it came to being the friends I knew ever since, they were really good at that.

"So where were we again?" Mason interrupted us.

"Oh, right." I turned around to face them. "So I was washing my hands in the restroom after we had breakfast, and there were some posters on the wall."

"Posters? For... an event?" Claire looked down and adjusted the strap of her flip-flop.

I sized it up with my thumb and forefinger. "Yeah, an event. Close to it."

"Is this the part where you actually tell us what it is?" Mason asked, tucking his hands deep in his pockets. "Or should we tune up the excitement some more?"

And before I could answer, right above us, I noticed a huge banner. My mouth hung open, and it was as if I had been hit by lightning. In summer. Fair chances, but tragic. Closing my eyes, I pursed my lips and breathed out.

"What's wrong, Reese?" Claire put an arm around me.

"Look up." I pointed to the banner.

"Where..." Claire lifted her face, scanning the nearby area.

"Oh, shit." Mason was the first one to see it and react.

Folding my arms over my chest, I muttered, "Unfortunately."

"And to answer my question, he's hot," Claire said with a suppressed smile when she saw the banner. She lifted her arm from me and draped it over her eyes, laughing. She tried to contain it, so as not to offend me.

She tried.

"Claire! You're supposed to be my friend. I'm really disappointed." I tried to come up with the sourest look on my face, but her laugh was contagious. "Yeah, yeah, my life's getting better each day. I thought our last year in high school was the finale. Sadly, it goes on."

"I am your friend," she indicated, subduing her laugh. "Reese, don't be so hard on yourself. How bad could it possibly get? We'd already seen the worst."

"Hey, stop laughing. Seriously, I'm freaked out already." Seeing the posters an hour later would have been better, save me all the effort of being hateful for a whole length of sixty excruciating minutes.

"Midget Dreams is Back in Town," Claire read the contents of the banner aloud. "Gosh, this is big news. Why haven't I heard about of this before?"

"The golden boy is coming back," Mason added.

"My mortal enemy will dare enter the territory," I added.

It was this morning was when I first heard about the news that he was coming back for the midsummer concert, which was sponsored by no other than the mayor himself. The golden boy. The lead singer of our former high school band. It was no other than Jace Hamilton himself.

To say that things happened between would be an understatement. From a dreamy teenager to being mortal enemies, there had been a lot of in between.

If you could rewind the tape of time and see how I looked back then, you might say that I was, more or less, crazy. I was overly self-conscious ever since the day my mom and I greeted our new neighbors and brought them freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

For a girl who looked so average, I did everything to look beautiful in front of him, hoping that he would notice me when he pulled his window curtains open and looked at the bedroom in front of his. For that five-second chance of seeing him smile at me, I'd acted like a fool for months.

Just thinking about it made me feel so ashamed. That was roughly three years ago—the start of my sophomore year. It was the time when Jace Hamilton moved to town; he used to live with his grandparents before.

So Jace was a senior. I was a sophomore. He became my neighbor when his family moved to the empty house beside ours. It was a supposedly beautiful start. Back then, as a naïve fifteen-year-old girl, I thought that meeting him was the happiest thing that had ever happened to me. The months that had followed were pure bliss, and each moment was 'to die for'.

Well, it was, until that day. Every day felt like heaven, until the moment that I was brought down to hell. And guess who did that? It was also him—the one and only, Jace Hamilton.