The bell squawks the last moment of sophomorism for Autumn and juniorism for Adrian. The two meet up in the hallway.
"Summer break!" Adrian exclaims. "Finally!" Autumn senses there's something specific he's excited to do, but he doesn't tell her.
When they turn the corner onto their street, Adrian runs ahead. He turns around, running backward, and shouts, "Wait there! I have something to show you!" He turns and dashes into his house.
Autumn smiles knowingly and obeys. She sits down at the edge of his driveway, wondering what surprises he has now.
An instant later, he dashes back out holding a thin packet of paper. They flutter around in his hand as he sprints to Autumn.
"Here, look!" he says breathlessly, thrusting the papers at Autumn. He says nothing more, but watches as she reads the paper.
It's a checklist. Each check box has the name of one state next to it, in a seemingly random order, other than that Delaware, their home state, is listed both first and last.
"We're going on a road trip," Adrian explains at her confused expression. "That was number 4 on your list, wasn't it? Travel to every state?"
Autumn gapes at him. "You're... you're gonna... really..."
"I'm really gonna," he smirks. She laughs, not believing it.
"Oh, and by the way, we leave tomorrow. Pack for a 98-day trip," he winks.
"Wait, really?"
"Yep." And with that, he walks back into his house.
Autumn stares at the closed front door for a second, then back at his checklist. He organized all this, dedicated his entire summer to traveling around the United States with her. She shook her head like it was a bad joke.
She hears the front door open again. Wordlessly, Adrian returns, takes the checklist, and goes back inside. Autumn giggles.
What a summer lie ahead.
YOU ARE READING
15 Things
Teen FictionAt age 15, Autumn Paisley is diagnosed with lymphoma and told she only has a year left. She creates a bucket list of fifteen different things she wants to do before she dies. 1. Read 1,000 books 2. Own a pet hedgehog 3. Buy a stranger a cookie 4. T...
