Closer Than You Realize

Chapter 2

Closer Than You Realize

Chapter Two

     Around the same time as my father left my mother, brother, and I when I was three, Laurie and Carter's father was drafted to fight in Afghanistan. So, taking into consideration the fact that my mom and her sister were each living alone with their children and my grandparents were getting older, the two sisters decided to move into my grandparent's house which could house my mom and my brother and I, my aunt and two cousins, and my grandparents with plenty of room to spare.

     I think that our living situation has benefitted all of us; I was able to live with my cousins, meaning we constantly had friends to hang out with and people who we could talk to about anything, my mom and her sister were close to their parents, and we were all closer than most families, which was more than I could ever ask for. Family had always been something that had been at the top of my priority list, and being able to be so close with my family only further instilled this value.

     "Guys." My cousin Laurie said, her eyes wide, as the five of us sat upstairs in the room above our garage on the night of our first day of school.

     "Yes?" Hayden asked skeptically.

     "Are you ready for the football game Friday night?!" She shrieked as my best friend and I suppressed our groans.

     "Sure." I said in a bored tone as I twisted my hair with one hand and stuffed some buffalo chicken dip in my mouth with the other.

     "C'mon. We're gonna do great this year. Our team is better than it has been in years." Carter added.

   "And our cheer team, with me as captain, of course, is amazing." She gushed. "Our routines haven't been as sharp or this clean in years. We'll make nationals for sure."

     "That's great Laurie, really, I'm happy for you. But, are there any other topics of conversation up for grabs?" Adam asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

     While Laurie was all school-spirit-y, I, on the other hand, was not. We agreed on most things, but school spirit was not one. I didn't play sports, I was a part of two clubs, and I focused mostly on my academics. I cared about our school's newspaper and keeping my grades up so I could get a scholarship, and that's about it.

     Laurie, on the other hand, was student council vice president, she was a part of Best Buddies and Key Club, she was cheer team captain for the football and basketball seasons, captain of the lacrosse team in the spring, and somehow still managed to get all As in every class. Carter was just about the same, just swap cheer for football and basketball, and vice president for president.

     "Sure. But will you guys be at the game Friday?" Laurie asked.

     "Yes, we'll all be there." Hayden answered quickly. "Anyway, changing the subject now, what'd you all think of our first day?"

     "I can't believe it was our last first day of school... But at the same time, I couldn't be happier." I beamed. I loved the first day of school, but after that, the year just tended to drag on. Not to mention I was looking forward to college more than anything I'd ever looked forward to in my life.

     "I actually liked it. We all surprisingly have a lot of classes together and I think it's going to be good. I feel like everything's going to be changing though." Adam mused as he stared out the window, not making eye contact with any of us like he was deep in thought. 

     "Change in a good way, I hope." Laurie chimed in quickly, as if there was a genie in the room that could somehow decide whether things would change or not.