A Summer To Remember | Original |

❁Chapter 1❁

It was almost summer break and the teenagers at Marywood middle school were pleased that school almost ended. The last bell of the day was heard in the halls and the teenagers stormed out of the classrooms, including Hailee McCallister and Scarlett Williams. The girls were walking to their lockers while talking to each other.
"Why do you have to go to Canada?" Hailee asked her best friend.
"You know I go and visit my family every summer." Scarlett answered.
"Yeah, but you never go away for a whole month."
"I'm really sorry Hails, but I have to go." The dark skinned girl ran her fingers through her fizzy hair.
"I know, I know. I just wished you wouldn't stay so long."
"About that, I really have to go or I'll miss my flight." Scarlett hurried and grabbed all her books and leftover stuff out of her locker and put it in her backpack. "Are you sure you're going to be fine?"
"Yeah, I made a to-do list so I won't get bored."
"Great, well, we can still text and stuff. I'll send you pictures." Scarlett gave Hailee a hug and ran out of the halls to go home for her flight to Vancouver.
"Have fun!" Hailee yelled after her, hoping she would hear it. Hailee looked around for a moment, most of the people already left. She saw a couple people she knew, only by name, she didn't have many friends. She saw Penelope, from her biology class talking to a girl she didn't know but looked familiar. She also saw Sadie from her art class and a boy who always wore a leather jacket and rode a motorcycle. Hailee didn't know his name, but she was sure it started with an L. After the last people finally left the building, Hailee got all her stuff and went home. She took one last look at her school as a goodbye, for now.
"See ya." She whispered under her breath. The bicycle storage was almost empty, so it was easy to find her yellow bike. Hailee was 17 years old and didn't like to go with the bus, so she went by bike instead. She didn't really like socializing, she was more of an introvert anyway.

When she got home she threw her bike on the lawn and opened the front door with her keys. Hailee lived in a house in the countryside. It wasn't a big house but it wasn't small either. She lived with her mother, her mother's boyfriend Harold and her little brother and sister who are twins. When she opened the door she saw Harold sitting in a chair by the fireplace, reading the newspaper. Hailee didn't really like him but tried to be nice to him for her mum.
"Alright there, Harry?" She said sarcastically. As a response, he made a weird sound that kind of sounded like he needed to cough and sneeze at the same time. She knew he didn't like her either. After that short conversation, Hailee walked into the kitchen to grab a quick snack. Then she got up to her room. Her brother and sister weren't home yet, so it was calm and quiet. Hailee's room was in the attic, it was small but very cozy. Hailee is really into photography and art. All her walls are covered in pictures, sketches, paintings and other knick-knacks. She opened up her window to let the fresh air inside. Today was quite a warm day, even for England. She didn't really feel like doing anything so she just stared outside for a while. From Hailee's window, you could see a big meadow with woods at the end. Hailee liked to go into that forest to take pictures and was planning to do so tomorrow. As time went by Hailee grabbed her book to read for a while, until she heard someone getting up the stairs and knocking on the door.
"Who is it?" She asked she had no idea who that could be. Her brother and sister never came up to her room and her mum won't come back until noon. Even Harold wouldn't make the effort to talk to her.
"It's Eliah." a familiar voice said. Hailee jumped off her bed in excitement to open the door. "Wow, you're happy to see me." He said when she opened to door for him.
"I haven't seen you in forever."
"The last time you saw me was two weeks ago." He gave her a big bear hug. Eliah was way taller than Hailee so his chin would rest on her head.
"How was London?" Hailee asked him. Eliah is one year older than Hailee and already went to college. They grew up living next to each other and were best friends.
"You know, it was better in all the pamphlets." He said sarcastically while they sat on the bed.
"How's Tyler?"
"Well, it's hard having a relationship with someone who isn't out of the closed yet." He looked really sad. "but I'm trying to make this work and I need to have respect for his decisions."
"Understandable." Hailee nodded. "Are you doing anything tomorrow?"
"That's the reason I came here in the first place... I'm going on holiday tomorrow."
"You too? Scarlett left me for Canada and now you?" She looked disappointed.
"In my defence, I didn't know I was going. My mum thought it was a nice surprise."
"Where are you going?"
"Well, that's the fun part, I don't know either. That's a surprise too. All I know is that I need to pack summer outfits."
"I know I'm going to have a nice summer." Hailee said sarcastically. They sat on the bed for an awkward amount of time.
"Well, I guess I have to go and pack my suitcase." He gave her a hug. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks, I'll text you."
"Bye." And with that Hailee's best friends and only friends both walked out of her life for the summer. She didn't know what she would do all those lonely days, alone, with nothing to do and no one to talk to.