It was June 4th, the last day of school. Amanda was so grateful for the end of a difficult Junior year. Hard work and determination flowed throughout her mind as she finished her final exam. It was 11:45am. Rinnng! She was on her way to her car with a very good friend of hers. She decided it was the least she could do, on the last day. She drove him home and he gave her something special, a note and a teddy bear. She smiled and thanked him as she accepted these gifts. Amanda then put the car in drive and sped off to her mother's house. The air was stale and it felt like summer, Amanda was uncontrollably smiling because she knew this summer was going to be full of amazing things.
The navy blue dodge stratus came to a halt and she exited the car wearing a pink summer dress, with a wide smile. Upon entering her mother's house she was reminded that she had to pick up her brother from school, and that she did. As a treat to her brother on the last day she took him to Mc Donalds and then drove home.
Two weeks later...
It was officially hot enough to go swimming so Amanda went as often as she could have. She loved the sun, soaking it all up and being warm and tan. The summer days progressed and Amanda soaked up plenty of sun rays and consumed gallons of sun tea.
July 4th, Independence day. The day that changed Amanda's life. It all started off innocent and silly. Amanda and her sister had a mini shopping spree at target, when they arrived home a her mother decided to buy alcohol to celebrate the holiday. She bought Green apple Smirnoff and dragon fruit Skyy. She mixed a drink or two before she gave one to Amanda and her sister. There was several drinks to be consumed by Amanda and her sister before their faces flushed red and they thought about planning out their night. Amanda thought that going up to the nearest park to watch the fireworks sounded like a great idea. Her sister agreed and they walked up there, however they brought a cup of alcohol for the walk. Amanda was flushed, and tipsy. Her sister, Megan, was very intoxicated and she couldn't act normally. Megan was stumbling off the side walk and cackling as they walked to the park. Megan said she could not walk any farther, so the nearest rest spot was a Mc Donalds located in a gas station. The two girls sat at a table near a window. Megan, knew a few people inside the Mc Donalds, she said that is where all the skaters hung out after they would go to the park. A few of Megan's friends came over, two guys one who was Megan's boyfriend and another who was his friend. After they started talking they all started to laugh as they talked about random topics, and made silly remarks. They decided to hangout together at the park, so they left the Mc Donalds and headed there. Megan was holding the alcohol, and handed it to Amanda. She then smacked the cup and spilled it on Amanda. Frustrated, but slightly too happy to care, Amanda just went with it. As the girls approached the closest bathroom Megan ran inside, Amanda followed behind her to make sure things were okay. Amanda called out to Megan and she opened her stall door. Behind the stall door was Megan sitting on the floor clinging to the toilet.
"Bruh, I just threw up."
"ew. You okay?"
"yeah..."
With a slight shock, Amanda dismissed it and walked back out with Megan after she cleaned herself up.
The group decided to sit at a table and just talk about things and what not. Drugs were mentioned, relationships were talked about, laughs were exchanged and everything was great. Then a few skaters from the skate park decide to show up, but one stayed a while. Megan introduced Amanda to this one guy.
"Amanda this is Anthony. Anthony this is Amanda. She is 17 and she is single."
Amanda shot her an appalled look.
"Have fun."
Megan smirked as she raised her eyebrow at Amanda. Amanda flushed and didn't know what to say.
"Oh, you have one of those" he motioned to his teeth.
"A smiley.."
"Thats cool. Did it hurt?"
"No, I did it myself."
She played with her piercing adjusting it on her teeth, as it only showed when she smiled, and that she did often. The two got along quite well.
His eyes were a soft green and his right eye had a freckle in it. She got lost in his eyes, like they were galaxies of wonder.
A woman with a toy-like dog came close by their table, before she sat down to talk to them. She demonstrated the perfect vision of an easy blonde who was drunk. She was very petite, but also very kind. She taught the group handshakes and their underlying meanings and then she gave into what the group asked for. That being one of her bottles (small wine shots/ a slang for alcohol). She passed around two and the wine was bitter, but bitter was kind of sweet. The woman left, and Amanda couldn't recall much of the conversation the that had just occurred. After a few minutes of discussion, the group walked up to the the part of the park where people skated. Amanda sat in the grass and Anthony asked her to watch his backpack. With an assuring smile, she accepted the task.
Anthony went to scooter, while Amanda guarded his belonging like a dragon who lays on coins. She literally sat on his backpack. Megan, however was curious and was dying to smoke so she snatched the backpack out from under Amanda and searched through it. Anthony returned and was fairly upset.
"Thanks," he sarcastically spat
"Sorry..." She said quietly.
He took his backpack and a decision to go smoke was made. The group walked towards a baseball field and a batting cage was open. They walked into it and then sat down. One of the kids took out a swisher packet and a bag of weed and began to roll. He piped up:
"Who is smoking?"
"Me"
"Me"
"Me"
"Not me," Amanda said proudly
Everyone looked at her in shock
"Amanda, you gotta smoke. It's fourth of july, man..." Megan said very unconvincingly.
"Nahh, I'm good." She declined politely
"Okay" said the kid who rolled up
The kid who rolled lit up the blunt and smoked, it was passed around and every time, Amanda was asked if she was sure she didn't wanna hit it she declined. Finally, there was a calm in the air. It was night, the stars were bright and Megan was trying to allude the vision of being high to Amanda. Megan said things about looking deep into the sky and imagine it was opening a portal to another dimension, then an attack of aliens and goblins would come out. It momentarily worked, but it didn't.
Amanda walked off onto the bathroom to relax and review. She didn't know what she was doing and she should have gone home. She was coming down and everything was unnerving and irritating to her. She was growing bored. However, small foot steps scoffed into the bathroom and it was Anthony.
"Are you okay?" His voice echoed softly
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Do you want to go home?"
"No, I'm okay."
"Come back out here with us?"
"Yeah, okay."
She exited the bathroom and he waited for her at the bathroom entrance.
They walked to a part of the grass field and laid in it. They stared up at the stars and they were shining especially bright that night. They talked and talked and then he left her there by herself. She was upset and frustrated because he was so sweet and wanted to talk to him. She wanted to get to know him better, but he was afraid of making her cheat. He thought she had something with a friend of his, however he didn't know that he was more of a friend with benefits.
There were several factors that affected her. Her mind was clouded with depressed thoughts, an eating disorder, and boredom. She wanted something, she wanted to escape reality... She wanted to feel something. Son on impulse, she would act. She ran off to the bathroom again because she wanted to breathe, she wanted to let some force harm her, she wanted it to end. She walked out with a smile and entered the batting cage again where the group sat. She sat next to Megan and then Anthony walked over to her to confess how he felt.
"I'm still not sure if you are dating him or not."
Infuriated with his words Amanda shot back
"Fine! Call him and I will tell you that we aren't a thing."
Anthony called up the guy he presumed Amanda to be seeing
*ringing*
"Hello..?"
"Hey."
"whats up?"
"I just wanted to tell you that what we had wasn't shit. Okay."
"Dude, what do you mean..?"
*muffled voices*
*Anthony takes the phone and talks to him*
*the phone is then given back to Amanda*
"Fine whatever then, Just to let you know my nigga Anthony is trying to get at you.."
"Yeah I know..."
Amanda glares at Anthony for a second as she hands him the phone.
Everyone was silent for a minute. Amanda sat on the bench, zoning out.
"Want to have an all-nighter?" Anthony asked all excitedly.
Amanda was unsure of how fun that would be but, she went along with it. Everyone agreed that it could be fun. It was around 12am and the stars were bright. The group decided to walk to the playground not too far from the batting cage. They all got comfy on slides and corners of the playground, then discussions were had. There was Megan and her boyfriend on one playground and Amanda and Anthony on another with another guy who was basically a third wheel.
At one point Amanda and Megan went on the swings and Anthony was being kind and pushed Amanda on the swing for a while. Then as Megan left her swing Anthony went on it and tried to see who could swing higher. Amanda smiled because that used to be one of her favorite things to do when she was little.
Amanda grew thirsty and everyone else was hungry. The third wheel guy had some extra cash on him and decided to buy everyone food and drinks. So him and Anthony went up to the corner store and Megan forced Amanda to tag along. As they walked into the store Amanda immediately grabbed water and the two guys grabbed snacks and things for themselves. Moments after they returned, everyone shared snacks and drinks. Soon enough the group decided to go to Megan's boyfriends house. The walk there was endless, but the sense of walking at night was peaceful. However, it took a while because two kids were skating one was scooting and the two girls walked ever so slowly. During the walk Anthony slowly opened up to Amanda, and she did the same. The discussions they had were nice and passed the time. After about an hour maybe two of walking it was 7:30am and they arrived to Megan's boyfriends house. His grandfather was infuriated by the fact that he was bringing over several people so late at night (or early in the morning). He finally agreed to let everyone in, Amanda followed close behind, mostly because she was uncomfortable in new places. There was an open space at the top of the stairs and there was an entertainment center and a cocoa L-shaped couch surrounding it. Amanda immediately took the corner of the couch farthest from the tv and laid her head on the arm of the couch. She was very exhausted and she slowly began to fall asleep. A few moments after Anthony walked up to Amanda
"Do you want to lay with me?"
"sure" she said sleepily
The bed was squishy, almost like a cloud. She laid facing towards the wall, some what covered with the blanket. Anthony kept to himself, then he turned towards her. He laid his arm around her waist, he accidentally felt her shirt come up and he grazed her waist. He immediately pulled her shirt down and placed his hand on top. Amanda Slowly fell asleep smiling because she thought Anthony was sweet and maybe they could be something some day.