The whole building of Prior High was eerily quiet as the final seconds of school were ticking down. None of us students were listening to the teacher in front of us with their constant babble going on and on about an irrelevant topic.
All of the students' eyes in my class, including my own, were trained on the huge clock behind the teacher's back, watching the red hand slowly crawl to the twelve.
BRRRRING!
The children grabbed their backpacks and rushed out the door while our teacher, Ms. Cayman, tried to control the classroom. But as I was looking at her, she eventually stopped trying evidently knowing that there was no stopping kids on summer vacation.
I grabbed the last chocolate bar from my bag and handed it to her with the note that I wrote the night before.
"Have a good summer, Ms. Cayman," I gave her a genuine smile. She took the chocolate with gratitude.
"You too, Idaline. Did you enjoy your first year of high school?" She asked.
I looked at her desk and thought back to all of the memories that I shared with all of my classmates. Then looked back at her.
"I surprisingly did," I nodded. Ms. Cayman sat back in her chair with a contented smile.
"Go on now. Have a good summer, Ms. Cyprus," I nodded and ran off to the already crowded hallway, full of running and celebrating high school students.
Going with the tide of kids, I managed to make it outside to the front of the school where my two friends were already waiting for me.
"Ida! Ida!" a chocolate brunette haired girl ran up to me with a smile, an older and taller looking boy trailing behind her, the same color hair and similar features.
"Hey Zoey, Jack. You ready for home?" I grinned. But their excited expressions immediately fell at my words.
I looked at them, concerned.
"What's wrong?"
Zoey immediately broke down in tears while Jack sighed, comforting her.
"We're... we won't be able to make it this summer. Our family's going to the west coast to visit family. For all of summer vacation. And... we're leaving tomorrow," Jack explained, with a crying Zoey looking at me, heartbroken.
"We wanted to tell you sooner but... well... you needed to concentrate on your studies," She explained softly. I nodded, understanding.
My family isn't doing great, financially speaking. We're barely making it. So a few years ago, when I started middle school, I pledged to myself that I would work hard to keep my grades up so I could obtain as many scholarships as I could to pay for college. I even cut an 'x' shaped scar on the back of my right hand with a kitchen knife, so that every time I looked at it I would be reminded of my oath.
"I'm so sorry, Ida!" Zoey collapsed into my embrace, sobbing uncontrollably. She was one of those friends that worried about everything when they're not there with their friend.
"Shh. It's okay. It's okay. I'll survive. Don't worry," I whispered reassuringly. I saw Jack stare at me, sadly, most likely not wanting to leave me alone with my parents, either.
When the Santos van arrived, both of us had to lead Zoey to it, since she couldn't even see through her gushing tears.
Throughout the entire ride, Jack and I had to calm Zoey down and by the time we reached the house her tears had stopped and her sobs were reduced to small, sudden intakes of breath.
When we entered the front door, my eyes immediately went to the suitcases gathered in the living room. If any other person ever saw them, they'd be able to tell who's was who's right away. There were two large suitcases that were solid black and white while two medium sized cases were blue with snowflakes and purple with a butterfly on the bottom right corner.
"Yeah... there they are," Jack muttered with sorrow in his voice.
"Well. Let's not dwell on that problem. Movie night, anyone?" I turned to both of them with the brightest smile I could muster.
When they nodded, I dashed off to the movie room and picked out three movies: an adventure, a horror and a Disney movie.
"Yes!" Zoey rushed into the room and snatched the horror movie out of my hands. "We're watching this first!" She declared.
"But don't you-"
"Yes, yes, I know. But I have overcome my fears," Zoey reassured me.
Soon, all of us were soon laughing at the choices the characters kept making, comparing them to how we would act in real life.
By the time we were finished with all three movies of my choice, we were exhausted. But when we all shared another look, we started to laugh, knowing it'd be our last time we'd see each other for three months.
And when we had to say goodbye the following day, we all laughed again.