Summer days that faded into Fall, before the frosty chill of Winter took over. In the Spring, we promised to meet again.
Kevin stirred lightly, reluctant to wake from his calm slumber. He blinked a few times, the blurry textures of his ceiling coming into focus before he rolled onto his side and stared at the table next to his bed. His vibrant green eyes fell on the neon orange numbers that read 7:43 on his cell phone's "Alarm Clock" app. Unfortunately, he had slept late again; fortunately it wasn't too long. There was a light knock at his door, and Kevin's eyes wandered over in the direction of the noise.
"Kevin, sweetie. It's your mother again." Again. Meaning she had already tried to wake him up already and he'd still managed to sleep through it. "Are you awake yet, honey?" All Kevin could manage in response was a low groan signifying his consciousness. He rolled onto his back again and pushed the stray strands of red-orange hair out of his face. This wasn't the first time Kevin had had this dream. It was starting to feel more like a vague memory than a dream. 'Could it possibly be some corner of my subconscious trying to alert me of something?' Kevin couldn't bring himself to remember the last time he made a pinky promise to someone. 'I wonder if the other person remembers the promise... I wonder if they ever think about it, too. Do they have dreams about it?'
Kevin let the questions bounce around inside his head for a while as he dragged himself out from underneath his covers. The forest green carpeting in his room was soft under his feet, and he loved wriggling his toes through it when he first got out of bed. He shuffled lazily over to his dresser and picked out a relatively simple outfit consisting of one of his favorite green shirts with an decorative argyle print across the chest and a pair of khaki pants. Afterwards he picked up the red cap sitting on top of his dresser, the words "QUIZ BOWL" printed in large black letters across the front, and put it on. His fingers brushed over the black frame of his glasses and he hesitated slightly before deciding to put them on as well. The prescription was fairly low, hardly deemable as a prescription at all. Kevin knew he didn't wear them because he had to, but because he felt safe behind them. Once he had pulled his socks and shoes on and looked himself over thoroughly in the mirror that hung on the back of his closet door he decided he had just enough time to scarf down some breakfast before the bus arrived. As soon as he opened the door he was assaulted with the smell of warm maple syrup and fresh bacon, which only became more potent with every step he took down the stairs.
"Well, it's about time you decided to show up!" His mother huffed in feigned offense. "You're lucky I love you enough to have kept it warm for you." She smiled happily and pinched his cheeks, a habit she couldn't get out of even though Kevin was a "grown man" now.
"Aw, c'mon mom!" Kevin laughed, pushing her hand away with the back of his own. "I'm in high school now."
His mom pouted and retorted with the same, "Well you'll always by my baby with cute pinchable cheeks." She said it so much Kevin was able to lip sync her words back to her perfectly. They laughed and Kevin sat down at the table where his mother had set him a plate full of eggs, bacon and buttery pancakes. "This looks great. Thanks mom."
Kevin loved his mother's cooking. Of course, she had a lot of time to perfect it, as she was a stay-at-home mom. She had perfected many things, but cooking at painting seemed to be her favorites. His father was the C.E.O. of a large company known as Candy Corp and was rarely home as a result. He spent long hours at work, and was busy most weekends and holidays as his job entailed going to many meetings, setting up interesting and beneficial connections and all sorts of other corporate garbage Kevin had no interest in learning about. However, he always tried to bring home something sweet for his Momma's boy of a son in an attempt to maintain the facade of a caring father. Kevin didn't mind not seeing his dad often. Much to his father's dismay, Kevin wasn't the star athlete of the school, nor was he quite the smartest. It'd be going out on a limb to say he was even the slightest bit popular or well-liked in general. For the most part, Kevin was normal, though geeky, with a considerable knack for tinkering.
"You're welcome, dear." His mother replied as she poured him a glass of orange juice. "Anything exciting going on at school this week?" She asked as she placed the full glass down next to his plate and sat down in the chair across from him.
Kevin didn't like talking to his mom about school because she was a worrier, and if she'd ever caught wind that Kevin was actually relentlessly teased, nearly exclusively, she would probably go into hysterics. Instead, he cleverly diverted the subject like usual by talking about "exciting" upcoming events.
"Well, nothing particularly out of the ordinary." Which wasn't exactly a lie, but was vague enough to keep her from pressing the issue. "The football season starts this Friday. Nazz was saying she has a solo during half time, so she's asked me to go since it'll be the first game. Any chores I could do around the house to get me into the game? And maybe get some snacks?" He flashed his mother the most wide eyed hopeful look he could manage and she laughed loudly at his over dramatic display.
"All right, drama queen. How about you mow the lawn a few times and wash the dishes every other night this week. Sound fair?"
Kevin gasped in mock horror. "Mowing AND dishes? I only wanted your spare change! I don't think I can take this corporal punishment." His mother tore off a piece of pancake and chucked it at him, "All right smart mouth. Go put your plate up and make your way to the street corner, then, because that was my first and final offer!"
The two of them laughed together for a little while before Kevin finally got up and made his way into the kitchen, setting his plate into the sink full of soapy water and the pans and utensils his mother had used to make breakfast. Sometimes Kevin felt a little guilty that he didn't do more to help around the house unless he needed some spending money, but his mother insisted that she needed these extra things to do to keep her sane most days. His mother placed a twenty dollar bill on the table for Kevin once he finished up with the dishes, which he quickly shoved into the pocket of his shorts.
There was a coat rack nailed up in the hallway next to the front door where Kevin left his backpack after he finished his homework so that he could easily grab it on his way out for school. During the short time he had been in the kitchen his mother had made her way into the little office-like space that she had converted into her personal art studio. She painted all sorts of things, flowers, houses, people and even little animals. But Kevin knew that she spent most of her time in that tiny space staring longingly at the portrait she had painted of his Father. It was another reason Kevin couldn't find it in his heart to be bothered with the man.
"I'll see you later tonight, Mom!" He called to her, not even waiting for her to reply before he was closing the door behind him and stepping out into the warm sunlight. 'Maybe a little too bright,' Kevin thought as he shielded his eyes with his hand. It was a considerably warm late August morning, the kind that made you think there was no way Fall was right around the corner.
"Heeey! Kevin!"
A familiar voice called out to him from the distance. Kevin smiled, waving at his small group of friends. There was Nazz, whom he'd know for the longest, meeting her officially around the time they started middle school. She was a small, slightly awkward girl with long blonde hair cut in a slightly choppy layered fashion. Her glasses were round and black, and accented the heart-like structure of her face. Nazz's style was more intricate than everyone else's in their little group. She loved to layer clothing and her outfits usually consisted of a normal shirt, either one solid color or with a cute print on it, a skirt or shorts over a pair of eccentric leggings and every now and then a small scarf or ribbon. Today was no exception to her usual style, she was wearing galaxy leggings under a pair of navy blue shorts and had a black t-shirt on with a white vest over it. Nazz had been the one who had called out to him and she was usually the first to greet him in the morning.
Standing a little way behind him were his other two friends, Adrian and Rolf. Adrian was someone Kevin had met when high school started, he'd moved here with his sister, Nova, and their parents over the Summer for "reasons unknown" as he would tell everyone else in an air of mystery. Plenty of outrageous rumors about what it could have been always seemed to circulate as a result. There was one about how Nova had slept around with so many of the boys that the school was forced to kick them out and their parents had to move because they couldn't handle the unbearable shame. However the most popular one was that Adrian was a former dealer and got into a lot of trouble with a lot of bad guys and ended up being relocated here in the Witness Protection Program, which was absolutely hilarious to Kevin since Adrian was the most avid Anti-Drug campaigner he had ever meant.
"All part of the elaborate cover up!" Girls would argue. But all of their friends knew that they'd simply moved because his mother married his step-father, and they just wanted to "start fresh" in a quiet area.
Adrian was the second tallest in their small circle, with Rolf reaching just a few inches taller. He had dark hair that came down to his shoulders in choppy layers and looked black in most lighting, but on sunny days you could see it was actually brown. He had a slim but muscular build because he actually enjoyed working out. However, despite years of borderline begging from many coaches throughout the year, he didn't have any interest in joining any sports teams. Kevin was sure Adrian's wardrobe consisted only of ragged looking jeans and band t-shirts with gaudy accessories like collars and wrist bands riddled with studs. He was without question the most attractive male in their group and he'd received more than the odd love letter or two. Kevin knew that he had a crush on Nazz but never acted on it because he felt that Nazz wasn't even slightly interested in him. Instead, he filled his free time strumming on a guitar or giving Kevin advice for various issues he'd had throughout the last couple years.
Rolf was the most peculiar out of the four of them. His family had come from a foreign country and it seemed that he'd spent the majority of his childhood in Britain in some sort of Exchange Student program. When his parents had chosen to pursue work in America, Rolf reluctantly returned and joined them. He'd decided to reinvent himself here and preferred to be called Raphael, presumably because the name "Rolf" didn't sound exotic enough for his new persona. Kevin and his friends secretly thought that the real reason was because girls kept calling him "Rofl" in text on accident. Often times he'd ramble on about obscure things and random quotes that he'd swear were from famous people, although fortune cookies seemed a more likely possibility. His personal style was a mix between lax and classy. His parents most likely picked the majority of his clothing, favoring ties, button up shirts and suit jackets to T-shirts but he was still able to wear jeans most every day. Rarely he'd switch to some type of slacks, but this was usually only if he needed to make an especially good impression on the teachers, like during finals or projects. For the most part when he arrived at school he'd unbutton his blazer and loosen his tie until it was time to head home again.
They weren't exactly an envied group of high school idols, but Kevin enjoyed his friends however odd they were, and they enjoyed each other. As Kevin made his way over to his friends to wait on the bus, Nazz greeted him first, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug.
"Kevin!" She exclaimed, dancing about in place with excitement. "Did you ask your mom if you could come to the game yet?"
The school bus. As Kevin climbed up the stairs of the large vehicle he couldn't stop his stomach from dropping. Not many kids cared who got on and off the bus, but he could always feel the penetrating stares of Plank and Jimmy. He tried to ignore them, his eyes darting from row to row before he found what he was looking for. He made his way toward a seat at the middle of the bus, where Nazz motioned for him to join him. She smiled sweetly and patted the spot next to her as Adrian and Raph argued with each other over which music genre was more influential on the world. The bus started rolling again and everyone started talking more loudly to make up for it. Unfortunately, the cacophony soon went silent and Kevin couldn't help but follow everyone's gazes to the front of the bus.
Eddward turned the corner into the aisle of the school bus, all eyes were on him, as they should. be. Everything was still and silent, if there was anything Edd hated more in the morning than waking up, it was the loud obnoxious chatter of inconsequential events. He continued his stride, heading towards the back of the bus when he passed Kevin's seat.
Kevin hadn't realized he was holding his breath until he let out a sigh of temporary relief. 'Maybe he's gotten bored...' He thought hopefully, but much to his dismay Eddward's foot steps had fallen silent.
"Ah." He heard Eddward muse and Kevin flinched in response.
"Pumpkin." The 'nickname' rung in his ears like a fire alarm, warning him to turn tail and run. "I trust you have my lunch money today, right? I seem to have forgotten mine again. Clumsy me." Eddward grinned, throwing his arm over the back of Kevin's seat and leaned dangerously close to his face. The bus had already started rolling along again and Edd was still able to keep perfectly composed despite the shift in movement. He ignored the bus driver's ranting at him to sit down, he was like a rock that Kevin had no hopes of moving.
"C'mon Eddward! Are you really going to do this every single day?!" Nazz retorted before Kevin could even swallow. Her outburst was met with a terrifyingly cold glare from Eddward. Perhaps, colder than one would suspect for the simple comeback.
"Let's go ahead and add another five for your little girlfriend's outburst."
Kevin sighed and glanced pitifully at Nazz, who returned his gaze with a look of apology and she mouthed a soundless 'I'm sorry,' to him. "She's not my girlfriend.." Kevin mumbled while he pulled the new twenty dollar bill out of his pocket.
"Oh?" Eddward, sort of, replied, showing no hint of actual interest as he held his hand out to Kevin.
"Nothing.." Kevin answered, knowing full well that if he didn't he'd probably lose the rest of his money for "bad manners." Strangely enough, Eddward was oddly obsessed with manners, punctuality and other formalities. Few things made him more upset than when you botched his schedule or didn't deign him with a response. While it was the weirdest form of bullying anyone had ever seen, most were grateful for a stern scolding than they were for a punch in the ribs. "Here you are, Pumpkin. I'm feeling a little bit generous today." Eddward pocketed Kevin's twenty and handed him a ten dollar bill back. "Make it last." He laughed as he joined the rest of his own group in the back of the bus.
"I don't see why you bother giving him money back, Edd." Kevin heard Johnny complain before the rest of the kids began chattering again and drowned him out. Johnny was the type of person you might picture when you think about prisoners. He had a military-esque buzz cut and a scar across one of his eyes. A lot of rumors had spread over the years about where he had gotten the scar, but very few people seemed to know the truth, Kevin included. So everyone had to make do debating on whether or not it was a freak accident or a bad run in with some obscure street gang.
"I'm really sorry, Kevin.." Nazz apologized, snapping Kevin out of his thoughts. "I just hoped that maybe if we said something back to him for once, he'd back off.. I'll pay you back for everything he took, okay?"
Kevin smiled, he knew Nazz didn't have any bad intentions. But he also knew that Edd wasn't going to leave him alone with just a little fighting back.
"It's alright, don't worry about it!" He laughed and patted her head. Adrian hung his head over the seat behind them, resting his chin on the top of it. "Still... It sucks that Eddward targets you. Sometimes I wish I could give him a good pop in his smug mouth." Adrian held up a clenched fist and shook it in Edd's direction. Kevin laughed again, but he couldn't help but take Adrian's words into consideration. It had crossed Kevin's mind before, why did Eddward pick on him? Was there something he had done to him in the past? He couldn't remember anything past the day they first met, and even then Kevin hadn't really considered their encounter to be a bad one.