Picture to Burn
I sat on my bed, staring into space, my eyes blank. I hugged my
knees and pulled the covers tighter around me. I picked up the
picture of me and him at the beach. 'We were so happy back
then, so in love…' I thought. But that was before. Before he broke
up with me over a text. For another girl. Carly walked into my
room. She sat down on my bed. "Hey, how you feeling?" she
asked. I looked up. "Same I guess. Feeling like shit." She smiled.
"Hey," she said. "Don't worry. There's someone way better than
him out there." "Yea, I know." I told her. "Then good." she said,
standing up. "Then we're gonna go find him." I closed my eyes.
"Carly, there's something I need to tell you. I…actually like some-
one else. Besides Shane." She stared at me like I was crazy.
"Then what are you waiting for? Come on, get that butt of yours
up and out of that door! Oh, and, who is it?" she asked. I blushed.
"I uh…like…Lo…."I mumbled. "Who?" she asked, leaning closer
and dramatically cupping her hand to her ear. I grinned and
shoved her. "Logan." I said. I felt the blush spread through my
face. "OMG, that's great!" she exclaimed. "You know what I
heard? I heard that he likes you too!" "Yea right." I said. "We're
just friends. Plus, I'm pretty sure he likes Melissa." "That bitch?"
she said. "She's a total pain in the ass. I really don't get why so
many guys like her." she scoffed. "Yea well, whatever." I swung
my legs out over the side of the bed. I guess now that I told
someone, I felt a little better. "Come on," I told her, standing up.
"It's been what, a week since we went shopping together. Let's
go!" I said. She grinned. "Now that's the best friend I know.
Meet you downstairs." I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and
went downstairs where I found her waiting for by the door.
"Ready?" she asked. I nodded. We went outside and started
walking towards the mall. After a few blocks, I heard someone
calling my name. I looked behind me. I saw Logan on the other
side of the sidewalk, smiling and waving, and my heart skipped
a beat. "Hey." I told him as he came up to us. "You guys need a
ride?" he asked. I looked at Carly. She shook her head. "No
thanks. Carly here says she needs to lose some pounds!" I said
grinning, because Carly actually needed to put on some pounds.
That girl was as skinny as a beanpole. Carly pretended to look
offended and she shoved me. "Where you guys going?" he asked.
"The mall." I said. "There's a sale at Forever 21." "'Kay, wouldn't
wanna keep you ladies waiting." I waved goodbye and continued
walking. When we were sure he was gone, Carly turned to me.
"How do you do that?" she asked. "Do what?" "Talk to him that
easily." I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just feel…..happy
around him. When he's with me there's not a problem in the
world. It's like they all melt away…." She stopped ahead of me
and turned around. "Awwww, true love." she said trying not to
laugh as she made a heart symbol with her hands. "Carly!" I
yelled. She took off running and I ran after her. After 7 blocks
of chasing, we finally got to the mall. By then, we were all
out of breath. "Don't….do…that….again…" I panted. "Deal."
she said. We walked inside and headed for Forever 21. We
spent half an hour trying on clothes. We ended up leaving with 4
bags each. We headed for Hollister Co. after, but I stopped.
"What?" Carly asked. Then she saw what I was staring at.
"Ohhh… Shane's here." Then her mouth fell open. "With
Melissa!"she yelled. I guess someone else in my situation
would've cried. But I didn't. I had no more tears for him. To me,
he was just another picture to burn. "Come on," I told Carly.
When she didn't answer, I grabbed her wrist and started to drag
her the rest of the way to Hollister's. When we were a few feet
away from the store, I heard him call my name. "Lauren….
didn't expect to see you here." I turned around to look at him.
Melissa was clinging to him like a leech and he was looking kind
of nervous. "Shane." I said, making my stare and voice as ice
cold as possible. I looked at Melissa and back at him. He squirmed
under my stare. I knew he was scared because I was known for
my revenge. Carly just stood there and stared at me, him, and
Melissa. "Guess you found someone else already." I said and
turned around, walking back towards the store. Carly hurried
after me. "Wow Lauren, you are scary." she said. I smiled to my-
self, knowing I had won this fight. We spent the next 2 hours
walking around, shopping and talking about everything. When
we left, we had 10 bags each in our hands. When we got to the
exit, I heard Logan call my name. "Hey," he said. "You guys need
a ride now?" he asked. I grinned and looked at Carly. She
shrugged. I turned to him. "Sure, I guess." As we walked towards
his car, he asked me, "So I just drive Carly to your house right?"
I rolled my eyes. "Duh." I said, because I knew he knew. Carly,
my best friend of all time was living with my family after her
parents had to move to Germany because of their jobs. After
a few minutes, he pulled up in front of my house. We got out
and he walked with us to the door. Carly unlocked it and went
in and I started to follow her, but Logan grabbed my wrist. I
looked at him. "Yea?" I asked. "Umm..I was wondering if you
wanted to go to the movies with me this Saturday." he said
shyly, a blush working its way up to his cheeks. I could practically
hear my heart out loud. "Uh, that sounds great." I told him. He
grinned. "Cool, pick you up at 6?" I smiled. "Sure." He dropped
my wrist. "See ya." I said, as I went inside. After I was sure he
was gone, I let out my breath, and started to jump up and down.
I ran upstairs to look for Carly. I found her in her room, jam-
ming to her iPod. "OMG Carly, you'd never believe what just
happened!" I squealed. She pulled out her earphones to look at
me. "What?" she asked. "Logan just asked me to go with him
to the movies this Saturday!" I said, excited. "Oh my god, that's
great!" she said. "Okay, so you have 2 days 'til your date. OMG,
this is the best summer vacay ever!" she yelled. I laughed. "I'm
the one going on a dream date, and you're the excited one."
"When's he picking you up?" she asked. "Six. Why?" I answered.
"Because," she said grinning. "We're going to get you a mani-
pedi before your date." I sighed. "Carly, we're going to the
movies, not prom. Plus, I'm going dressed casual, so don't
bother." I told her. "Fine, but can I pick out your outfit?" she
clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes. "Pretty
please?" she asked. I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But no overdoing it!"
I told her. "Yay, yay, yay!" she squealed. I groaned. "I'm gonna
regret this, I know I am." I complained. She grinned devilishly.
"Mwah ha ha ha ha!" she exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. "Ugh,
whatever. Good night, let the bed bugs bite!" I grinned and left.
My last thought before I drifted off to sleep was of Logan and
our movie "date" on Saturday. I smiled to myself. When I woke
up, the sun was shining through the window. That's when I
looked up and saw Carly standing over me with a glass of ice
water in her hand. I screamed and fell out of my bed. Carly
burst out laughing. From the floor, I asked, "What the hell were
you planning to do with that?" "I was gonna pour it on you,
duh," "Why?" I asked. "I'm up!" "Well, because your parents are
leaving for the airport in 5 minutes." "Oh shit," I smacked my-
self. "I totally forgot." "Then get off the floor and get down-
stairs." she said and walked away. I got up and followed her
downstairs to where my parents were doing their last minute
check. "Now, are you girls sure you'd be okay by yourselves?"
my mom asked, looking worried. "Don't worry Mom," I told her.
"We know the drill. If there's any problems, we go and talk to
Mrs. Bell." Mrs. Bell was our next-door neighbor who used to
baby-sit me when I was little. I swear my parents would trust
her with their lives. My dad put his hand reassuringly on my
mom's shoulder. "Come on Sarah, the girls will be alright by
themselves. We have to go anyways." He kissed my forehead and
hugged Carly. "We'll see you guys in 2 months." They walked
down the driveway and got into their cab. After it left, Carly
turned to me. Her eyes glinted mischievously. "Time to have
some summer fun!" "Oh no, no no no. We are not doing what
I think you're planning to do. No. No way." "What?" she asked
innocently. "I'm just talking about a little summer romance."
she said raising an eyebrow. "No!" I told her. "You are not
setting me up like last time." "What last time?" she asked. I
stared at her. "The last time was when I was joking about ha-
ving a crush on Brad, and you set us up!" I said, crossing my
arms over my chest. "Okay, that was an accident. But he was
totally into you!" she exclaimed. "He had a girlfriend!" I yelled.
"Oh yea…" she said thinking. She walked upstairs to her room,
and I followed her. I sat on her bed while she stared out the
window. She spun around, pointed at me, and started pacing
in front of me. "But Logan has no girlfriend!" she exclaimed.
"And his 'crush' is with Shane!" she stopped and looked at me.
"Oops, sorry," she apologized. "It's okay," I told her. "I'm over
him." She looked unconvinced, but continued. "Okay, so Logan's
free! And I've seen the way he looks at you." As I listened, I
realized what she wanted to do. "No, no, no." I said. "No way.
You are not playing matchmaker. The last time you did, it ended
horribly." I shuddered at the memory. "Anyways," I said. "You
know me. I always wait for the guy to make the first move."
Then I thought of something. "Carly King, you are so not telling
him that, or anything that has to do with me liking him." She
rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Fine, I won't." she said
airily. I put my hands on my hips. "And that means no one is
getting involved. And no carrier animals either!" I said. "All
right, you've listed everything I could've done. So what now?" she
asked. "We," I said as I pulled her up. "are going to make the
best of this summer. And you're supposed to help me pick out
an outfit for tomorrow." I reminded her. Her face brightened up.
She snapped her fingers. "I know the perfect outfit for you!" she
exclaimed. She pulled me towards her closet. Carly and I were
the same size for clothes and shoes, so we sometimes borrowed
each other's things. She started to rummage through the hangers
until she finally picked out a top. It was a white V-neck tunic
with bell-like elbow length sleeves. "This." she said. "This is the
one." She shoved it towards me and darted into the hallway and
into my room. She pulled open my closet door and started look-
ing through my jeans. She picked out a pair of black skinny jeans,
shoved it towards me, and darted back to her room. I groaned
ran after her. I found her looking through her shoes. She held up
a pair of black leather boots. She handed them to me. "I'm
gonna wait outside and wait while you try these on." Before I
could protest, she was closing the door behind her. I quickly
changed and opened the door. Carly dragged me to a big mirror
and stood next to me. She beamed. "See how amazing you look?"
I let out my breath. "Wow." I said. "Yup, I'm a fashionista." she
said, striking a sassy pose. We stared at each other for a few sec-
onds, then burst out laughing. I hugged her. "Thanks for helping,
Carly." She smiled. "It's what best friends are for." "How 'bout
this," I told her. "Let me change out of these nice clothes and we
could go grab something to eat. And," I added. "we can maybe
find you a boyfriend. After all, I'm a way better matchmaker
than you." I grinned. She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I gotta
approve of the guy first!" I changed into a tee and a pair of
skinny jeans, and we were off to the mall. We each bought a
salad and we sat down at a table. To our left, there was a group
of guys laughing and joking around. I recognized most of them
from school. "Hey, what about Jordan?" I asked. "He's kinda
cute." "Nah," she said. "he's too much of a douchebag. And I
heard he screwed all of the cheerleaders just this past month."
she scowled. I shuddered. "Ugh, you're right. I wouldn't even
want to be around him. I looked around the table some more.
I noticed a guy that was staring at Carly. "Jason," one of the
guys said. He turned his attention away from Carly and back to
whatever they were talking about. "Carly, there's your guy," I
whispered. "Which one?" she asked. "The guy in the white sitting
next to Jordan." I replied. "Hey, he's cute," she said. There was
something bugging me though. I knew that guy from somewhere.
Then, I remembered. "Carly, that's Logan's best friend! I remem-
ber him from a picture Logan showed me!" I squealed. I smiled
mischievously. "You know what I have to do now, don't you," I said,
wagging my eyebrows at her. She groaned. "You're gonna go all
matchmaker on me?" she asked. I grinned. "You know it."
She sighed. "Fine, I trust you to do the right thing. I'll let you play matchmaker
on one condition," she said. "What?" I asked. "It has to be after your date with
Logan, and I wanna know all the details." I thought about it for a while.
"Fine." I sighed. "Who am I to stand in the way of my sister finding true love."
I dramatically sighed. We finished our salads and left. Even though we just got
a bunch of new clothes yesterday, we still looked around, and joked about what
might happen tomorrow night on my date. "Hey, maybe he'll do that really old-fashioned
and cheesy thing where he yawns and pretends to stretch so he could put his arm around
you," she said, laughing. I giggled. "Hey, you gotta admit, it's kinda romantic." She snorted.
"If you were living in the 1980's!" We looked at each other for a second and burst out laughing.
An elderly couple walking by stared at us disapprovingly. We looked around the mall some
more and headed home. We passed an old family friend, Mrs. DiLaurentis watering her lawn.
She waved to us, and we waved back. Carly unlocked the door, and we stepped in. I checked
my watch. It read 4:00. "Wow," I said out loud. "What?" she asked. "It's 4 already.