Cars were bumper to bumper as I stepped onto the sidewalk. Men in pricey business suits brushed past me to conceded to even bother to say excuse me when one of them rudely slammed into my shoulder. Stopping at a cross walk already filled with people I looked beside me to see two little girls that looked like they were in kindergarten each clutching a hand of a man that looked my mothers age. Staring at the two content girls made me wonder about my own father. He had left when I was three. I have no idea why but by the way my mother told it he just got up one morning and left. Unfortunately I had been to young to remember what he looked like and the fact that my mother torched every picture with him in it I knew nothing about him. He was a mystery, like the thing about trees falling in the woods. Seeing the two girls suddenly step forward I snapped out of my solemn state and followed the crowd across the painted lines. Whoever came up with Thunder Mountain must have been lost. Our school should be called smells like feet and no one cares. Thunder Mountain sounded like something that belonged in Colorado, not New York. The halls were almost inaccessible as I pushed my way through the large groups of people lining the halls. Goths that smelt of cigarette smoke all glared at me as I pushed through them trying to get to my locker. They continued to stare at me until I glared back and they moved further down the hall. Staring at the mountains of textbooks and binders occupying the tiny shelves I wondered how my spine stayed aligned carrying around all this weight. Without warning to large strong hands wrapped around my waist pulling me back up against a wide chest. "Hello Marcus" I muttered wishing he had fallen down the stairs or possibly been arrested. He had been bothering me since the beginning of eighth grade. Constantly pursuing me through the halls placing his hands all over me like some sort of hussy that would melt if someone like him touched them. Sure at first it had been cute but now it bugged the hell out of me.
"Good morning" he whispered burying his face in my hair. Groaning I reached out for my book sitting on the top shelf.
"What do you want?" I hissed grabbing his hand and squeezing until he released his hold. Repressing the urges I had to slap him I tossed my bag onto the bottom of the locker.
"You know what I want" he hissed wrapping his arms around me again.
"Get off me" I snapped digging my nails into his arm. Marcus sucked his breath between his teeth but refused to let go.
"Oh don't act that way kitten, people will think we're breaking up." Feeling my temper ignite I dug my nails in further. His arms were immediately pulled away giving me a path to freedom.
"We were never together. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go turn in this fifteen-pound math book, don't get run over this summer." Slamming the locker door shut I started to walk down the hall but he caught my arm and dragged me back.
"Hey you know I'm just kidding with you right?"
"I know. But it's getting really old. Hope you have a good summer." Pulling open the door to my geometry class I slipped into my seat in the back row and looked around. Half the class was gone but I couldn't blame them. The last day was nothing but listening to teachers drown on about the summer reading lists, the proper checkout procedures, and how this had been the best class of the year. I had heard it four times already at the end of last semester and I didn't believe one word of it. Looking over two seats to my right I saw Caitlyn hunched over her desk flipping through the literature book trying to finish the questions she had failed to complete last week. Hearing a sharp rapping on my desk I looked over to see a note clenched tightly in the hand of the person sitting in between Caitlyn and me. I grabbed the paper out of his hand and pulled it under the desk. Staring at the childish scrawl that had been hastily written down I translated the bunched words. Kayla, mall after school? Grabbing my pencil out from behind my ear I replied down with a definite yes and handed it back. Caitlyn nodded over at me before returning her attention to the uncompleted homework. Four periods seemed to stretch on forever. Six hours of sitting in a hard plastic chair listening to the same crap I had been listening to for the past hundred and eighty days. As I sat in my forth period history class watching the last few minutes slowly ticking by I listened to my fellow students squabbling on about their summer plans. Something about lying on the trash filled beach didn't exactly fill me with anticipation for the oncoming season. A bell suddenly rang through the halls followed by the sound of cheering. Sitting in my chair until the crowd of anxious teenagers had thinned out I pushed my way down the hall. Caitlyn appeared behind me just as I had finished tossing all my forgotten and unwanted homework assignments I had been assigned this year. She grabbed the small mirror hanging on the door and slipped it into my open bag.
"So you ready?" she asked leaning up against the locker beside me. The swarm of people had diminished to a few stragglers still gathering their belongings. Closing the door I waved to a crowd of familiar faces walking past.
"I guess. So what do you need?"
"Everything. I've gotten to fat to fit in anything from last year so mom sent me out this year. Nothing's more embarrassing then walking through the store with your mom running after you with something pink and sparkly that looks like it would fit a Barbie." Laughing I followed her out onto the sidewalk. "What I wanna know is how do you say so thin"
"Eat right, exercise regularly, and I was born with a high metabolism."
"Oh come on you know me better then that, what are the odds that I would actually do all that stuff."
"Your right. Come on mom left me her card and I need a new summer wardrobe."
"What does your mom even do for a living?" Caitlyn asked following me up the stairs towards the apartment.
"She's the CEO of some clothing company downtown. She doesn't believe in those take your child to work days so I never found out." Dropping my bag on the bed I grabbed my purse and quickly exchanged something more appropriate for shopping on a hot summer day. Caitlyn was sitting on the bed when I came back from the bathroom flipping through one of my magazines. Carefully checking my appearance in the mirror I quickly grabbed the magazine out of her hands and lightly tapped her on the head.
"I'm guessing by the way your beating me your ready to go?" ignoring her sarcastic remarks I made sure I had the card before leading her back down the stairs to the street.