Chapter 13
"Wow I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!" Kelli said from her seat at the 7th period lunch table.
"I know, its crazy!" Liz said staring at her sandwich. It was 2 weeks till graduation and all they could think about were finals and that they would be college students really soon.
"I don't want to leave you guys I'll miss you so much!" Ashley frowned from her seat. The table was unusually quiet, must have been the fact that they were going to leave each other soon was setting in.
"We have to have a big last blowout before we leave." Rachel said after a little while.
"Yes we do! But what?" Kelli asked.
"I don't know, we have all summer to decide!" Liz said. Gabe grunted his agreement. He didn't really care about get togethers, he couldn't wait for college.
"Aw, Gabe you know you'll miss me and Liz!" Ashley laughed punching Gabe in the arm. He just gave her a look but smiled anyway and nodded going back to his chips.
"I'm going to be so far away from you guys, I don't know if I want to go to Arizona State anymore!" Steph whined.
"Of course you do! Silly girl, you'll love it there." Rachel reassured her. Max put his arm around Steph's shoulders.
"You'll do fine hun, believe me." He kissed her cheek and smiled at her and she smiled back returning his kiss.
The bell rang and the group headed off to their last period classes.
*****
The next day was Friday, thank god for Fridays the group had all agreed upon. Rachel and Ashley were presenting their project for their Psychology project. They had interviewed all their friends and their parents and friends' parents about their group of friends. When the final credits rolled Rachel and Ashley were nervous as all hell but from the applause, they knew it had to be good. Ashley gave Rachel a wink and they went back to their seats.
"I think we did good." Rachel whispered leaning over to Ashley. Ashley nodded her agreement and smiled trying to pay attention to the other groups project but her excitement over finally finishing it had her all giddy.
When the class finally ended they ran out to tell the rest of their crew how the project had gone over so well. They shared their excitement with the group and finally the weekend was there.
*****
Blake was having a great week. No more letters, no more being scared for Jon was behind bars and she had a restraining order on him so he couldn't go near her or her house if he made bail. Other than that she got exempt from two finals which left only 1 final she actually had to take.
"What?! You are so lucky! How'd you get out of calculus?" Ace was on the phone with her as usual.
"I aced the course. I'm so smart!" Ace just laughed at her.
"Riiight, how do you think you did on AP history?"
"Alright I guess. It wasn't easy."
"Nope not at all." Ace groaned but then changed the topic. "What are we doing for senior prank? Its on Wednesday since that would be the last day of school!!" She squealed her happiness, which wasn't very hard since Ace had a pretty high voice to begin with. ((anyone ever Vmail with this girl?! Youch the pitch she could reach haha love ya girlie ;) ))
"I think we're goin to the meeting Tuesday night and figuring that out. I'm wearing all purple of course." The conversation continued until Blake finally had enough of Ace's high pitched squeaking and had to go.
*****
"The very last week as high school students. Can you believe?" Jess said to Dave as they sat in Starbucks.
"Not at all."
"So what are we going to do when we leave for college?"
"Get in a car and go…" Guys. So oblivious.
"No I mean about us. Are we staying together?"
"I guess. I mean I don't see why not. We've been together for two years now why not another year?" Jess just smiled. That was a good enough answer for her. They sat in comfortable silence until the rest of the crew landed at Starbucks.
"Hey kids!" Gen hugged Jess' head from behind. Gen was super duper dark since being at the Keys. Lucky devil, Jess thought. Jack and Ashley followed close behind Gen and sat down at the couch next to Jess' table. They were such a cute couple Jess thought. Actually the whole group thought that, which made Ashley pretty happy.
Jack put his arm around Ashley as the rest of the group sat down among them. It was their custom to just come to Starbucks to sit and talk. They discussed weekend plans, end of the year pranks, and finals. Finals being the least talked about since it wasn't a favored topic.
"I guess we'll be spending summers here!" Ashley laughed looking around at their favorite hangout. The University of New Hampshire didn't have any Starbucks nearby and she wondered where she would hang out.
The group agreed with her, this would be the one place that they would see the whole group together. Work and vacations would be taking up most of their time and a car wouldn't fit all of them inside. Change was on its way.
*****
Wednesday, the last day of school came quicker than people expected. Most everyone was up by 5:30 to go to breakfast and head to the high school to get ready for the day's water fight and man hunt. Everyone was gathered at The Early Bird Café eating eggs and pancakes, just a little too hyper for that early in the morning and alittle too dazed to be comprehensible. So they mainly sat in silence or in crazy talk between the two tables. Most had already been to Su's house to get their makeup and their hair done. Most wore hand made shirts with 'Class of 2000' written all over them, with other little inside jokes written in the other spaces.
The cars were jammed full of people, and the parking lot hosted a large crowd of purple seniors bearing water guns and balloons. What a way to end the year, Caroline thought, looking over the crowds of people. Anna just grinned. She had missed the social part of school a LOT while in the hospital.
Finally the underclassmen arrived, hesitant to go near the masses. But they got nailed anyway, water balloons splashing against the windshields and hoods of the passing cars. And when they were brave enough to get out of their cars they were soaked by the water guns. Ashley, Caroline, Gen, Rachel, Blake and Ace were tearing after their underclassmen friends until the bell rang and they had to go into school. The fun and games continued at lunches, eating cotton candy and having hose fights in the courtyard. The days classes were really easy, most teachers letting the seniors out early so they could go play.
"Frisbee game!" Jack shouted to the group which had assembled in the cafeteria. They all shouted their agreement and ran with him to the fields in back of the school for a makeshift game of Frisbee. There was a lot of yelling going on and tackling on the guys part. The girls were no less violent in their means of getting the Frisbee. They jumped the guys and tripped the girls. By the time they came back inside most had grass stains and dirt all over themselves.
"That was great!" Ashley said out of breath.
"Yeah it was! One more class left!" Caroline dashed off at the sound of the bell, knowing she'd be back. Ashley and Jack had to go to math though and they knew that the teacher wouldn't let them go since it was all underclassmen except for a few seniors, which included themselves.
The last period flew by quickly fortunately and they once again convened in the parking lot for yet another water fight. This time the seniors had it among themselves and most everyone in the group had had a bucket dumped over their heads.
"Oh man now we have to drive back all wet!" Kelli whined wringing out her drenched shirt.
"Haha Kell, you're wearing a WHITE shirt…which is wet!" Ashley started laughing.
"I wouldn't talk! You do too!" Kelli grinned back. Trey eyed Kelli and gave her a grin. Ashley pulled her dripping shirt away from her body and climbed into Jack's car. He groaned as he saw the drips from her hair fall on his nice car.
"Awww poor baby!" Ashley stuck out her tongue at him. Gabe reached in the window and messed up her hair.
"Meet you at Starbucks?" he asked the couple.
"You bet!!" Jack put the car in reverse and backed up hoping not to hit anyone. Ashley and him had been together almost a month. He couldn't believe it. He was dating his best friend, and he liked it. Ashley was thinking the same thing. But she was more sad, knowing that in a couple months they'd be hundreds of miles apart, him going out to Sante Fe to work in his Uncle's business there, and her going up to New Hampshire for college.
"What's wrong babe?" He asked, glancing over at her as they sat in traffic on their way into town.
"Oh nothing. I'm just sad this is over. We'll be living so far away from each other in 2 months. Are we going to stay together?"
Jack bit his lip, he hadn't even thought of that. He thought the fun him and Ashley were having was going to last forever. Guess he was wrong. "I don't know. Do you think we should?"
"I don't know what would be best. Whatever happens we'll still be best friends." Ashley knew that much was true and so did Jack.
They managed to reach Starbucks before the rest of the crew so they just went in and claimed their usual seats on the purple couch. They were soon joined by the rest of the group; you couldn't miss them, they were talking loudly and laughing. Ashley smiled. She really would miss these guys. The crowd approached where they were sitting, and Ashley was immediately suffocated by Liz who sat down on top of her and hugged her while bouncing up and down.
"WE'RE DONE!!!!!!" she shrieked. Ashley just pushed her off. She loved Liz, but not the bouncy-shrieking-sitting-on-her-lap Liz. Liz took the seat next to her. "Can you believe? No more!!"
"Well we still have finals." Dave groaned.
"Who cares? Most of us are exempt from a few anyway." Ace hit him over the head. "You gotta be optimistic about it!"
It was a pretty picture, you could say, if you stepped back and looked at the group sitting around the purple couches and chairs, all with smiles on their faces, and laughter in their hearts. A pretty picture indeed, too bad there wasn't a camera to be seen.