Slowly and carefully, a paintbrush grazes over a canvas, turning the once dull white paper into a colorful landscape.
"Ugh, I'm glad I'm not my own critic; otherwise, I'd never get any good reviews!" Sally groans to herself as she sits on her front porch, painting the oak tree down the street. She isn't the best painter ever; she just likes to paint, for fun.
The past few days are pretty quiet in her world: her parents are out visiting Sally's brother in Florida, old man K is on a fishing trip, and her friends are off working on projects, jobs, or just forgetting she exists.
"No, don't think like that!" she tells herself aloud. Sally doesn't have a depression sickness or anything; she just simply gets herself down about certain things. That's why she likes to stay busy; she can forget about her troubles.
Still painting on the canvas, Sally smiles as she adds the finishing brush to her not so perfect masterpiece. After setting the messy tool down, she leans back and looks at her painting. Suddenly, a horrible memory comes rushing back into Sally's mind, triggered by the painting:
Summer, last year. The wind stirs in the sky and through the midst of the oak trees in the park in Beaufort County. Sally comes out from the trees and covers her face and cries against one of the great oaks. Then, her Jack comes up to her and turns her around to face him.
But, he says nothing; he only looks at her with a confused, worried look. Tears running down her flushed cheeks, Sally asks him stressed, "Why can't you tell me what's wrong?"
"Because I don't know!" Jack forcedly states .
"It seems you never know! Don't you know that I love you and that I understand you better than any other person in the existence of the world? Don't you know that whatever it is, you can tell me!"
"BUT I DON'T KNOW!" The silence of the park made the barren place seem almost dreary on that cloudy day.
Sally continues to cry and her Jack takes her and holds her close. But it doesn't help, all she wanted was…
"Sally?" a quiet voice comes out of no where, breaking Sally's train of thought.
Dropping the gaze she had laid on the painting, Sally turns to her front porch steps where Lydia is standing.
"Oh, hey. How are you Lydia?" Sally asks normally.
"I'm good. I-uh, I wanted to see if you could help me with something."
"Sure! What is it?"
"Well, you see, I was checking out the talent show list for the end of summer party, and I thought I-"
"Could sing a song for the show. That's awesome Lydia! Did you sign up?" Sally finishes excitedly.
"Uh, yeah."
"Yay! What're you gonna sing?"
"I was thinking maybe something from West Side Story."
"Ooh! That sounds fun. But, why do you need me?"
Becoming more comfortable with Sally's unplanned optimism, Lydia smiles, "Isn't it obvious? You're my tutor now, remember?"
"Oh, how could I forget? Hmm, let me guess; you want to do Somewhere don't you?"
"Well, I'm not sure. That why I came over today, now, so early in the summer before the show, I mean. But anyways, can you help me?"
"Of course I can! Come inside, and let's find you something that will knock everyone's socks off!"
But as Sally led her to the door, Lydia stops and looks at the oak tree painting, "Did you do this?"
"Sadly, yes. Please be kind; I only paint for the fun of it."
"There's nothing sad about it. It's beautiful. You know, you should really take an art class or two; you'd be really good!"
"Thanks, but I don't know. It's just, complicated. Here, let's go inside, okay?"
And they do, and soon enough, the two forget about the conversation. That is until, after an hour and a half, the two bored girls are found laughing inside Sally's room, as Lydia finishes her embarrassing story from when she was in Tennessee, where she lived the summer before.
"That's awesome Lydia! I'd never have the guts to even go on a roller coaster! And if I did, I'd probably do a lot more damage than just barf on the guy I had a crush on!"
Surprised, Lydia looks up at Sally, "What? You don't like roller coasters?"
"Never have, never will. It's one of my biggest fears."
"Oh," Lydia suddenly becomes fascinated with Sally's room, and gets up off the ground and looks around, "I love your room; it's really different."
"Uh, thanks?" Sally says unsure.
"Don't worry, that's good! Oh hey, the Harry Potter books; I love those!"
"Yeah, and the movies aren't bad either!"
"I agree!" Lydia says as she continues to look around. She stops in front of a small opening on Sally's desk, which reveals a small portion of a piece of paper that's black. Tons of things are on top of it, so Lydia can't see what the full picture is.
"If you don't mind, can I take a look at something that's on your desk?" she asks.
"Sure, there's nothing really important there anyway." Sally says carelessly as she looks through her own CDs for something else to listen to.
Moving everything out of the way, Lydia picks up a normal-sized piece of paper and gasps, "Sally!"
"What-" as soon as Sally's head comes up, she freezes as Lydia holds up a painting that she once did.
"This landscape; it looks so familiar." Lydia says.
Sally only nods, "It is of the lonely swirl hill that Jack Skellington sings on in the beginning of the movie, The Nightmare before Christmas. I just really liked the hill; so I decided to paint it." she doesn't say anymore. She had forgotten that her painting is still there. In the painting, there is the lonesome hill with the bright moon behind it.
"Oh, I've never had the privilege of seeing that movie. But still, I like it!" Lydia adds, "Are you a fan of Tim Burton?"
"More like an admirer." Sally replies, "Can I have it back please?" she asks, holding out her hand.
"Oh, sure." Lydia gives it to her, and Sally quickly takes the painting and opens her closet. She leans in and does something Lydia cannot see with the painting, and then shuts the door.
The two look at each other in awkward silence, until Sally pipes up, "It's getting dark outside."
Lydia turns and looks out the bedroom window, "You're right. I should get going."
Politely, Sally walks Lydia outside to her front porch. But, before Lydia leaves, she surprises Sally with a gentle hug. Sally cannot help but smile.
At about that moment, Jay Hoffman drives by in his pickup truck. He glances at the Perkins house not thinking, and keeps driving. However, when he realizes he sees Lydia, he looks in his rear view mirror as he drives away, going too fast to turn around.
"Oh hey," Lydia adds as she heads down Sally's porch steps, "The Midsummer Night's Dance is coming up; are you going?"
Sally shyly responds, "I don't think so. I don't fit in at parties or dances."
"Oh yes you will! You can hang out with me the whole time! Plus, I know everyone else in…'the group'… is going to be there. Come on, you'll have fun! I promise."
Skeptically, Sally looks at Lydia, who's eagerly waiting for her to respond. Sally has to admit, Lydia does really like her. And besides, it's just a dance, right? Sally couldn't possibly…
"Alright," she answers, "I'll go."
Smiling, Lydia finishes her decline down the stairs and waves as she leaves, "Awesome! See you this Friday then!"
Sally waves back, worrying about the night already.
Over on the other side of town in Haven Hideaway, new friends Tacey and Amergin are planning out the decorations for the big party for the rising seniors of Beaufort High.
"I may be into theatre, but when it comes to knowing color schemes, I'm clueless!" Amergin admits comically.
Tacey looks through a decorator's book determined to find something to bring the dance together, color-wise, "Uh huh." Is all she manages out, completely focused on the dance.
Amergin, however, hasn't taken his eyes off of her the entire day. The last few weeks together have been a dream. Slowly, he and Tacey have become comfortable friends. Just the other day, he finally convinced her to play her sax for him. And quite honestly, he's never met a more talented and beautiful girl. It's true; Amergin does have not only a crush on Tacey, but actual feelings for her. But at this point and time, he feels she isn't ready for something as overwhelming as a relationship.
Amergin moved to the small town of Beaufort from Atlanta Georgia just as summer approached. He's big in theatre, obviously, and politics since he attends the town meetings on a regular basis and has connections with the Board. In a short period of time, he's become a quirky but charming youthful leader in the town; all the girls flock to him, but he only has his eye on one.
"I've got it!" Tacey proclaims excitedly. Amergin wakes up from the daze he's been in and moves over to Tacey in the booth to see what she's found.
"What'd you find Tace?"
"The perfect match!" She points out a page in the book of a decorated bedroom, in which the two colors are perfect for the theme of the dance: dark violet and red.
Amergin, as he usually does, raises one of his eyebrows which cause him to look intriguingly confused, "Hey, not bad! It's simple and appealing! Alright, violet and red."
"Good," Tacey smiles and looks back at the book, but then remembers something, "Oh, I've got a few people to help decorate the dance! Do you know Adrienne Velsey?"
Amergin thinks a moment, "Yeah, she works here right?"
"Yep. And Kylar Sweeny?"
"Oh yeah, she's really cool."
But, Tacey, to Amergin's surprise, keeps naming people, "And Jamie Coolidge?"
"Yeah."
"And Kirsten Sherwood?"
"She's really sweet, and goofy."
"Lydia Mitchell?"
"Jay's girlfriend, who doesn't know her? Anyone else in this wide variety of girls?"
"One more. Sally Perkins."
"Sally Perkins? Hmm, I don't think I've seen her before."
"Really? She's been in all the school plays."
"Tace, I came here after school ended."
"Oh, right," Tacey trails off, until, "You'll like her though. She's deep."
"They all sound like a wild bunch." Amergin admits.
Tacey laughs comfortably, "Yeah, they are."
Curious, Amergin looks at her and asks, "So, you girls are all friends? I don't mean to be rude or anything; I'm new to the town, so you people probably act different when it comes to socializing. But isn't it kind of weird that you all hang out together? I mean, when I was in Atlanta, we were nice to each other, but we pretty much stuck to our own clicks. Well, besides me, I'm a floater. But anyways, from what I know about these people are that all of you have different backgrounds and interests. What could you possibly have in common with each other?"
Tacey thinks about how she should respond to him, unwilling to reveal the secret of the Society. But, she doesn't want to lie to her friend either. So, she answers, "Poetry."
Amergin stares at her stunned, "Poetry?" he repeats.
"Yep," Tacey replies and then tries to change the subject, "Hey look! It's time for me to start heading home; I promised my little brother I'd watch Star Wars with him. It's a brother-to-sister bond sorta deal. So, I'll see you later!"
Tacey leaves some money on the table, and then takes the decorating book along with her as she exits the diner. However, Amergin has something else up his sleeve, so he follows her swiftly.
"Tacey," Amergin yells as he catches up. She turns around and only to be smacked in the face by Amergin himself.
Both of them move back a few steps, and hold their heads.
"Oww!" Tacey moans.
"I second that." Amergin admits embarrassed.
Tacey sees that he is trying to stay cool, even though he smacked her in the face. So, she humors him and takes his hand, "Come on Gadsby, walk me home."
Amergin walks along with her, smiling to himself all the time thinking, I should bump into her more often, she's never held my hand before!
And in Tacey's mind, she has a similar thought, Oh my gosh! I'm actually holding his hand! Oh, I think I'm gonna throw up!
Finally, the two make it to Tacey's doorstep without hitting each other again.
Tacey looks over at Amergin, who's staring intimately into her eyes. So incredibly nervous, Tacey forgets the thoughts swarming her brain and hugs him.
"Thanks, I had fun!" She squeaks from uneasiness.
Amergin smiles, overwhelmed she is hugging him. Forgetting the doubts and worries of his mind, he asks her, "Tacey, will you go with me to the Midsummer Night's Dance?"
Stunned herself, Tacey comes out from their hug and looks nervously into his eyes, "Uh, you mean a date?"
"Yeah a date," Amergin answers, and then realizes how shocked she is, "Have you ever even been on a date before?"
Tacey drops her mouth wide open, "What? Have I ever been on a date? Of course I have!"
Amergin folds his arms dramatically suspicious, "Really? Who with and where did you go?"
"Nobody you know! A boy named Kevin Manamonah."
"Kevin Manamonah?" Amergin grins.
"Yes! He was a usual boy, but a gentleman! We went to a carnival two summers ago; it's true, because the carnival comes back to the town a mile from us every summer, including this year!"
"Okay, so what'd ya do?" he keeps the laughter inside of him; Amergin knows Tacey is making everything up just because she's nervous.
"Well, we rode on the ferris wheel, had cotton candy, he bought me a stuffed animal, we went in the roller coaster, and we went on the merry-go-round, which I loved the most!"
"Um-hmm," Amergin mumbles as he steps closer to Tacey, "So, would you consider my offer, even though that date will probably be more exciting than this one?"
Tacey hid her blush of embarrassment and shyly whispers, "Yeah."
"Yeah," Amergin coolly agrees, "Well, then, I'll see you this week in the school gym so we can decorate with all of your gal pals, okay?"
"Okay, goodnight." Tacey faintly smiles as she goes inside of her house.
She shuts the door, and leaves Amergin's view to go reminisce over the dance that Friday. Once Amergin knows she is gone, he kicks up his heels and does the moonwalk down Tacey's driveway. The dance would be here very soon.