As Tina's alarm went off at 6:45 on the dot for the first time in three months, summer in Seymour's Bay had officially come to an end.
Reaching over to her bedside table, she poked wildly at the touch screen of her smartphone — a long-awaited gift she had received for her sixteenth birthday last October — until finally, she found the Off button.
She let out a sigh, turning over in her bed to pull her phone close to her face and checking her notifications: Six texts from Jocelyn received after she had fallen asleep, three memes that made no sense to her sent from Gene, most likely sent to her while he was occupying the bathroom (A.K.A the only room in the apartment that the wifi really reached well) and, of course, nothing from Jimmy Junior, despite the eight texts she had sent him the night before.
Whatever, Tina found herself thinking, giving a half-hearted shrug, He probably just fell asleep… at 5 p.m. That's a totally normal thing to do.
Lately, it was getting harder and harder to make excuses for him. The on-again-off-again romance she had with Jimmy Junior was starting to feel less whirlwind and more whiplash. They'd had their moments during the summer, but that was all they were. Moments. One day Jimmy Junior was all about her, and the next day, he was all about anything but her.
Ever the hopeless romantic, Tina had an almost unwavering faith for years that everything would work out for them eventually, that they'd ride off into the sunset on a stallion and have their happily ever after. However, in the last six months or so, that faith had definitely started to waver, whether she wanted it to or not.
Tina reached for her bedside table again, finding her glasses and sliding them onto her face. She huffed and rolled over onto her back as she continued her scrolling, this time through her music library. Jocelyn (who was Tina's resident expert in all things 'cool') had lovingly and meticulously organized all of Tina's playlists the minute Tina had shown her that she'd gotten a smartphone at her birthday party. Trying to make sure Tina's playlists mirrored her own had taken hours. Tina remembers it fondly as one of the first gestures of real friendship that she'd always been craving. For Jocelyn to take time out of a party to do something like that for Tina was huge. Everyone knew Jocelyn's love language was music, and Tina certainly felt that love every time she scrolled through her music library.
I'm just going to hit shuffle and whatever it lands on describes me and Jimmy Junior. She thought, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her thumb to the 'shuffle all' option.
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift started up and Tina groaned, resisting the urge to throw her phone across the room. Instead, she dropped her phone onto her stomach and draped both of her arms over her face dramatically, letting out another loud groan.
Tina should have been excited about today. It was her first day of school, an annual occurrence that she loved, despite how much everyone else seemed to hate going back. Not only that, but it was Gene's first day of high school, which meant Tina and Gene would be going to the same school again after two years of being separated.
Though she figured it wasn't as big of a deal as she would have thought it was about a year and a half ago. She'd finally found her real friends, no longer needing the familiarity of Gene and Louise to get through a school day. Still, she was glad he would be around anyway, and she couldn't lie — she was a little excited to play the Cool Older Sister role and teach him the ins and outs of Huxley High.
"Yo," Louise's voice rang out from behind Tina's door as she knocked once (more as a warning than a request for permission to come in) before opening it, "Are you gonna walk Lettuce with me or not?"
Tina removed her arms from her head and turned over in her bed to face Louise and the little mutt at the end of the leash in Louise's hand. Lettuce stared over at her hopefully and Tina almost felt bad as she shook her head.
"Not this morning," Tina told Louise, who didn't look anywhere near as upset as Lettuce did, "I need to get ready for my first day."
"Come on, Lettuce," Louise pulled at the leash, after reaching down to pinch his face affectionately, "Tina has to get all dolled up for all the same people she's known her whole life. She doesn't love you anymore."
"Louise!" Tina scolded, but Louise shut the door quickly, taking off down the hallway.
Tina finally sat up from her bed, slipping her feet into her fuzzy slippers. She stood up, stretching her arms out as far as they would go, before reaching up over her head. She got to work on untangling the hair tie from the bun she had slept in, yanking roughly until her long, tangled hair spilled over her shoulders.
Tina sat down in front of her vanity (thrifted by her mother and spruced up by Teddy) and brought her brush up to her hair, gently brushing at the ends as she stared at herself in the mirror. The summer had been good to her. All the time she had spent on the beach with her friends had left her sunkissed and glowing. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she moved the brush further up her head, working on the more tangled parts. Despite her endless Jimmy Junior drama, she'd had an incredible summer. Of course she was sad that it had to come to an end, but she'd always have the memories.
As soon as Tina had finished brushing her hair, she made her way to the bathroom to shower.
She'd just barely gotten under the water before the door flew open, startling her so much that she nearly slipped on the old bath mat that no longer stuck to the enamel.
Tina peeked her head out from the curtain to see Gene sitting on the lid of the toilet with their dad's laptop in his lap.
"Gene, seriously?" Tina complained.
"Oh, hey, Tina." Gene smiled over at her.
Tina only closed the curtain, grumbling under her breath. It was extremely rare to get a moment alone in such a small apartment, and Tina had obviously been mistaken that she could find any alone time even in the shower. She decided she'd make this shower quick, and furiously scrubbed at her hair, shampoo lathering into large clouds in her hair.
"I see you and Jimmy Junior are off again."
Tina's eyes grew wide and she stuck her head out of the curtain again. "What do you mean?"
Gene pursed his lips. "Jimmy Junior has set his status to single."
"What?" Tina yelped, clutching the curtain close to her as she tried to crane her neck to see the post. Gene turned the laptop toward her but Tina suddenly found herself blinded, the familiar sting of shampoo in her eyes.
"Ouch, shit," Tina cursed, moving back into the shower to rinse the shampoo from her hair and her eyes. Her heart pounded against her chest as she rubbed at her eyes. Jimmy Junior had changed his status to single? Without even discussing it with her? Was he even planning on telling her, or would she have had to find out with a Facebook status?
Tina felt like she could pass out. She started breathing hard, her breaths coming out in short puffs as she rubbed at her eyes even harder. She could feel tears starting to form, aiding in ridding her eyes of whatever shampoo was left in them.
As she started to remove her hands from her eyes, her vision went splotchy, causing her to lose her balance. She felt the bath mat slip from beneath her, and everything went black as she smacked her head on the side of the tub.
Tina groaned as Linda stuck a bandaid over the small cut right above her eyebrow, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
"Oh, my baby," Linda cooed, holding her close, "I'm getting rid of that stupid old bath mat right now."
"Mom, I'm fine," Tina insisted, trying to wiggle out of Linda's grip.
"Bob! Go throw that thing out!"
"Mom, it's really okay."
"Stupid bath mat," Linda mumbled, "Stupid Jimmy Junior. Playing with my baby's heart like that."
Tina paled at the mention of Jimmy Junior, her heart rate picking up again. Oh, God. She was going to have to face Jimmy Junior, who had ended their relationship without even telling her, with a Kuchi Kopi bandaid on her forehead.
"Okay, I have to get dressed now, bye," Tina blurted, clutching her towel so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. She finally managed to break out of Linda's grip and rushed back to her room, being extra careful not to slip on the water she was tracking with her.
Tina ran her hands over the funky, arcade-flooring-esque print of her button up shirt, smoothing it down until it was ready to be tucked into the denim skirt she had found in a box of Linda's old clothes. She'd had to let the waist out a little bit, but now it fit like a dream. She stared at herself in the mirror with her head cocked to the side.
Was this outfit cool enough to get Jimmy Junior's attention?
"Ugh!" Tina stomped her foot. Why did she even care? Jimmy Junior had made his feelings about her very clear with one click on a stupid social media site hardly anyone their age was really using anyway.
She tugged at the bottom half of her shirt, pulling it up just slightly so it billowed at the waistband of her denim skirt. She bent down to tug her tube socks up as high as they would go, then stood up straight again to give her outfit one more onceover before grabbing her backpack and making her way to the kitchen for breakfast.
Louise had returned from her walk with Lettuce and was chowing down on a bowl of cereal, while Lettuce was enjoying a gourmet breakfast of his usual dog food mixed with chunks of scrambled egg (plain, of course) and bone meal powder. He ate from a bright red bowl with the name Al Poochino embossed on the side, crossed out haphazardly with sharpie and now labeled Lettuce, despite how many times Bob insisted his name was Al Poochino.
("I'm not calling him Lettuce.")
"Yikes, Tina," Louise narrowed her eyes at the Kuchi Kopi bandaid peeking out from under Tina's bangs, trying to get a better look at her forehead, "You get in a fight with the shower curtain again?"
Tina's lips formed into a tight, thin line. There wasn't really any point in answering her; either she confirmed it and Louise made fun of her, or she denied it and Louise caught her lying.
"Oh my God," Louise said, as Tina sat down beside her, "I was just kidding. What did you do this time?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Tina mumbled, dragging a bowl closer to her and filling it with cereal.
"You know what they say," Gene started, pushing the milk carton toward Tina, "Love hurts… and scars… and wounds… and marks… It's like a cloud-"
"Gene," Bob chided from the other side of the kitchen.
Gene continued to hum Love Hurts under his breath, swaying in his chair as he slurped the leftover milk from his cereal bowl.
Normally Louise would push Tina, but Gene had already filled the rest of the family in and Louise didn't want to add insult to injury, literally.
Tina stayed quiet for the rest of breakfast, running through all the things she could say when she saw Jimmy Junior.
Should she play it cool, like he hadn't just ripped her heart out and stomped all over it? Should she make a scene and hold him accountable for being a coward? Should she fake dysentery and skip school for the rest of her life, pack all of her things up and run off to a cabin in the middle of the woods on the coast?
Tina slumped down in her chair until she was almost to the floor. None of that would do.
She'd just have to ask Jocelyn for advice.
As if on cue, Tina heard the signature beep beeeeeep of the horn of Jocelyn's 2011 Mercedes-Benz (a token of love or apology or something from her absentee parents) and rushed to the window.
"Tina," Jocelyn's Valley Girl accent drawled, loud and clear from the street, "Get your butt down here or we're gonna be late!"
"Come on, Gene," Tina called over her shoulder as she slung her backpack onto her back.
"Hang on!" Gene yelled, scrambling down the hallway. When he returned, he had his backpack on his back and a bike helmet, the kind with the colorful mohawk on top, on his head.
"Is that… necessary?" Bob asked, eyeing Tina, who only grabbed Gene by the sleeve and dragged him out, calling a rushed "Gotta go, love you, bye!" over her shoulder as they left.
Tina squinted as the sky blue paneling of Jocelyn's car nearly blinded her, the morning sun hitting her car just right.
"Oh my God!" Jocelyn cried out as soon as she saw Tina, scooting her sunglasses from her eyes and up into her hair, "Tina! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Tina waved her hand dismissively as she walked around the front of the convertible, "Just hit my head."
"Do you have a concussion? Are you going to die?"
"No, I'm not going to die, Jocelyn."
"That we know of," Gene chimed in as he hopped over the side of the car into the backseat. "I've always wanted to do that." He added, grinning at Jocelyn in the rearview mirror.
"I'm not concussed, you guys."
"Follow my finger!" Jocelyn demanded, as Tina took her place in the passenger seat.
"Jocelyn," Tina started, as she stared at Jocelyn's still finger, "You're not moving it."
"Oh, yeah."
"Who's the president of the United States?" Gene yelled.
"Guys!"
Jocelyn and Gene both jumped, clamming up.
"I'm fine. The only thing that hurts is my heart."
Jocelyn placed a caring hand on Tina's shoulder, giving it a soft rub. "I heard. Screw Jimmy Junior. He's a jerk anyway."
"Yeah, but he's a jerk that I like-like," Tina sulked, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping down in her seat.
"He's not worth it, Tina," Jocelyn told her, starting the car back up and putting her sunglasses back on. "You're too cool for him."
Tina felt like refuting the statement, but as Jocelyn peeled away from the restaurant down the street and the wind blew through Tina's hair, she had to admit, she did feel cool. It was cool to have a friend who could drive, and even cooler that her best friend was also cool and drove a convertible.
Maybe she was too cool for Jimmy Junior. She'd gone up in rank since she and Jimmy Junior started their on-again-off-again relationship back in eighth grade. For starters, she was three years older now, which automatically made her cooler. Older kids were just cool by default. Everyone knew that.
Jimmy Junior was older now too, sure, and he had dancing and sports going for him, but other than that? Not much. He lacked personality, he lacked pizzazz. Tina had pizzazz out the azz. She was funny, she was clever, she was fun. Could Jimmy Junior even begin to say the same?
And yet, Tina couldn't get enough of him.
"Ugh," Tina groaned, throwing her head back against the seat, "Jocelyn, what am I gonna do?"
"Well, first," Jocelyn told her, "We're going to get a super sweet coffee to help perk you up."
Because that's what cool girls did. They got iced coffees before school.
"And then when we get to school, you're going to pretend like Jimmy Junior doesn't even exist."
"Ooo, the silent treatment," Gene chimed in from the backseat.
"Gene gets it," Jocelyn winked at him in the rearview mirror, but he couldn't see it through her sunglasses so she lifted them up and did it again. "It works on all guys. It'll drive him crazy."
Tina only nodded. It was a good plan, mostly because Tina felt like throwing up every time she thought about speaking to Jimmy Junior, and there was no doubt that Jocelyn knew what she was talking about. Jocelyn (after finally ditching Tammy and her awful advice) had boys flocking to her left and right. Tina had a hard time keeping up with who was Jocelyn's flavor of the week.
Jocelyn shrugged in response to Tina's silence. "But I still think you're too cool for him."
Tina stopped dead in front of the double doors of Huxley High, grip on her iced mocha latte so tight that the lid was ready to pop right off the top.
This was it. She was going to walk in those double doors with Jocelyn and give Jimmy Junior the silent treatment. She could do it. Who cared that her legs felt like jello? Or that her heart felt like it might thump right out of her chest? Or that her armpits had started to prickle with sweat?
Tina took a deep breath and threw open both doors in a dramatic fashion, the breeze from the sheer force of her own movement blowing back in her face, whipping through her hair like all those slow motion entrances in all her favorite teen movies.
She could do this.
Tina took one step, and then another, until she was striding down the hall like she owned the place. She felt incredible, she felt unstoppable, she felt—
"Hey, Tina. Can we talk?"
Like she was going to be sick.