"So where are you thinking about heading Cam for the study abroad thing?" I asked through a mouthful of toffee popcorn, music from his portable iPod dock creating a cheery mood in the late afternoon sun.
"I was thinking about Madrid in Spain" he replied. "Have to learn Spanish from its homeland. In a few months, I will be the best Spanish teacher ever! Plus the amount of girls stripped down to swimwear from that heat…" Sherry smacked him for me. Sherry, Lucian and Cam were all human, each having their own "gift" so to speak. Cams was dumb-assness Tulip had long ago decided while Sherry was a charmer when she wanted to be and Lucian being sharp, aware of everything. Tulip and I long ago suspected he knew we were different but probably thought we would say he was nuts if he ever brought it up.
"You guys still thinking about New York?" Lucian asked Tulip and I. We gave each other a look. Both of us had been speaking excitedly about the study abroad a while ago and Lucian had made us say at the same time where we wanted to go after a dozen "No you go firsts". When we both half screamed "New York" simultaneously in our excitement, he had to clamp his hands over his ears as we squealed, both delighted the other wanted to go there too.
"Well, I was thinking Italy. I have enough Italian to do me and I have a cousin studying there actually. She can show me all the hotspots" Sherry said with a wink, taking a mouthful of wine.
"Hey, I have a friend living in Italy. Venice I think. We went to the same school in England but she was a year behind me. She told me the fees were insane if you did not get in based on academic records or with the help of any form of scholarship" I said. "Her name is Crystal Brook."
"Oh her. You mentioned her to me before" Tulip said, giving me a knowing look. I had told her that Crystal was a savant too and I knew she had wanted to meet her sometime. But Crystal and I spoke only seldom now, one or two times a month, physical distance making it hard to keep in touch.
"Geese it would be great to have an excuse to go on an escapade down to Venice! Can you get in touch with her?" Sherry said, an excited glint in her blue eyes. "You brought your phone, right?"
Lucian tossed me his phone across the table of food, knowing I would never bring my new iPhone down here. "Use mine" he said as he picked up a cold sausage roll. "I have free calls abroad for the next…" he paused, the math nearly visibly being done in front of him, "… Four days. Wherever she is, you can catch her."
"Thanks" I said. They all knew I would have no trouble remembering the number so I tapped it in as I drank my wine. Lucian challenged Tulip and Cam to balancing a grape on their nose the longest while Sherry just rolled her eyes, absent-mindedly twisting her nose stud. At least I might have them quiet as I waited for Crystal to pick up.
"Put it on loudspeaker" Sherry said, now twisting one of her ear piercings. I mouthed "Potassium" which got me a grin.
"Hello?" a slightly confused Crystal said. Probably thinking she had the phone covered, I heard her whisper "Should I have picked up? I have no clue who the heck this is!"
"Cupcake, you covered the wrong part of the phone."
I started sniggering down the phone as I let out "Crystal, um, Willow here. Not an evil maniac who calls random numbers in the hope of seducing well-traveled ladies."
"Oh my….. Willow!" Crystal cried over the sound of someone laughing in the background. I heard a noise followed by a long stream of expletives and then an overly sweet "How are you Willow? We have so much to catch up on."
"Definitely. But I have got to ask you something first. You know my friend Sherry? Red hair, pierced more than a biker, chews gum with her mouth wide open." I said loudly, half for Sherry's benefit. She simply raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.
"Yep."
"Well, we all, Sherry, Cam, Lucian, Tulip and I are all applying to study abroad until Christmas. And Sherry is going to apply to study in Italy. I wonder could you show her around Venice sometime, ya know if you have the time." I bit my lip.
"Well… Did I not tell you...? Geese I must not have. Well I think I told you a few months ago, like in May or April, that I was applying to a design school in New York and Xav was trying to get into a medical school there." Crystal said, dragging in the curiosity of Cam, Lucian and Tulip who had given up trying to balance grapes anywhere on their faces. "Well, with my work and references from Signora Carriera, I got in! They did not give two you know whats about my academic record! I had so much to show them and whatnot I got in! And Xav got into a school in New York too." Crystal squealed, her excitement spreading to all of us here.
"Go Crystal!" Cam yelled. "And your man!"
"WILLOW! Am I on speaker? I swear…"
"Let her off, share the love." Tulip cried dramatically down the phone and began to sing a cheesy celebration song down the phone. Note: Tulip singing causes her dog, Pineapple, to whine and howl, similar to the sounds he made when Tulips mom ran over his front legs a few years ago.
"Wait" Tulip said, abruptly stopping her celebration. We all looked at her in confusion; even Xavier and Crystal were silent. "Oh my flipping frog balls, Willow and I are heading to New York for our study abroad!"
In anticipation, Lucian clamped his hands over his ears as we squealed. He looked smug as Sherry and Cam winced when Crystal joined in on the squealing. "Well looks like no sherry for my Sherry on a gondola" Cam said. I barely registered the glare Sherry threw him
"I will call you later" Crystal said after five minutes. "We have to talk accommodations and the like. I cannot wait to see you. Make sure you apply for New York ASAP, ok?"
"Grand, better give Lucian back his phone anyway. Talk to ya soon" I said and we disconnected. I tossed Lucian back his phone, mouthing "thanks" over the playful abuse Cam and Sherry flung at one another. We only bothered stop them when the two of them, grappling like a young brother and sister, ended up in the river. True the shock of the cold water pretty much stopped them but I think we sound like better friends if I said that Tulip, Lucian and I bravely broke them apart in the icy water of the ferocious river. To be honest, it would be hard to wet your shins in most parts of it.
We eventually finished off the food, Cam blinking back fatigue and nausea no doubt after deciding to eat a tube of crisps in three minutes after I bet him a fiver. I was out of a fiver but I was not the one turning slightly green in the dimming evening light. Eventually we packed up, stashing the chairs under thick bushes, and climbed up to our bikes. Sherry and Cam came in Sherry's brother's truck and offered to take Lucian and his bike home as they were headed the same way. We parted ways with Sherry being heard over the rev of the engine saying "I swear if you throw up in here…."
Tulip and I ended up walking the bikes home most of the way, smart as it mostly uphill the way back. The softening light gave the few flowers lining the sides of the road a surreal beauty, giving a sweet look to the bushes on either side of the road.
"I am so going to miss all this beauty when we head to New York" Tulip sighed, running one hand through the long grass on one side of the road, gripping her bike with the other.
"Hey, New York might be a different kind of beauty. Urban, man-made beauty. A city that never stops has its own mystery like the flower fields here do" I said, realising how much of an English student I sounded just there.
"I guess" Tulip sighed. "I think I just might miss the predictability of the country's- RAT!" In a flurry she dropped her bike and ran behind me. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"You should be glad your mother is not around" I said as I calmly walked over to the mouse. It darted away and I rolled my eyes. "I prove for the millionth time that it is more scared of you than you are of it. I seriously would not want my life in your hands Tools."
"Oh ha ha ha….. It is gone right?"
"Pick up that bike before I reconsider who I am studying abroad with for four months."
Author person here again.
Review, favourite, follow (particularly review. I want to know what you humanoids think of this!) Pretty please!
And since I got reviews, favourites and follows for the first chapter (I actually clapped with excitement when I saw 4 followers. Sad yet true) I have given you the second chapter! After two days!
(In case you did not know who Kim Peek was from the previous chapter (and did not just google him immediately) he was a man with an incredible memory and an actual savant. And no, I did not find him by typing "savant" into google. I was actually looking for stuff on how good memories work!)