2013

I looked in the mirror quickly, my hair was an absolute mess, but I didn't care really. The sun had just come up on that September day, and it was my first day of school. I walked downstairs into the kitchen and grabbed an apple before looking at my phone. I had three missed calls and a voicemail. One of the phone calls and the voice message was from my mom, "Hi sweets, I won't be home tonight, my flight just got cancelled and dad is going to be at the hospital until tomorrow morning. It's just going to be you and Jamie, I think there is food in the fridge, but please don't wait up for us. Have an amazing first day, I love you very much! Call me if you need anything." The message ended and I let out a sigh. My father, a therapist, works at St. Mary's of Michigan Hospital where he aids troubled youth. My mother owns an art gallery in our small town and travels often to find new pieces. My brother, Jamie, is three years older than me and we go to the same high school.

I set my phone down and looked to see who had called me the other two times. It was my best friend, Sammy. With the two calls there were two texts, the first said "We're coming to get you now, so be ready" and the second read "Outside now, hurry the hell up." Like clockwork, I heard the loud horn from outside ringing in my ears. I fumbled my phone around in my hand, grabbed my keys, and backpack and booked it out the door. There they were, the dumbest people I knew.

"Hey hurry up, would ya?" yelled the familiar voice of Jake, Sammy's older brother.

"Let her take her time, since when do you care about being late?" Sammy hollered back to him. I hadn't seen any of them for months. Like true friends, they went on adventures during the summer without me and I was stuck in our "Little Bavaria".

"Ahhhhhh!!" I screamed as Sammy got out of the car, "I missed you so much!" I ran to him, hugging him unbelievably hard.

"Been a while huh? You look so different." He said as the other boys got out of the car. I received a hug from Josh, Jake's twin brother with shorter (still chin length), much curlier hair. Jake gave me a quick hug, but I removed myself quickly as soon as I saw Danny get out of the van.

"DANNY!" I yelled. Not only had I not seen Danny for the summer, but I hadn't seen him the whole second half of our freshman year of high school. "That was so not cool of you to leave me with this long haired freak for the year, I needed my Danny." I said with puppy eyes. He laughed and scrunched up my hair. I'd known all the guys since I was little. My parents knew the Kiszka's (Sam, Josh, and Jake parents) since before I was born. I was introduced to Danny by Sam in the first grade and we had been stuck to each other ever since.

"I don't mean to break up this love fest, because I do love a good love fest, but can we fucking go now?" Josh voiced with a big grin. We got in their van and drove off to good old Frankenmuth High School. Jake and Josh were seniors and I don't think they had any plans of seriously going to college, so they weren't bothered as much, but Sammy, Danny, and I were only sophomores and hell was slowly approaching for the girl who needed to decide where to go to school. We said goodbye to each other and promised to go up to the mountains after school and hang out.

I made it through the day relatively well, saying hi to all the girls I hadn't seen since the last school year. As soon as the day was over though, I sprinted to the big van. As I walked up to it, I saw that Jake was the only one there. He was sitting in the driver's seat, listening to John Denver's Greatest Hits. I knocked on the window, scaring him out of his trance. He unlocked the car and let me in the passenger seat. "Weird seeing you hear." I joked to him. "And what is this you're listening to? Since when do you like John Denver?" I laughed. I always thought Josh and I were the only ones who liked John Denver. Jake was still silent, looking out the window at all the kids, and friends walking through the parking lot. "Are you okay? Earth to Jacob?"

"Oh what? Yeah, Josh forced us to listen to it all summer, it was the only thing we brought."

"So then you're a convert?"

"I guess so.." He said plainly. He was always sort of shy, but I could normally squeeze a little bit more out of him.

"Reminds me of happy times, ya know?" I smiled and started to sing along to Poems, Prayers, and Promises, my eyes closing at some point to take in the warm feeling of the sun on my nose. The days they pass so quickly now, nights are seldom long. Time around me whispers when it's cold. The changes somehow frighten me, still I have to smile. It turns me on to think of growing old. I opened my eyes and looked back over to Jake who was looking at me expressionless. He kept looking at me and started grinning, I smiled back, a real, genuine smile. It seemed like we were sitting like that for hours, but it was really just a few minutes because before I knew it, Josh's face was pressed up against the window making weird faces.