David
sighed as he leaned back against the tree, watching the crowded park
in front of him. The sun was starting to sink beneath the low hills
to the west, tinging the clouds blood-red. It was still hot,
but at least the air didn’t feel like a blowtorch anymore.
Anytime you want
to lay off, California summer,
David thought, running his hand through his blond hair, already damp
with sweat.
“Hottest Fourth of
July I remember,” he muttered to himself. Hot enough that most of
the people were just sitting around the picnic tables, waiting for
the sun to go down and the fireworks to start.
And the last year
I’ll be here. Sure, David had
another year of school to go before graduation, but he already knew
where he was going to go to college, and it wasn’t going to be this
sleepy town’s community college. He’d already gotten his ducks in
a row for UCLA or UCI. Next year, he’d be far away from Allendale.
Not
that he hated his
hometown, but honestly, David wanted to live in an actual city,
not a mid-sized town in the middle of California.
Still, he was going
to miss the Fourth of July—
“Hey!”
David started, then
looked over to where a short girl was advancing on him. “Yeah,
Mari?”
“Oh,
don’t yeah me, you were getting that
look,” Mari said. “Bemoaning not being here next year.” She
crossed her arms and looked up at David. Mari was short, but it was
sometimes hard to see that, what with the way she was always just
bouncing with energy. “I’m
going to be here next year, and let me tell you, if I could trade
places with you, I’d do it in a second.”
“Really?” David
asked. “I thought you were waiting for your senior year?” he
reached out and put his hand on Mari’s head. “Just think, this
coming year, you’ll be a junior, and then next year, little Mari
will be a senior!”
Mari snorted and
glared up at him, her long black hair gleaming in the sunlight. “It
beats being a sophomore. Why are you always ahead of me?”
“Because I’m a
year older than you are?” David asked.
“As
if that’s a good reason. I belong
in the big city! I was born in Tokyo!”
“And you moved
here when you were six months old,” David pointed out. “I’m not
certain if that counts as being a big-city girl.”
“Eugh!” Mari
said. “I can feel it in my bones! I belong in the big city, with
all the lights! All the theaters! You’ll be leaving me here, alone,
with none to listen to my pleas!” She flung her arms out
theatrically, spun around once, and fell back into David’s arms.
David laughed and
kept her from falling on her ass. “Wow, are you going to take drama
this year? That was worth an Oscar!”
“Nah,
AP biology is going to be taking so much time,” Mari
said as she turned around to face David, hands on her hips. “At
least this year’s history is with Mr. Green.”
“I didn’t think
you liked history that much.”
“Eh, it’ll be
easy. Mr. Green teaches the same course and gives the same tests, so
I sort of… picked up Janice’s homework and tests.”
“Really?” David
asked. “What would your mother say?”
“I
dunno, but I know what I’d say.”
Mari coughed and then, in an imitation of her mother’s voice,
spoke. “Work smarter, not harder, Mari! It doesn’t matter how
much you study if you don’t study in the right way!” She crossed
her arms over her pink overalls and looked up. "Remember, good
grades are important!"
“I don’t think
that’s what she meant.”
“Well, since
she’ll never know, it probably won’t matter,” Mari replied. She
glanced up at David. “Unless you’re going to rat me out?” Mari
made a finger gun and jabbed him in the chest. “Don’t even think
of it!”
David shook his
friend. “Fine, I won’t.” He sighed. “It’s going to be
strange, though not being here next year. Not being… well.”
“Yeah, I’ll miss
you as well,” Mari said. She looked over the park, the families
slowly gathering as the sun fell behind the distant mountain range.
“I mean, even after I graduate, you’ll be a sophomore in college,
I’ll be a freshman, and we might not even be going to the same
college.”
“I thought you had
your eyes on UCI?” David asked.
Mari
shrugged. “Mom thinks I should go to a junior college for my first
two years, then transfer in. You know, Allendale Junior
College. Here, in Allendale. Not in a big city.” She folded her
arms and fell back against the tree, huffing in annoyance. “Because
she wants me to stay here!”
“Well, that’s…”
David didn’t say anything else. Mari’s mom could be a bit clingy.
“Your mom gets worried, like…” He winced at the memory.
“What?”
“Remember when you
were in seventh grade and tagged along with me to the movies and
forgot to call your mom?”
Mari didn’t say
anything, but a dark blush spread over her face. “You heard? I
thought she waited until you were in your mom’s car—”
“I
think everyone heard.
And then you were grounded for a week.”
“Yeah. I mean, I
was just two hours late…” Mari shook her head. “I bet she’s
going to be calling me every day when I’m in college…”
“Could be worse,”
David said.
“How?”
“She could move
into the dorm to keep—”
David fell silent as
Mari put her finger to his lips.
“You. Will. Never.
Suggest. That.”
David tried to keep
from laughing, but the look on Mari's face, between determination and
utter horror... He burst into laughter. “Fine, fine!” he raised
his hands. “I’ll never suggest something that could make me rich
when I make your story into a new web series.”
“Wait,
if it did, would you shar—Oh, they’re starting the fireworks!
C’mon!” Mari grabbed David’s hand and started pulling him to
where everyone was rolling out the blankets as the first bright
flowers of light flared against the dark sky.
