Fallen Leaves - Chapter 23: Something Great

Damien couldn’t believe he was sitting in Mrs. Todd’s living room. The glow from the fireplace caught his eye as Mrs. Todd brought in finger sandwiches. She offered him some coffee or iced tea, but he declined stating that he only drank water. She nodded as she walked away returning with a full glass.

“Ice?” Mrs. Todd asked.

“Yes, please,” Damien said. He was taken aback. Truly this was one of the most bizarre situations he had encountered. Upon hearing about how she had done everything in her power to distance herself from Jay, he had anticipated a vicious encounter.

“Well, why don’t you share what you want to share,” she said with a lisp.

“I-” Damien paused. He didn’t even know where to begin. In a moment of weakness and desperation, he cried out to God begging for the words to speak. He didn’t even believe in God anymore, but he wasn’t sure what else to do in the moment. “I think he needs you.”

“Ok,” she responded.

He continued saying that things were really tough on Jay the previous year. “Why can’t you just, oh I don’t know, give him some love? Even if it’s from a distance.”

“Thank you for sharing,” she said asking if there was anything else.

“Yeah, every boy needs his mother,” he paused contemplating. He didn’t know why he had even bothered. He wasn’t reaching her. Why she had entertained him this long was beyond him. “Please, I have nothing else to give other than just to tell you that without you, he’ll crumble from the sadness.”

Her eyes drifted over to the fireplace.

“If nothing else, just tell him why. Please…please just say something.”

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “Thank you for sharing your heart.”

Damien was then shown out without another word. There was a lot he had to process as he made his journey down the block to his car. He went into it with no expectations, but if he was completely honest, he settled on the worst expectations. He anticipated a door slam, or some tense yelling, something with some passion. What threw him off was not how nice and poised she was, but how desperately she lacked emotion, any sense of passion. She just seemed dead inside. It scared him more than anything having sat in her house. It was a mistake. He regretted his decision. It was a momentary weakness because Jay didn’t even have the emotional energy to speak with him. Why had he even bothered? He so desperately needed someone, anyone to talk to, but now he was alone. He didn’t want to cry out to God again. As far as he was concerned, it was a bust, an experiment gone awry. He would never make that same mistake again. He started the ignition in his car and continued on to freshmen orientation hoping he had finally severed the umbilical cord of high school.



Cadence sat across from Lyra in her favorite table at The Hub. Lyra smiled at her as she sipped a water cup. Oddly enough, she felt conscious about it. She felt embarrassed, but she wasn’t able to put her finger as to why she felt the way she did. She hated that she was so insecure.

Lyra pulled out the flier for the fall show beaming like a child on their birthday. The smile had nothing to do with Cadence. Cadence hated herself even more for ever allowing herself to believe that it had.

“We have to audition together!”

“Wait, we…” Cadence said trailing off.

Lyra nodded excitedly. She went on to explain that the fall show was an old comedy called You Can’t Take It With You. “It’s even got the perfect part for you,” she added quickly.

In the pause she took to take a breath, Cadence responded, “Hold up! Slow down. You only met me a week ago and you’re convinced that there’s a part that’s perfect for me?”

It didn’t seem possible that Lyra could smile any bigger. “And it’s the lead!” she added gleefully.

“Why would I want to audition for some stupid play? It’d be totally humiliating.”

“You’re not giving yourself any credit,” Lyra said deflating from her natural high. “Besides, what better way to take your mind off of boys than getting caught up in somebody else’s life?”

“That sounds creepy.”

Lyra stated that it wasn’t. “This is a fictional person.”

“That’s even worse.”

“Just listen,” Lyra began. She explained that the story was about a girl on the verge of marriage who came from a family full of batshit insane relatives who couldn’t care less about it. “Ultimately she’s able to love them for who they are. Isn’t that perfect for you?”

“No.”

“Aren’t the guys around you as insane as the girl’s family though?”

“Doubtful, but there’s a slight possibility.”

“Come on,” Lyra sighed. She continued saying that all they wanted to do was to spread joy. “Is there anything more admirable than that?”

Cadence admired Lyra and her passion for the arts. There was something a little odd about her, but undeniably appealing and lovable. She knew she wanted to spend more time with Lyra and if she joined the play, Cadence would never see her. Against her better judgment she decided to play along. “All right…all right. I’ll audition with you.”

“Great!” Lyra said walking over and hugging Cadence. “You won’t regret it, I promise you!”

Cadence couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, but when Lyra told her that, she believed her 100%.



Julia leaned with one arm against the wall of the music hallway drumming her fingers against the plaster. Itching inside, her heart pounding, she didn’t know how much longer she could wait. In 2 minutes flat, the list of the color guard would be posted on the band room door. She had asked to go to the bathroom for this very purpose. She had to know right away whether she would be in or not. She didn’t want her senior year to be boring. Maybe an extra curricular would keep her intrigued enough in school, although that seemed incredibly unlikely. School was boring and she couldn’t wait to graduate. However, the color guard always looked so stunning, so beautiful. It would ease the pain of high school. Why couldn’t something great ever come her way?

Someone tapped her on the shoulder making her gasp and jump. When she turned around, she noticed that it was Jay. He snickered in surprise.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I would frighten you,” Jay said half-smiling.

“It’s fine, really. It was pretty funny.”

Jay nodded leaning against the opposite wall. He proceeded to ask her how she thought her audition had gone.

“I don’t know, really,” she said. She continued saying it would be great if they both got it together. “I mean, it’d be just like me and Damien again.”

“I’m not so sure about that…”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to label you just like him. It’s just I miss him is all. Maybe,” she paused trying to gauge what Jay was thinking, but he remained deadpan. “Maybe we could be friends, close friends. I don’t really have anybody else in my life right now.”

“Burned too many bridges?” Jay said with a smile on his face.

“Don’t make a mockery of this.”

Jay told her he was sorry. The door opened right as he was taking a breath. Julia no longer cared about the color guard list. She wanted to finish the conversation with Jay. The list posted on the door, but neither of them rushed to see if their names were on it. They remained staring at one another.

“He really cared about you, you know?” she said alleviating the awkward silence.

“I doubt that.”

“Please Jay, can’t we just be friends?”

Jay nodded. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted earlier. I was total dick. I tend to laugh when I don’t know how to react, which oddly enough always gets me in trouble.”

“Well, don’t worry,” Julia began. She continued saying that he wasn’t in trouble with her.

“After you,” Jay said pointing toward the list.

Julia ran her finger down the list. She saw her name first and then looked for Jay’s. It was only two names below hers. She held up a high five, which Jay completed. It was a little strange to her. She thought things with Jay would go as smoothly as they had with Damien, but she was wrong. Jay had a lot more brick walls surrounding him, which ultimately bothered the crap out of her, but she had a feeling that he would be worth it in the long run.



Kerass stretched his calf out on the track. He always tried to run a mile on days that weren’t practice. Gus jumped over the chain-link fence to join him.

“You ready?” Kerass asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Just before they were about to begin, they noticed the coach coming over to post the team roster. They exchanged a single look that expressed they would continue their run later. The team roster was more pressing.

Kerass was ecstatic that the wait was over. However, he was a little concerned for Gus. Gus had a terrible try out on all accounts. It was so abysmal that Kerass didn’t even want to think about it. He wanted to be there for Gus when the pieces broke. There was no way that Gus was going to be on the team and Kerass was heartbroken for Gus even though it was unconfirmed. He saw Cadence walk over to the chain-link fence. He smiled knowing why she was there. She knew he would find out whether he was on the team today. She was there for support. Sure they had fought all summer, but their care for one another was unbreakable. He waved over at her as he and Gus made their way over to the list.

When Kerass looked at the list his mouth dropped. Gus not only made the team, but he was the first-string quarterback. Kerass was in awe. What the hell was the coach thinking? He was jealous and angry at Gus for beating him. Besides all of that, Kerass was simply confused. Having Gus on the team made no sense at all. But wait…he thought. He was being stupid. Gus is a friend. They had an odd relationship granted, but a friend nonetheless, a good friend too. He was still fuming inside, but he recognized that he had to redirect his anger some place else. He knew Cadence was watching. Had she not been, he might not have reacted the same way, he ashamedly admitted to himself.

“Congrats, you deserve it.”

Gus looked off to the side. “This is your world, not mine. I don’t want it.”

“But you have to, you worked so hard for this!” Kerass said angry that Gus wasn’t appreciative of the opportunity that was given him.

“Hey man, I can do whatever I want. This is just not me. This is your place to shine. I’m not going to take that away from you.”

Cadence stood next to them asking if anything was wrong.

“No,” Gus said without a glance towards her. “Kerass got first string quarterback and I, as predicted, didn’t make the cut.”

“Are you ok, Gus?”

“Elated, really.” Gus locked eyes with Kerass. “I’m going to tell the coach thank you for letting me try out.”

Kerass simply nodded his head as Gus walked away.

“That’s so wonderful, Kerass!” Cadence said jumping up and hugging him. “First string quarterback as a junior is astounding. You must be so proud.”

“Yeah…” Kerass said dragging the word out. “Proud.”

Kerass was more confused than ever by how Gus had responded to the roster, but he tried to put it out of his mind. The only thing he could cling onto was that he and Cadence were getting together. She had accepted his apology and had come to forgive him. It was all just some big misunderstanding even though he was right. That had to be why she came to support him. He leaned forward to kiss her, but her hand stopped him.

“Don’t ruin the moment.”

“Why?” Kerass asked. He continued asking what she wanted from him.

“I just want to be friends.”

Kerass bit his tongue to prevent himself from lashing out at her.

“I’ve sworn off of boys for this year, Kerass. I’ve made a pact with the new girl Lyra. She says I should cut men out of my life altogether, but she’s full of it. I know we have a connection, but just wait. A year, a year is all I’m asking. But I still want us to be friends.”

Kerass glared at her. He couldn’t believe it. He had just been friendzoned by the love of his life.

“Say something…”

Kerass tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn’t open. He couldn’t control himself as tears started to trickle down his face.

“Please?”

Fallen Leaves - Chapter 22: Ready to Run

Damien tried to calm himself down as he came up the walkway to Jay’s house. He stood at the door afraid to knock. He was ready to run. Scratching his head, he decided that if he had gotten this far, he had better proceed. He knocked twice. No answer. What was he fooling himself? Jay didn’t want to see him anyway, he convinced himself.

As he turned around to walk away, the door opened behind him. It was Jay’s father.

“Damien?” Jay’s father asked bewildered. “What are you doing here?”

“I-” Damien’s mouth dried up. He was so taken aback by the reaction he’d received that he couldn’t even think of a single thing to say.

“When do you leave for school, son?”

“Um, sometime early next week,” he began. He continued saying he had gotten sick during the first week he had planned to attend and circumstantially missed all of the other freshmen orientation days.

“I see…” Jay’s father said looking at the ground. “This isn’t a good time Damien.”

“Well, couldn’t you-” Damien began but stopped as Jay’s father glared at him.

“Jay’s not talking to anybody right now, not even me.”

“Would you just let him know that I came over to say goodbye?”

“No, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll let him be. He’s had enough people walk away from him. I fear that if you do too, he’ll break,” Jay’s father said, his voice raspy. He almost sounded like he had cried so much that he had no tears left and had difficulty even talking.

“Wait, who’s walked away from him?”

Jay’s father avoided eye contact with Damien. Damien knew that this tension had nothing to do with him, or at least not in full.

“Does this have anything to do with Jay’s mother?”

“How do you know about that?”

Damien stated that over the summer as he thought things over he did a little bit of research and realized that Jay’s birthmother had been a guidance counselor at Oak Stream. Damien’s eyes widened as everything started clicking in his mind. “She doesn’t want to see him, does she?”

Jay’s father shook his head.

“Thank you,” Damien said starting to walk away. He turned around and said, “If Jay ever asks about me, tell him that I just didn’t have the time to say goodbye, but I wanted to.”

“I will.”

Damien smiled content. He had done what he could and while it hadn’t happened quite the way he was hoping it would, he still thought it had ended well. A plan was already forming in his mind.



The doors were already open welcoming new students into their respective homerooms. Cadence was always one to be early to everything, especially classes. She prided herself as always being the first student to step into each classroom. Gus had been the only person to beat her during Pre-IB English her sophomore year, but he hadn’t shown up until the second week. She was always the first to homeroom during the first day. To her utmost surprise, she discovered that this year she wasn’t the first person in homeroom, which happened to be Trigonometry. There was another girl, dressed in a navy blue skirt and a white button down shirt. She had purple hair and had died her eyelashes and eyebrows green. Cadence could already tell that she was forming judgments about her, whoever she was. She was already singing ‘Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination’ in her mind. She hated that she did that, but it was so easy.

The girl looked up smiling at Cadence. “I guess we’re kindred spirits, huh?”

“What are you talking about?” Cadence asked completely baffled by her comment.

The girl laughed. “Oh, it’s nothing bad, you can rest assured about that.”

Cadence cocked one eyebrow.

“All it means is that we both show up to class early. We’re similar, at least in that regard.”

Cadence was speechless. She didn’t know what to say. She loved having peace and quiet in the morning alone in homeroom. Meeting someone new wasn’t a part of her morning agenda. She closed her eyes hating herself. She always wanted to help people and here was an opportunity to get to know someone new, someone who may need help. With all those thoughts floating in her head, she hadn’t even moved or responded to what the new girl had said.

“Would you like to sit down next to me? I’m Lyra by the way.”

“Cadence,” she replied and decided that she might as well sit down and join Lyra who happened to be sitting at the front of the classroom.

“So what’s your story, Cadence?”

“Excuse me?”

Lyra smiled at her. “Don’t over think things. I’m just trying to get to know you.”

“Well, then, why didn’t you just ask how I was?”

“I hate the chit-chat, the small talk. I don’t have time for being fake and neither should you.”

Cadence smiled back. She liked Lyra. Lyra was a pistol, a deeply opinionated individual, who like herself simply wanted to engage with people on a deeper level. Lyra seemed like she just wanted to know all about her. It had only been two minutes since she first met Lyra, but she could tell already that Lyra was never fake and probably never lied either.

“I’d be more comfortable if you told me about yourself first, honestly,” Cadence finally responded.

“I’ve made some mistakes, more mistakes than I’d like to admit.”

Lyra maintained eye contact with Cadence the whole time. It was a bit uncomfortable. You really couldn’t hide anything from her because you just knew that she would know if you were lying and she wouldn’t let go of a subject until she knew the truth. Granted, all of these were assumptions, but Cadence was hardly ever wrong about people, at least she tried to convince herself that that was true.

Lyra continued saying that she had definitely made more mistakes than good choices.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s all a part of-” Cadence began.

“But it’s true,” Lyra cut her off. “Which is ultimately why I’ve decided to swear off dating for the whole year.”

Cadence said nothing in reply.

“I know, it’s a little weird, huh?”

“No, actually,” Cadence began. Once she started she couldn’t stop. She spilled about Gus and Kerass and how she felt like she was rope in a tug of war game between them. “I respect your decision, I do. I think it’s very bold of you, but I just don’t know if I could do that myself.”

“Why wouldn’t you try it? Wouldn’t it solve the problem for this year alone?”

Before Cadence could respond, the bell rang and the rest of the class rushed into homeroom none of them wanting to be late for the first day.



Kerass punted the football warming up for the varsity tryouts. He was a shoe-in and he knew it. He hated the sport, but he was good at it and he had to start thinking about college and stuff now. Football might even give him a scholarship. Although playing college ball was a nightmare. If he was this good in high school, he’d be even better in college. He didn’t even want to dwell on the popularity he’d receive if he were as good in college as he was in high school.

Kerass looked over at the track around the field. The heat waves were visible over the blacktop. It was going to be another exhausting season, but it was whatever. He didn’t have to decide what to do about college right away.

Gus walked up next to him.

“What are you doing here, Gus?”

“I get extra credit just for trying out.”

“Really? From who?” Kerass asked.

“Mr. Baganz.”

Kerass smiled. Mr. Baganz was a history teacher, but he had been Kerass’ teacher sponsor since sophomore year. Every junior-varsity and varsity player had a sponsor and Mr. Baganz loved the game, but more importantly, he cared about the students who played the game Kerass had given him his freshmen jersey to wear in support every game during his freshmen year. It was a no-brainer to have Mr. Baganz become his sponser sophomore year. Kerass didn’t talk to him very often about things, but he knew the door was always available if he ever needed to.

Gus scratched his head squinting in the glare of the sun looking around at the football field.

“How serious are you about trying out?”

“Not at all. I mean I won’t say no if I get on the team, but I’d rather not,” Gus said half-heartedly.

“Do you want some pointers?” Kerass asked. He continued saying that he could help him get the edge to being a part of the team.

“Look, bud, I already get extra credit just for signing up. I don’t really care about any of these school activities.”

“Why would you even sign up if you weren’t going to take it seriously?” Kerass asked calmly. On the inside, he was completely offended, but he thought he hid it well.

“You’re pissed, aren’t you?” Gus asked.

Gus read right through him which only made him even angrier.

“Look, the only reason I’m even considering this is because I need some extra curricular activities on my transcript. Colleges want that sort of crap,” Gus said with a snort. “I know. It’s mind-boggling.”

“Do you want help or not?”

“You would legit help me with this?”

Kerass nodded. “Of course. I mean, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

Looking at Gus, he could tell that Gus was avoiding eye contact. It was like his eyes were skittering all over the place.

“Aren’t we?” Kerass asked, confidence leaking away from him.

Gus sniggered and made eye contact with him. “Yeah, you’re my buddy.”

“Totally.”

Kerass waved Gus further down the field. He picked up another football and threw the ball over to him.



Flags twirled in the air of the teacher’s parking lot. Color guard auditions were happening only a couple of yards away from the football tryouts. Jay inhaled the fresh air. It was great to be back in marching band season. Unlike last year where he only used color guard as an escape from talking with his dad, this year he was legitimately looking forward to the season. Plus, it would keep his mind off of her. He couldn’t even think about her name without…well, he didn’t even want to think about it.

He had just finished his audition. Mr. Martin thanked him and shuffled him away from the parking lot telling him if he ran he would catch the bus. Just as Jay was running out he glimpsed at the next person auditioning. It was Julia. Jay’s mouth dropped. He was going to have to walk home after all.

“Julia, you’re auditioning?”

“Isn’t that part obvious?”

Jay glared at her raising one eyebrow.

“I know, I know,” Julia began. She admitted that she knew it was awkward, but she hoped that if they were on the color guard together that they could be friends. “Please don’t hold a grudge against me just because Kerass and I broke up.”

Jay bit his tongue afraid of what might jump out of his mouth in defense. He simply nodded and walked away. Out of his periphery vision, he could see her audition. She was good, extremely good. He hoped Kerass would understand, but he feared that he would be asked to quit the marching band.



The door remained shut. Damien knocked on the door louder this time. He was ready to run again, but he wasn’t going to give up. Nothing would get in the way of achieving his goal.

The door opened. A woman with short blonde hair stood before him. “Yes?” she asked.

“Ms. Lesley?”

“Actually, it’s Mrs. Todd now.”

“My apologies,” Damien said staring at the ground. “I wanted to talk to you about your son.”

Mrs. Todd exhaled.

Fallen Leaves - Chapter 21: I Should Have Kissed You

Kerass walked down Main Street attempting to enjoy his last Friday of freedom before junior year started. His skin baked in the cloudless sky. He breathed in the fresh air walking further and further away from the center of town. Oak Stream seemed quieter mid-afternoon. He couldn’t explain why but the sheer silence on the street was both ominous and comforting. The wind whistled prompting him to keep moving away from town.

Looming in the distance was the water tower. The water tower marked the town limits welcoming people to Oak Stream while simultaneously bidding them farewell. As he approached the town limits, he saw a leg swinging back and forth at the top of the water tower. Someone was sitting there. It was illegal to climb up to the top of the water tower. Whoever it was needed to come down before they got in serious trouble. One could spend a night in jail if they were caught doing anything at the top of the water tower.

Kerass threw a rock as high as he could to grab the person’s attention.

“Is that you Coscarelli?”

Kerass grinned at the ground because he recognized the voice. “Gus, what are you doing up there?”

“It’s the best place to think in the whole town. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Kerass called up to Gus telling him he should come down. “You know what’ll happen if you get caught, right?”

“Nobody’s going to catch me,” Gus said with an air of confidence that pissed Kerass off.

“How can you be so sure?” Kerass asked accusingly.

“None of the cops go this far away from Main Street and besides, who would tell them, you?”

“No,” Kerass whispered to himself conceding.

“Live once. Why don’t you come on up here and join me?”

Kerass bit his tongue. Gus had made a very valid point. The cops never really left the town center. The rule to stay off of the water tower was more in place for safety reasons anyways. The tower was old and in severe need of a repair, but Oak Stream didn’t have the money to repair it at the time. If Gus was fine sitting up there, what could it hurt if Kerass sat up there too?

Without verbally responding, Kerass started climbing up the ladder rungs attached to the feet of the tower. Gus applauded approvingly. The applause echoed in the woods beside the town limit making Kerass self-conscious, but he kept climbing.

At the top Kerass was afraid to step off of the final rung. Gus slid over to him reaching out his hand. Kerass took it and climbed over Gus. Turning his body around Kerass saw the city and the forest from new heights. It was breathtaking while also blinding from the sun. Gus never said another word while they sat there. It was understood that they’d internally process things on their own.

Looking down at The Hub, the Main Street burger joint, Kerass reminisced about the beginning of summer. She had yelled at him. Cadence had yelled at him. He understood why, but it didn’t make him feel like he deserved to be shouted at any less. It was the first words she had said to him after he revealed that Julia had kissed him. He had foolishly admitted at the same time that he had kissed Julia back in the heat of the moment. Telling her it meant nothing gave him a solid week of silence before she started derailing him in public. She proclaimed him to be a cheating bastard. What was it exactly that he had responded in return? After apologizing he asked her what she wanted him to say, but she just kept on yelling. He was calm the whole time. That was the only part that he remembered.

Thinking more about it, maybe reflecting on top of the rickety old water tower was a bad idea. Kerass crawled over Gus reaching for the ladder rungs. He made eye contact with Gus before moving down the rungs. “Will I see you at the upperclassmen pool party tonight?” Kerass asked.

Gus smiled. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be there.”

“All right, well I’ll be seeing you,” Kerass said looking down at the ground proceeding to make his descent down the tower.



Cadence sat inside The Hub sipping a caramel latté. She liked that they had expanded to become a café too. The local bar had closed down due to lack of business. A chain bar had opened up across the street. The Hub bought the vacant spot and turned it into a café. This had been where she spent time with Gus over the summer. They laughed and talked about stupid stuff, nothing serious.

She knew she would see him at the pool party. Kerass…she hadn’t spoken to him since their argument outside of the very building she was sitting in. She remembered how it happened clear as day. She walked up calmly to him and asked him if they could go to couples counseling? He blinked really fast as if he were about to sneeze and then did so without covering his mouth…so incredibly gross. He simply asked if high schoolers were allowed to go to couples counseling, which was a no-brainer. She just rolled her eyes in reply. He defensively raised his voice asking what she wanted him to do, to apologize profusely? She calmly said she just wanted to understand why. It was barely above a whisper! He then shouted that she was accusing him of being a cheating bastard and told her to go to hell. He could be such an asshole, but why could she not stop thinking about him?

Cadence had talked to Gus about it all summer. Thinking on it, she was amazed by how close Gus had become to her. He was like her brother. She had a feeling that he wanted something more though…

Why don’t we go there…

The question he wrote in her yearbook at the end of sophomore year scared her, horrified her. She hadn’t responded in any way and that was that. They were simply friends…only friends. The reality was they could never be. Kerass meant too much and she didn’t want to risk losing Gus’ friendship.

Another moment had haunted her all summer. She was sitting in the very seat she was sitting in now. Across from her was Gus. He toyed with her hand, caressing it and holding it. It was very sweet, but friendly albeit a little weird. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. While doing so, he locked eyes with her. She could’ve sworn there were flames in his irises. Just as quickly as the passion was there, it was gone. Gus went back smiling and goofing around about whatever lame superhero comic book he had just read. Although whenever he discussed comic books, it was the only time his guard was completely down.

It had been a month to the very day of that kiss on the hand. Gus had distanced himself gradually since then. A full week had passed and they hadn’t exchanged a single word to each other. It made her sad, although she wasn’t exactly sure why. It was prideful to think that he was avoiding her. He was just busy. Yeah that’s it. Only busy, he was probably finishing up summer reading assignments. Biting her tongue she admitted that she couldn’t help thinking that the lack of communication was all about how she had avoided the subject. Looking outside, she realized it had transitioned from day to night. It was 8:30. She was going to be late for the pool party.



Damien was drenched walking by the edge of the pool as Julia did a cannonball. She busted out laughing as she came up again.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Damien said as he walked away from her.

“Oh don’t walk away from me, come back!” Julia called out teasingly.

Cadence had just walked through the chain-link fence. Damien couldn’t help but blush. Even after all this time, she still grabbed his complete attention, a quality that was very appealing. He walked over to her grabbing her shoulder.

She turned around and smiled. He had obviously taken her by surprise.

“Damien? What are you doing here?” she said instantly hugging him.

“I know, I know, a college freshmen at a high school party. Pretty lame, huh?”

“Just a tad.”

“I actually came with Julia.”

“Oh…”

Damien watched as her eyes trailed to the ground.

“Not with with her,” he said which caused Cadence to smile.

“I’m not that stupid, you know.”

“I never said you were. Listen,” Damien began. He continued asking if she had seen Jay.

“No, I haven’t seen him all summer to be honest,” she said. She added that he might be at the pool party, but Damien grabbed her just as she arrived.

“Oh, right, right. How stupid of me, I saw you come in. I guess I’m just a little preoccupied.”

“Go on,” her voice commanded.

“I wanted to leave Oak Stream on better terms with Jay,” he stated. He continued saying that he had avoided him all summer, but he wanted to wish him well and hoped they could be friends. “Sounds pretty dumb, huh?”

“No, not at all. I don’t think he’s gonna show though. He’s been away all summer, I think.” She added that he should go to Jay’s house just to make sure, but she wasn’t sure if he would be back in time to say goodbye to Damien.

“I’m not fully sure he even wants to.” Damien sighed and put his hands on his hips. Looking at Cadence, he knew she couldn’t solve his problem. He hugged her and said, “I’m so glad I got to see you before I headed off though.”

“Me too.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you when I see you.”

“Yeah…see you.”

Damien turned around and walked away. He knew he was leaving Julia behind at the party, but it didn’t even matter. He knew definitively now that he was saying goodbye to high school and with that recognition, he couldn’t help but shed a tear of remorse over what he was leaving behind.



Cadence walked over to the punch bowl smelling it. Yep, it was definitely spiked, and with the cheapest beer you could imagine. Rolling her eyes, she turned and immediately bumped into Kerass.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she said, her voice trailing off.

“I’m sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot this summer. I’ve thought about that encounter a lot actually every-”

“I have too,” she said cutting him off. “Every single day.”

“I understand why you were mad.”

“I wasn’t mad, you were!”

“No, I remember it clearly. I was calm and you were mad.”

She couldn’t believe how he could misremember their biggest argument of the summer, the one that caused them to stop talking to each other.

Kerass held up his hand. “Whatever, you can believe what you want. There’s only one thing I would have done differently about how I left.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“I should have kissed you,” he said and walked away shaking his head as he went.

She could barely process what had just happened when she heard Gus say something behind her.

“He’s wrong about one thing.”

She turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes.

“I should have kissed you.”



Jay lay in bed lying in the fetal position clutching an unopened letter. He was uncontrollably crying. An entire summer had been wasted and he had nothing to show for it, not even his dignity. He and his father never found his birthmother, but her lawyers had found him on the last day of their search. He didn’t even know if he cared to know her anymore. He regretted the fact that he even knew she existed. She had done what was possibly the most despicable thing that had ever happened to him. She had mailed him a restraining order.