Chapter 1
There’s something in the air on valentine’s day. Couples are happily in love, singles are sad and desperate for love. Love is said to be in the air, but that only applies to the couples. The singles might also say that love is in the air, but they wouldn’t feel it, they would only feel the pressure of society to couple up. those who by the next valentine’s day couple up are happier than they were when they were single, but those who remain single become sadder and more desperate…
I raise my head from my laptop, rethinking that last line. I look around the school courtyard, watching couples exchanging gifts and bitter single people staring at them and whispering to themselves. As much as I wish to be in a relationship, I don’t really want bitter people staring at us and whispering mean things about us. The bell tings, end of recess. I look at the one couple who doesn’t get up and go into the building, my classmates. The two most popular people in school, Ryan Richmond and Annie Colby-Myers. They have a free period, like me. I watch them kiss each other; I sigh at the thought of kissing Ryan. I have been crushing on him since I first moved to apple valley, Minnesota at the start of high school. I could have tried to ask him out, or to make myself more noticeable to him, but I was shy, always have been. I kept to myself and turned invisible to my classmates. Ryan included, unfortunately. My laptop chimes, my friends from back home are starting another conversation.
OMG, I just got the letter, I got into Brentwood-fox!
What? That’s so awesome! We can get a dorm room together!
I got the letter yesterday, I got in as well.
That’s awesome jenny, we can all be there together! What about you Celia? I think about my options. Brentwood-fox is the best college for creative writing in the states, and my friends and I wanted to got there since we found out about it when we were 10. We bonded over our love of writing in the first grade, and stayed quite close until I moved away. I do want to go to Brentwood-fox, and I did get in, but my parents have been pressuring me to go to yale, to which I was also accepted.
I got into Brentwood-fox, and yale. I type. I think about it, my friends do know that my parents want me to go to yale, but if they find out I got into both they will try to pressure me to go with them to Brentwood-fox, and my parents are already pressuring me to go to yale. I sigh and send it.
Don’t pressure me about it, please, I get enough of it from my parents. I quickly add.
No pressure, Winnie writes, just happy that you got in.
In the end it’s your decision, choose whichever one you actually want to go to. Cathy adds. I smile at the screen. I love my friends so much. It’s been four long years here without them, and I still have a few weeks of this lonely hardship before summer comes and we can meet up again. I met Winnie first, when we were months old. She comes from a native American family, and wants to be a journalist. She’s by far my best friend out of the three. Cathy moved to Seattle, where I used to live, when we were 5, from Ireland with her family, Winnie and I welcomed her into our little friend group. She’s a bit dramatic and wants to be a poet. Lastly came jenny, two years before I moved away, she came from Washington D.C. and we welcomed her into our group. She comes from a historian family, her great great grandfather was the first black historian in the states, and she wants to continue his legacy and write history. We bonded over our dream college, Brentwood-fox. I sigh and refocus on my short story about valentine’s day.
Katherine looked up at the man whose name she was writing on the cup. He was just about the most handsome guy she has ever seen. He had piercing blue eyes and blonde hair. He smiled at her when he saw her looking at him. she smiled back and went on to make his order. Chris, what a lovely name, she thought. He smiled at her again when she gave him the full cup. He took a dollar from his pocket and put it in the tip jar.
“thank you so much” she said.
“my number’s on it, I hope you’ll call” he said before walking away. She waited for him to leave the store before emptying the tip jar and frantically looking for the dollar he left there. soon she found it… my laptop chimes again, low battery. I sigh and save the story before closing it and getting up from the table, I need to charge it inside. I sneak one last look at Ryan and hurry inside.
Ryan and Annie make their way inside a few seconds before the bell rings for the final class of the day. They go to their friends, who are by the blackboard. Peter, Annie’s step-brother and Ryan’s best friend, hits on Nina, Annie’s best friend. Arthur, another one of Ryan’s best friends, is on his phone. He lifts his head up and looks at Ryan after he puts a hand on his shoulder.
“hey, so, have you decided?” peter asks, it’s only them and me in the classroom, and I can hear everything.
“yeah, BF for life!” Ryan calls. I raise my head to see peter and Ryan chest bumping. I roll my eyes, Ryan is always such a douche when he’s around peter.
“awesome, so the five of us are going to be together in college too” Arthur says, closing his phone’s screen and getting up.
“Brentwood has the best fall looks, Nina, we’ll be so fashionable” Annie says. the two high five each other. Awesome, I think, the guy I like and the four people I hate most in school are going to Brentwood-fox too next year, I think sarcastically. Oh, well, I keep thinking, at least none of them enjoy creative writing enough to actually study it for four years.
“going on a football scholarship?” Arthur asks Ryan.
“yep, peter too. It’s going to be great” Ryan says. I look at my screen again and keep typing out my story, I’m almost done.
Katherine woke up the next day in Chris’s strong arms, in blissful happiness. She finally did it, she went on that date, she rode that stallion and survived to tell about it. she had enough lovers to know that Chris was the best, and that she was head over heels in love. Chris woke up and smiled at her.
“yesterday was great” he said.
“yes, it was” she agreed. They kissed once before he got up from under the covers, his naked body glistening in the morning sun coming in from the window. Katherine leaned on her elbow and watched him get dressed. After putting on his shirt he turned to her.
“well, I have to get going, but I had a great time last night” he sat on the bed next to her and kissed her passionately, his hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him.
“I love you” he said before getting up. Katherine watched the man she loves walking out of the room. I smile as I write the words ‘the end’, happy that I finished the story. It’s going straight to the Brentwood-fox scholarship center, I can’t attend that college without a scholarship. My laptop chimes, an email from the scholarship center at Brentwood-fox, thanking me for my application. I sigh and close my laptop, letting it charge calmly. I open my phone and send a text to my friends telling them about the finished application.
That’s great, Celia, any idea where you’re gonna go then? Winnie asks.
Not yet, I need to get that scholarship first. I answer.
You’ll get it for sure, you’re the best writer out there. Cathy backs me up. I smile at the screen.
Thanks, cath.
What about the yale scholarship application? Heard from them yet? Jenny asks.
Not yet, I sent them that short story a week ago, it’s gonna take longer than that to hear an answer. I reply. My phone chimes, an email. I open it to see a rejected scholarship letter from yale. It claims that I missed the deadline and am welcome to try again next year. I sigh.
Speak of the devil. Just got a rejection letter from yale, no scholarship.
Too bad for them, they’re not good enough for you. Cathy writes.
Lol, thanks, Cath, but Brentwood-fox is not guaranteed either. If I can’t get a scholarship to it I might end up not going to college this year and working to save up some money. I write. I text my parents about the rejection letter, and they’re sad to hear about it.
Don’t worry sweetie, we’ll make some cuts and get you there, and you can always try again next year. My dad writes.
I still might get the Brentwood-fox scholarship. I remind him.
I don’t know about that college, sweetie, it’s not ivy league, yale is. my dad replies.
I want to go to Brentwood-fox though, it has the best creative writing program in the country, and all my friends from Seattle are going.
I know how much you want to see them again, but yale will be better for your career, and something other than creative writing. My dad reasons. I refuse to listen to this, he’s been trying to convince me to go to yale since I was 2, and for a while there I wanted to go there too, but then I discovered Brentwood-fox and changed my mind about yale. I think he took it pretty hard. After all, I would be a legacy at yale.
Nothing is determined yet. Get the letter from Brentwood-fox about your scholarship and then we’ll talk. My mom, the reasonable one of my parents, ends the debate. I thank her in my head as more people go into the classroom, class is about to begin.
I get the letter from Brentwood-fox about my scholarship the next day before I go to school, I got it. mom sides with me and dad quickly gives up and lets me go to Brentwood-fox, in the condition that I at least double major in creative writing and something else, something practical. I promise him I’d look, but that I will have to enjoy what I study. We eventually agree and I leave for school, texting my friends about the happy news after I get there. I spend the day at school happy, but alone. My friends and I took the tour of the Brentwood-fox campus last summer, and I spend the remainder of high school imagining what it will be like to be a college student there. the last week of high school passes by in a flash and soon graduation day comes. My heart beats fast as my dad pulls up to the school parking lot. I can see everyone I spent four years studying next to dressed in blue robes and making their way with their families to the football field, which has been transformed into a bit of a stadium, with a stage and dozens of rows of chairs. My parents find their sits and wish me good luck, I find my place in the line of students and wait for the ceremony to begin, listening to Britney Pattinson and Linda Pennywell talk about graduation. The two have been inseparable since kindergarten, must have thought that befriending someone with a last name that starts with the same letter is useful. Ryan and Annie walk past us and Britney and Linda sigh happily.
“look at him, he’s such a gentleman walking his girlfriend to her place, and he’ll go back past us on his way to his own name” Britney says. Linda squeals. I roll my eyes and look at Arthur, who’s following Ryan and Annie on his way to his place at the Cs. I watch Ryan has a small conversation with Annie and Arthur before making his way to the Js to say hi to Nina and the Ms to chest bump peter. Only then he walks past the Ps on his way to his place in the Rs. Britney and Linda wave and smile at him when he walks past us, and he smiles at all three of us before walking away. Then the ceremony begins and the line advances to the first few rows. Arthur goes first out of the group and leaves the stage just as quickly as he went on it. Annie goes next and gives the audience a kiss before leaving the stage.
“ugh, she is such a fake person” Linda whispers to Britney.
“I know, what does he see in her?” she asks back. Nina is next, and she drops her diploma on purpose to get it in a way guys deem sexy, because the guys in the student rows cheer loudly when she does it. peter is next, and he flexes his muscles before getting off the stage. Then Britney, who squeals loudly with her diploma in hand, followed by Linda, who jumps up and down on stage before getting off. I get my diploma quickly and quietly and get back to my sit without making too much of a fuss. When Ryan’s turn comes all girls cheer loudly from their places, which results in a deafening experience sitting in those rows. Ryan punches his diploma into the air and everyone, guys and girls, get up and cheer loudly, some whistle or clap. They make so much noise that the principal on stage has to quiet everyone down after Ryan leaves the stage. Soon the ceremony is over and the students throw their caps in the air, all expect me. I’m not a good thrower and I’m sure no one will wonder why one cap wasn’t thrown. Then the students make their way to their parents to give them their robes and caps. The faculty and janitors clear the stage and chairs as best they can while some parents go to their cars and bring food and drinks, alcohol included (I mean really, though. We are all underage and can’t legally drink. And yet the parents are the ones providing us with alcohol?), to the football field where the graduation party is held. I give my robe and cap to mom and ask her to pick me up in an hour. She urges me to spend more time with my classmates, but dad agrees to pick me up in an hour. I thank him and hug them both.
I sit next to Britney and Linda and listen to them talk about the relationship between Annie and Ryan and how they would behave if they were dating Ryan. Annie herself dances with peter and Ryan is surrounded by girls. Arthur and Nina are making out on the bleachers, along with the rest of the horny couples.
“I can’t believe he doesn’t agree to dance with those girls, it’s not like he’s ever going to see them again” Britney complaints.
“you want to dance with him?” Linda asks.
“I would, if he was agreeing to dances with other girls” Britney says sadly.
“you can try asking him, he might say yes to you” Linda says. Britney smiles at her and gets up, walking briskly towards Ryan and the girls. Linda smiles sinisterly.
“he is so not going to dance with her” she laughs. I get up and go away, knowing full well that if I stay I will end up saying something I’d regret. I stop a few steps from the remaining chairs and follow Annie and peter with my gaze. Personally, I think peter and Annie look better together, but they’re step siblings, them getting together would be quite gross, even if they aren’t actually blood related. After the song is over Annie and peter leave the makeshift dance floor and go to the bleachers, where they switch partners with Arthur and Nina. Annie and Arthur dance with each other and peter makes out with Nina. Soon however, the make out turns into foreplay, as peter takes Nina’s boobs from her dress and shoves a hand under her dress. Nina, of course, seems pretty neutral about it, as she does with almost anything, and lets him do whatever he pleases. Annie then joins them and they go behind the bleachers, Arthur follows them, and so do I, though quite far behind. By the time I get to behind the bleachers they’re busy with a threesome, with Arthur watching in disgust. He turns away and notices me.
“Celia, right?” he asks quietly.
“yeah” I reply.
“you shouldn’t be here, none of us should” he says. I look across his shoulder and see peter’s penis in Annie and his mouth is kissing Nina, with one hand on her boobs.
“does Ryan know about this?” I ask.
“I don’t know, and I don’t really want to get involved” Arthur says. Annie’s moans are loud, and I look back at the crowd, worrying they might hear it. Arthur pushes me in front of him to go away. We stop at the edge of the bleachers and sit down.
“Annie and peter have been going on like this for a while, and peter and Nina have their own thing going on” he explains.
“but you were making out with Nina just now” I say.
“yeah, Nina is a sex addict, she’ll have it with anyone willing to. She’s had a thing going on with me for a while, and I’m gay” he says. I stare at him.
“I had no idea” I say.
“yeah, I have a beneficial relationship with Nina. I give her sex and she helps me hide the fact that I’m gay” he explains.
“I thought things are great for the gay community now” I wonder aloud.
“they are, and I’m out to my parents and Nina, but not at school” he explains.
“why?” I inquire.
“I have a thing for one of my friends and I don’t want to risk rumors going around about me being gay, so I have Nina to shut those rumors if any of them start making their way above the surface. I can’t deal with him knowing” he explains.
“I’m so sorry about it, Arthur” I say and put a hand on his. Arthur smiles at me.
“thanks. You can’t say anything about the peter Annie Nina thing, ok? They’ll kill me if they find out that I let someone else know” he says.
“don’t worry about it, no one would believe me even if I did say something” I assure him. Ryan comes up to us.
“hey, Arthur, have you seen Annie? She promised me a dance” he says.
“she had something to talk about with Nina and peter, she’s trying to fix them up. I can find her for you if you want. Come on, Celia” Arthur says and gets up. he takes my hand and pulls me after him to behind the bleachers.
“how does he not hear her?” I ask.
“ha, yeah. That girl is just about the loudest girl in the world” Arthur laughs.
“if Ryan asks, I asked you to have sex with me tonight and you agreed, it’s why we’re going here together, cover story” he adds after a while. I nod in agreement when Arthur stops.
“stay here” he says. he lets go of my hand and hurries to peter, Annie and Nina, still going at it, now peter’s penis is in Nina and Annie kisses him, her hands on her boobs and under her dress. Arthur approaches them and they stop, they talk for a while before Annie gets up and wears her dress properly. I hurry under the bleachers before she can spot me on her way to Ryan, she can be a brutal bully when she wants to, and I have a feeling she will ruin my life if she finds out that I know about her and peter. Nina sits up and grabs Arthur’s crotch, but Arthur takes her hand away from it and comes back to me.
“ok, I think we’re safe” he says, going into the space under the bleachers with me, further into it and closer to peter and Nina.
“this should be safe, people don’t usually go here or pay attention to people in here” he says. together we watch peter and Nina have sex. I can’t look at them for long, and get up from the ground to go away, but Arthur grabs my arm and pulls me back, I fall into his lap.
“Ryan, Annie, come to watch the show?” Arthur asks. I freeze in place, aware that the two are behind me.
“seems like you got yourself a little treat” Annie says with a tone one would describe as sexy. Ryan then breathes aloud.
“Annie, come on, not the place” he says.
“oh, really? Cause they’re doing it, and they look like they’re about to do it, so why can’t we?” Annie asks.
“we’re not going to do it, this is just a one-sided thing, and she’s not very good at it anyway. But by all means, go ahead” Arthur says. Annie laughs loudly and drags Ryan past us and deeper into the space under the bleachers. Arthur raises my head.
“I’m sorry about that, they just assumed and I had to go with it” he apologizes.
“it’s ok” I say. I catch a glimpse of Nina and peter, he’s thrusting his penis back and forth into her, the dress is covering very little of her abdomen now. I look at Ryan and Annie, he’s leaning against the bleachers’ balancing beams and she puts his penis into her, thrusting back and forth into him, with her legs on the balancing beams he leans against and her arms around his neck for balance. They both moan, Annie much louder than Ryan.
“I have to go” I say and get up.
“be careful not to be spotted” Arthur says.
“thanks for the explanation and the cover up, I’ll see you after the summer” I say.
“why?” he asks.
“I’m going to Brentwood-fox too” I say and leave the bleachers.
