Ouch.
He walks toward the door that exits out to the field. My phone buzzes, and I check the screen.
Meet me before the bonfire. Carter’s Bridge.
I shove the phone in my bag and close the locker door, making sure it doesn’t bounce back. I’m not sure why Rose Waller isn’t answering her boyfriend’s texts, but I’m pretty sure why she sent that one to me.
4
Kenley
Every year, on the first day of school, Thistle Cove High has a back to school bonfire. The SGA is in charge of building the fire, while the marching band files into metal bleachers on the side of the field. Once the fire is raging, and we’re all sweating our asses off, the cheerleaders and dance team will congregate at the bottom of a wood planked stage fawning over the football players as they’re announced one by one.
It’s corny and kind of outdated, but it’s also tradition, something that’s big in Thistle Cove.
“Has anyone seen Alice?” I ask Ozzy as I haul the cooler of water across the field behind me. “She’s supposed to bring the ice.”
“I’m here,” she yells, carrying a massive bag in her arms. Her pink hair looks a little windswept, like she’d had the window open the whole time. “Sorry! I got held up at Kendrick’s. Apparently, everyone wanted to buy ice cream this afternoon.”
“Tell you dad thanks! We need every dollar we can get.”
Kendrick’s is her family’s ice cream parlor, named after her great-grandfather who opened it eighty years ago. Her dad nicely offered to provide ice for our fundraiser.
I bend over to open the cooler lid as she simultaneously shoves my car keys in my back pocket and drops in the half-melted bag of ice, the chunks falling in like hail.
“There’s another one in my car.”
“I’ll get it,” Ozzy says, walking around the table. He’s set up the cash box and the pins everyone gets with the purchase of a bottle of water. It’s a picture of the school mascot, a Viking, with the word Valhalla underneath. That’s the name of the yearbook, you know, the whole immortalizing thing.
“Thanks, Oz.”
Once he’s out of earshot, Alice says, “I can’t believe he’s actually helping.”
“I overheard him talking to Mrs. Parker that he’s interested in applying to the university. It’s pretty obvious that his extra curriculars are pretty slim. He’s never played sports or been on any of the academic clubs.” I adjust the water bottles, making sure they’re evenly covered by the ice. “It’s not like we don’t need his help. The centennial issue is going to be a pretty big undertaking.”
That’s right, this year marks one hundred years of Thistle Cove High.
“Still,” Alice says, “Ozzy barely speaks to anyone. Since when did you two make up?”
“It’s not like we ever had a real falling out. We just kind of went our different directions.”
I wasn’t the only one shoved aside when we started high school. Ozzy and Finn were best friends since the day my neighbor moved into town. Although they didn’t have the same kind of dramatic breakup Rose and I had, it’d still been rough. Overnight, Finn had football and a girlfriend. I had yearbook and eventually, Alice. Ezra was caught up in his parents' divorce and trying his hardest to get kicked out of school. Ozzy? He had no one.
Truthfully, Ozzy and I could have stayed better friends. But I was fourteen, had just lost my best friend and the guy I had a massive crush on. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. But this year things already feel different. Ozzy wants to join the yearbook staff, Finn actually spoke to me in the hallway, Rose has managed not to ruin my day. Maybe everyone has matured.
“Could she be any more obvious?” Alice says from beside me. I look up and see she’s staring at Juliette. “Like, I think she actually hemmed her skirt an inch higher than everyone else.”
Okay, so maybe not everyone has matured.
I fan myself, hot before the fire has even been lit. This fundraiser is to help us purchase a few new pieces of equipment for the Valhalla staff. A late summer bonfire gets pretty hot. In fact, the school is required to have the fire truck nearby. It’s taking up ten spaces in the parking lot.
Water should sell well at two dollars a bottle.
I grab my camera and snap a few photos of the other tables, each set up by a different club. Drama, softball, LGBTQ, Hispanic Society, Table Tennis…all you need is six people to start a club, and if it’s approved, you get your photo in the yearbook, can participate in events like this, and walk in the homecoming parade.
There’s one other booth; Mr. Waller, Rose’s dad, has a campaign table. He’s running for mayor, hoping to unseat Mayor Cunningham, who’s been in office since before I was born. He’s a nice man, but most people think the town needs new blood. Coming here tonight is a perfect example. I look through the crowd for Mr. Waller but don’t see him. Mrs. Waller is behind the table tonight, passing out buttons.
Ozzy gets back with the ice, a long trail of water spilling behind him as he walks. I open up the cooler for him to dump it into as Mr. Russell, our principal, walks up to the microphone.