I Drew You Once in Art Class

One Hundred Eight

"God, it's hot!"

"It's fucking July, what did you expect? Snow?" Hayley turned around, wearing a pink tank top and black shorts, and her usual winged eyeliner. She laughed at Gerard, who was whining like a little kid.

"I wasn't made for summer! I'm gonna get heatstroke!"

"Oh, calm down," said Frank. "It's only, like, 85 degrees."

"That's a lot!"

Frank shook his head. "You're hopeless."

The three had gone to the amusement park for the day, enjoying their last summer after Senior year. Their last year of high school.

All three of them were terrified and had leaned on each other for support, especially in these last few months.

The trio considered themselves to be best friends. They'd spent almost every day together in the past year, sometimes it was just Frank and Gerard, sometimes just Haley and Frank, and occasionally Hayley and Gerard, but together nonetheless.

It really wasn't that awkward. In the months that had passed, Hayley had found new interests, new crushes. Frank had been right, she and Gerard got along like a house on fire. They had similar senses of humor and even closer tastes in music. He got her hooked on Antarctigo Vespucci, naturally, despite her (valid) skeptical reaction to its name ("that's the stupidest fucking band name I've ever heard." "That's the charm!").

Frank drew them both a lot. He also drew Millie a lot, sometimes without thininkg.

In February, he had come home from school to a quiet house and a teary mother who had to tell him that Millie had died.

They'd cried together on the couch, something neither of them speak of now. He felt bad, like he had been so busy dealing with all of the drama that he hadn't paid enough attention to her.

Or maybe, she was just old.

Frank had also visited his dad plenty of times now. He actually looked forward to being able to see him once or twice a month, even if it was across a table and they were only allowed to hug twice.

Gerard's mom had fallen off the wagon at one point as well, but she managed to handle it like a pro- a true adult- by buying that book his art teacher was always raving about.

But it helped, so he guessed he couldn't shade on it too much, could he?

Bert had quietly disappeared, slowly answering texts less often, never accepting invitations to meet up, anything, before he eventually stopped responding at all. It made Gerard kind of sad, but he just hoped Bert was doing something with his life and not wasting away on Jepha's couch which was what he had been doing last time Gerard saw him. He just hoped he was okay, really.

There was a place for picnics in the amusement park, a grassy clearing in the middle of the area.

The sun was sinking lower into the sky, painting their surroundings a hazy orange, and turning the grass underneath them a gentle glowing yellow.

The trio laid on their backs, their heads together, their bodies forming a sort of Y shape.

"Isn't it crazy? In like, a month, we'll be all over the country. We're never gonna get to see each other."

Hayley's words were true. Gerard was going to Penn State, about a 3-hour drive from his hometown. Hayley was going to Texas Tech University. Frank was staying in-state and doing the art program at the nearby community college.

They were all leaving. Frank and Gerard had talked about long-distance, but honestly, that didn't sit quite right with either of them. They figured they'd just let whatever happened, happen.

They tried not to think about it too much.

The sun dropped slightly lower, the orange fading to indigo.

The lights on the amusement rides began to flicker to life as the sky grew dark.

They stayed on the ground like that for another 10 minutes before Hayley stood up.

"Enough of this. Let's enjoy the time we have left."

She pulled each of them up by their hands and began dragging them to the Ferris wheel.

"Come on. One last bird's eye view of our town."

The three clambered onto the metal platform, where they were let into the colorful little compartment, iron bars reflecting pricks of colored light onto the pastel paint of the little cage.

They moved, and the three just looked through the bars as they rose higher, admiring the small town that had raised them.

Frank felt a hand grasp his own, and he looked at Gerard, who was looking at him in such a way that he might have been taking some sort of last glance as well. Frank squeezed back before turning to look at the little people below him, the gray-shingled houses in the distance, and the shaded tops of trees sheltering the fragile neighborhoods.

"Hey, look," Gerard said quietly.

Frank turned his gaze to Gerard's side of the compartment and leaned on his shoulder as he looked through the bars.

"It's our lake."

Indeed it was.