an arcadian summer

chapter 1

I listen to the sound of waves crashing to the shore as I walk with Goldie. She's in a cheerful mood because the rain finally stopped before the day was over. The sun is already starting to go down, and as if the dog read my mind she starts walking faster. I watch her golden fur shine in the beautiful sunset, not really caring about getting home late now that school's over.

Walking in our town's busy streets has always been some kind of comfort. In the summer, people here are still out this late and everything is lively. I greet the familiar faces, my parents' friends and people from school. Even though I love my town I do think of moving away often. To an unfamiliar place I can explore myself, which won't be hard with the fact that I've never travelled anywhere outside New Lerlon.

New Lerlon is a tiny town in the unknown by the sea, the place I've lived in my whole life. I usually never complained about it but when I did, my parents never wanted to listen. I know they love me and my siblings, and that they want what's best for us. But growing up reading hundreds of books about a life anyone could experience gives a lot of curiosity to a little child.

I walk through the crowded street, greeting almost everyone I pass by. Little children starts playing with Goldie while we wait outside the bakery. My younger sister Juliet had ordered fresh bagels and I'd offered to pick them up, which is completely fine by me when my bestfriend's family run the local bakery. I start to wonder if I should go in or not incase they don't know I'm here yet. Right as I'm about to open the door, Inez walks out.

"Perfect timing", she shouts in a breathy voice, handing me a small paper bag of freshly baked bagels.

"Thank you", I smile. Goldie runs to her legs and we both laugh at how playful she is. Inez grins and starts petting her, I decide to take a bagel just for a taste.

"This is delicious", I tell her as I finish eating the bagel.

"Thank you, thank you," she chuckles, then her phone starts ringing. "Sorry, gotta take this! Call me when you get home", she quickly says and picks up the phone.

I signal Goldie we have to leave and she quickly goes to walk before me. A man suddenly bumps into me when I turn to walk and I look up to his face. Unfamiliar. His eyes that's coloured in emerald green meets mine, it's strange how I don't recognise them. If he has just moved here Inez would have told me already. I quickly tell him sorry when he walks away, then I hear him mutter to himself something.

"A276, here."

Must be a tourist.

When I get home I let Goldie off the leash and I go to Juliet's bedroom to give her the bagels.

"Jules", I say after opening the door. Even though her name isn't that long we still have a nickname for her, me and my siblings all have one. Our parents used them a lot growing up, not so long after we all got in school, everyone in town knew us by our nicknames.

She jumps up from the bed when I walk in, and opens the bag the second it's out of my hands.

"You starved me", she grumbled, already eating. I roll my eyes and go to the bathroom to wash my face.

Dorothea is eating in the kitchen when I decide to make some food. She eyes me as I walk to the fridge and I wonder what her problem is today. Her bleached blonde hair is up in a slicked ponytail, in a specific angle she looks bald. I almost laugh out loud from the thought.

"What's so funny?", her voice sounding angry.

"Nothing, Dory", I say, biting my smile.

She takes her plate and leaves the kitchen. Three months ago she broke up with her boyfriend she had been together with for four years. We were all expecting it because of how they treated each other but they didn't seem to care. Since then, she's been nagging me and my boyfriend because we're still together. I don't see how her breakup is our problem. Me and James' relationship is no way near anything like hers. He has been my childhood bestfriend along with Inez ever since first grade and when he confessed to me two years ago, I realised I felt the same and we've been together since.

I make avocado toast and head out to the living room. Both my parents are out for a business trip so I get to have the living room for myself most of the time. I pet Goldie on her head as I sit down next to her. Nothing seems to be interesting on TV tonight but then I remember Inez told me to call her. I pick up my phone and wait for her to pick up.

"Took you long enough", she says annoyed.

"Sorry, I forgot", I respond and eat a piece of my toast.

"So, are you really gonna do it? What does Jamie think about it", she asks.

"Oh about that.. I haven't told him."

I've planned this trip for months, I was supposed to tell him but I just never found the right time.

"What? You're going in three days, and he has no idea?" she asks. I start to feel guilty, but I'm sure he would understand.

"I'll tell him tomorrow", I sigh.

"Yeah yeah, atleast let me know. Nya and her baby are coming in town soon so I have to clean her bedroom", she says. Anya, her oldest sister, moved out after announcing her pregnancy at 16. No one had heard from her for months until she called up Inez. Probably because Inez found the baby's father before anyone else, anyhow they sorted it out and now Nya visits them every summer. Inez being in the schools paper and the local town gossiper has a lot of advantages.

"I will. Say hi to them from me!" I say and we hang up.

Now I need to know how to tell James.