Pushing Forward (Sequel to An Unlikely Duo)

Chapter 2: Heading Home

Kayla's POV

"Ang have you seen my duffel bag? I have the rolling suitcase packed, but I can't find my duffel" I shouted as I checked under my bed.

Angela and I spent our junior year in a double that was by no means roomy. We had room for our bunk beds, our two dressers, and one desk. We had rigged clothesline around the perimeter of our room on the walls, and we had pictures hanging all over the place.

We agreed to take the pictures down last.

About two hours later we were all packed, and our suitcases were by the door. The beds were stripped, the dressers empty; the only things left were the pictures.

"Gosh I don't know why this is so hard. We're going to be back in three months. It's just summer, but for some reason this feels so final" Angela plopped down on her lower bunk and looked around the bare room.

"Don't worry, you're stuck rooming with me next year" I sat down on top of our desk.

"Man I don't think I can take another year of your late night stressing or your obsessive need to capture every moment on camera" Angela teased.

"Well snore queen if I didn't take so many pictures we wouldn't have this long timeline of all our memories so stop your whining" I walked over to the first picture.

It was from the big bonfire at freshman orientation. I was standing with my arms draped around my freshman year roommate Becky who was standing next to Angela and Lexi who lived across the hall from us that year.

"I still remember the first thing you ever said to me" I reminisced.

"Really? At the bonfire? What was it?" Angela came over to stand next to me.

"You ran up to me and asked 'Is my butt on fire?' and sure enough you had managed, at the age of eighteen, to light your pants on fire. Who would've guessed that your burning booty was the start of a beautiful friendship?" I took the picture down and slid it into the manila envelope that would be its home for the summer.

"Oh I do remember that. Looking back on it that probably wasn't the best first impression I could've made, but hey it all worked out in the end. Look at this one. Our first football game. The team was horrible that year" Angela took the picture of the girls covered in blue face paint down and slid it into the envelope.

We went through each picture like we did every year. Pictures of Jeremy, Ricky, Lexi, Derek, Becky, and the rest of our friends. One by one they went into the envelope. Each one brought back memories, funny stories, and embarrassing moments.

162 pictures. Not every picture made it up on the wall, only the important ones representing important memories.

"Next year we'll hang these back up and add some more. Gosh I can't believe we're going to be seniors next year" Angela pulled the clothesline down from the wall. The room was officially empty.

"We're getting so old" I walked over to the door with Angela.

The room was empty, you couldn't tell that anyone had lived here, let alone who. There were a lot of memories made in that room, but they were going to have to remain in our heads and in our pictures.

"What am I going to do without you all summer" Angela pulled me into a hug.

"You're coming to visit in July right? A month will pass before you know it! Paige is going to be so excited to see you again" We did that little spin thing people do when they hug.

"North Carolina better prepare itself because crazy Angela is going to stir up trouble as usual" Angela joked, but I could see her eyes were watering. We really weren't good with goodbyes.