Their Last Summer

June Comes to Town (2020)

I remember when I first met June, It was my sophomore year in high school. I was sitting in history class and I was called to the front office. I wasn't sure what I did but I played it cool, after getting a pass from Mr. Oliver I worked my way up to the front office. When I finally got there I saw her, June was standing there with her elbow up against the counter using her hand to hold up her head. She must have been the new kid I've been hearing about, nothing goes unheard in this small town, even a little thing like this. I walked in and I didn't realize I was staring at June like some creep until the front desk lady, Mrs.Edia, greeted me with a good morning, snapping me out of the daze I was in.

"Good morning Mrs.Edia, I got called up here."

"Yes honey, Dr.Drew asked for you. He'll be out in a minute, have a seat for now." she said not even looking up from her computer.

I walked over to sit down, but instead I thought it might be a good idea to introduce myself to June. I walked over to the counter she was at and gave her a slight smile, and she gave me one in return.

Awkwardly I reached out my hand and introduced myself, "Hey, I'm Henry, you're the new kid right".

Laughing while taking my hand and shaking it, June replies"Well nice to meet you Henry, My name is June. And yeah I'm the new girl."

Nothing else came to my mind so we kinda just stood there awkwardly, and just before it got too awkward to bare Dr.Drew came in and patted me on the back. "Good morning Henry, I see that you've met Mrs.Layton. I have several parent meetings today, and sadly I can't show June around myself. I know that you're a good student, so you will be showing June around!"

He looked around the office, and then looked at the clock. "Well Henry, June has her schedule and everything she needs so with that being said, I'm running late and I have to go. You kids have fun!"

I watch Dr.Drew leave, and then I turn back to June, "Alright, well we better get started. You ready?"

"Uhh, as ready as a new girl can be."

"Don't worry it's a small school, you'll be fine." I say while reaching out to see her schedule.

"Let's see where we are headed." June smiled at me and handed me her schedule, I can tell she was a little nervous.

"Okay we can start on the east wing and work our way over." I say on the way out the office, June follows right behind me. We began to make our way to her first class, Me and June weren't really talking and I decided to spark up conversation to keep things from getting too weird.

"So June where you from?" I say while acting like I'm looking over her schedule.

"I'm from Georgia, A small town under Atlanta" June replied

"So what made you and your family move up here?" I ask, trying my best not to sound like a complete overstepping weirdo.

"My dad is in the military and my mom got sick last year. And knowing that I can't take care of my mom and manage school, my aunt suggested that we move here so she could help with everything." June said peeking over at me, I guess she saw me looking back at her with a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry about it honestly, that's why I normally don't start conversations by telling people about my mom." she said giggling but I could hear the sadness in her attempt to cover it.

"Anyways Henry tell me about yourself, this town, this school, the people here. Anything to change this horrible topic." She said again giggling, but this time it didn't have any sadness to it.

The bell rings and students erupt from the classrooms and the halls become crowded. "Okay, okay. Let's see where I should start?" I ask while gently grabbing her hand and guiding us through the hall. I took us to the stairway and realized I was still holding her hand, nervously I let her hand go and rubbed my fingers through my hair. "Nothing much happens in this town, except gossip. And all you're going to hear people talk about in the downtown restaurants is the high school sports teams." June sits on the steps listening to me explain everything to her.

"This school is the exact same, if you're not an athlete or friend of an athlete you're not known by anyone but of course the front office lady" I say bowing like some type of royalty and laughing.

"Well of course." June says laughing while bowing her head in return. I laughed and sat on the step above her, she turned around looking at me "So what about you?" I can feel my face getting hot so I put my elbows on my knees and cupped my face.

"Well what do you wanna know?" I say while trying my best to hold eye contact with her.

"I don't know, Have you lived here your whole life?" she asked while looking at me with those puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah I have, we should probably talk and walk. We still got all your classes to cover." I say standing up, I couldn't hold eye contact with her for much longer.

"Well alright, let's go!" She said while holding her hand up waiting for my hand. I held my hand out and pulled her up. "Okay let me finish showing you around."

By the time I was done talking to June about all the cliques in this school, and catching her up on the drama in this place, I was done showing her around. We were on our way back to the office, when June turned and went into the staircase. I followed behind her and she was sitting on the steps, "Henry, do we have to go back? I don't wanna go to class, what if the kids try to pick on the new kid?" June said while looking down, fiddling with her dress.

"Me and you have some of the same classes so at least you'll know me. And besides June you're a fun person to be around, you're worried for nothing!" I say trying to reassure her with a smile. I reach out my hand to help her up.

"Thanks Henry!" She says while grabbing my hand and pulling herself up.

When we finally get to the front office, It's almost time to go home.

"See you later Henry, thanks for showing me around!" June says while grabbing the handle to open the door.

Before the door closes behind her I reach out and stop it, "Umm June I was wondering if you would wanna exchange numbers? That way if you ever need help or wanna hang out you can reach out to me." I don't know why I did that, I immediately regretted it.

June just smiled at me, reached in her purse and held out her phone, "That sounds great Henry, go ahead and put your number down. Maybe we can hang out this weekend and you can finish telling me about this town." I smiled and agreed, we waved goodbye and the office door closed. On my way back to class I realized that June was about to turn my life upside down, and I was alright with that.