Since 2004

three

          The school day crawls by. By the end, my shirt is itching in a few too many places and I'm overstimulated. I'm the first out of my seventh period classroom and one of the first to the parking lot.

The traffic is unbearable and by the time I finally get home I'm about ready to pass out on my bed. I'm kicking my shoes off at the front door when my mom walks up to me.

"Sandra and Dave are coming for dinner tonight," she tells me.

"Without their son, I hope?" I ask.

"No, Sophia. Aiden's coming too."

"Great," I mutter. "Let me know when they leave."

I'm about to walk away when my mom speaks again. "Sophia, whatever your problem with Aiden is you need to get over it. Sandra is my best friend and Aiden is a wonderful kid. You and him are alike in so many ways, you know?"

"Don't say that," I say.

"You're both so intelligent! Both in the top of your class! You would have so much to talk about if you weren't so adamant on hating each other!"

I shake my head. All my mom knows about Aiden is the side of him that he shows to her. The picture-perfect, well behaved, son. He's even more picture-perfect than before now, though. Okay can you shut up?

"That's all. Go do your homework so you're ready when they get here. Maybe put on something you weren't wearing to school all day?"

"Okay," I reply. I finish pulling my last shoe off before walking past my mom and up the stairs to my bedroom. Sure enough, my phone is sitting on top of my vanity, resting against the mirror. I drop my backpack on top of my bed and pick my phone up. There's a few texts from my mom and a bunch of texts from Allie wondering if I was at school yet.

I set it back down on top of my vanity and walk over to the window. The sun is still high in the sky. Now would be such a good time to go on a run. There's a scenic path that comes right to my street that I take every time. I can run a mile or two on average without busting my lungs and I'm trying to build on that. Just as I'm considering the possibility of changing and heading out, the Brooks' front door opens and out steps Aiden. He's in a loose tank top, shorts, and running shoes and I can see he's wearing wireless headphones.

He stretches for a second in his driveway and takes off running. Right down the scenic path I always take. Motherfucker!

This stupid ass wilderness retreat suddenly made Aiden Brooks a fitness junkie. Two months before this, he would definitely be inside playing video games right now. Rolling my eyes, I step back from the window and get to work on my homework, any hope of a run now diminished.

***

Come 6:30ish, I'm done with my homework and have to change for dinner. I pick a pair of light wash jeans and a barely cropped, tight, white shirt. I leave my hair down because it still looks okay.

The doorbell rings five minutes after I've finished and my mom yells my name.

"Sophia! They're here! Come down!"

I curse under my breath, which I've noticed myself doing a lot today. I flip off my bedroom light and head downstairs. My mom opens the front door and I hear voices and laughter straight away.

Just as I'm getting to the bottom of the stairs, Sandra and Dave walk in.

"Sophia! Hey, buddy!" Dave says. He holds out his hand and high fives me. Dave is honestly my favorite out of all three of them.

"How are you?" I ask.

"Well, I'm doing alright. How was the first day of senior year for you?"

"Long, but exciting. I have some fun classes this year."

Dave and I converse for a moment longer before my mom ushers him and Sandra into the dining room. I'm about to follow them when the front door creaks open and Aiden turns the corner. I can't help but lock eyes with him as he comes into my vicinity. I look away quickly.

He's wearing light wash jeans, a white T-shirt, and a green windbreaker type of thing. What the fuck did they feed him at the wilderness retreat? Magic fashion potion? Steroids?

"Did you have to see Mrs. Carrera?" Aiden asks with an undeniable smirk.

"No, fuck you," I say.

He rolls his eyes. "Great, I'm happy for you. Now, is your mom here? She's who I actually came over here for."

"That's creepy. I don't need to know that."

"Ew. You know what I mean."

"Do I?" I ask.

Aiden scoffs lightly. "Love the new locks by the way, it's giving Rapunzel. Except Rapunzel is hot and you're...not."

"I'm loving your new cut, too. It's giving Nick Jonas when he shaved his head. Except Nick Jonas is a celebrity and he's hot as shit and you're not a celebrity nor are you hot. You are shit, though."

"Funny girl," Aiden replies. His face doesn't show any emotion as he moves past me and into the dining room where the parents are.

He walks in and my mom freezes. "Aiden!" she says, loudly. "Wow! You are so handsome!"

Oh, right. This is her first impression of post steroid-magic-wildneress retreat Aiden. If I actually could tolerate the guy, I might have reacted in the same way she did.

"I've been telling Sophia that a summer in the wilderness would be a great thing for her!"

"Yeah, it was a really fun time," Aiden replies. "I met a lot of really good people there. It was nice to sort of be disconnected from everything back here for a while, too."

"I bet it was!" my mom says, excitedly. "What was the coolest thing you learned while you were there?"

"I don't know if I could choose just one, to be honest. There was a point in time where we went camping by ourselves. We each had to bring what we thought we needed and then the camp counselors sent us off to designated spots on our own. We spent four nights up there sort of fending for ourselves and it was such a cool experience."

I raise my eyebrows. "What if a bear came and ate you?"

"Well luckily we learned lots of ways to troubleshoot when that happens," Aiden replies. He sends me a smug look and I want to throw my chicken leg at him.

Dave perks up. "Molly. Sandra and I were thinking that we take a family camping trip in the next couple of weeks before the cold starts to set in. Bring tents and do it the old way."

"Oh, my gosh, yes!" my mom replies eagerly. "That would be so fun!"

Um, would it? Stuck in the mountains with Aiden and his parents for days? No, thank you! I am one hundred percent an outdoor person but not so much when it comes to being outdoors with Aiden.

I know my opinion will have no influence on the parents, though, so I shut my mouth and eat in silence as they transition into full planning mode.

We'll be in the mountains for four nights, three full days. Sandra and Dave know of tons of good and relatively easy hikes around the area of the campground, apparently. At least we would be getting our steps in.

And so it's planned. Three weeks from today, on the long weekend that's coming up, we'd be heading for the mountains.