A F F E C T I O N

t w e n t y - e i g h t

I was going to wait but I have no chill. Finally!!!!!!
Thx for still reading after like a year
And yeah bad driving habits don't tell my mom
************

We collect our report cards on the last day of school. You achieved highest academic average, highest mark in pre-cal...you sounded like an asshole, but I clapped for you.

I got the highest mark in drama, and Kennedy does a solitary standing ovation, which I hug her for.

I never gave Cullen my number, but I don't need another boy right now.

Maya, Kennedy and I drive her car to the beach. Kennedy is screaming along to a Demi Lovato song about summer and experimenting, and Maya's elbows are propped on the console next to me.

I open Instagram. You just posted a video of you doing this complicated flip-kick and you score.

I'm happy for you. I hope we're in the same pre-cal class next year, and I hope we'll be friends.

I double tap the picture, and tuck my phone into the dash compartment.

"What?" Maya asks, propping her chin on her palm.

"What?"

"You look like you thought something really profound and final. Are you writing movie scripts in your head, again?"

I laugh. "I love you, My."

She ruffles my hair like she can't resist. "I'm your little sister, you have no choice."

"Hey, where's my love?" Kennedy asks, flying down the highway ten kilometres above the speed limit. We're weightless and reckless and free.

I've never felt happier.

/ E N D O F P H A S E F I V E