By the third day at the campsite – the last day – I’ve accumulated 19 texts from Piper, all of which I hate to admit I’ve either ignored or deleted. And I feel really bad about it, honestly I do. But I’d been planning to bury my head in the sand until Charlie brought it up.
To my surprise we were the first awake, even before our parents or Lucas and his family. We’d run out of cereal, so it was “whatever you can find used as a sandwich filling” for breakfast. Deciding to be healthy, I grabbed an apple that was only slightly bruised and made my way over to where Charlie was sat on a blanket. I may also have had a Kit Kat stuffed in my sweatshirt pocket, but come on; an apple is nowhere near enough for breakfast.
Flopping down next to him, I pointed to his sandwich.
“What’s in that?” I ask dubiously, not sure whether or not I want to hear the answer.
“Just peanut butter,” he replies.
“That’s not that bad,” I say, biting into my apple.
“And some cheesy wotsits,” He adds, before swallowing practically half of it.
“Eww!” I pull a face, scrunching up my nose in disgust. “That’s disgusting!”
“It’s actually really nice,” He shrugs, chewing thoughtfully. I roll my eyes, just as my phone chirps its familiar message tone. I glance at the screen briefly.
“That Piper?” He mumbles. Involuntarily my head snaps up. Of course he takes the opportunity to give me an extra exaggerated disapproving look. “You aren’t her only friend. She’s worried that you’ve either fallen out or have no signal.” He turns his attention back to his breakfast. I pause, examining the clump of daisies at my feet.
“What did you say?” I venture, trying not to sound too interested.
“Nothing yet, didn’t want to drop you in it.” I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. “Don’t look too relieved, I’m going to tell her what’s actually going on soon. It’s not fair for you to just ignore her like this.”
He sounds so condescending, I can’t help but feel a flash of anger which I try – and fail – to suppress.
“Why are you taking her side?” I snap, instantly regretting it.
“I didn’t know there were any sides to take.” Charlie replies, unfazed. “You going to tell me what’s going on?”
I just ignore him, picking at the daisies. He breathes out heavily, shifting to face me.
“Come on Autumn, you and Piper are always arguing. Why is this any different?” He reasons, poking my ankle as if to prompt me into talking.
“It’s not as simple as a falling out.” I sigh, threading the daisies into a chain.
“Why not?”
“Why the sudden interest?” I groan, rolling my eyes.
“Because it’s not most days your girly tiffs make their way into my phone bill.”
“Like you have anyone else to call,”
“Ouch.” He feigns mock hurt. “Anyway, what is it? Because if you don’t sort things out then I’ll do it for you, and I won’t dress it up.” Finishing his toxic sandwich, he crumples up the paper plate and makes to stand.
“Please don’t say anything Charlie. Promise me.” I plead, desperation colouring my tone.
I know I’ve been stupid to ignore her, but facing Piper means that I have to acknowledge how sucky everything’s become. Jake likes her, I like Jake, add in a boy crushing on me who Piper falls in love with and you’ve practically got a Midsummer Night’s Dream. And Shakespeare’s really not my thing.
Charlie sighs, and then extends a hand to help me up.
“Fine. I won’t, as long as you promise to text her.” He compromises, and I grin. “Right now though,” He adds, pointing to my phone. I scoop it up, unlocking it and punching in my passcode. The screen flashes up with her text straight away and I click the reply button.
Sorry, only just got your texts. Coming home today, want to meet up later on?
I hit send, trying not to feel too guilty at the lie. It’s barely been a minute when my message tone blares out again.
Oh right, was worried you were ignoring me haha :) Sure, meet at Two Scoops around 5ish?
I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it all.
Definitely not Two Scoops.
***
My plans are put on hold almost immediately when I get home, thanks to one unwelcome surprise sitting on my doorstep.
When the adults finally got up, ate their breakfast, used their dictatorship powers to make us dismantle the tents, had anticipated wrestling match with said tents before playing life-size Tetris packing all our crap back into the car, we finally set off back home.
The car journey was boring, with Dad’s “old groover” music and my iPod out of charge. I tried to read one of mum’s thriller novels, but it was (unsurprisingly) full of death and gore and no fit boys so I grew disinterested.
The second the car stopped outside our house, I stumbled out, hopping around to wake up my comatose legs. I was so busy hopping I almost didn’t notice the drooping figure making its way up our garden path. I squinted in the sunlight for a second before the lanky frame, mop of dark hair and coffee-coloured skin betrayed the stranger as not-so-much-of-a-stranger.
“Matty? What are you doing here?” I yelled over to him, attracting Charlie and Lucas to come over and join us. Only then did I notice how depressed he looked. “Matty? What’s wrong?” I quickened my stride now, my voice taking on a worried note.
“It’s…” He shook his head, pushing his hair back from his face.
“What is it? You alright mate?” Charlie asked him, frowning.
“It’s Arthur…He’s dead.”
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a/n - sorry for the late/erratic updates, I've been really busy lately, which is cutting into my writing time!
anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, will be uploading the next very soon!
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The Almost Summer
Humor[ completed - 17/3/14 ] [ undergoing slight editing ] [ Wattyawards2014 ] [ featured on the Wattpad Official account's Summer Beach Reads list ] Autumn always knew she was named after the wrong season. She lives for the summer months, desperate f...
