Non-Extraordinary

Chapter One

A pelican squawked in our direction, however we ignored it. The pelicans at Langston Beach have always been incredibly involved in your business. They'll come up in your face and squawk and squawk until you feed them bread or whatever else you may have with you. Today though, I had nothing for them, and eventually, it decided to bother some other poor person sitting on the beach.

I took my sunglasses off my eyes and placed them on the top of my head to see the ocean waves crash down, and then steadily creep up the sand, and then fall back into the water to create another wave. "Can you believe summer's almost over?" said Claire while squinting her eyes from the sun's beam. Nobody answered her, probably because they didn't want to acknowledge the fact that school was starting in four days. Goodbye long, sunlit days of tanning and sleeping in. Goodbye happiness.

Grace, Katie, Hope, and Jasmine lay on their stomachs with their head on their beach towels. All our skins were glistening from sunlight with a dark, tan colored glow that came from sitting on the beach all summer long. I didn't want to lose these moments: the warm breeze blowing my long, brown hair behind my ears, the smell of sunscreen, and most of all, I didn't want to lose the memories of my friends and I sitting out on the beach together.

Claire and I are about to be juniors in high school, while Grace, Katie, Hope, and Jasmine are going to be seniors. This is our last summer where we'll all be in high school together. I wish I could join them. I wanted nothing more than to become free from the hell hole whole known as "high school". After this year, Claire and I would be the only ones left from our group of friends. I disliked almost everyone else at Chapel Hall High School. Every student there is a snobby rich kid that won't wear anything but designer clothes and won't talk to anyone unless their parents make more than one million dollars each per year. Their life is a fairy tale, and I'm just waiting for the day that they realize they can't have everything they want in life. They'll soon find out that life is not going to rush to their every need. I actually feel sorry for them.

Grace sat up to put on another coat of tanning lotion, but stopped when she looked at her iPhone, then tapped Katie's shoulder repeatedly. "Katie, Katie, Katie!" spoke Grace while getting louder and louder with her voice.

"What!" said Katie, annoyed. "I was sleeping, what do you want?" She sat up and slipped her fingers through her silky, blond hair, her green eyes sparkling in the sunshine.

Grace pointed to the clock on her phone screen and shoved it towards Katie's face. "It's 4:00. Don't you remember? We have to be at home at 4:30. We gotta go," lectured Grace. She began picking up her sunglasses and towel and shoveled it all into her beach bag. Katie groaned as she stood up and collected her stuff.

"I think we're gonna go, too," said Hope and waved her hands for Claire, Jasmine, and I to get up since she's driving us all home. Hope looked at Grace and Katie and said to them, "Why don't you guys come over to my house? We don't have much more summer time; we should make it last."

Grace and Katie looked down at the sand and wiggled their toes until their feet were buried with the tan, dry powder. "Sorry, but we can't go. Our mom is up our butt about filling out resumes for college applications. She says that we can't go anywhere after today until their finished," explained Grace. Katie nodded, but rolled her eyes at her mother's commands.

Grace and Katie were twins. You'd never know it by looking at them, though, since they're fraternal. Grace has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to where you can barely even see her pupils. She's also only five foot, three inches tall, while Katie has bright blond hair with light green eyes and is five foot, seven inches tall. They're personalities are extremely different, as well. Grace is more uptight. She cares about her future and has always done very well in school. On the other hand, Katie has had a C average in most of her classes since freshman year. She also isn't as organized and is slack about following directions from teachers, her mother, and other authority figures, as she listens to her own conscience rather than what other people tell her.

"Does this mean that this is the last time we're all going to be together until school starts?" asked Hope. We all sighed, but Hope seemed the most upset. She pouted and dangled her arms at her side. "I know we'll see each other at school, but it won't be the same."

"We know. We can all still hang out on weekends," I assured her. "Trust me, we'll all stay close friends no matter what." Hope calmed down and smiled. She seemed relieved.

"We better get going," Grace said and rushed to her car. Katie lounged behind her, not in any hurry. Eventually, they made their way to the car, piled their belongings into the back seat, and drove off until we could no longer see them.