The Last Summer

Sarah

I was glad to spend time with my family. I love The Group dearly, even though Isabelle does get on my nerves every so often, but I had to spend time with my family. I only had a week before The Group and I would head down to Santa Cruz and spend the summer before coming back for a week and then heading off to Cal State. And to say that I was excited for college was a gross understatement. I couldn't wait.

My family and I were currently waiting at our table in one of the local restaurants for our food. That's when my brother asks about The Group.

"So why are you friends with all those losers?" he asks.

"Ryan!" Our mom scolds. "That's really rude."

"What? She says it all the time."

"I do not." I say indignantly.

"Yes you do."

I stick my tongue out at him and he responds with the same getting our grandparents to laugh.

"Alright no more fighting." our grandma says. "But he has a fair point. It's an odd collection of girls. Not that I'm complaining. It's a better crowd than most others. I'm just confused as to how you all became friends"

"I came in halfway through 7th grade." I say. I won't be able to go through the whole history of The Group, which is a very good thing, so I tell them the shortened version. "Actually Heather and Cameron and myself all came in around 7th grade. The rest have been friends since fourth grade."

"Well I'm just glad they aren't pressuring you into doing drugs or anything along those lines." Our dad smiles. "They seem like a good bunch of girls."

"They are." I tell him as the waiter brings our food. "I'm glad to have met them."

It wasn't a lie. True the Group was loud and rowdy 99% of the time, but the other 1% were our deep moments when we could talk about everything that bothered us and we could cry. Amanda, Cara, and Juliet were the glue that held the rest of us together, at least in my mind they were. Ruby, Lucy, and Heather were very artistically gifted (Ruby and Lucy were amazing artists and Lucy and Heather were wonderful singers). Sofia and Cameron weren't very talented with a lot of things, but they were some of the best people you could ever be friends with. And Isabelle could be overbearing at times, but she was always truthful when you needed to hear some.

Amanda had told me plenty of times that I was just as important as the rest of the Group, but sometimes it didn't feel like it. For the most part I just saw myself as the comic relief when a joke needed to be cracked. But, from Amanda and Juliet's many protests, evidently I was kind and a shoulder to lean on when you were in desperate need of one.

Of course everyone else who didn't know all of us just saw the Group as a strange collection of girls were got bored and did a bunch of shit-talking about our actual 'group of friends'. I mean we did shit-talk, but not 100% of the time. And while we did have other groups of friends outside of the Group, we'd never just band together to rant about how horrible they were. Sure everyone had their own respective friends outside of us (Amanda was the theater nerd, Heather and I shared Chior, Lucy and Ruby were the Art Class Proteges, Cara and Juliet were apart of a club that just served as time spent away from home 'nerdding out' as Sofia said, Sofia and Cameron were all about animals, and Isabelle hung out with the popular cword a lot -although she'd never admit it-), but we didn't hate them. If anything they were what kept us sane on our rare fights.

I eat my bacon cheesburger in silence as my family talks about how Ryan is about to be an eigth grader and how he's excited but nervous. I love my brother, there's no doubt about it, but I'm a little worried for when I head to college. My mom can have some mood swings that rival Amanda's when she's on her period, and Ryan is a lot more sensitive than he acts. I mean every mom has those moments when she's at her witts end, but mine, Amanda's, and Cameron's like yelling at us to get their frustration out at times. So the three of us know how to deal with it. But Amanda is the youngest of her siblings and doesn't have to worry like Cameron and I do about them yelling at our younger sibligns.

But if Ryan does have trouble with her then he can always call me. He knows I won't hesitate to pick him up and have him spend a week or so with me at my place. If only I had older siblings like Amanda, then maybe I could've had that. But Amanda never said if her siblings did that or not. But I know Ryan won't have to worry about me being too busy for him. At least I hope he knows that. If he doesn't then he'll get a serious reality check this summer.