Chapter Two Preview

Chapter Two: A Summer to Remember

Kyler laughed so hard that orange soda spewed out of her nose like water escaping a broken pipe. Eric was acting like a walrus with two straws shoved up his nostrils, and Whitley was almost hyperventilating with laughter. It was the gang’s last day of summer, and even more than that, it was the day before the first day that they were finally able to walk into Providence High School as seniors. So what did three future graduates choose to do during their last day of freedom before all of the college application deadlines, cap and gown order forms, and evil final exams caught up with them? They chose to be as immature as possible.

“Catch it, Eric!” Whitley screamed, as she threw a piece of popcorn toward Eric’s open mouth. The popcorn hit his right eye and fell to the floor.

“Watch it!” Eric chided.

The gang was all sprawled out comfortably in Whitley’s living room. Whit was lying on the couch, clutching a small pink and black polka dotted pillow in one arm and a bag of fat free and butter free and salt free and whatever else free popcorn in the other. Eric was lying on the floor, trying to watch an old episode of The Simpsons, and Whitley continued to annoy him any way she could. Eric eventually gave up on catching the popcorn in his mouth and closed his eyes, letting the popcorn hit wherever it wanted to. Kyler couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the two monkeys next to her. She sat on the floor next to Eric’s shoes with her back against the recliner that was seated next to Whit’s massive couch.

“Why do you even like The Simpsons?” Whitley asked Eric as he finished off the last few pieces of her popcorn.

“It’s high-class entertainment. Just ask any guy, and he’ll tell you that.”

“High-class?” Kyler asked. “Oh yeah, Eric, watching a guy who constantly drinks beer and has no goal in life is totally high-class.”

“See Whit, Ky agrees with me,” Eric said.

Whitley rolled her eyes, jumped up, and went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water.

“Hey, Whit, I think we should put on Mean Girls or John Tucker Must Die,” Kyler suggested. “Maybe even Dirty Dancing.”

Eric squinted his eyes at her.

“If you make me watch chick flicks, I will leave.”

“Oh, whatever,” Whitley said, walking back into the living room. “You know you love them.”

“Yeah, Eric, we won’t tell anyone,” Kyler said.

“Well, some of them are pretty funny,” Eric mumbled.

“Ha!” Whitley yelled, pointing her index finger at Eric. “I knew you enjoyed them!”

“Not all of them,” Eric said slowly, staring down Whitley in an if-you-tell-anyone-I-will-kill-you kind of way.

“Just leave it on The Simpsons,” Kyler suggested. “I think an old episode of Friends will come on next.”

“Ooh, that’ll work,” Whitley said.

Eric stretched his arms over his head and moaned in exasperation.

“Why do we have to go to school tomorrow?”

“Hey, at least we’re seniors now,” Whitley said quickly.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easier,” Kyler added. “We still have to deal with the same people that we’ve had to deal with during the past three years.”

“Yeah, but who cares?” Whitley asked. “We’ll be out of there soon, and then we’ll never have to see any of those jerks again.

“Who are we talking about?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” Whitley said. “Ky brought it up.”

Kyler shrugged. “People in general.”

“Don’t worry about people, Ky,” Eric said. “Worry about getting accepted to college. That’s what we need to focus on.”

“Wow,” Kyler said, realizing that Eric was right. “Can you believe that we’re going to be in college next fall?”

Whitley covered her head with the polka dotted pillow.

“No,” she mumbled under the pillow. “Can you image what we’ll be doing next year?”

Eric sat up.

“Well, my friend, I will be in California pursuing my career in acting among the rich and famous, and Ky over here will be studying away at Smithsonian State University.”

“And me?” Whitley asked, taking the pillow off her head.

“Oh yeah, you’ll be at … uh … whatcha call it again?”

Whitley threw her pillow at Eric.

“Frankford University in Frankford, North Carolina,” Kyler chimed in. “She’s only been talking about it all summer long.”

Eric glanced over at Kyler as he threw the pillow back at Whitley.

The truth was that there was no doubt that Whitley would make it into Frankford University. She was born to be a dancer; everyone knew that. All she had to do to get into the university was prove that she was a great dancer, and with all of the competitions that Whit has won over the years, getting accepted was like a math major adding two plus two.

But, of course, being an excellent dancer 100% of the time isn’t an easy job. Whitley learned this the hard way while participating in the Oldarch Theater’s summer dance program.

Whitley’s first day at the Oldarch Theater came with its fair share of setbacks. Her alarm clock didn’t go off at the right time that morning, so she was running late from the moment she jumped out of bed and slipped on her fuzzy pink slippers. Once she arrived at the theater, she walked in the back entrance instead of the front, like she was supposed to, and finally when she ran, not walked, into the correct auditorium, she was greeted by fifteen seventeen-year-old girls, glaring at her with mendacious smiles. Whitley knew at that moment that it was going to take a whole lot more than her dancing ability to win over her unforgiving instructor and all fifteen snobby girls that stood before her.

Whitley didn’t dance on her first day at the summer dance program but only because her instructor wouldn’t let her for being fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds late. She didn’t mind, though. Whitley knew that she would make it up to everyone eventually. Her mind was set on it, and when Whitley’s mind is set on something, you better watch out because she’s going to do it, no matter what it takes.

On Day Two of Whitley’s adventures at the Oldarch Theatre, she began to realize that every single girl involved in the program even down to Mary Fisherman, the girl who didn’t talk to anyone, hated her.

“That’s McCallister,” Whitley overheard one of the girls whisper as she walked into the auditorium. “I heard her mother just up and left her one day. They say she’s a drunk. I would hate to be her.”

Whitley put her things down and tried to ignore the girl’s comments. People saying things about her mother didn’t bother her anymore. Whitley almost expected it now. Ever since her mother left her father, there were rumors around town of why and how and who Whitley’s mother really was. Some said that she was a drunk who ran away to drown out her unexplainable pain. Others said that she went crazy and ran off to join the circus. Some even said she became a stripper is Las Vegas. Whatever the reason really was, Whitley did not know, but she was determined to find out someday. She didn’t blame her mom for leaving, nor did she resent or hate her like most abandoned children probably would. She trusted that all of her questions would be answered someday, and that was enough for her.

When Whitley danced, she could think about anything she wanted, and she could feel however she wanted. There were no strings or pressure. Dancing was something that came naturally to her, and she believed that her mother, wherever she was, would be proud of her for sticking with it.

Freshman year Whitley was supposed to be a dancer in a drama performance at her high school, but she came down with a really bad cold. Her father told her that she couldn’t dance on the first night, so she “missed” the bus after school, put on her leotard, and waited for the show to start. Sure, she was grounded for a while after that, but despite not feeling well, she had an excellent performance, and she talked about it for weeks. Whitley wouldn’t let something like a cold stand in the way of her dancing. She was a dedicated performer.

By the end of the summer, Whitley was sad that the dance program was coming to a close. She loved dancing more than anything, and when she didn’t have a class or program to attend, her crazy amount of energy couldn’t be put to good use.

“Why were you eating fat free popcorn, Whit?” Eric asked out of the blue. He was staring at the empty popcorn bag that was lying on the floor. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as fat free popcorn.”

“I have to keep my dancer’s body darling,” Whitley replied in her fifties showgirl voice.

“Oh, come on, Whit,” Kyler began. “You can eat whatever you want.”

“Not if I want to be a dancer.”

“Don’t start that again,” Eric said quickly, waving one hand in the air. “How much you weigh isn’t going to stop you from being a dancer because one, you love it too much and two, even if you tried, you couldn’t gain ten pounds.”

Whitley half-smiled and half-smirked.

“I just don’t want to gain any weight, that’s all. I’m not trying to lose any. Don’t worry.”

“So, can we please go to Charisma’s and get some cheeseburgers?” Eric asked, rubbing his stomach. “I’m starving!”

“Sure,” Whitley and Kyler said in unison.

Whitley wasn’t the only one who had a busy summer. Eric seemed to never get a break. He was either at Charisma’s taking orders from hungry Providence locals or making his dad happy while working at the Barrios Dealership, a family owned car dealership that was created and run by his father. Eric also directed a preteen play during the summer that was held at the Oldarch Theatre. Whitley stayed sometimes after her dance practice and watched Eric try to control fifteen preteens. Although it was amusing to Whitley, Eric hated it. The only reason he agreed to be the director was so he could list it on his college application.

“Kyler, how much do you love me?” Eric asked one day over the phone during late June.

“It depends on what you want,” Kyler answered skeptically.

“I need you to cover my class at Oldarch today,” he said quickly. I guess he figured the quicker he said it, the less painful her no would be.

“No way! I can’t control fifteen preteens!”

“Please,” Eric begged.

“Ask Whitley.”

“I already did. She’s out with her dad.”

Kyler sighed.

“Please, Ky,” Eric pleaded. “If I don’t have someone show up, I’ll be fired, and I won’t be able to list it on my college application.”

“Fine,” Kyler said, but she had no idea what she was in for.

When Kyler arrived at the Oldarch Theatre, she had no clue what the monsters were supposed to be doing, so they spent half of the class time debating what play they were preparing for. Let’s just say that Kyler quickly learned that young actors like to lie. Some claimed that they were working on Romeo and Juliet. Others insisted they were doing a remake of Napoleon Dynamite, and the rest refused to talk to “Eric’s substitute.” After Kyler finally figured out what play the hooligans were supposed to be practicing, two of the boys got into a fight, and it was up to her and a six-foot-tall twelve-year-old to pry them apart. Once they got the two boys away from each other, the tall boy started crying because one of the boys who was fighting called him “teacher’s pet.” After five minutes of peace, Kyler caught two of the students making out in one of the changing rooms, and following that, she realized that three students just up and left class early. Thanks to Kyler, Eric still had his job, but thanks to Eric, Kyler developed a fear of twelve-year-olds.




The gang arrived at Charisma’s about fifteen minutes after they exited Whitley’s apartment complex in her white Honda Accord. They sat at the same back table every time they ate at Charisma’s, but it wasn’t because they wanted to. Whitley and Kyler just knew that Eric always took orders from that table whenever he was working, so they figured it was safe to sit there. Eventually Eric became accustomed to sitting with the girls at that table whether he was on or off the clock, even though he thought it was the worst table in the restaurant. No matter how many times Whitley and Kyler told him that that was a good thing, he didn’t believe them. However, they never had to worry about the back table being occupied. The group probably could have even scribbled their names on it, and no one would have noticed. For some strange reason, no one else liked to sit next to the kitchen and the back door, which led to the trash bins. Shocker, right?

“So kids, what are we looking forward to about our senior year?” Eric asked the group.

“Getting into Frankford, going to Prom, and graduating and waving good-bye to Providence High!” Whitley said enthusiastically.

“Why can’t we just rewind time and be thirteen again?” Kyler asked, a little sad that we were already seniors.

“Do you really want to rewind to the day that Eric got a mullet?

“I didn’t have a mullet,” Eric stated, giving Whitley a mischievous glare.

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“It wasn’t a mullet!” Eric insisted.

Whitley sat there giggling, and Eric rolled his eyes.

“Let it go, Eric,” Kyler insisted. “We all loved your mullet.”

Eric looked down and mumbled, “It wasn’t a mullet.”

Whitley and Kyler continued laughing at Eric’s expense.

“Really, guys,” Eric said, trying to get the attention away from his 8th grade bad haircut. “We’re all going through the most dramatic part of our lives right now, the time that we’re always going to remember, and we’re not taking it seriously.”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to take it seriously, Eric,” Whitley said, putting her elbow up on the table and resting her chin in her palm. “You can’t take life too seriously; you’ll never have fun.”

“I have to agree with her,” Kyler added.

“Whatever, Ky,” Eric said. “You’ll probably be studying all year. You’re the one that needs to loosen up and have a little fun.”

“I resent that, Eric! I have fun!”

Whitley looked at her feet, and Eric smiled.

“What?” Kyler demanded. “I have fun!”

Of course, Kyler couldn’t sit there and tell them that her summer had been full of fun.

“It’s been three weeks,” Kyler whined to Whitley at the beginning of the summer as she flopped, face first, onto her bed. Whitley was sitting on the floor reading some type of dancer’s magazine.

“He’ll call.”

Of course, what Whitley didn’t realize was that she would say those two little words to Kyler at least ten more times before she decided to give up and say, “Kyler, you might want to call him.”

Kyler didn’t want to do that. By that point, she didn’t want anything to do with Alex. All she wanted was closure, to know that they were over. Why couldn’t Alex have been the jerk who called and broke up with her from another state? Why did he have to be the bigger jerk that didn’t even have the guts to break up with her from another state?

After letting about another week plus a few endless days pass, Kyler got up the nerve to call Alex. He didn’t pick up, but she didn’t expect him to. Alex wasn’t stupid. He knew that Kyler wouldn’t have anything nice to say. So that’s when she did it. Kyler broke up with her first boyfriend via voice message. Pathetic, yes, but she didn’t really have another option. Sure, she could have taken the silence as an official breakup, but that wasn’t like Kyler. She needed closure, and she got it, or at least, she thought she got it.

Kyler soon came to realize that it was going to take a lot more than a voice message for her to get over her first boyfriend. Sure, she knew that Alex wasn’t “the one,” but at the same time, she was still hurt that things didn’t work out.

“That’s totally normal,” Whitley said to Kyler over the phone one night. “You need to wallow before you can get over Alex.”

“Wallow?”

“Yeah, you need to wallow. All girls do it after a breakup. First you’ll be really sad. Then you’ll hate Alex, and then pop, you’ll be over him.”

“Pop?”

“You know what I mean.”

So Kyler was supposed to wallow. She figured she could do that, and it turned out that her form of wallowing included eating chocolate ice cream, watching Sleepless in Seattle, and eventually throwing the necklace Alex gave her in Providence’s local duck pond. After that, she prayed that none of the ducks would try to eat it.

Kyler half expected Whitley to show up at her house during her day of wallowing, but it was actually Duncan, Eric’s twenty-year-old brother, that appeared on her doorstep. Kyler’s father let him in, and once he walked into the living room and saw Kyler watching a movie with a huge bowl of ice cream in her hands, he smiled.

“Ooh, Sleepless in Seattle,” he said, sitting down on the couch. “I love this movie!”

Duncan had always been a good friend of Kyler’s. He used to pick on her just as much as he picked on Eric and was only two grades ahead of them, which helped greatly when they were freshmen. Duncan wasn’t exactly popular during his days at Providence High, but he was well respected, which was sometimes a lot better than being popular.

For about an hour Kyler wondered why Duncan wasn’t leaving her house, and she knew it didn’t have to do with his love for Tom Hanks. Kyler later found out that Duncan wasn’t going to leave until he made her laugh, which was exactly what she needed. Kyler eventually broke down and told him what the purpose of her girlie movie and unhealthy food marathon was, and he seemed glad that she “finally” broke up with the “jerk.”

He also eventually asked if Kyler could burn him a copy of one of her CD’s, which she figured was the only reason he came over in the first place.

“See, I knew you had it in you,” Duncan said once he got Kyler laughing, which wasn’t too hard to do. “Now all I have to do is get you out of this house.”

“Noooo,” Kyler moaned. “I’ll go out tomorrow.”

“Are you lying to me?”

Kyler smiled sweetly. “I don’t lie.”

“Okay. I trust you.”

Sure enough Duncan returned to her house the next day to make sure that she at least went outside. He then asked if he could take her out to lunch, and she accepted.

“See this?” he asked, as they walked out to his car. “This is the outside world. It’s good for you.”

Needless to say, Kyler’s summer wasn’t too bad from that point on.

Chapter One Preview

Chapter One: She Didn’t Love Him Anyway

“It’s just for two months,” Alex reassured Kyler as he twisted her long, chestnut hair around his index finger.

Kyler knew that. After all, Alex told her that at least once every other day since she had met him. Why did he think he had to tell her again?

“Besides, I’ll call you every day,” he added, giving a slight tug to Kyler’s limp arm.

Unfortunately, that didn’t make her feel any better, but it didn’t make her feel any worse either.

Alex and Kyler sat outside her brick house on the big black and white two-seater rocking chair her dad had to buy at the flea market on his forty-third birthday. Kyler could hear her dog Iced Tea scratching at the door (don’t ask how she picked the name, it was just the first thing that came to her mind three years ago when her father adopted him from the local humane society). Kyler knew Iced Tea was yearning to join the couple outside.

“Don’t worry, Kyler, you’re going to have an amazing summer,” Alex said, his voice more excited than reassuring now. Kyler figured he was referring more to the fact that he was going to have an amazing summer, not her.

But still, Kyler didn’t say anything. She was too busy paying attention to the world around her and avoiding the circus performing in the back of her mind. Kyler had become accustomed to playing a game in which winning included keeping her overactive mind preoccupied. It was the only way that she could keep herself from pondering about what could happen once Alex left and what she figured would happen regardless of his departure. Kyler didn’t want to say what she believed was inevitable out loud, and she tried her hardest to avoid saying it in her own mind, but in her heart, she knew that she and Alex were not meant to be. Although realizing this would make most teenage girls depressed, Kyler didn’t let it get to her. She figured it was normal. After all, besides princesses that you read about as a child, how many people end up finding their Prince Charming on the first try? Not many.

Whether or not Kyler would miss Alex after he was gone was a tough question to answer. Kyler hadn’t truly missed someone since her mother passed away years before Alex was in the picture. Coincidentally, it was around the same time that her dad decided they should get a dog. Kyler’s dad thought that Iced Tea would help her cope with her mother’s death, but having a dog that constantly peed and pooped all over the living room floor only gave her another problem to deal with.

Kyler’s mom left this planet years, even decades, before she was supposed to, and Kyler blamed herself for her mother’s death for months after the funeral. For some reason Kyler believed that she could have saved her … that she should have noticed the signs, but she knew her mother’s depression was something that she never, even if she had the power to create a miracle, could have overtaken. When Kyler thinks back on what happened she wishes that her mother could have disappeared in a way that would have saved her father from the heartache he experienced. He suffered from the death of his wife, much more than Kyler did, and for a while, Kyler wondered if she was losing him, too. She knew that she was the only person who was keeping him alive, and although at times this was like trying to support a boulder with only one arm, Kyler took pride in the fact that she was at least able to save someone.

Kyler looked at Alex and tried to shake the thought of her mother out of her mind. Her mental picture of her mother was constantly fading, and that scared her. Kyler could deal with the fact that she lost her mother, but she didn’t want to have to live with the regret of forgetting the memories that she had of being with her.

The air outside was warm, which was normal for Providence, Georgia during the end of May, but that also meant that the mosquitoes were ready to charge at the nearest human, hoping to survive a little longer. The sky was painted black and there were only a few stars shining down on Alex and Kyler.

Kyler ignored the beauty of the stars, and a sick feeling fell over her. It was an almost perfect night, but she wasn’t content with it or with herself, yet she couldn’t figure out why. She had a boyfriend, good grades, a plan for the future, amazing friends, and a father who influenced her life in the best and most positive way. Her life appeared to be great from the outside, but that’s just because she was an expert at concealing how she really felt on the inside. Deep down she knew that something wasn’t right, and even deeper down, she subconsciously knew exactly what that something was.

It was sitting right next to her.

When Alex and Kyler first started dating in January, Alex was basically what any seventeen-year-old girl would want in a guy. He was charming, and he could make Kyler laugh no matter how bad her day was going. Alex had a good job and a well thought out plan for the future. He was in college and doing extremely well in all of his classes, and he had a great attitude about life. Alex was the first guy that Kyler really cared about and because of that, she was blind to all of his flaws.

“Maybe I’ll be able to meet the president!” Alex eventually said a little too excitedly, causing Kyler to jump.

Kyler looked up at his face, and it took a minute for his comment to register in her brain. She was in her own universe that night, daydreaming about anything but Washington D.C., Alex’s inevitable departure, and her final exams that she wasn’t prepared for.

It took Kyler a while to see the other side of Alex, the side that she sometimes wished she never saw. Alex spoke his mind, even at the expense of other people’s feelings. At first Kyler tried to not make a big deal out of his insensitivity along with his huge ego and total lack of manners. Kyler wanted to be the type of person who looks beyond all of the little imperfections and chooses to see the best in others. But unfortunately, Kyler is only human; therefore, she couldn’t ignore all of Alex’s little imperfections forever.

Kyler could tell that Alex was waiting for her to say something as she sat there daydreaming that night, but it took her a few minutes to think of something to say. This was odd considering Kyler was a born writer, and thinking of things to say was almost automatic to her. Sure, she didn't always come up with the smartest or even the most practical things to say, but sometimes the random thoughts spoken out loud are the best.

“I wish I could go to the airport with you tomorrow morning,” Kyler lied, as guilt rushed through her spine.

“Well, you can’t,” Alex spat. “You have to pass your final exams. You’re going to be a senior next year. Don’t you want to go to Smithsonian?”

Kyler shook her head and sighed. She couldn’t believe that she was going to be a senior in high school. Even more than that, she couldn’t believe that her friends were going to be seniors in high school. It’s not like she thought that they would all flunk out or anything, it’s just that she’s had the same two best friends since elementary school, and it didn’t seem right that they were already almost grown-ups.

Even though Kyler was excited about being a senior, she couldn’t help but miss the good old days when she was a little kid. Whitley McCallister, Eric Barrios and she survived through jungle gym arguments with the older kids in elementary school, vicious made-up rumors in middle school, and the first three years of the zoo that is formally known as high school together. It’s weird how people spend what seems like their entire life in school. It just doesn’t seem real when it’s almost over.

Alex was right, though. Kyler had wanted to go to Smithsonian State University since she was a little girl. After all, it was the best school in the state of Georgia for journalism and mass communication. Not to mention it also had a newspaper staff, yearbook staff, literary magazine, radio station, and even its own cable television show. Considering these were all pieces of the huge puzzle that formed what Kyler planned on doing in the future, Smithsonian State was the best choice for her.

“Go Cougars!” Kyler used to shout with her mother while her father shook his head in disappointment.

“Kyler, you know you want to be a Renegade!” her dad shouted in a persuading way while patting her gently on the head. “Trenton is the college for you, not Smithsonian where your mom went. You want to go where your brilliant, dashing, thoughtful father went, don’t you?”

“Dashing?” Kyler’s mom asked with a laugh.

“Yes, dashingly handsome,” her dad said and then tickled Kyler until she agreed to go to Trenton.

But that was a long time ago.

Kyler had plenty of plans for the future involving her mother riding shotgun back then. These were plans that they’d never be able to experience with one another. They were going to drive to Florida the night of Kyler’s graduation and wake up on the beach. They were going to go to all of the Smithsonian softball games even though they knew nothing about the sport. They were going to go to New York on Kyler’s twenty-first birthday and to Hawaii for her mother’s forty-fifth. All of these dreams were lost the night that Sheriff McClure knocked on Kyler’s front door and told her dad two little words that Kyler still can’t repeat to this very day.

“I’m so glad that it’s almost summer,” Alex said, breaking Kyler’s concentration of not concentrating on him. “Summer is always the best time of the year.”

Yeah, when you get to leave behind all your troubles and go to D.C., Kyler thought. Then it’s the best time of the year.

Kyler sat with her head resting on Alex’s shoulder and wondered what she could say without technically lying again. The truth was that she was relieved Alex was leaving for the summer. Of course, that may have been obvious. Alex’s leaving took a tremendous amount of pressure off Kyler. She felt like she could finally go back to being herself, whom she hadn’t felt like in a while.

Kyler was also glad that she would be able to spend the summer with Whitley and Eric. They deserved her full attention considering she did get a little too preoccupied with Alex back in January. Eric even mentioned to Kyler that she was the “strong, independent, future journalist out of the three of us,” and he wondered why she had to “go and get a boyfriend.” At that point, Kyler didn’t want to admit to herself that she was choosing a guy over her friends, but eventually that strength that Eric thought she had gave way, and she knew what she didn’t want to believe was true.

Alex shifted in the rocking chair, which made Kyler’s daydreaming cease once again.

“Just think, when I come back in August, I’ll be rich!” he said, exposing his presumptuous side.

Kyler couldn’t help but let a disgusted look form across her face. It was the same look that she had when she was practically forced by Mrs. Moore to dissect a frog in biology class sophomore year.

This haughtiness was typical of Alex. Kyler would expect him to think more about the money than the experience.

Alex turned his head, and Kyler assumed he was about to speak.

“Now you better not spend all summer missing me,” he said, leaning his cheek on Kyler’s forehead.

I won’t, Kyler thought, even though she knew that she shouldn’t be thinking that. It was both mean and wrong. Or was it?

“You better hang out with Whitley and Eric all of the time.”

Despite what Whitley and Eric thought of him, Alex thought of them as friends of his own.

“Don’t worry, I’ll probably be with one or both of them every day,” Kyler said, feeling like she was taking over the reassuring role.

Kyler looked up at the few stars that were glimmering in the sky and thought of Whitley and Eric. Just thinking about her friends made me smile, but there she was sitting with her boyfriend only minutes before he was about to disappear for the entire summer, and she didn’t even have the urge to grin. How did that make sense?

Alex began talking about what he was going to do during his first day in D.C., and Kyler immediately became annoyed.

Does he honestly not realize that I have already heard this fifty times? she thought. And does he also not realize that each time he tells the story it doesn’t change even one bit? It’s like he wrote it down and memorized it or something.

Kyler touched the chain that hung lightly around her neck and attempted to smile. Alex gave her a necklace with a medallion he made on his own only a few days before. When he gave it to Kyler, he didn’t look her in the eyes or smile. When she took it, she didn’t either. Kyler couldn’t help but feel like the gesture was more of a good-bye than an “I-care-about-you.”

Alex yawned, looked at his watch, and sat up straight. Kyler looked into his dark brown eyes for the first time that night and noticed that they were cold and unfocused. Kyler remembered how on their first date his eyes never left hers, and she was certain that he was listening to every word that came out of her mouth. Kyler looked at Alex’s somewhat slanted smile and wondered when she would see that goofy grin of his again. It was in that single moment of looking him over for the last time that she felt like she might miss him.

Alex’s eyes turned toward Kyler’s driveway.

“I better go,” he said quickly, standing up.

“Okay,” Kyler whispered and stood up as well.

Well, this is it, Kyler thought. He’s really leaving.

Kyler didn’t know why this was coming as a shock to her. With as many times as Alex reminded her of the exact date and time he was leaving for Washington D.C., she never thought that she would be unprepared for the moment of departure.

“Whatever happens,” Alex said without looking Kyler in the eyes. “Don’t lose that ambition that you have inside of you to do something extraordinary with your life. It’ll take you far.”

Maybe that was Alex’s way of saying bye. Maybe it was his way of getting closure. Maybe Kyler was just overanalyzing what he said. She tried to think of something smart and sophisticated to say as well, but nothing came to mind. All she could do was try to smile and nod.

Kyler gave Alex a hug and watched as he got into his green Ford Explorer and carefully glided out of her driveway. He honked twice, and Kyler smiled as his Explorer disappeared into the night.

Kyler didn’t realize at that moment that she wouldn’t see that Explorer again come August. She didn’t realize that Alex would never call her even once over the summer, and she definitely didn’t realize that she would have to tell his voicemail that she was tired of waiting for him to call, and she was moving on.

Oh well. Thankfully for Kyler, this was two months ago…