Association is a very important aspect of all our lives. Without it, you know we would be living like sociopaths and loners busy binge-watching Netflix TV shows and movies and burning a hole in our pockets from all the pizzas and other junk foods. As a kid at 6, I remember my first fight â yes my first fight, you heard it â with Landon Winchester. Just as fancy as his name is, his background consisted of diamonds and gold and fame â you name it. He was some big shot businessman's kid and I couldn't stand his ever arrogant and demanding attitude. All it took was one pull of my poor braided hair (courtesy of three panicking brothers and a confused dad) and that was enough to trigger my 'child' anger and punch him square on the face. I don't even know I could punch that hard. It was honestly just a mild punch, you know?
Okay fine. I put all my strength gained from daily doses of Weetabix and dad's cranberry juice, into that punch.
Needless to say, I landed in the principal's office with no care in the world with my flustered dad trying to handle the principal who was on the verge of bawling his eyes out in the fear of Landon's father.
And ever since then, all the stupid kids in my class were high-key scared of me hence that turned me into a complete and utter mess of a child who always glared at everyone who stared and ate her lunch alone on the stairs. I never minded all that honestly. It was tiring to see tiny little girls with nothing on their body to show off, batting their eyelashes off in front of stupid boys and even offering to do them their homework.
How puerile.
Then when I finally joined 4th grade, I met Maddie and Austin. Maddie seemed to be girly at first but I never saw her doing stupid stuff like flirting with boys. Goodness gracious, how did those small girls even have the knowledge of flirting?
If I try to flirt, my first question would be something along the lines of, "Do you like bread...?"
No, I saw her always fighting with Austin â something she still does â and for an unknown reason, always eyeing the teacher's belongings. Weird but okay.... And then one day she just came up to me and introduced herself as a deaf seal from the long lost planet of Arang-
Arang- what now?
Whatever.
I found her mentally unstable at that time â turns out she noticed my weird behavior so she thought that she was supposed to be equally or weirder in order to befriend me. Or at least that's what she told me. I immediately took a liking towards her obviously and we are best friends ever since then.
After that, it's just been a kind of a blur, with all the dad stuff happening and coping with teenage stuff and what not. My life's been a rollercoaster with downs only and I'm starting to wonder whether it is really a roller coaster or a drowning Titanic. Making friends was...awkward, to say the least. Suffice to say, Maddie was the one and only true friend and reliable shoulder I had all this time.
Of course, there were the few storms in my life â Austin Woods that came with Maddie and Blake Daniels.
I met Blake a short while after Maddie came, and boy he wrecked my life. I hated his guts the first time I met him mostly because he was always after my awesome limited edition bag of Avengers, which was technically a gift since you know I can't afford that shit. He did everything possible for me to give him that bag and sadly to admit, I was mean enough to let him do all that. From holding my lunch bag when I was lazy (so basically all the time) to doing my homework as well â he should thank me by the way; I made him smart â I made him do everything but I never ever let him touch my bag.
After a year or so, my aunt's new dog ripped that fucking bag to pieces. But strangely, all Blake did was frown for a minute and then immediately he wrapped me in a huge hug and started screaming "Best friends!" all over the playground we had.
I had weird friends I told you.
A strange feeling had dawned upon me at that time when I realized I made a new friend â a permanent slash temporary, I didn't know that. Blake, unfortunately, had to move to Boston that same year until he returned just last year. At first, it was weird seeing him all fresh and new from a place like Boston but as nice as he was, he made the first attempt to talk to me and ever since...you guessed it. He's been an annoying tease but I think I could still call him a friend.
I walk with Maddie after she finished talking to the canteen lady, my plate filled with fries and a scrumptious piece of chocolate cake as was the tradition of Fridays.
"We have Math after this, right?" Maddie asks as we take a seat at our usual table in the corner of the canteen. It was a small table so it was fit for the both of us.
"Sucks but yes." I munch on a fry and look around at everyone creating chaos in this food heaven. Contrary to the beliefs everyone has on high school canteens, our canteen actually had good food. Delicious so to say.
"What's up, guys?" Blake says as he takes a seat next to me and opposite Maddie, followed by Shawn and Austin.
Can someone return to the question of the century?
WHAT IS UP WITH MY GODDAMN LIFE?
I mean, I never anticipated the day where any of the Soccer Suckers would come sit next to me let alone me joining the soccer team.
Relax Summer. They are probably just passing by considering you're a part of their team and-
"You wanna sit with us?" Shawn asks us out of the blue.
I think I spoke too soon.
"Wow, you dick. Way to be subtle." Blake throws in as he huffs and stares at Maddie and me who were basically gobsmacked by now.
"Hey! What did you want me to say? Would you kindly put your legs to some use and place your gracious butts on the wooden thing we sit on over there in the corner?" Shawn irritatingly says as he smacks Blake on his arm.
To which Blake loudly groans.
Let me tell you â Blake Daniels had groans that could practically scar your mentality for eternity.
Wow, I rhymed that.
Not the point Summer.
"Wait! You want us- "Maddie says as he points towards us and continues, "to come sit...next to you?"
"Er, you speak any other language?" Austin finally speaks up and steals a fry from Maddie's plate. She slaps his arm away from her plate and the two engage in a heated conversation over something about always stealing food.
"Yeah...so what? Do you wanna sit or not?"
"Dude, just pick her up and she will just comply. In fact, I can do that." Shawn excitedly says as he looks at me with a sly grin on his dumb face.
"Touch me and I promise I'll twist your bones in such a way you won't recognize yourself in the mirror." I grit my teeth and whisper to Shawn as I hold his collar in my hands, leaving him roughly as I finish speaking.
"I told you she was feisty." Blake murmurs as he awkwardly scratches his head, turning to look at me.
"Why do you want me to come there and sit with you?" I make a face and ask Blake as I stretch and glance at their table which was currently occupied by Noel and Caleb.
NO. NO. NO.
"What no?" Shawn asks me as he also looks behind to see what I was trying to look at. Guess I thought out loud.
"Nothing!" I shout, immediately attracting Austin and Maddie back into this very compromising situation brought forward.
"Why do you want us to sit there?" Maddie suddenly asks.
"Well, for starters, Summer here is a part of our team and she's quite cool with the game. Plus you two are always sitting here like loners. Why not expand our group and add a few more friends right?" Blake says as Shawn continues creepily staring at me.
Ugh.
Friends.
That word felt strangely foreign â I told you the only true friend I ever had was Maddie till now, and I still don't know how to categorize Blake and Austin â and it was weirder seeing Blake, Shawn, and Austin showing up to our table just for us to become friends.
"I think that's a-
"Bad idea." I smile with my lips tightly closed and find Maddie glaring at me 3 seconds after I spoke the words I might regret later on.
I don't know why I just said that, by the way.
"And why's that?" Austin asks while running a hand through his golden brown hair.
"Because I don't want to. Caleb, if I may state the reason," I roll my eyes and sigh at that nincompoop's name.
"What? You two can â "I kick Maddie's leg under the table and she crouches in pain for a while as I shoot daggers at her. I was done with her calling Caleb hot and sweet and what not.
"Look, we don't... uhh... get along well. So, me coming to that table will be the gravest mistake I would ever make."
*5 MINUTES LATER*
POKE.
POKE.
HARD POKE.
HARDER POKE WITH THE FUCKING NAIL.
"BLAKE! WOULD YOU STOP?"
*40 SECONDS LATER*
POKE.
MORE POKES.
"What?!"
"Come sit with us!"
And that, my friends, is how Blake continuously tortured me with his useless hand for the entire time I tried enjoying my lunch.
"Fine! I'll come. We'll come, I mean." I huff and punch his arm hard enough to hear an ouch from him.
We pick our things and walk towards the table where the jocks sat. Well, technically the Soccer Suckers only. My pace was ridiculously slow all the while as Maddie and the other boys walked way ahead of me. To be honest, I had no idea what Caleb's reaction could be. He could lash out at me as I've heard he does which could be pretty embarrassing in front of the entire canteen, or he could just choose to remain quiet and forget everything that has happened between us.
The latter seems impossible for me as per now considering his sudden movement and widening of his eyes and stiff posture. Caleb and Noel sit in front of us as Austin sits next to them while Blake, Shawn, Maddie and I sit on the other side â me being stuck in between Maddie's dreamy stares and Shawn's disgusting looks.
"Guys, Summer. Summer, you know Caleb. This is Noel. I don't think you've met him before." Shawn says as he leans back on his chair and stares at me. Again.
"Actually, I do know her. We were together in French class." Noel sweetly says and shoots me a smile and while I do smile back at him, I notice Caleb's eyebrows rise at the mention of me being in acquaintances with Noel. As soon as he looks up, his eyes meet mine. Glaring, bloodshot eyes.
Did he ever sleep or what?
As the rest of the people start their own conversations, I start thinking about how this would be my new table â a new clique perhaps.
But I was definitely not welcome here by all ofthem. Especially by a certain tall grey-eyed jerk.
***
Holaaa!! Long time, no update huh? I shouldn't be updating right now actually considering my IGCSE's officially begin tomorrow and still here I am, shamelessly scrolling through Wattpad instead of burying my head in books. As said before, updates will be slower - in fact, I might put this book on hold (MIGHT) until my exams finish.
A little insight into Summer's childhood!!! How was it?
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! VOTE AND COMMENT BELOW.
Adios!