by Niquel
After all my classmates were called, the principal delivered one final speech. “As you all embark on this new journey in your lives, I hope you remember that this is just the beginning. I hope you all have something planned for the rest of your lives. This class is most certainly going to pave the way for our future, and I firmly believe you are all capable of being leaders. Please stay on course and keep your eyes bright and your hearts full. Congratulations Sherwood Junior High Class of 2015!”
Kids tossed their hats into the air and then ran to find them. I tried to find my mom in the sea of parents but I kept getting interrupted by girls I’d never spoken to before wanting me to sign their yearbooks.
“Johnny?” I heard softly through the crowd of people. I stopped and turned around to find Mickey walking toward me.
“Mickey.” She looked beautiful. Her hair wasn’t as long as it had been when I’d first met her, but it was curled on her shoulders. Her gold gown was opened, revealing her short purple dress underneath.
“You look great Johnny.”
“So do you.” She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me. I wrapped mine over hers and for a moment it felt like it was just us standing all alone in the auditorium.
“So . . .” She looked me in the eye. “Now what?”
“I guess we start chapter two of our lives.”
“Aw, you two are so cute.” Sarah and Landon interrupted.
“Shut up!” Mickey said, breaking our hold.
“Hey, I did you guys a favor. Both of your parents are on the way over. Hopefully they didn’t see your little love connection.” Landon laughed.
“Screw you, bro. You and Sarah should be together since you’re always around each other lately.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t complain.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Fat chance, buddy!”
“There’s my graduate,” Mom said, pulling me into a hug.
“Hey Mom,” I said as I hugged her back.
“We should get going,” Mickey’s mom said.
“Where are we going?”
“After a graduation—or any special occasion—my parents always take me to the Serenity Bistro to celebrate.”
“And all of you are invited. Sarah and Landon, make sure it’s okay with your parents first and meet us there,” Mickey’s dad said.
“Let’s get a few pics of these two in their caps and gowns. You never know when we’ll get them dressed up this nicely together or see them in the same graduating class again.” When my mom said it like that, it hurt a little.
I didn’t know why hearing Johnny’s mom say that hurt, but it did—a lot. More than it should have. I couldn’t stop thinking about it on the way over to Serenity.
My parents and I went inside the restaurant and the hostess smiled at me. She’d been there the last few times we’d come to eat.
“Will it only be the four of you this evening?”
“No, today’s a special occasion. I made a reservation for ten.” The waitress ran her finger down the list and looked back up at my dad.
“My apologies, Mr. Dawson. I’ll go and make sure the table is ready. Be right back.”
The hostess, who was named Tracy, came back and grabbed a stack of menus from the basket beside the podium.
“Right this way.”
We hadn’t been there in a while, but I could see the new improvements to the place. Gorgeous crystal chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling, and they had replaced all the dark wood with a nice light wood that complimented the tan walls. They had also extended the bar, which made the dining area a lot bigger, more open. They had also added more booths alongside the back wall to fit larger groups, and that’s where we were headed.
Our waitress, Candace, came over and took our drink order a few minutes after Tracy left. Dad told her to wait until everyone arrived before we placed our food order. She agreed and offered us a small basket of bread rolls with sweet butter as an appetizer. Mmm I love the brown rolls.
Mom was very quiet on the ride over to the restaurant and I had a feeling something bad had happened or was going to happen. “Mom what’s up?”
“I don’t know. I have this weird sinking feeling in my gut. It has nothing to do with today, but something is coming.”
“I feel it too, but let’s go have fun and try not to think about it.”
We pulled up to the restaurant and went right inside. There was a hot lady with long brown hair and a low cut tank top waiting behind a stand and she kept smiling at me.
“We’re here with the Dawson party,” Mom said.
“Right this way. They’re already seated and awaiting your arrival.”
The place looked pretty nice. I’d never been to a place as fancy as this, and the smells coming from the kitchen were making my stomach growl.
“Hey Johnny, you can sit right next to me! I’m so glad you guys came,” Mickey eagerly announced.
“I hope the food is as good as you bragged about, Mickey.”
“Trust me son,” Mickey’s dad interrupted. “The barbeque bacon burger is to die for.”
“That’s my favorite kind of burger. It was nice knowing you all.”
Sarah and Landon showed up with their parents halfway through our meal. We had tried to wait, but we figured an hour was as long as we could hold off before we started chewing on the tablecloth. If they showed, fine; if not, we were still going to eat.
We all finished eating and Mickey made me share her favorite dessert with her. It was a big ice cream cookie with warm fudge and whip cream on top. It was pretty good.
Landon and Sarah’s parents made them both leave right away, but my mom and Mickey’s parents stayed. We all laughed and hung out so long that the dinner rush was starting. The once empty tables and booths around us started filling up.
Mickey looked so happy. We were laughing and texting each other under the table, joking about our parents. Things felt so natural with her and it was kind of scary. We clicked pretty well and I’d never had that with anyone before. I wanted this feeling of pure happiness to last forever, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t.
The first half of summer break was amazing. Johnny and I made sure we spent every single minute of every single day together. I made sure I showed him all of my favorite hangout spots and we tried different local places to eat at every couple of days. It was great and I couldn’t imagine a better start to my summer.
“Johnny, did you know I’ve never had this much fun with anyone—ever? Especially not with a boy.”
“Glad I could be your first. Wait—I mean—that came out wrong, my bad.” I’d never seen his cheeks turn red so fast and it made me laugh even harder.
We’d taken a few random day trips that summer and that day we were heading to my grandparents’ farm the next town over. As I looked out the window, I saw the tall buildings disappearing in the distance. It always amazed me how quickly the view changed from the city to the country.
I saw a few cows at the back of a large field and knew we were getting close. This was my first time going there without my parents and at first I’d thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it, but with Johnny by my side it made me feel a lot better.
The bus dropped us off about a mile down the road from the farm. My grandpa offered to come pick us up when I called him, but I told him I wanted to walk and take in everything around me. It’d been a while since I’d come to visit.
We walked down a long road covered with dirt and rocks in between two different fenced in farms. There were a few cows eating grass and I stopped to snap a picture with my phone. Johnny ran in front of me, climbed on the wooden fence, and bent over it, pretending to touch the cow’s butt as I snapped the picture. “You’re crazy, Johnny!”
“Your grandparents aren’t going to kill me for being a guy, right?”
“No, why would they?”
“Just making sure. There’s a lot of open field around here and I wanted to give my mom a heads up in case I go missing.”
Mickey’s grandparents owned a lot of land. I felt like it took an eternity to get to the front door, but it was a nice place. They had a huge red barn a couple feet away from the main house, which looked a little weather beaten, but it was huge. The building was definitely old fashioned with huge white beams on the front porch that extended up to the second floor. There were horses running around beside the house and an old man was trying to guide them to water. I kept scoping out the land and spotted an old vintage wagon across from the porch, full of hay bundles.
“Oh my, is this him, Michelle? He’s a lot cuter than you told me over the phone,” an old lady said as she came out the front door.
“Nana! You promised you wouldn’t embarrass me!”
“Oh, nonsense, Michelle! I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make you blush in front of your little boyfriend here. Jonathan is it?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Mickey’s nana was tall and thin with long silver hair and dark skin—a result of being a farmer’s wife, I was sure.
“You remind me of Marcus when he was younger. He was quite the catch back then.”
“Suzy quit grossing the kids out. It’s nice to meet you, John.” Mickey’s grandpa’s height intimidated me a little; I hadn’t realized how big he was until he was standing in front of me. He also had a very firm grip on my hand.
“Nice to meet you too, sir.”
“Call me Papa. My father was sir.” He laughed.
Mickey started her tour around the farm after the quick intro to her grandparents. There were a crap ton of animals that I hadn’t noticed when we first got there. I got to feed a baby calf from a bottle and I hated to admit it, but it was pretty cool.
“Hey, let’s go into the barn. There are a few animals in there you can feed!”
Mickey’s papa fed the chicks in front of the barn while we fed a few horses carrots and sugar cubes. Mickey handed me a big brush and let me brush the horses’ manes. There was one horse in particular that took a liking to me. He was bigger than the other horses, and he was all black with one white spot covering his right eye that spread to the top of his mane.
“Wow, Rocket never lets strangers that close to him, especially not to groom him. He must think you’re special too.”
Mickey was definitely in her element out there. She was so calm and really knew her stuff. She had a special bond with the animals, even the unruly ones that tried to attack me.
“Hey Johnny, I have to show you something.” She grabbed my hand and led me out of the barn into the middle of the open field. There was a small apple tree and a bunch of hay bundles underneath. “Have a seat.”
I tried to find a comfortable way to sit on the hay, but my phone started to vibrate in my back pocket.
Mom: When you get home we need to talk.
This can’t be good.
Tell him, Mick. Tell him how you feel. I tried to open my mouth, but the words got stuck in my throat. After Johnny slid his phone back in his pocket, something seemed kind of off. “Are you okay?”
“My mom sent me a text saying we need to talk. The last time she said that something bad had happened.”
“I’m sorry, I hope it’s nothing.”
Tell him! I kept fighting with myself to tell him how I felt. I didn’t believe I could fall for someone this hard and so young. I knew he had been sent to me to keep me happy during a rough patch, but the more time we spent together, the more I knew it was real, more than some silly schoolgirl crush. It was love.
There was a gentle breeze blowing around us. The birds were singing, and the animals were peaceful. The warm sun touched my skin and made me feel joy. I looked around us and we were completely surrounded by tall wheat and grass. Perfect.
I moved closer to him on the hay bale and I didn’t know what came over me, but I grabbed his face and kissed him. He opened his mouth and our tongues touched for the very first time. It was weird, but I couldn’t stop. He placed his hand behind my head, pulling me closer to him, pushing his tongue deeper into my mouth. Neither of us knew what we were doing, but we both shared our love.
“Michelle where are you?” Nana yelled. I jumped, breaking our kiss, but the damage had been done. My heart wouldn’t stop racing as I looked into his blue eyes. Everything I was feeling deep inside was coming out and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t say anything, but I thought he knew. How could he not?
“We’re by the apple tree, Nana! We’ll be right there!”
Wow. The kiss was better than I could’ve imagined. It was a kiss I would never forget, a kiss that made my heart skip a beat. Our lips had met before, but nothing like that, and if her nana hadn’t interrupted us, it would have lasted longer.
We ran to meet Nana on the porch and she invited us in for lunch.
“Something smells good.”
“Well Johnny, a little birdie told me you like burgers, so I made you my special griddle cake burgers with spicy home fries.” I looked over at Mickey and she avoided eye contact with me, covering her mouth so I wouldn’t see her laughing.
“That sounds amazing and delicious. Thank you!”
The inside of the house was pretty updated compared to the outside of it. The kitchen looked like it was newly finished. The hardwood floors were scratch-free and shining, the stainless steel appliances still had the fresh-from-the-box smell, and there was granite and marble everywhere. The place was nothing like my grandparents’ house; it didn’t have the old dated wallpaper on the wall, and it had a fresh coat of tan and white paint on them.
Nana placed a huge burger in front of me, covered on each side by a pancake. She had all my favorite toppings on it and kept the mayo on the side. I never knew Mickey paid this much attention to what I like.
After lunch, I was completely stuffed, but Mickey wanted to head back to the city before it got too late. It was over an hour bus ride back home.
“It was nice to meet you, Johnny. Take care of my girl, okay? I can see that you’re a good guy; don’t you ever change that.” Nana sent us off with huge plates wrapped in tin foil and stuffed into plastic shopping bags. She kissed us both on our foreheads.
Mickey’s papa wouldn’t take no for an answer this time and insisted on giving us a ride back to the bus stop. He drove an old baby blue Ford pickup truck, and we both rode in the back of it. Mickey occasionally looked up at me, placing her hand over her lips and smiling. Me too, Mickey, me too.
“Here you go kids; the bus should be here in about five minutes. I’ll wait here to make sure you get on it safely. The old lady would kill me if I didn’t.” He tipped his big white hat as we crossed the road.
The bus slowly crawled up the hill and pulled up in front of us. We took our seats and waved at Mickey’s papa before pulling off.
Mickey’s mom met us at the bus stop and offered to give me a lift home. She must have suspected something had happened between us because she kept asking if we were okay the entire ride to my house. Neither of us said anything besides that we’d had a great time.
“Thank you for the ride Mrs. D. Mickey, I had a blast, and tell your nana I’ll eat every crumb on this plate.”
“You’re welcome, and I will. I’ll text you when I get home.”
“Cool.”
I skipped a few steps on the way up the porch and had a weird feeling again. I turned my key to unlock the door and heard my mom crying on the other side of the door. “Mom, are you okay?”
She tapped her hand on the couch. “Come sit down.” I placed my food on the coffee table and took a seat beside her.
“Uncle J got into an accident and Gramps is having a hard time. He doesn’t think he’ll make it.”
“What happened?”
“He was hit by a drunk driver coming home from the market. He’s in critical condition. Gramps is a mess and we’ll need to head down to Florida to see him and help out around the house. My job is aware and fully understands that I need to leave urgently.�
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“How long do we have?”
“We have to leave tomorrow.” Tomorrow?
“Will I have a chance to say goodbye to Mickey?” No. This can’t be happening.
“Yes, of course. Let her know that we don’t know when we’ll be back. We could be down there for the remainder of the summer.”
“Okay.” I can’t believe this is happening.
“Be honest with her Johnny, about everything.”
How was I going to tell her? Things had changed between us at the farmhouse that day. We’d both felt things we’d never felt before, and that kiss proved it. And now I had to leave. She was going to be crushed and there was nothing I could do about it. The worst part wasn’t even about me leaving, it was not knowing when I would see her again.
“Oh JJ, this came for you today.” She handed me a sealed envelope with a fancy letterhead on the top. Inside was my acceptance letter for Northbound High School.
I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and there was a text from Mickey there.
Mickey: I just got my acceptance letter! I’m going to Northeast High!
Great, more bad news.
I avoided Mickey like the plague. I told her I wasn’t feeling well and left my phone on the charger all night. I needed to think about how the heck I was going to tell her about everything that had happened.
Me: Hey we need to talk. Can u meet me at the field by Randall’s diner?
Mickey: Sure, see you in an hour.
I didn’t want to wait the hour at home so I went to the field right away. I needed to clear my head, but it wasn’t working. I paced back and forth, paving my own path in the dirt behind the diner.
“Johnny are you here?” I was so spaced out that I hadn’t realized she’d shown up.
“Yeah, I’m back here!”