Young Adult / Chapter One - August 2002
Chapter One – August 2002
He paused for a moment, wiping the sweat from his brow and cursing the sweltering heat of early August in North Carolina. He’d been pushing an old lawnmower across his neighbors’ yard for what felt like an eternity when a red Jeep pulled into their driveway. The Jeep halted just shy of the bumper of Henry Ryan’s old Ford pickup and he saw Samantha, their granddaughter, hop out. She smiled broadly when she saw him and he killed the lawnmower’s engine as she started walking over. His stomach did a quick somersault and he occupied himself with carefully inspecting the grass in an effort to pretend it didn’t happen. The last time he saw her was two summers ago when they were both fourteen. Then, she was a sort of dorky teenager with pigtails and braces, but there was nothing dorky about the girl walking toward him today.
“Griffin Brody.” She said, punching him in the arm, “Been a while.”
He smiled, “Yeah. Where’ve you been?” he asked, suddenly very aware he was filthy and likely smelled of sweat and grass.
She made a face, “Roseland. Stuck playing debutant and plotting my mother’s demise.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
Sam sighed, “She lives. What about you? What have you been up to?”
“Basically cutting grass all summer.”
She stretched and arched her back, “I’d take cutting grass all summer any day.” There was a moment of silence and she ran her flip-flop over the same spot of lawn, “So, how are you?”
“Pretty good.” He replied, barely able to keep himself from noticing how much she’d grown up.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Kaylie. Almost a year now.”
“A year. Yikes.” She paused and sort of winced, “Sorry. I don’t do relationships.”
Griffin nodded, “I remember.”
She sighed, “A year… that’s like, forever in high school. Are you going to marry her?”
Griffin laughed, “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve never… respected people’s personal boundaries?”
“Griffin! We’re, like, BFF. I’ve known you forever. I taught you how to kiss.”
He stopped, “You taught me? You didn’t teach me.”
“Did you or did you not know how to kiss before you kissed me?”
“It was one kiss.”
“But you remember it. It must have meant something.”
He paused, suddenly unprepared to deliver a quick retort and she beamed knowing she’d won that round.
“You remembered it, too.”
She shrugged, “I’m a girl. I’m supposed to remember that stuff.”
He laughed, “Thanks.”
She rolled her eyes, “You know what I mean. So, you love her, right?”
Griffin rolled his eyes, still laughing, “I don’t know. It’s… complicated.”
“Love usually is.”
“Love is a strong word.”
She stared at him, almost incredulous, “You can’t spend a year with someone and not know if you love them, Griff.”
“It’s not that. It’s just… It’s complicated.”
“Do you tell her you love her?”
“Well, yeah. I mean –“
“So, you lie to her?”
“No. I just-“
“You just what? Do you love her or not?”
“Samantha!”
She stopped, “What?”
“How long are you staying?”
“Ouch, Brody. Trying to get rid of me already?”
He laughed, “No. Just curious. Doesn’t school start in Roseland pretty soon?”
She nodded, “Yeah. But I won’t be attending.”
“You didn’t drop out.”
Sam laughed, “No, you moron. I’m moving back to Belleview.”
“Really? Where?”
She shook her head, “Really, Griff. You need to pay more attention. I’m moving in with my grandparents. My parents are still in Roseland.”
“They let you move without them?”
“That’s a long and complicated story. Rain check?”
“Sure. I’d better finish mowing before it gets dark, anyway.” He didn’t mention the fact that he had a date with Kaylie and that there’d be hell to pay if he was late.
She nodded, “Yeah. I need to let my grandparents know I made it here without killing anyone.”
“Road rage, huh?” he laughed as she took a couple steps backward.
“You have no idea.” She turned and started toward the house, smiling to herself when she noticed that the lawnmower didn’t immediately spring back to life.
Sam turned as the screen door swung shut behind her and stole one last glance at Griffin. Over the past couple summers she’d really missed him, more than she cared to admit.
She proceeded down the hall, to the kitchen where her grandparents sat across from each other, her grandmother working a crossword puzzle, her grandfather tapping away at a calculator and jotting down numbers on a legal pad.
“I made it.” Sam said, smiling as they looked up. She hugged them both and walked over to the fridge. As usual, it was stocked with her favorite soda. She smiled and took one. The drive from Roseland had taken almost four hours and, having refused to stop on the way, she was parched.
“How was the drive?” Janice Ryan, her grandmother, asked.
“Horrendous.” She replied, standing in front of the still open fridge, eyeing a hunk of chocolate cake.
“We have a reservation at O’Reilley’s in an hour.” Her grandmother said.
Sam took a final longing look at the cake and closed the door.
O’Reilley’s Seafood Bar and Grill was a staple of Belleview society. It was the best restaurant in town and the only bar that wasn’t full of pool tables and cigarette smoke. Even on a Tuesday night there was still at least a one hour wait unless a reservation had been made.
Her parents’ favorite restaurant was a ridiculously overpriced French restaurant with an unpronounceable name where they cooed loudly over the escargot and calamari while Sam sat revolted and refusing to eat. It really shouldn’t have surprised her when they announced they were moving.
Samantha was nine when they decided to move from Belleview to the brand new suburb of Roseland, a completely manufactured town comprised mainly of yuppie couples and their obnoxious children. It was a shining example of ideal suburban living on the outside and on the inside, an arena for the morally bankrupt and financially secure to turn their children into spoiled debutants and steroid junkies. David and Maura Ryan proclaimed that they were making the move for their daughter, to provide her with the best home, school, and friends that money could buy.
Belleview, with its majestic old oak trees shading the yards and streets, carefully manicured lawns, and immaculate Victorian homes, was a refreshing change. Moving to Belleview wasn’t a change, really. It was going home after an excruciatingly long and terrible vacation. There was nothing about Roseland that Samantha found even remotely worthwhile. In the seven years she lived there, she made no friends, and tried very hard to distance herself from everything that made Roseland the breeding ground for propaganda and debauchery that it was.
She had always felt at home in Belleview and with her grandparents. She assumed it was because her parents rarely made an effort to do anything more than say hello to her and criticize her for not fitting in or going to parties or making friends with their colleagues’ alcoholic drug addled children. More often than not she got the feeling that she was just in their way; that she was an ugly stepchild that couldn’t (or, more appropriately, wouldn’t) fit the mold of the child they wanted. That was part of what prompted her move to Belleview. The rest, she didn’t like to think about. There had been a fight of epic proportions in their effort to keep her in Roseland and she knew it was more because they didn’t want to lose face by having their daughter walk out of their picture perfect little life than them actually wanting her to stay but in the end it really didn’t matter so much. She was where she wanted to be and for the first time in a long time, she felt wanted.
You need to log in to urbis or create an urbis account to review this writing.
Reviews
Sort Reviews by Newest | Oldest | Highest Quality | Lowest Quality | Newest Comments |
Well, some things in here are a bit confusing. Like, you spit information out randomly; some things just need a better transition. Other than that, I really enjoyed this. I can identify with your characters and I like them. I can tell this is the beginning of an interesting story, and I hope to see more soon!
- add/view comments (0)
This 59 word review has not been unlocked.
I really enjoyed your story. It seemed very real, especially the conversation, as if you were just jotting down what was said by someone in real life. Your characters seem realistic and fairly different from each other which is a nice change. You have also nicely shifted the viewpoint from Gifffin to Sam, fulidly through the conversation which is something that is not easily done. I can see your plot developing pretty nicely and although I am not the biggest fan of yougn adult this is certainly worth reading and looking up another part to this piece.
Well done and keep it up!
This 112 word review has not been unlocked.
This 162 word review has not been unlocked.
Awesome job, I really like it and i cant wait to read more. You have a good way of making a visual picture in your reader’s minds and i like that, so awesome job with that. Um.. i didnt really see any gramical errors or anything that really needed to be changed. You kept me entrigued. ^^ So once again, good job. keep it up.
I think that this story is really good. It is definitely something that I would get into. I am pretty impressed actually. A lot of the stories that I have read on here lack detail and build up, but this was interesting the whole way through. I really couldn’t find any mistakes or misspelling anywhere. I can’t wait till there is another chapter. Good job!
I like the story. I’ve read this and I’m already rooting for Griff. I like the character that Sam is, and outcast in a socialite life. It’s very Gilmore Girls if you ask me.
You may want to do some more back round on Griff next. Or maybe about their relationship. you said that they were best friends, but you also mentioned a kiss, which sets the readers mind in motion. Run on that motion, and try to keep them hooked.
You have something very good going here, and I am looking forward to seeing more of it!
I really followed the story well. You had simplicity with your descriptions…which were great! I started to skim just a teeny bit at the end I felt her parents were a bore, and I didn’t need to know so much about them right now anyway. I liked how the parents were followed up mainly by Sams feelings towards them more than anything…that’s what I needed to get from the story and I eventually did! Nice work!!!!!
HI – I really liked the story and got the general gist of from what you have written here, however I think I really need to read the prologue you mentioned. For me, its well written and I think you hava a particular talent for dialogue. It reminded me a little bit of Summer Sisters by Judy Blume, just the general feel of the piece conjured up images of hazy teenage summers. All in all I really liked and would like to read more.
Showing 1 - 10 of 21
Next →
Review item
Add to faves
GENERAL
REVIEW QUEUE
Ratings & Rankings
