Stars

The last exam drawing ever closer, I was nervous. In just a few short months, I would no longer be the oldest secondary school pupil; I would be a college student, entering the wide world of adulthood. I was nervous, even a little scared… But I wasn’t worried. No matter how much I thought about it, I could not be concerned: I had Sam. No matter what would happen, I would always have Sam. We had enrolled at college and even if I failed all of my subjects and ended up behind the bar in a sleazy pub, I would always have Sam by my side to pick me up and make me smile.

Right now, though, I didn’t need to think that far ahead; not yet. For now, all I had to do was cram my mind full of facts and opinions on Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men for my English Literature exam tomorrow. The final one.

After I had finished analysing George and Lennie’s entrance into the clearing on page two for perhaps the twelfth time, I dropped my head to my desk with a soft thud. The light on my small, digital clock told me it was nine thirty, half an hour before bedtime… Just enough time to call Sam.

“Hello, my love.”
“Hey Sam. How’s your revision going?”
“If I read this chapter one more time, I may actually become George.”

I laughed softly. Sam always knew when I needed cheering up. With a contented sigh, I left my desk chair and settled into the comforting warmth of my bed. Maybe I wouldn’t meet my ten o’clock curfew, after all.

I woke the next morning to the sound of my mobile phone ringing.

“Hello?” I asked, groggily.
“Good morning, sweetheart. It’s time to wake up now.”
“Mmm… S’pose.”
“It’s our last exam today, my love. Then I have a surprise for you.”
My eyes opened a little further. “A surprise?”
“Mm-hm. Now up you get; we’ve got exams to do!”

The clock in the exam hall seemed to tick faster than ordinary clocks as I lost myself in my exam paper. Finally, I placed a full stop on the page and put my pen down with a smile. I smiled partly because I was confident about this exam – I knew my Literature – but mostly because it was only six minutes until two hundred students would be filing out of the door and I would see my Sam. In theory.

Half an hour later, we were finally released. There had been a mix up with one student’s exam paper and no one could leave until the examiner had fixed the problem. Now though, we were free, never having to return to school.

“Hello darling,” came a silky voice from behind me. I spun to see Sam with a beautifully crooked smirk playing across his lips.

“Are you ready to go?” I eyed the boy before me with suspicion. He still hadn’t told me where we were going or what we were doing.

“As ready as I can be, with no idea where I’m going to!” Sam smiled his crooked smile again, and took my hand. “Trust me.”

I sat in the back of the car with my arms folded. Sam’s father had collected us from school in his Mercedes; his big, black Mercedes with blacked out windows, under the pretence that I should not know where we were headed. I was aware that Sam had already collected everything I would need from my house, including permission from my mother (which I would be speaking to her about!) and that Dr Darby would leave us wherever we were going. Other than that, I was clueless.

After driving for around fifteen minutes, I felt the car turn and slide to a gentle stop. I eyed Sam.

“There you are then, out you get. You two have fun – I’ll see you tomorrow.” I blinked at the handsome man behind the wheel. He merely winked at me before closing his car door and pulling away. I turned on Sam.

I opened my mouth to demand an explanation, when the scenery behind him caught my breath. I stepped around him for a better look.

I was looking at a forest – a forest that stretched on for what seemed like eternity. The sun perched over the treetops, illuminating the wood below, whilst the blue sky above, speckled with fluffy white clouds, threw a soft breeze across the forest foliage.

“Sam… It’s beautiful.” My voice left me in a whisper as I stared, mesmerised. Sam slid his arm around my shoulders, nuzzling his nose into my hair. I felt him smile.

“Almost as beautiful as you,” he whispered back. My cheeks grew warm at his compliment, as they always did.

We stood for a while, watching the astounding view before us. Eventually, Sam squeezed my shoulder.

“Sweetheart, we need to go now. I want us to get there before nightfall, if we can,” he smiled. I furrowed my brow as I remembered my earlier indignation.

“Get where?” I demanded. I was beginning to get slightly irritated with Sam’s new secretive attitude. Once again, he smiled that smile and my angry demeanour melted. I sighed in defeat.

Sam turned around and picked up a large backpack that I hadn’t noticed before. He held it out to me.

“Can you carry this? The tent is quite heavy, so I can’t manage both.” My eyes widened; we were going camping. I grinned.

“I love you.” I threw my arms around Sam’s neck and pushed my lips to his with a new-found excitement. His smile grew as I pulled away from him, grabbing for the backpack.

“Lead the way!”

***

The stars sparkled above our heads in the great expanse of velvet sky. The fire in the centre of the clearing crackled quietly, throwing endless shadows over its surroundings.

Sam tightened his grip around my shoulders as I snuggled further into his chest. Above my head, stars twinkled endlessly in the night sky.

“Things are changing now, aren’t they? Now we’ve left school. Everything will be different. Nothing will be the same.”

I felt Sam shift, and looked up to meet his gaze. His dark eyes were warm as he looked at me.

“Eleanor, my darling. I love you. Always. No matter what’s new, what’s old, what’s different or the same; always.”

I felt my heart flip in my chest at his words. As I reached up to press my lips to his in a passionate embrace, I knew. It was there, lying in that beautiful clearing beneath the stars, that I knew Sam was the one, and he always would be.