Don't Say Goodbye

“Have a good summer guys!”

Farewells were briefly muted out while the last bell of the year rang. Students poured out of the room but John and Marisa stayed in their seats waiting for the doorway traffic to clear out.

“So, what’re you doing for the summer?” Marisa shrugged; her parents hadn’t planned any vacations this year, so she wasn’t exactly heading anywhere outside of Arizona.

“Nothing, how ‘bout you Gomez?” she smirked. It drove John crazy when he got called by his last name, but Marisa had pinned that nickname on him for good. John rolled his eyes.

“Just chilling, I guess,” he sighed. Marisa bobbed her head. “Uh, let’s go,” she tugged on his arm and began towards the door. She waved to him over her shoulder and headed to her locker which was one hallway down from all her other friends’ lockers. Weaving in and out between people, she reached her dull teal locker.

Inside, everything was packed and ready to go. Of course, it wasn’t much since most of the books she kept in her locker were either textbooks or library books, all of which she had returned. Her hoodie and shoulder bag were held up by the hooks, but both of them crumpled into the ground due to the shortness of the locker.

Marisa tied her hoodie around her waist and picked up her heavy bag. She pulled it over her head and let it hang at her hip. She turned back to her locker, peeking into the locker to make sure she didn’t leave anything valuable behind.

Before she could even understand what was happening, she was already on the floor. The weight on top of her shifted a bit before climbing back onto its own two feet.

“I win!”

Marisa stood up, brushed herself off and adjusted her bag before glaring at the brown haired boy.

“Kenny, you bastard,” she stuck her tongue out at him. He only returned the favour before both of them started laughing.

It was the end of the year, and Kennedy had easily become one of Marisa’s best friends. Over the ten months, the two of them had become tighter than almost anyone. Hell, he might’ve even been closer to Marisa than Jess.

“So,” Kennedy slung his arm around her shoulders. “We’re hanging out at my house today, and you have to come,” he demanded. Marisa giggled and wrapped her arm around his mid section.

“Why must I?” she asked. Kenny rolled his eyes. “Because,” he started with a ‘duh’ tone. “We’ve known each other for an entire year, and you haven’t been inside my house before. You’re coming,” his voice was firm and certain. “For sure I’ll come.”

Every single time Kennedy had ever invited Marisa to his house, she was always already booked with something else. Call it bad luck, but Kenny just had horrible timing.

“Yes! We’re off!”

They both sped off; Kenny was making childish race car sounds while Marisa was laughing hysterically.

- - - - -

A quick search for everyone else and visits to a few houses later, the group of five was trudging their slightly sweaty bodies up to the Brock household. You could tell the house had been painted within the last year since it was a flawless white. The yard was entirely green with grass, except for where the cement pathway was placed. Yellow dots of dandelions were also sprinkled into the green, making it look like a big patch of green fabric with neon yellow polka dots.

The five kids walked through the maroon door and into the air conditioned house. Everyone sighed with relief, glad to have escaped the early summer heat.

“Ma! I’m home!” Kenny shouted. A muffled ‘alright’ was returned.

Marisa followed closely behind the entire group that was expertly steering around Kenny’s house. They all eventually stopped at a plain white door that was only stained by the color of the golden doorknob. Jess threw the door open and it hit the wall behind it gently.

Inside, you could easily tell the room belonged to a teenaged boy. Clothing was scattered across the hardwood floor, along with sports magazines, empty bags of food and other tiny, unidentified items. A desk was placed next to the doorway and parallel to that was a bed. A poster-filled wall and closet doors took up the other side of the room while the wall that the door had hit earlier was blank.

Marisa didn’t notice any of this; instead, she was gazing at the something in the corner of the room.

“You play guitar Kenny?” she asked in an admiring tone. Her eyes shone as she looked at the boy. Kennedy blushed under gaze.

“Uh, well, sorta. I’m not very good though,” he mumbled, still looking at his feet.

“Yeah right! This kid could be a prodigy,” Jess teased. Kennedy scrunched up his face in disagreement, but that didn’t prevent his blush from deepening.

“I suck! What’re you talking about? That kid Jared in band can play better than me,” Kenny argued.

“Whatever you say…”

Marisa chuckled. “C’mon Kenny, play something for me?”

Kennedy mentally kicked himself when he felt his cheeks grow hotter. Marisa had put on a pout she didn’t even notice, and Kenny found it so damn adorable, hence his blush.

“Ah, just go woo her with your skills man,” John laughed as he nudged Kenny towards his acoustic guitar.

“Yeah, go Kenny, don’t be such a baby,” Stephen nudged him along too.

Jess leaned over to Marisa. “Kenny’s gonna get his butt whopped by the Gomez bros.” They both laughed silently while watching Kenny protest against the two brothers.

“Ugh, fine! You guys suck balls,” Kennedy huffed as he fetched the guitar from its corner. He sat down at the edge of his bed with a pick neatly in between his thumb and index finger. The other four gathered around him in a semicircle.

Kennedy began playing the first chord of an original song he had wrote, but Jessica placed her hand over the neck of the guitar, muting it.

“No lyrics?” she asked.

“No way!” Kenny got nervous playing guitar, but singing along too? He shook his head vigorously at the group. John rolled his eyes at Ken’s childish behaviour.

“Just go on then,” John sighed.

Kennedy grinned and continued on with his song. His fingers glided along the strings, holding down different strings creating different chords. The scratching sound from whenever he slid his hand somewhere else could be heard every so often in the song. Plucking the A string one last time, he finished the song.

Everyone stared at him in awe, no matter it be the first or tenth time they’ve seen him play it.

“You’re amazing Kenny!” Marisa gushed. He grinned at her, but that damned blush crawled onto his cheeks once again. “Th-thanks.”

“Dude, you have to sing the song sometime,” Stephen smiled. Kennedy shook his head in a childish manner.

“Awe! But you have to teach me one day Kenny,” Marisa squealed. Everyone laughed at her excitement.

“One day, I’ll teach you for sure,” Kennedy laughed.