Everything's Changing Now

Stephen Gomez stood smiling at his friends. Today had been a big day, probably the biggest of his 18 years yet. He heard the countdown, and on ‘one’ he ripped off his hat and threw it in the air, quickly hugging the nearest person to him, before stooping to pick up a random hat off the ground. He crookedly placed it on his head before running to meet up with his parents and brother, throwing smiles and words of congratulations to his peers. He had never been happier in his life; he finally graduated high school, his band was gaining a reputation in the local scene, and he had a beautiful girlfriend. Leigh, his girlfriend of almost two years, was currently in the middle of her own graduation ceremony. The two were planning on meeting up around four that night to go out to eat before the traditional festivities of the night took place.

“Bro, hurry up! I’m hungry, and that was way boring to have to sit through,” Stephen heard his younger brother, John, yelling at him. John had just finished his sophomore year, though girls in every grade hung over him all the time. He was the more flirtatious of the two brothers, and he used his powers over the female gender to his advantage. He wasn’t a dick, he just liked being surrounded by them at all times, and this was often the case. He had never had an official girlfriend, but he almost always had the hottest girl at the time on his arm. His mother had taught both brothers to treat girls respectfully, and they both very strictly followed her guidelines. Stephen was amused by his brother’s behavior, and laughed as one of his fellow classmates talked to John, making sure he’d be at her party that evening.

“Okay player, you’re not worried about eating. You just wanna get home to freshen up for tonight,” Stephen grinned at his brother. Being a fellow male, he encouraged his brother’s actions, though Stephen was set on finding his brother a good girlfriend this summer. “So, do you have a date tonight, or are you planning on macking on as many girls from my class as you can before they leave?”

Looking appalled at the suggestion of having a date, John playfully pushed his brother. “Yes, I’m definitely the ‘have a date to a party’ type. Especially when that party is the biggest one of the year and one of the last times I’ll see the lovely faces of the class of ’07.”

Still laughing, Stephen hugged his parents and posed for pictures for another twenty minutes before the family left for lunch. As they pulled into the restaurant, Stephen received a text from Leigh.

”Come over closer to seven tonight. I have other dinner plans, but I still want to see you before the party.

Stephen thought nothing of the change in plans, sent a “K” as a reply, and went in to enjoy lunch with his family.
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Sophie Westman returned home from the graduation party she attended at three in the morning, about four hours earlier than everyone else. Her best friend, Maria, had ditched her to hook up with some junior and all of her other friends seemed to be doing something else as well. Fed up with always having to wait for her, Sophie decided to leave, telling a few people that if they saw Maria to let her know she needed a ride home. She knew she’d hear shit for it in the morning, but she didn’t care anymore.

Sophie was always the “good girl,” rarely drinking, never getting detentions, and always looking out for her younger cousin. Her cousin, Delaney, had just finished junior year and had quite the reputation of a partier and the queen of hooking up. She only goes for the most attractive and most taken guys though, the boyfriends of the head cheerleader, class president, and multiple “best” friends. Sophie was about as fed up with her cousin as she was with Maria, but she knew she wouldn’t have to deal with her friend anymore since she was going to school in New York. Her cousin, however, she was stuck with.

Both sets of the girl’s parents decided to book a vacation traveling Europe for three months, and were sending both girls to stay with family friends in Scottsdale. Sophie was more than pleased about this because she would be interning at an animal shelter she had visited the previous summer while staying with the same friends. She would also have her own room with roof access so she could spend the four days a week she didn’t work rereading her enormous book collection, and she would have her own car for most of the summer because one of the kids would be away as a camp counselor. She was planning on taking random trips around Scottsdale and its surrounding areas, hoping to see things they didn’t have in Flagstaff.

Delaney was feeling quite the opposite of her cousin. Her parents had heard her barking about how much she didn’t want to go for the past three months, how many of her friends had offered to let her stay with them. Her parents wouldn’t have any of it. They told her this would be a good experience, maybe help tone her down a bit. The only thing Delaney was looking forward to was a very simple, four letter word: boys.