Last Summer

Scooping up some more tartar sauce onto his chip, Joe rested his tongue against the front of his teeth as he registered what Leah had just said. Something about a boyfriend (bummer, extreme bummer), and struggling with studying and the picky girls in the 12th grade.

“Alright, let me get this straight.” Joe started, resting his chin against the palm of his hand.

Stubble tickled the skin, as a razor had not met his face in a few days. His grandmother kept picking at him to shave it off, but since Evergreen was a laidback town, he assumed nobody would mind. “This Drew guy is giving you mixed messages. The school queen is spreading rumours about you, and studying and dealing with school work is self-explanatory.”

Proud that Joe could retell the main and most important facts from her twenty minute long speech, Leah nodded. She finished her fish and chips, pummelling the paper packaging into a compact ball. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Oh, and also, she’s giving me crap because I’m not into the junk she is. I mean, what’s wrong with liking boys’ things, and beating around the paddock on a motorbike?”

Joe almost choked on the lump of hamburger he was slowly chewing. “You ride motorbikes!” he gasped incredulously. “That’s so freaking awesome! I like you a whole lot more now!”

With a laugh, Leah twisted the seal cap on her strawberry pop and took a small sip. She shrugged, swallowed her beverage, and began to answer. “Well I like you too Joe.” she admitted, a sporadic blush spreading over her cheeks and nose, and up to her forehead. “It’s nice to have someone my age around for the summer.”

“Motorbike, motorbike, motorbike.” Joe repeated with a mumble. Leah checked the time on her watch and stood up. It was two in the afternoon, and most definitely time to get back to the garage.

“Yeah motorbike.” she nodded. “And if you hurry up and finish eating, then maybe I’ll let you have a ride on it.” She cocked her brow, and watched as Joe shoved the rest of the burger in his mouth whole. Maybe letting take control of the bike by himself wasn’t such a good idea, Leah mused. After all, look at the damage he’d already made.

But Leah managed to hold back her negative thoughts. The chance to make a good friend so quickly was an event that seldom came to Leah. She tended to take a long time to evaluate the positives and negatives of having a relationship with that person, but by the time she was finished with her decision, they’d already grown tired and wandered off.

[xxx]

Leah decided to double on Joe’s bike on the way back. Joe appreciated this situation by subtly staring at her firm lower back. What looked like the beginning of a tattoo poked up over the top of Leah’s basketball shorts. The pre-occupation of Joe’s eyes caused the wheels of the push-bike to veer over towards the sidewalk. Leah let out a scream, and jerked the handlebars to the left in a desperate bid to avoid a collision with a collection of stinking trash cans.

The sound of skin and bitumen meeting was not one that anybody would be pleased to hear. Everything happened in a blur, and Joe, Leah and the bike ended up in a jumbled mess. Blood slowly trickled down the male teenager’s leg from a large gash on his calf. By the way Leah hoisted Joe up, she seemed to not have any injuries herself. But a large flap of skin was hanging from her arm, her knee was sliced open and her palms were covered in grazes. They hauled the dented bicycle to the gutter, Leah immediately checking for damage.

“Ow.” Joe moaned, biting his lip to try and lessen the pain. On the other hand, Leah was kicking the front wheel of the bike. Upon hearing her friend’s announcement of hurt, she discarded her attempt at mechanical repair, and knelt down beside Joe.

“Are you okay?” she asked, before shaking her head. “Stupid question.” She took the patient’s leg in her palm and sighed thoughtfully, pursing her lips. Joe accidently let out a small snort when she began to remove her tank top. “I’m not giving you a strip dance! I’m making it into a bandage!”

An uncontrollable blush spread over his face. Leah folded up the shirt and tied it tightly over Joe’s wound. He smiled in appreciation, getting to his feet. “What about you?” Leah looked down, her eyes skimming over her injuries. I’m fine, she told him, but as soon as she stood up, the agony set in.

“You can’t get back like this.” Joe worried, pursing his lips as he thought of another plan. “Here! Get on my back, I’ll carry you home.” After some scepticism and doubt, Leah accepted his offer. They left the bike by the side of the road, deciding to come back for it later.

Legs wrapped around waist, and they were off. Joe made grunting noises as a joke, pretending to be a hiker. Bodily fluid from Leah’s lacerations dripped onto his brand new shirt. Joe managed to carry Leah’s light weight for a short while, until he became tired. They were right outside the high-school when he had to release her.

By chance, the school they stopped in front of was the one Leah attended. And to make matters even better, they were having an open day for the parents of freshman students 2011. Joe gave Leah a pleading look, and she complied with his beseeching.

“Wow.” Joe mumbled, gazing at the school hallways as the two strolled through them. After a request, Leah was going to show Joe her locker. The twist-combination lock was not working, no matter how hard the young woman tried. She rattled it, and then realised there was a large wad of chewed multi-coloured gum carelessly wedged in the rotating part of the security device.

Leah tried to hide the angry tears welling in her eyes. This sort of behaviour by one specific girl in her grade had been going on for weeks. She yanked a bobby-pin from her blonde hair, and thrust it into the gum furiously. Joe was too distracted by the notices on a board by room 204, to notice, or hear, Leah slamming her head against the firmly stuck door.

Carla Walter had always picked on Leah, no matter what age they were. It started back in year 9, when Carla told Leah she needed a serious makeover. That statement hadn’t bothered Leah, but when Carla made comments about the mother of the Wilds family, it really set Leah off. Carla wasn’t the typical school bully; she didn’t have platinum bottle blonde hair, nor did she have makeup caked on. She was simple, sometimes wearing square rimmed glasses. She may of been quite pretty on the outside, but the soul inside could make anybody’s life horrible.

“Sometimes I wish I’d gone to a regular school.” Joe sighed. Leah swallowed the heavy lump in her throat, finally busting open the locker door. The force she used caused her textbooks to tumble out, hitting the floor with a loud ‘bang.’ “Advanced chemistry, biology, advanced calculus. It appears we have a smart cookie on our hands.”

Leah replied with a small grunt, reaching up to gingerly run her fingers over the Polaroid picture sticky-taped to the inside of the door. It was part of her memories; a small girl perched upon her daddy’s broad shoulders.

There were many more problems that Leah hadn’t made Joe aware of. These other issues ran deeper and they were often hard to forget. Pushing the bad moments of the past into the garbage bin section of her brain, Leah bent down, scooping up the heavy textbooks. Joe peeked inside the locker, stretching his fingers out to collect an artificial rose tucked tightly behind a black and purple backpack.

“Did lover boy give you this and 11 real roses with a note that said I will love you until the last flower dies?” Joe teased, chuckling. Leah kept her back turned. Joe placed his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort but she bitterly shrugged it off. “Lee, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Gosh, sometimes I don’t think before I open my mouth, and- oh here I go again.”

Leah slammed the locker door, giving her friend an awful fright before walking off down the hallway like nothing had happened. Joe couldn’t help but notice the blood making a curved line down the back of her right calf.

[xxx]

Joe decided to go straight home after dropping Leah off at the garage and collecting his bike. It made an irritating ‘clunk clunk’ noise as he wheeled the dented bicycle home. It was only 3 o’clock, but the sun was making its slow decent behind the horizon. Papa and Nana Jonas were sitting on the front porch, engaging in an intense game of Monopoly. Joe dumped the bike on the dead patch of grass where a trailer full of chopped had previously sat, and leapt up the small set of stairs to the house two at a time.

“How was your day, Joseph?” the older female asked, pouring a glass of fresh cranberry juice and offering it to her grandson. He took it gratefully, bringing the glass to his lips for a well-needed refreshment.

“It was alright.” Joe shrugged. “Leah and I had a slight accident with the bike and may of ripped off some skin, but apart from that I’m good.”

Papa shook his head at the clumsiness. “Always you Joe, always you.”

It always had been him, not only with causing accidents, but causing tears and emotions. At the present moment, Joe blamed himself for possibly turning Leah against him. There was a possibility that breaking the CD player was the reason for Leah’s shielded anger. All he wanted to do was talk, but often, opening his mouth got him in a lot of trouble.
[xxx]

Leah limped upstairs to make sure her father wasn’t inside the garage kitchen before locking the window and turning off all the electrical appliances. Just as she was about to push the TV’s power button, the phone began to shrill. The number register above the communication device flashed eight digits Leah hadn’t expected to see.