When the Party's Over

Staying up until two in the morning didn’t have any perks, despite what people said. But here I was, doing it anyways to get this stupid paper done for tomorrow. The deadlines came faster than I thought and I hadn’t been working much on the final thing. I had so many other projects I needed to work on on top of studying for tests and midterms coming up next month. Christmas break started after tomorrow and I couldn’t wait to be on the west coast this year. We were visiting my grandparents after not seeing them for a couple years and my mom was insistent on it. I wasn’t looking forward to leaving Miles here, but I enjoyed the thought of the beach and the sun.

My alarm went off a few hours later and I got dressed groggily, pulling on a pair of black jeans and a maroon sweater. I ate cereal downstairs and threw my jacket on when Miles came to pick me up. I kissed him good morning and had a good feeling about today. Maybe it was because of our break tomorrow.

“I’m gonna miss you.” Miles mumbled, jutting out his lip as we walked inside from the snow.

I laughed and reached up to push his lip back in. “It’ll be New Year’s Eve before you know it, Miles. That’s the best holiday.”

Every year his parents threw a huge party to welcome in the new year. I loved going because they always had champagne and it made me get handsy with Miles so he’d have to take me upstairs to his room. We usually ended up making out for the rest of the night and into the new year. That was the only reason why I loved that holiday.

I kissed Miles’ cheek before walking into homeroom and sitting next to Jill. “Morning,” I smiled warmly.

After giving her an apology for how I acted towards her months ago, we started talking again and actually got to know each other. I strangely liked her after blocking that possibility out of my head. She made me laugh with every weird thing that popped into her head. She was quite comedic to have around. She was probably the only person I’d ever been kind of close to besides Miles. Another weird thing as of late was my temper. It had been a lot better and manageable. I still had my moments and I tried my best not to push anyone out of my way.

“Are you excited to leave tomorrow?” Jill asked me as we walked to English.

I nodded, listening to music in one ear and her in the other. “It’ll be a lot of fun, I think. I haven’t been in a really long time.”

“I think so too. Don’t forget to send me pictures of the surfer babes on the beach. God, what I’d do to get my hands on one.”

I laughed as we walked into the classroom. “Try not to have an orgasm during class, Jill.”

We sat in our seats for the first half of class before doing an interactive thing for vocabulary. Every class right now was about getting ready for our midterms, except of course ceramics and gym. It was tiring really, but busy. I’d rather have it be busy than boring. It made time go by faster and I was dying to be on a plane right now.

Volleyball was our next unit in gym and it was going to last until February. I didn’t enjoy it as much as running, but it was freezing outside and I had to be okay with the sport for now. It wasn’t my favorite because I didn’t enjoy breaking my wrist every time I hit the ball. I did it anyways and rubbed my red skin when I stood off to the side as my partners passed the ball to each other. There were pairs of two practicing throughout one side of the gym after our teacher showed us how to set and hit the ball properly. We all knew this stuff, but it was required for her to go over it.

As I stood there, rubbing my wrists, I looked up at the glass from the hallway outside and saw Miles standing there with one of his friends. They were talking to a girl from my class and when Miles caught me looking, he grinned and tilted his head in my direction. I waved slightly before it was my turn to pass the ball back and forth. Miles was long gone when class ended. I changed back into my jeans and sweater and redid my bun as I headed toward my law class. My teacher seemed really proud when I handed him my paper after walking in. I guess maybe he thought I couldn’t do it on time, but it felt good when he praised me for it. Even if I did lose sleep, I was glad I finished it on time.

My eyes widened when I was suddenly grabbed just as my feet landed on the floor as I headed toward ceramics. I was pulled out of my normal route and took my headphone out of my ear when Miles pinned me up against the wall.

“What are you doing?” I laughed.

“There’s a hockey game tonight. You wanna go? I figured we could do that rather than watching a boring movie at my house.”

I nodded, staring into his brown eyes. “Sure. We can do that. Did you want to go to our spot to get something to eat first?”

“Yeah, that’ll be good. I think there’s a party too at Chase’s house after the game, but we don’t have to go.”

“I’ll go if you wanna go.”

He nodded and held my face as he kissed me. “I’ll see you after class, okay?”

We went opposite ways to our classes and I took my seat at the work bench, dying to get my hands dirty. All I needed to do was mold some clay and this day would be over.

I was definitely wrong about that.