Tonight We Rule the World by Zack Smedley

Author:Zack Smedley [Smedley, Zack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Street Publishing Co.
Published: 2021-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

FOUR

THANK GOD LILY AND I HAVE WORKED THINGS OUT.

Come Monday, I rejoin the group in carpooling to school instead of taking the bus like I had for the past few weeks. For a minute, I’m nervous. I’m waiting for the questions, the side-eyes, the surreptitious glances exchanged behind my back. Instead, Vic says hi, Austin pats me on the shoulder, and Beth hugs me. Then they ask how my weekend went, and I sink back into everything immediately: the banter, the rhythm of talking with them, all of it.

We spend our last week of high school doing a whole lot of nothing. All around us, things are wrapping up. Beth has her last track meet. Austin quits his job at the frozen yogurt shop. We enjoy the catharsis of cleaning out our lockers, only to get nostalgic when we realize we’ll never have lockers again. We feel our backpacks get lighter and spend evenings shooting the shit down at the playground. And me, I’m right back where I belong: enjoying the end of everything together and hanging on to all the little moments exactly like I want to. It’s the group and me, ready to blow the hinges off the universe. I can just feel that this era of my life is lightning in a bottle—the kind of thing that you don’t find everywhere or anywhere except here and now.

My last day of high school is on a Tuesday. I get up and I put on my annual Last Day of School outfit: a red T-shirt with faded jeans and mismatched socks. When the five of us meet up to drive to school that morning, Beth’s “hi hi” is in a voice that sounds like a grimace … excited, but wary. We’re all bracing ourselves. Then we walk into school without our backpacks and go to first period for the last time.

I end up leaving lunch early to wander the main hallway. I laugh a little at the freedom of breaking the rules … what’re they going to do, write me up?

All the things I felt in this building … the rush of walking to classes with friends for the first time. The good days; the bad days. The ordinary ones. From now on, if I ever walk this hall again, it’ll be just like I used to, instead of just like I do.

When will I even walk through the halls again, anyway? What will it feel like?

“I’m graduating, bitch,” I murmur under my breath.

“What’d you call me?”

I jump at Lily’s voice, but I turn to see she’s giving me her usual teasing smile. She reaches out and puts her hand over mine, swiveling so she’s standing shoulder to shoulder with me.

“How’re you doing so far?” she asks, in that I-know-today-is-rough-for-you voice.

“Not bad, not great. Everything’s dialed up to eleven.”

“Isn’t it always for you?”

“Fair enough. Dialed up to fifteen, then.”

“Fifteen. Oof.” She pats my arm, pulling me next to her. And together, there we stand. Facing the empty hall.

“This might just be a me-thing,” Lily says, “but it feels like we just started here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.