When Summer Ends: a Novel by Jessica Pennington

Author:Jessica Pennington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

* * *

Late morning I shove a bottle of water, my notebook, and some fruit into a bag and ride my bike to the state park. I’ve never been here before but I expected it to be busier for some reason. Maybe because Aiden made it sound like such a hotspot. I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing here. Maybe I secretly hope to run into him. Even though I know he’s working today. We were supposed to be off on the same day, but he owes Ellis for Monday.

I’m not brave enough to hike out into the dunes by myself, so I lock my bike up and walk toward the little peninsula that juts out into the tiny lake. I haven’t been here since I was a kid. It felt bigger then. I’m not even sure I can call this a lake and not a giant pond—the water is shallow, not deeper than my knees for as far as I can see. A quarter of the lake is engulfed in lily pads. The grassy peninsula that pushes out into the lake is crowned by a giant weeping willow, the branches reflecting in the water all around it. I sit under the tree and toe my shoes off. My notebook on my lap, I stare out across the water.

This stupid unnecessary drama with Aiden has forced me to think about Zander. We broke up two weeks ago, and I made out with a guy in a stairwell that I basically just met—really met—last week. It took Zander years of us being friends for him to kiss me. It took Aiden one day alone with me. I’m not sure if that means Aiden is just a ho, or if Zander had to really convince himself over the years that he wanted to be with me.

I’ve drifted into a hazy state, the kind where you’re looking at something but don’t really see it anymore, and there are no discernible thoughts in your mind, when my bag buzzes beside me.

Emma:

What happened?

Olivia:

Crap, I’m sorry. Completely spaced.

I was supposed to meet Emma at The Cherry Pit for her lunch break. I check the time and realize I’ve been sitting here for almost two hours. This lake is like the land of no time. It’s probably a good thing I don’t spend more time outdoors, or my whole life would just rush past me in a blur of moments I don’t even remember.

Olivia:

Still nothing.

Emma:

I can’t believe you’re this pissed.

Olivia:

This is a completely douche-canoe thing to do. You’d be pissed.

Emma:

True. But you’re the girl who just broke up with the ‘love of her life.’ Two weeks ago you didn’t want anything to do with guys.

Olivia:

And I still don’t. Definitely not.

Emma:

Hey, at least if you move, you won’t leave a broken-hearted Aiden Emerson behind. That boy has broken enough lately.

I laugh out loud, and the little girl and her grandpa fishing on the opposite side of my giant tree give me a dirty look, like I’m screaming in the middle of the library.

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