The school year was over, somehow. It felt like it had gone by in a blur. One afternoon they'd been shopping for new school supplies and then suddenly the days bled into weeks and the weeks bled into months and before they knew it they were at the last day of school. It passed rather uneventfully. The last day of school was always sort of weird, even if the school did their best to make it memorable. Each class had its own little party, they all played games on the schoolgrounds outside, and then at the end they had the annual slideshow, presenting pictures taken across the course of the year that represented the kids and their growth.
Now, standing in the pick up circle near the bus stop, waiting for their respective parents to come get them, each girl felt somewhat different about the year coming to a close. "What's the first thing you're gonna do for summer vacation?" Chaz asked, and the girls thought about it for a moment before she answered her own question, saying, "I'm gonna go with my mom to get a big pizza, and then we're gonna watch movies out on the back patio with my sister." "That sounds very domestic," Trisha said, "...I doubt I'll be doing anything with my parents. Dad's gonna be at work, and mom will be so busy with my sister that I'll probably just spend my first day of summer by myself. Be nice. I'll bring a lot of snacks upstairs and I'll do a lot of reading." "Well, I don't know about you losers, but my dad is taking me to an arcade, and we're gonna play fighting games against one another and eat nachos and drink soda," Allie said. "That sounds fantastic," Mae said, "Usually the first day of summer is my stepdad coming up with what our summer plans will be, and so I'll probably help him with that. We generally go on lots of trips in the summer. We'll probably go back to Disneyland, and then maybe go camping, and maybe see some family. He always asks me to help cause he knows I like planning stuff." A moment passed, as another school bus slowed to a crawl and another herd of their peers piled onto it before it pulled away once again. The girls shifted uncomfortably in the warm early summer breeze. "This was a weird year wasn't it?" Trisha asked. "It really was," Mae replied, "...are we gonna see one another this summer?" "Well we have to! We always have the minigolf contest during the summer," Allie said, "So we have to see one another to prepare for that and then compete to see who becomes minigolf champion. But I'd like to hang out with you guys outside of that, yes." "It all depends I think on how often I'll be in town," Mae said, "My parents say summer is the time we have to spend together as a family because we're all so busy during the year. I have school, my stepdad has work, but during the summer we all have free time and we should do things together." "I wish I could travel," Chaz said, "I wish my mom and I and my sister could go somewhere. We just don't have the money. I wanna see the Grand Canyon." "You're not missing much. It's just a hole," Mae said. "But it's so grand!" Chaz said, everyone giggling. Just then a car pulled up, and Chaz's mom rolled down the window. The girls all said hello to her mom, and goodbye to Chaz. Chaz stumbled into the car, pulled the door shut behind her, and they headed away. Now it was just the three of them. Trisha wasn't in need of a ride, since she lived close enough to walk home, so she just was waiting for everyone else to get picked up first before she and Mae walked to her house and Mae got picked up there. This was the way they did it last year, and the way they said they'd do it every year afterwards. Tradition was important. "I think you're right," Allie said to Mae, "For what it's worth. I agree. It's just a hole. I could dig a big hole in my backyard." "First of all, you don't have a backyard," Trisha said, "Second of all it wouldn't be a GRAND hole." "I hate traveling," Mae said, "Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see stuff I've never seen and learn things and visit places, but...I hate all the effort it takes. I hate packing. I hate sleeping in unfamiliar places. I miss just being at home, and being with you guys. The summer is always weird cause I should be enjoying what I'm doing, and I kinda am, but on the other hand I'd rather be home and just playing games with all of you." "I understand how Chaz feels though," Allie said, shifting her feet on the concrete below, "I'd like to travel. See some stuff. I wanna go to New York and see the Empire State Building. I wanna see something so tall that it'd make me sick to look up at, and then make me scared to look down from it." "I heard you could drop a penny off there and kill someone," Mae said. "That's an urban legend," Trisha said. "Yeah, only because it takes place in an urban setting," Mae said, making them laugh as she added, "They'd never call it a country legend. I like to believe it's true. The world's just more fun when you believe in stuff. Aliens, Bigfoot, killing people with pennies from the top of a tall building." A truck pulled up and Allie's dad got out. He walked around to the passenger side, took Allie's backpack and tossed it into the back before opening the door for her so she could climb up and inside. "We talkin' about aliens and bigfoot?" he asked. "We saw a UFO once!" Allie said. "We sure did, right in our trailer park," her dad said. "That's usually where they frequent, so that's not surprising," Trisha said, making him chuckle. "Someday we'll have a little UFO party. The four of you girls and I will hang out in lawn chairs and look for aliens through binoculars and a telescope. I'll make BBQ and we'll wait to be beamed up to the mothership." "That sounds awesome," Mae said. He grinned, then waved at the girls as he headed back around to the drivers side and climbed in. As the truck pulled away, Trisha and Mae sighed, then started the medium walk back to Trisha's house a few blocks away. It was early summer, the air was sweet and light, the leaves were beautiful overhead as they passed beneath trees, and all around them were the sounds of kids running home or being picked up by their parents or already home and playing in the yard. "What's on your summer reading list?" Mae asked. "A lot of stuff for church, actually, but also some easy chapter books," Trisha said, "...do you think things are different this year? Do you think we all kinda...acted strange? Like not ourselves? I feel like stuff was easier last year. Not as complicated and weird." "I think you're right," Mae said, nodding in agreement as she tugged at her backpack straps, hoisting them further up her shoulders, "I think things were easier last year. When Allie and I went school supply shopping with my mom, we talked about getting older and how scary it is. And now here we are, already the end of fourth grade. After a few months it'll be fifth grade, and then sixth grade. Then middle school! That only lasts for two years, and then it's high school! I don't want time to keep going. I want everything to stop, stay the way it is. I wanna keep doing arts and crafts in class and playing tag at recess and going trick or treating." They continued further along, turning a block, getting closer to Trisha's house. Neither one said a word for a bit, and then Mae sighed heavily and shook her head. "What if we all continue to get weirder and as a result more distant? What if, come middle school, we're no longer friends? What if we have entirely different groups of friends? Would everything we did together have meant nothing?" she asked. "Let's make a deal then," Trisha said, "At least you and me. Let's say that, no matter what, we'll always be friends, okay? No matter what happens, no matter who else we meet, no matter where we might end up or how much things might change, we, you and I, will always be best friends, okay?" "That sounds really hard, but I like a challenge," Mae said, laughing. "Cause, frankly, I don't know what I'd do without you guys," Trisha said, "I love my mom, but she's overbearing, and having an outside friend group, especially one where we're all from such different backgrounds, makes me feel almost normal. You know Allie and Chaz are Catholic, and that's what the majority of the kids at our school seem to be, but I'm Mormon and you're Jewish, and so we're kinda buddies in that sense. We don't belong with them, but we belong with eachother." Mae blushed. She'd always liked Trisha, and how she was able to make a good thing out of a not so good thing. As they reached the house and climbed up onto the porch, the girls set their backpacks down and sat on the enormous porch swing together, looking out at the street. "One day," Mae said, "We'll be adults, and we'll watch our kids come home from school, and we'll be sitting right here on this porch, being best friends still." "I like that," Trisha said, holding Mae's hand tightly, "Best friends forever." After a while of staying at Trisha's, having a snack and playing some computer games, Mae was picked up by her mom. When she got home, she headed into her bedroom and she looked through her school yearbook. There wasn't much to it, it was an elementary school yearbook after all, and none of the girls really participated in what few afterschool activities existed within the elementary school curriculum, but there was one photo. A photo that had been taken by a random teacher one afternoon while the girls were sitting together at lunch outside at their usual picnic table. Mae and Allie were on the top of the table, throwing cheese cubes into one anothers mouths to see who could get it in first, while Chaz sucked on a drink pouch straw and Trisha was laughing herself stupid. It was a black and white photo, but even without color it was so vibrant thanks to the life presented within it. This was the photo Mae would always remember, even years down the line. This was the photo that, even as an adult, she'd photocopy and have hung on the corkboard in her bedroom. This was the photo that defined their friendship. Four very different girls from four very different families. All together having a great time, just being kids. That night, Mae would fall asleep holding the yearbook open on her chest, this photo still on the page. Her lava lamp would be on, her air purifier would be going, and the TV in her bedroom would be on mute but cartoons would be playing nonetheless. And she would be asleep, dreaming of her friends. She made the decision to spend as much time with her friends before she went on vacation, and she was determined to make that happen. But for right now, at least, she had this. She had the photo. She had Trisha's promise. And she had the next 8 years of school to look forward to.
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FANNYPACK follows 4 girls - Chaz, Allie, Trisha and Mae - in the 90s as they deal with adolescence and friendship. Archives
December 2022
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