Page 5 of To Love or to Lose
But that doesn’t change the fact that I waited until the last weekend possible.
Plus, Winnielovesthe atmosphere of the lake, and I have conceded that anything that could get Winnifred Carter away from ballet for almost an entire day can’t bethatterrible.
I jog down my house’s front porch steps as the girls wave at me from the car. Winnie is driving and agreed to pick both Eloise and me up.
I open the backdoor, jumping in before the car pulls back down my driveway.
“Glad you joined us for once, Gen,” Eloise snides sarcastically from the passenger seat.
“Oh, you know her.” Winnie smiles. “She’s busier than both of us combined.”
I roll my eyes. “Says you, Miss Ballet Prodigy.”
“Don’t pretend like school doesn’t completely consume you, even during the summer, Evie.” Winnie turns off my street and onto the main road.
“Yeah, how many colleges have you toured so far?” Eloise asks.
“A few.” I shrug.
The actual answer is seventeen.
Winnie looks back for a moment. “I thought you were set on Columbia. Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not sure,” I clip. “New York is a little too…close.” The only downside of wanting to go to college far from Connecticut is that all the Ivy Leagues are on the east coast, keeping me here.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed the structure of living in Fairwood. Small town leave little room for deviation, and that has always been of consolation to me.
Yet, I’m aware of the fact that my intelligence should not only know the bounds of Fairwood, and to grow into the best version of myself, I need to leave.
“Great, she’s trying to flee,” Eloise says to Winnie, throwing her head back with an exaggerated sigh.
“Do you really blame her?” Winnie replies, making Eloise sigh.
These two girls are my absolute best friends, my twin pillars keeping me standing when I’m in fear of falling, and as sad as the idea of me leaving is, I know that neither of them blame me.
They both know the type of disservice I would be doing myself by staying in a small town like Fairwood.
When we pull into the parking lot of Hagen’s Lake there are already swarms of high schoolers.
The closer we get to the beach the more people I recognize.
Everywhere I look there are kids from Fairwood, almost all of my classmates are here. Most of them are drinking beer from glass bottles, some are playing volleyball in the sand, and the rest are already in the water.
It’s not even noon yet.
“Kids from our school are seriously drinking beer openly in public?”What idiotsI scoff as I look toward the girls. “Is this what it looks like every day?”
“No, it’s not usually this packed,” Winnie says. Her and Eloise are already throwing their cover-ups on the blanket they have laid in the sand, leaving them in bikinis. “It’s the most popular night of the year, people will be here all day and all night.”
This is true, considering all the food trucks in the parking lot, and the games of sand volleyball going on that don’t look remotely close to being over. It doesn’t appear people will be leaving anytime soon.
“Come on, let’s get in the water,” Eloise says, pulling on my t-shirt, signaling for me to strip down to my bathing suit.
Her strawberry blonde hair sways with every movement, and her blue eyes are much more prominent in the sunlight.
“Won’t it be a little cold?” I ask sarcastically.
They both look at me in shock before Winnie declares, “that is officially the dumbest thing you’ve ever asked.”
