Chapter 1
Micah
I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift, I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end
{‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ -Nirvana}
“Oomph.” Ugh. This is no way to start off my Spring Break. I lay on my back and look up to my white ceiling with my glow in the dark stars that my parents let me put up when I was 6. Time flies.
My Sophomore year of high school will be over in less than three months. Then I will have two years left in this little small town in South Mississippi. I think I am a bit above excited. As much as I love my hometown, I am ready to see the world open up for me. I know there is more out there and I can’t wait to discover it.
I get up from the floor and make my way to the kitchen. We live in a simple one story house. Three bedroom, two bath, brick home. My parents expected to have two children. After I was born, Mama had some issues that prevented her from ever carrying another baby to term. Mama has told me that it was heartbreaking at the time but, she is blessed to have me. My parents are my world. They don’t spoil me, I don’t think, but they sure do love me.
Mama is in the kitchen fixing breakfast and dancing along to ‘Hands to Heaven’ by Breathe. I never see her not cooking something or moving to some sort of music. She is the epitome of ‘dancing to your own beat’.
“Mama, what in the world is that noise outside this morning?” She glances back at me while she continues to scramble her eggs.
“I think it is Roy doing something over at their house. I’m sorry it woke you up sweetie.” My mama, Lucy Carson. She is the sweetest woman I know.
“Ugh. Doesn’t he know that kids are home right now. It’s Saturday for crying out loud. Doesn’t he sleep late or something? I’m sure Zant isn’t happy either.”
Zant Michael Taylor.
The boy next door.
My best friend.
My crush since, I don’t know… forever.
The Taylor’s have lived next door to us since Zant and I were 4. When we turned 6, Mrs. Suzie passed away from cancer. It was a horrible time and ever since Zant lost his mama, his dad has been a totally different man. He’s mean, he drinks a lot, and he hits Zant. Even though I’m not supposed to know all of that, I do. Zant is always trying to protect me.
Silly boy, he should know I can take care of myself.
I walk into the living room and see Daddy sitting on the couch with the paper. “What are you doing today, Daddy?”
“I don’t know Mi.”
I’ve been called ‘Mi’ since I was around 7. Zant gave it to me as a ‘friend name’ but everyone else seemed to catch on to it and it stuck.
“I need to go mow the yard and clean up a little outside. What are you going to do on your first official day of Spring Break?” He is looking at me over his paper with a smirk on his face.
“Kelly, Macy, and I are going to the mall around lunch to look for bathing suits. Is that ok?” Daddy never minds me going and doing things. I’m his princess and he lets me get away with things, but I still like to run things by him before I do them. I think they call it respect. All I know is that my mama would have my hide if I didn’t ask and just went. I’m scared of that woman’s wrath.
“Of course, it’s ok. Who is taking y’all?”
“Macy’s mama said she would drop us off and come back to pick us up when we get done. I think the guys are meeting us there too.” I tell Daddy about the boys coming because I know it settles his mind a little when the guys are with us and we aren’t out and about on our own. He’s overprotective and I’m the only child.
“That works for me. Zant, Levi, and Chance will watch out for you three.” He winks at me before he goes back to reading his paper. I head up to my room to get ready. The girls will be by to get me soon enough anyway.
Once I get out of the shower and put some skinny jeans and a t-shirt on, an hour had passed. I crawl onto my bed to read a chapter of this new book I downloaded on my Kindle last night. I have time. It only takes me about ten minutes to do my hair and makeup. That’s the beauty of not wearing a lot of makeup and wearing my hair in a ponytail most of the time.
I hear laughter a little while later and know that the girls are here. They are in the kitchen with Mama. She must be telling them what kind of swim suits they cannot buy or wear in public this summer. She gives this little speech about modesty every year. Like we don’t know her rules by heart.
When I get into the kitchen, the girls are stuffing their faces with muffins. “Are y’all ready to go?” I ask them. They both nod at me with their mouths full. I roll my eyes.
“Thanks, Mrs. Lucy.” The girls say in unison as we head out the door to get into the car with Macy’s mom.
We arrive at the mall a little bit later. That is the joy of living in a small town. Everything is close by. “Thanks for the ride, Mom.” Macy says to her mama. “Y’all call me when you’re ready for me to come back and pick you up. Stay with the guys and don’t talk to strangers.” Macy’s mama says. We all three giggle and get out of the car.
“When are the guys getting here anyway?” Kelly says to no one in particular.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to any of them. They are supposed to meet us at the fountain in the middle of the mall. Let’s head that way first to see if they are there.” I tell them as we start to head that way.
“There you guys are.” I hear them before I see them. Levi, I know it’s him by his smell, grabs me from behind and I let out a little squeak. “Levi, stop. You scared the crap out of me. You know how I hate for you to do that.” I say even though I don’t know why because he never listens to me. I turn around in his arms and give him a hug. Levi is the best hugger that I know.
All six of us have been friends since Kindergarten. We know each other like we are brothers and sisters. Oddly enough, none of us have dated each other. The guys date older girls and us girls aren’t that into dating just yet. The down side to living in a small town, there aren’t many guys to choose from. Everyone around us, we’ve known since before we were even in school and have no desire to have as boyfriends. Yet.
Chance hits Levi on the back. “Don’t take all of the hugs man. It’s my turn. I haven’t seen Mi in days.” He gives me his sweet smile with his exaggeration. He saw me yesterday at school. I giggle at him.
“What are we, chop liver?” Kelly says with a laugh as she moves in to hug Levi and I move over to Chance.
“Never Kel. Never.” Levi says with a snort as he hugs her. We all make the rounds like we didn’t just see each other. We made these exact plans yesterday. I hug Zant last and like always, our hug last a little longer than all the rest. I grab on to the hair at the base of his neck. For some reason, that is my most favorite feel in the world.
“Ok you guys, what is the plan? We don’t particularly want to go look at swim suits with you girls for hours.” Levi says. He is the most outspoken of the guys in our group. Chance is the quietest of them all and Zant is somewhere in the middle. He talks to me more than he does anyone else. I think it is because we are the most comfortable with each other. We spend more time alone together than we do with any of the others.
I laugh at the look on Levi’s face. “You guys are not going with us to watch us try on suits anyway. Don’t even think that, big boy.” I say as I poke him in the chest. He laughs. “You guys go get what y’all need and we will go get started finding the perfect summer attire. We will all meet back here in what, an hour?” I ask as I look at the girls. Kelly is nodding. It never takes us long to shop. We look at Macy at the same time.
“What? Why are y’all looking at me? I won’t take longer than an hour. I think I already know what I’m getting.” Macy says with a stern look on her face. We giggle and start to head to the department store.
“One hour girls.” Zant says. “Don’t make us come looking for y’all. You know Levi will embarrass you if we have to find y’all.” He says this as he pushes Levi backwards toward the opposite end of the mall. We pick up the pace because he is right about that.
“Oh, I love that one Mace.” I tell Macy when she steps out in an orange one piece that is cut out on the sides. Orange is her color with her naturally dark skin and dark brown hair. I always have tan envy when I’m with her. My hair has gotten darker the older I get but it is nowhere near as beautiful and dark as Macy’s. And the color white is based on my skin color. I’m exaggerating, but I have to work for a tan every year. She just keeps a natural one all year long. Some things in life are totally unfair.
Macy fidgets with the suit a little to make it fit just right. She looks in the full-length mirror. “Yeah, I like this one the best. I picked it out of the magazine last week. It basically called my name.”
I turn to look at Kelly. She is walking out of the dressing room in a yellow one piece that has a skirt over it. It’s cute, but I don’t think the color is right for her. What do I do here? Say something or not?
“No. Kelly, that makes you look like big bird.” I gasp and look up to see Chance, and the look on his face would be comical if I weren’t so shocked that he spoke up. Against something, at that.
Kelly starts laughing. “Thanks Chance. I was wondering if these two were going to be honest and say something.” She eyeballs Macy and me.
Busted.
“What are you doing here? Where are the other two? Please tell me they are somewhere else. It hasn’t even been an hour.” I say this as I look over his shoulder and around the store. I don’t see them and let out a sigh of relief.
“They are at the game store. I wasn’t feeling it so I came to make sure y’all didn’t need any help from a guy.” He says as he winks at me. I know why he is really here, but my lips are glued shut.
I giggle and push Kelly back into the dressing room. “Here you go, big bird. This isn’t working for you.”
I pick out a pretty blue two piece that is more of a tank top and a bikini bottom. I always wanted a blue suit so that is what I am going with this year.
Kelly chose a black two piece that is a little like mine. It has more design to it and has shorts. It’s a much better choice over the big bird suit. After making our purchases, we follow Chance to the game store to meet up with the boys. He sent a text to Zant to make sure they were still there before we walked all that way.
“Did you girls get some hot stuff?” Levi, the ever ladies’ man, ask us when we walk up.
“Shut it, Levi.” Macy tells him while she looks at the ground.
I wonder what that is about. Usually she smarts off to him and brings full fire when she does. She almost looks shy right now. I look at Kelly and she isn’t even paying attention. She’s watching some guys in another group walk by. I keep looking at Macy so she will look up. She never does.
Huh. I will figure that out later.
“Ok, you guys, what next? Where are we headed?” I say to get everyone moving and we all just start walking. We make our way to the food court and grab ice cream. Several people from school are here as well. We speak when someone speaks. We have a small mall. It’s mostly just a few of your bigger name brand department stores with a few smaller stores in between. The mall is the hang out spot in town. With all the craziness that is going on in the world, inside and outside are unsafe places. We could encounter a ‘mall shooter’ any day, but we could also encounter a shooter out in a parking lot as well. It’s not like we haven’t had a drive by or several in my life time. I’m convinced no city in the United States is free of some form of terror at some point. Something happens everywhere at one point or another. No one is exempt. That’s just life. Evil walks amongst us and no matter where you go or where you hide, it can find you just as easily as God’s goodness can.
We finish our ice cream and decide to just walk around and window shop. We still have a while before we all need to be home for supper.
Zant comes up beside me as we walk. “Hey Mi. Am I eating with you guys tonight? Did your mama say? Roy isn’t home. Again.” Zant calls his dad by his name. He quit calling him dad when we were in elementary school. I understand why. Roy is a very mean man and in no way what you would picture when you think of as a dad to someone. He’s the type that would kick little puppies just for drunken giggles. Those type disgust me and he surely does. He has been giving me the creeps since Mrs. Lucy passed.
“Of course, you are eating with us. You know you never need to ask. Mama would let you move in with us if she could.” I tell him this again. I’ve told him that he never has to ask to come over. Mama and Daddy both have told him the same thing. He’s just too polite to simply take us up on it.
“K. Thanks.” He says as we keep walking. We are several feet behind the others at this point. Apparently, we had slowed down to talk.
“What’s going on Zant? You are quiet today. Is everything ok with you? I didn’t see you this morning and I woke up to your dad… Roy banging on something over there.” He isn’t acting like his normal goofy self to me and no matter how good he thinks he is at hiding his feelings, I can tell.
“Everything is fine, Micah. No need for you to worry about me.” He says it smoothly but, I can ‘feel’ the command in his statement.
“This is our week for Spring Break. We need to only think about having fun this week. That is what I want anyway.” We have stopped walking and he is staring at me. “Ok Z. Let’s have a fun week.” I tell him as he wraps me up in a huge hug. I let it go because I will always give him whatever he wants. We then walk to catch up with everyone else while he keeps one arm wrapped around my shoulders.