“To this crappy world, we know.” She madly exhales from the back seat, but I just smile happily.
I think I can stand one night of crappy music if the reward is watching Allison reading a book of my choosing.
This could be fun.
7
Rock-Paper-Scissors-West
“C’mon!” Allison grunts just as I lose to my sister in rock-paper-scissors.
It’s Saturday, which means Allison and I lost and have to go get the laundry from the clothesline. It’s sad that a seventeen-year-old can’t beat a twelve-year-old, but that’s reality.
The sun has set a while ago, and stars are starting to appear. We should probably hurry up.
As I step outside, I feel the summer breeze and walk around the garden, while listening to Allison complaining.
“I’m almost 99.99% sure that your sister cheated.”
“How do you cheat at rock-paper-scissors?” I laugh, looking around the garden just as she continues the ranting.
I always felt lucky having a big house in the country, but I only come here in summer and on holidays. The garden has apool, a garage, and in the back, an orchard. It has many other things… Like aclothesline...
When we get to the clothesline, I place my speaker on a tiny stone table nearby, and before I can even suggest a song, Allison turns to me with what looks like an overly enthusiastic and dangerous face.
“You know what we haven’t done in a really,reallylong time?”
Honestly, I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I think in the depths of my despair and my heart, unfortunately, I know where she’s going with this.
“The Shake It Off!” She clarifies, and I sigh, cringing at the memory of us forcing our parents to sit and watch a dance we had been rehearsing for a week, including in the middle of school.
“We’re not doing The Shake It Off.”
I start taking the clothes off the clothesline, and as if she didn’t hear a word I say,Shake It Off by Taylor Swiftstarts booming through the garden.
I continue what we were originally supposed to be doing, and Allison dances coordenated beside me, but when the bridge comes on, I can’t help but ditch the chore at hand and join Allison, mimicking Taylor’s voice while muscle memory does the rest.
Our dancing comes to a stop, for dramatic effect, and we look at each other and pretend to hit the high note, immediately followed by the rest of the dance.
Suddenly, I hear several claps, making us follow the sound.
We face the balcony of the house next to mine.
“Didn’t know you could move for more than five seconds without passing out, Brown. Good for you!” A voice says. It’s dark, and I can’t see anything but the clothesline, but unfortunately, I know exactly who just saw us.
“Wow, haven’t seen that dance since 5th-grade recess.” Another joins.
“Thank you, thank you, I know, the world will never know how brilliant we are.” Allison bows, but I stand frozen, heat rising to my cheeks in complete utter embarrassment.
You know, in school, back in the city, a lot of rumors would come around and appear. EitherDid you know she hooked up with…orShe cheated on her boyfriend with… Even though the rumors were endless, as it is expected to happen in a high school, there was one thing, better,one personthey all had in common.
Jake West. The very same from the detention. As if going to the same school wasn’t enough, he also happens to be my neighbor. I feel like I need to explain this better.
Our parents have been best friends forever, so they do everything together, and their kids do everything together. Same school, same dinner every other Friday night, houses next to each other — how they first met in the 80s.
His house is one of the three big houses around here, if we exclude Amanda’s mansion. There’s mine, his, and one across mine that’s half house, half castle.
I always dreamt of living in a castle, and that one specifically blocks the view of the perfect sunset with its big tower, which means that ithasto have a fantastic view. So, no, I wouldn’t mind living in there, either.
