“The best thing about Sadie, though,” the counselor said quietly as if she was sharing a secret, “is that she’s the nicest, friendliest girl you’ll ever meet.”
That couldn’t possibly be true. The prettiest girls at my old school were not very nice. And the nice girls weren’t all that pretty. It was hard to believe there were any that came in the same package—niceandpretty.
“Thanks, Mrs. Jameson,” Sadie said with a grin. “Okay, Harrison, we’d better get you to your homeroom. We’re in the same one. It’s by alphabet. So, Summers and Turner.” She shrugged, smiled and walked out of the office.
I looked blankly at the counselor.
She smiled. “A lot of people have that reaction when they first meet Sadie, dear. She’s very nice. She’ll take good care of you. She’s assigned as your guide buddy for the first week of school.”
“Okay. Thanks,” I gave her a little wave and then followed Sadie out of the office. Everyone we passed in the hallway waved or said hello to her. Janitors, teachers, students—it didn’t matter who it was. They all spoke to her or waved. And she took the time to say hello to everyone, even stopping to talk to lots of people.
“Oops!” She smiled back at me. “I’ve almost made us late. We’re going to have to hurry.” With that, she grabbed my hand and we ran down the hall, took a turn, and ran down another hall before we arrived at our door. We stood outside a second to catch our breath, both of us laughing.
It was then that I noticed she had a T-shirt on with a huge sun on it. It said, “Summer is a State of Mind,” and I thought it fit her perfectly. Sunshine. That’s what she was, with her light blonde hair, tanned skin, happy smile, and contagious laughter.
“Sunshine,” I said.
She looked at me. “What?”
“You’re pure sunshine.”Mysunshine is what I thought but didn’t say.
“Thanks.” She put her hand in mine, and we walked into the classroom together. “I’ll introduce you to everyone, don’t worry.”
I thought as long as I had her hand in mine and she kept smiling at me like that, I’d never worry again.
And after that?
We were inseparable.
***
Sadie
Summer after Senior Year
Harrison and I ran through the field heading to lookout point. We were holding hands. A bunch of our other friends were with us, and we were laughing and calling out to each other. It was a couple of weeks before we were all leaving for college, and there was a strange feeling in the air. It was heavy, as if everyone had something they wanted to say, but didn’t have the words to express their exact feelings. We all knew things were about to change. That they would never be the same. I looked around at our friends, most of whom had been together sincekindergarten, and knew there were some people I would likely fall out of touch with.
I scanned their familiar faces as we reached our destination and began to plop down in the soft grass above the drop off that provided a great view of the entire town. I knew them all so well. That was something that was part of living in a small town. I not only knew my classmates; I also knew their parents, their siblings, their cousins, and so on. It was just the way it was. But as I observed everyone, I went through their plans in my head. Some were going to community college close to home. Some were going far away to school. Some were going right into the workforce. Some were going to technical or trade school. Some were going into the military. We’d all been together for so long, it felt strange to think that our lives were about to take very different paths.
I knew I was one of the lucky ones. I grasped Harrison’s hand tighter, safe in the knowledge that I wasn’t having to say goodbye to him or my four closest friends, Melinda, Carrie, Blair, and Drake. We were all going to Carruthers University down close to Savannah. It was a long way from home, but it was a powerhouse sports school. Harrison, who’d been our quarterback all through high school, had been awarded a full scholarship to play football there. Carrie and I had gotten partial scholarships to cheer. Drake had gotten an academic scholarship.
I would be sad to say goodbye to some of my other friends. I was just so relieved that I wasn’t having to say goodbye to any of my closest friends in the coming weeks.
The late summer air was warm, fireflies lit up the night, and the tree frogs were croaking out their soothing songs. Harrison and I pulled a blanket out and spread it underneath our favorite tree. He held me in his arms as we laid on our backs and lookedup at the starry sky. It seemed like nothing could go wrong on a night like tonight.
Parker Bridges, one of Harrison’s buddies on the football team who I’d never felt close to, suddenly plopped down on our blanket.
“Man,” he said shaking his head at Harrison, “I still can’t believe you passed up scholarships at Alabama and Tennessee to play for Carruthers.”
I frowned, as Harrison looked at me quickly. “I thought you didn’t get offers from them,” I said, a pit beginning to form in my stomach. I sat up and stared at him.
He sighed and gave Parker the stink eye. “I… I wasn’t going to tell you, Sunshine,” he whispered. “I wanted to be with you at Carruthers.”
“I get it, I get it,” Parker held up his hands. “Sadie’s by far the prettiest girl in our class. But do you realize how much pussy you could pull if you were the starting quarterback at Alabama? No offense, but the girls there are next level. Even Sadie can’t compete.”
“Fuck off, Parker,” Harrison said.
“But…”
