Chapter 1

Just the start of a drama i had considered writing.

Laughter and shouts for joy rang about the class room as the sophomores waited for the last minute of school to finish. Winter break was coming, and the Christmas spirit had already set in around the students of Temple City High. Jace fell out of his seat when the bell rang once…twice…�"signaling the end of the class. The door swung open and the mass of kids poured from the building.

 

“Come on Jace! We’re going to be late!” Ashley giggled and gave him her hand. He laughed with her and accepted.

 

“Thanks Ashley, the bell surprised me.” Ashley didn’t reply, she just smiled and helped him up. He looked at her and smiled; friends for so many years, with so much change. “You’re so different from when we first met.” Ashley’s face lit up with sudden surprise, and her lips spread to show her radiant smile.

 

“Come on! Don’t bring this up now! We’re really going to be late!” she pulled him to the door.

 

“My back pack!” He lunged back for it and ran back through the door straight into the awaiting Ashley. “Sorry!” Ashley rolled her eyes and sighed. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the front gate; autumn leaves crunching and crumbling as their feet trampled over them.

 

At the front, standing behind the mob of friends gathering to leave, he stopped Ashley. He looked up and smiled, reminding her how she used to love crunching the leaves while walking home on a calm autumn evening. She flashed her smile back at him and continued walking across the glistening wet grass to meet the awaiting party.

 

“Hey guys!” She ran to them, arms spread wide to embrace Jenny�"her girl best friend. Jace smiled and walked over to Chaz�"his closest guy friend since Vail. They clasped hands and bumped their fists together�"their typical greeting.

 

“What’s up man?” Jace smiled.

 

“Eh, not much, school was hell as usual,” he whined his usual after school complaint. They laughed it off and Jace lightly punched Chaz’s shoulder.

 

“You ready to go and have a good lunch?” Jace punched Chaz again.

 

“Eh, I don’t know,”

 

“What’s up man?”

 

“Okay, don’t tell anyone, but I kinda like Ashley.”

“Oh…” the comment had surprised him beyond his belief. Almost automatically, Jace’s mind raced at the information he just received.

 

“hm? What’s wrong?”

 

“Huh? Nothing, continue?” Jace managed to put together and blurt.

 

“Nothing much to add, just letting you know,”

 

“Oh. How long?” he blurted, not thinking much

 

“Since the 6^th grade,” Chaz smiled.

 

“oh…” Jace held back a sudden sigh and patted him on the back. “She’s a good girl, good luck with getting her,” he forced a smile�"Jace was about to continue, but voices from a distance cut him off.

 

“Jace! Chaz! Hey guys! Wait up!” the twin voices called over.

 

“Hey Tim, hey Tom!” Jace and Chaz shouted back, waving like complete idiots. They met the twins half way across the lawn and walked over to the awaiting mass of people that they were about to have lunch with.

 

“Ready to go?” Ashley poked Jace impatiently.

 

“Yeah, let’s go, the reservations are due in forty-five minutes,” Jace checked his watch. The large group of friends slowly mobilized and walked up along Lemon Ave, laughing, joking, talking, and loudly crunching on the fallen leaves from the long gone Fall. With friends to talk to and joke with, time and distance passed quickly, brining the group to their destination: Tasty Garden.

 

“We’re here!” Jenny and some others shouted; heading in first and holding the door so the rest could all join them. The priceless faces of waiters and patrons popped up in surprise at the sixteen person party. They laughed and disturbed the peace at the front until the waitress noticed Jace’s reservation was indeed existent and led them to their table in the back.

Once seated, the party remained quiet until the waitress returned to take their orders. Unfortunately for the waitress, she had to return to their table five times before they were ready to order. Finally, the waitress sighed and brought her note pad up to take our orders. Ashley was first�"she was dead hungry.

“The baked bolngnese pasta please!” the waitress scribbled down the order and looked back up. Suddenly, a burst of orders filled the room�"the waitress scrambled to record all the orders�"Jace and Chaz couldn’t help but laugh at the chaos.

 

“We’ll have a club sandwich each,” they ordered last�"then laughed when the waitress left the room rolling her eyes at the small hell she had just experienced. The wait for the food wasn’t long, and soon enough, the friends had settled down and began enjoying their meal and company.

 

“For a club sandwich, this is pretty good,” Jace said, mockingly rubbing his chin.

 

“Yeah, and the fries are much better than the ones in school,” Chaz popped another French fry into his mouth.

 

“Too bad moments like these don’t last forever,” Jace smiled, then sighed.

 

“I know right?” Ashley interjected. Jace’s eyes widened at her sudden outburst and began choking on a bite of his sandwich.

 

“Uhm, are you okay?” she poked him.

 

“Hold on…” Chaz got up and preformed the Heimlich maneuver. Jace coughed up the piece of sandwich and thanked Chaz, then shot a playfully angry glare at Ashley. She giggled.

 

“Sorry!” Jace looked at her and sighed, he just couldn’t be mad at the girl. The meal went by without much more incidents, but conversation had definitely started up among the group. James was silently wishing Tim and Tom would shut up; Jace, Chaz, and Ashley were locked in an argument about avocados; Jenny and Noah were recalling the events of their day; and everyone else was discussing what they’d be doing over their break.

When their prolonged noisy lunch had concluded, they stepped back outside into the cool winter breeze that was slowly rolling in. The light noisy rustle of the autumn leaves being blown across the side walk filled their ears till a car rushed by them, temporarily silencing the leaves. 

Author's Note

Discontinued probably!