A Hop of Hope

Part of the first chapter of a new book Ive written

Molly

Andrew grabs both of my hands and pulls me to my feet. I slowly walk to my spot on the court while Andrew picks up his racket and the birdie.

“Do you want to serve?” He holds the bright yellow birdie out to me on an open palm and waits for me to take it. Honestly, I don’t like badminton. It’s so hard for me, especially on days like today when I’m just mopey and distracted. Andrew helps though; he’s been my best friend for years and I really don’t know what I’d do without him. I smile and reach out to take the birdie.

“Sure.” I hold it in my left hand and swing the racket up with the other. It soars diagonally over the net to Lauren and she gasps as she realizes that it’s coming down right in front of her. She swings her racket up, but isn’t fast enough and the birdie falls to the floor.

“Jesus Christ, Lauren! That was right in front of you!” Amelia throws her arms up in frustration. “Quit thinking about Nick and serve the damn birdie.”

Lauren grabs the birdie and serves back over the net. I step back as Andrew comes running in front of me to smack it before it hits the floor. For the last ten minutes of class, our game continues like this, with Lauren and Andrew playing basically one-on-one. Amelia and I stand next to the net on our respective sides and talk for the rest of class. The shower bell rings at exactly three o’clock and we all head to the locker rooms to change.

Amelia and Lauren loop arms as the three of us walk into the girl's locker room together. We stop in front of the second row of lockers and I take off my gym shorts and start pulling my jeans back on. I have a weird feeling about tonight. Our whole friend group is going over to Lauren’s later for a movie night. It’s the same group as always: me, Lauren, Amelia, Nick, Josh, and Andrew, but this time it feels different. It’s probably just me, I guess. It’s been a rough day.

“Molly?” Amelia waves her arm in front of my face, trying to get me to notice her. I look up at her. “Hey, what’s going on with you today? You’ve been so out of it.”

“What? Oh no, I’m fine. I was just lost in thought for a minute there.” I buckle my jeans and start changing my shirt.

“Are you still coming to Lauren’s tonight?”

“Of course I am.” I pull my sweatshirt over my head and put the lock back on my locker. I spin the dial a few times to make sure it’s actually locked.

“Okay, can you still give me a ride over there?” Amelia starts brushing out her hair and flinches as a tangled piece gets caught in the brush. “Son of a-”

“Yes,” I interrupt before she can finish her sentence. “I’m giving Josh and Andrew a ride too, so we have to wait out in the parking lot for them.”

I sling my backpack over my shoulder and check my reflection in the mirror as I walk over to wait by the door. The final bell will ring any second, then this whole week will be done and I can just hang out with my friends tonight. I pull my bag around to my side and dig my car keys out of one of the pockets. I really should get around to cleaning this thing out someday, but every time I try, I get paranoid that I’ll need some of the stuff later so I end up just leaving it and letting my bag get heavier and heavier. God, I know my lanyard is in here somewhere. I dig my hand in farther and finally my finger loops through the strap and I pull them out. That took way too long. I zip the pocket and try to untangle my keys just as the bells rings.

“Amelia?” I look around in the crowd of girls around me to find my friend. I see her standing by the mirror still with Lauren and go over to them. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

We part ways with Lauren because she parked in the other lot today and walk out to my car. I don’t have a great car, but I mean, I can’t really complain either. It’s an older version of an Impala, but it was basically free for me. I bought it from a friend of my dad’s and only paid about $300 out of my own pocket, my parents covered the rest as my birthday present last year. I’m actually pretty lucky, and I’m a safe driver so I haven’t had a lot of auto shop costs for it either.

I unlock the doors and toss my bag in the backseat before climbing into the driver's seat. Amelia gets in, and right away I turn on the radio. I’m super obsessed with Lady Gaga and 90% of the time, I have one of her CDs in. “Bad Romance” booms through my speakers and I turn it up a little more. I honestly know every word to this song, and by the second verse, I’m singing along. I stop mid-song as I remember a conversation I had with Josh earlier today and turn to face Amelia.

“You know that Josh likes you, right?” I say and I turn the music down.

She looks up from her phone and her jaw drops in surprise. “What? Josh? Like our friend Josh? There’s no way. You’re joking right?”

“Hmm, nope. Last I heard, he’s crazy in love with you.” I roll down the windows and slide my sunglasses over my eyes.

“He does not like me!” She starts getting pissed and blushes deeply, her cheeks becoming a bright pink.

“Amelia, yes he does. I just talked to him today.”

“No, he doesn’t, not in that way.”

“You’re just in denial.”

“Molly! Just drop it. We’re friends and nothing else, okay?”

“Amelia, he’s been crazy about you since middle school and you know it. He even told me earlier.” I look around and see that we’re one of the last cars left in the lot and check the time. It’s already 3:15. “God, where are those two? We’ve been sitting here for like ten minutes already.”

Suddenly Andrew comes up and presses his face on the driver’s side window, rapping his knuckles on the glass.

“Wow, that’s real classy. Get in, you two are late.” I don’t even try to hide my annoyance as the two boys clamber into the backseat. “Guys, seriously calm down. And don’t crush my backpack.”

“Yes, Mommy.” Josh snickers from behind me.

“It’s a good thing that Lauren only lives a few minutes away. You’re already getting on my nerves, Josh.” I look at him in my rearview mirror and see that he’s not even paying attention to me. I glance over at Amelia and she just shakes her head at me, warning me to not bring up the subject anymore now that the boys are here.

We drive for a while, and I try as much as possible to take the back roads there. I hate driving with a full car of people even though I know it’s not a huge deal. I’d just rather stay off the main roads. A few minutes later we turn onto Lauren’s street and I see all the neighborhood kids sitting at the corner trying to set up a lemonade stand. I drive through slowly, hoping none of them decide to make a mad dash across the street.

As I pull into Lauren’s driveway, I notice that Nick’s car is already here. We all get out and Andrew hands me my backpack. Amelia and I walk up to the door first while the boys are still goofing off and talking. I reach for the handle, but it won’t move.

“That’s weird. She never locks the door before we all come over,” Amelia says next to me, looking concerned. I go over to the porch swing and unzip the middle cushion. Reaching my hand in to find Lauren’s spare house key then walk back over to the door. I unlock it and we all go inside.

Loud 80’s music blasts from one of the upstairs rooms. Maybe she’s in the shower, she was going pretty hardcore in gym today.

“Amelia, should we go upstairs and make sure she’s here?” I look around to see if her parents are there, but their car keys and shoes aren’t by the door so they must not be home.

“Sure.” She sets down her bag on the bench by the door and leaves her shoes here too. “Hey guys, we’re going upstairs to see if Lauren’s here.”

Both boys are already in the kitchen eating Lauren’s family out of house and home. Josh leans into the hallway and gives us a thumbs up as he stuffs a handful of chips into his mouth. Amelia rolls her eyes and we both laugh.

“Well, looks like they’re set. Let’s go.” She starts going up the stairs and I bend down to untie my shoes and leave them neatly next to the bench. I set my bag down next to hers and start following her up. Amelia is already halfway down the hall by the time I get to the top of the stairs. I speed walk to catch up, and every step I take the music gets louder and I can feel the beat pounding. Finally, we stop outside of Lauren’s room and the music is basically roaring at this point. I gesture to the door and Amelia knocks loudly.

“Lauren! We’re here now!”

There’s no answer. I start to get a weird feeling about all this, “Hey Amelia, maybe we should just wait downstairs.”

“No, she knew we were coming over, she shouldn’t been ready.” She knocks again and this time she’s practically pounding the door down. “Lauren! Open the door!”

There’s still no answer and I start backing up toward the stairs. “Amelia, come on, let’s go. She’s obviously busy and she can’t hear us.”

“Molly, I’m sure she’s changing or showering or something. We’ll just go in.” She tries to yell over the music, “We’re coming in, Lauren!”

She pushes the door open and pulls me in with her as she barges into the room. “Lauren, seriously, what the heck? You knew we were coming over, didn’t-”

She stops suddenly and squeezes my hand so hard I think she might’ve broken a bone or two. “Ouch! What was that for?”

But then I see what she was looking at.

Lauren’s laying on her back in her underwear with Nick on top of her. He’s kissing her neck while sliding his hand down to somewhere it shouldn’t be. She holds the back of his head and moans softly. She leans down to kiss him, and his hand starts to make its way in somewhere as their lips lock.

I start to back up. I’m definitely intruding and I need to leave now, like, right now. I tug at Amelia’s arm to get her to back up, but instead she screams and suddenly Lauren’s eyes pop open and Nick spins around. There’s clambering on the stairs as the other two boys start running to see what’s wrong. Amelia’s screaming. Lauren’s screaming at us to get out, and Nick is scrambling to get his jeans back on. Chaos. The whole thing was just chaos.

I feel a pair of hands grab my shoulders and pull me out of the room. The door slams shut and I see Josh walking ahead of me with Amelia.

“Come on, let’s go sit downstairs,” Andrew whispers in my ear. He wraps an arm around my waist and he uses his other hand to lace his fingers with mine. I let him guide me down the stairs as my mind is reeling and my head is pounding. Amelia and Josh break off to go sit at the kitchen island, so Andrew sits me down on the couch then takes a seat next to me. I hadn’t realized until now that I was shaking.

“Are you okay?” He eyes me wearily.

“I don’t know. That was kind of a lot to take in all at once.” I fold my hands in my lap and sit there studying how my fingers laced together.

“That’s what she said,” Andrew laughs.

I lift my head up and just stare at him. “Really? Now?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get you to laugh, and you have to admit that one was good.” He laughs again and soon I’m laughing too. “Alright, I’m going to check on Josh and Amelia, I’ll be back.”

As he starts to stand up, I grab his arm and pull him down next to me again. “No, please stay with me. I’m scared to be alone in this house now,” I say with a slight laugh.

“Okay, I’ll stay here then.” He smiles at me and we sit in silence for a while. Eventually I look over at Andrew and he’s just starting up at the stairs. I roll my eyes and lean over on the arm of the couch trying to relax.

“Hey Molly?” He leans over to me.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think they’re doing up there?”

I shove him on the arm. “You’re gross.”

Just then Lauren starts slowly walking down the stairs dressed in jeans and a tank top. She comes in and sits on the arm of the couch next to me.

“Hey, I’m sorry you guys walked in on that. I really didn’t think you’d be here so soon. I knew you were coming over after school, but I thought it’d take longer for Andrew and Josh to get out to your car. I didn’t mean for you guys to know about this yet.” She puts her hand on my arm. “I really am sorry, Molly. But, can we try to move past this? Let’s just order pizza, put a movie in, and hang out tonight.”

She gets up and starts towards the kitchen, probably to have the same chat with Amelia and Josh, and then to order pizza. Andrew slides off the couch and crawls over to the bookshelf.

“What do you feel like watching tonight?” He asks as he starts scanning over the rows of movies.

“Something scary. I haven’t watched a good horror movie lately.”

“How about Paranormal Activity?”

I slide off the couch too and crawl over to sit next to him.I take the case from him and look at the description on the back. “I haven’t watched this before. Is it any good?”

“What? You haven’t watched this yet? Molly, you’re like the queen of horror movies and this is kind of a classic now.” He snatches the case back and stands up to put it in the DVD player. “We’re watching this and I don’t care what you say.”

I get up and go into the kitchen to see what everyone’s doing. Josh is standing with the fridge door open, taking out bottles of pop.

“Molly, perfect timing. What do you want to drink?”

“I’ll take orange if there is any.”

He hands me a bottle of orange pop and I sit next to Amelia at the kitchen island. I nudge her shoulder. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, I guess. It’s just weird. I’ve known Lauren since we were toddlers and I’ve known Nick for almost as much time, and we just walked in on them basically having sex. It’s really weird.” She drags her finger through a ring of water on the counter and makes other lines and shapes.

“I know. I didn’t even know that they were a thing.” I take a drink of pop.

“I’m not so sure that they were. I think this was just sex, honestly. I don’t think they’re actually dating.” Amelia turns to look at me. “I mean, they might now, but they weren’t before.”

Josh comes in and sits on the counter next to us. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t know.”

“What?” I snap my head up to look at him.

“Haven’t either of you noticed how different Lauren’s been acting? And Nick too? They’ve both been acting weird for a few days now. I knew something was up this morning when Andrew and I were with Nick during 5th hour.”

“How’d you know that something was up?” Amelia asks.

“Yeah, and why didn’t you tell me? We literally sit next to each other in 6th hour and we were talking the entire hour today.” I scoot closer so I can hear him better.

“Because we were talking about other things, Molly.” He blushes slightly and glances at Amelia. He coughs then changes the subject. “So anyways, today I asked him if I could borrow some paper so I took his notebook out of his backpack, and there was a box of condoms in the bottom of his bag. Which is really weird because I’m pretty sure he was a virgin so he wouldn’t have had them from before. And then I just kind of put the pieces together and figured Lauren was the girl he was seeing tonight.”

“I can’t believe she didn’t tell us,” Amelia shakes her head.

“Well, she probably knew how you’d react when you found out that it was Nick,” Josh says. “I know that it’s weird, but we kind of have to get used to it now.”

“Well, not for tonight. Tonight we can all just be friends and hang out.” Amelia picks up her drink and starts walking into the living room. She turns to face us as she’s getting to the doorway. “Well? Are you guys going to sit here all night or are we going to watch a movie?”

Josh and I look at each other and shrug before following her. I sit on the loveseat with Amelia and pull a blanket around my shoulders.

Nick comes down the stairs pulling a T-shirt over his head. His hair is dripping water down into his eyes, and he swipes the back of his hand across his forehead.

“Hey guys,” he reaches over to give Andrew and Josh fist bumps on his way through the living room. As he goes into the kitchen he calls over his shoulder, “I hope you ladies liked what you saw earlier!”

“He’s so gross,” I shake my head and laugh lightly.

“It’s Nick, what did you really expect?” Amelia laughs too and I’m glad that her mood has lightened. She’s usually the life of the party, but today has been rough for her.

I check my watch and see that it’s already 5:00. We’ve literally been here for an hour and a half already and we’ve done basically nothing. I mean, Nick and Lauren have done things...like each other...but that’s none of my business.

My stomach starts to rumble and I realize I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast before school this morning. I had a student council meeting during lunch and got so distracted with planning that I didn’t even eat. My stomach growls again and I feel the hunger growing. The pizza guy better get here soon, I’m starving.

The doorbell rings, and Lauren comes running to the door.

“I got it!”

She opens the door slowly and a look of surprise comes across her face when she sees the guy standing in the doorway.

“Hey, are you Lauren?”

Lauren smiles slyly, “Yes I am. And who might you be, handsome?”

“Hopefully your next date, if I’m not being too forward.” He leans into the doorframe and shows off a broad line of white teeth.

“Hmm, well my nights are pretty booked, but I’ll keep you in mind.” She stares at him with her piercing blue eyes.

“Well, for tonight then, I guess I’m just the delivery guy, and I’ve got a large sausage pizza for you.”

“I actually ordered three.”

“Oh, so you like to take more than one at once?” He smirks at her, his voice dripping with sex.

Lauren blushes and shifts her weight. “How much do I owe you?”

“$17.”

“Can you break a 20?” She asks as she hands him a $20 bill, which I notice she takes from her bra.

“Oh Lauren, I can do a whole lot more than that.” His dark eyes get a mischievous look.

“I’d like to see that sometime.”

I look over at Andrew who’s too busy getting the DVD player set up to even notice what’s going on between Lauren and the pizza guy. I roll my eyes and cough loudly, hoping to divert Lauren’s attention. She glances over at me and seems to get the hint.

“Thank you for the pizza. Call me anytime.” Lauren runs her tongue over her front teeth before taking the boxes from him. He leans forward and whispers something in her ear. She immediately blushes and turns away from him to shut the door and comes back in the living room.

Author's Note

This hasn't been edited yet, just typed out, so please ignore any grammatical issues
I will fix them later

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good story. Well-written and I liked how you described situation and you made the characters, interesting and worthwhile. I liked the discussions and feel of friendship in the story. Thank you RayLynn for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote