Chapter 1 Of (How Much Could Happen In One Summer) {BTR Love Story}

*gasp*

The blanket cocoons around me. What’s that loud ringing anyway? I just want to shut it up.

I flip over and *gasp* again. What the hell?

                First thing I think: What happened last night? That question that seems to enter a teen’s mind at some point at least twice.

                Second thing: Aww s**t, mom’s gonna kill me.

                My eyes adjust. The whole place is a mess. Music is still pouring from the speakers, the TV still on MTV. Glasses everywhere. Friends sleeping on the floor. And who’s next to me? Kendall? James?

What’s today?

I stand up and feel I’m still wearing my clothes…good. I grab the nearest phone-probably Kat’s-and press the buttons. Light burns my eyes: 6:45 am, Monday, August 17^th. Good, it’s not eight yet. But, what happened here? And why does my head pound so badly?

I poke Kat’s shoulder, her caramel hair in a wavy knot, her crystal blue eyes blinking themselves open at my voice, “What happened?”

 

 

It’s May, and I just got out of junior high. Thank God. And now the summer’s stretching in front of Kat, Nick, Ivory, and I. I can’t wait! Nobody can.

“C’mon, Victoria! You coming?” Kat shouts at me through the bathroom door.

“Yeah, yeah, just gimme a sec,” I yell back. We stop by my house (want to pee first and get money) before we all go uptown and hang out and to have lunch.

“Good.” Kat could be impatient like that sometimes, but she was my best friend no matter what. She’s always been there for me, always. And she’s extremely funny.

I flush the toilet, check my dishwater blonde hair in the mirror, and push the door open, to a waiting Kat. A white tank top and a pink water colored skirt were on her petite frame.

“Finally!” she gasps. “Took you long enough. Wow, maybe you’re actually a…girl!”

“Omigod shut the hell up!” Kat and I have a thing with calling me a girl when I do girly things (i.e. wear pink, straighten my hair instead of brush it, wear a skirt). Guess you can call me a tomboy.

We meet Nick and Ivory at the Picnic Basket, a local diner. Nick smiles when he sees me and Ivory waves. Nick has wavy-ish coffee hair that bounces around his ear lobes. He has the sweetest, biggest russet eyes you’d see. They just draw you to him. Ivory stood, posing with her iPhone, her platinum blonde hair sweeping around her shoulders along with her sleek silver dress.

“Ready, my ladies?” Nick asked us, and winks at me. We all laugh.

 

We finish lunch in about an hour, laughing over sandwiches and fruit salad. We look around our small town, trying to find something to do. Eventually Ivory suggests that we head off to the creek. We race over to it and laugh when Ivory almost slips in.

“Exactly why I don’t wear wedges,” I tell her, taunting her, grinning.

“Oh shut up, little miss a*s perfect!” she grins back.

“All right, think you’re so tough. Lemme tackle ya. It’ll set you straight.” Oh, was I taunting her bad now, but it was just too hard to resist.

Then she says the two words I was waiting for to set me free of these chains: “Try. Me.”

I sprint toward her, and she runs outta the way, landing me in the shallow part of the river, where it’s rocks, not sand. Where the trees run lower to us and the water is stagnant. My feet don’t hurt though, since I never wear shoes so I have a bunch of calluses.

“You’re getting it!” I charge at her and knock her off her feet into the slimy mud. She gasps. “What the f**k?!” Ooh, is she pissed. She takes a handful of mud and smears it in my hair like shampoo.

“Girls,” Kat and Nick say at the same time. “Jinx, by the way, Nick!” Kat giggles. “Okay, anyway, Iv quit being a big-a*s drama queen, and Victoria, calm down. Iv’s a weakling.”

“Got it, mother,” I say, sarcastically. Kat winks at me as I help Ivory up.

“Can somebody remind me again why my best friends are girls?” Nick says, shaking his head back and forth, his lips forming a broken smile.

“I dunno. ‘Cause your secretively gay, or you just wanna have one of us as a girlfriend?” Ivory suggests, a bit coldly in my opinion.

“Geez, Iv, loosen up on him a bit,” I caution.

She rolls her eyes, but that’s also “I know, just don’t remind me,” in Ivory’s language.

 

At 6:30, my mom calls while we’re still hanging out, but we’re at the park playing Frisbee. “Yeah, Ma?”

“Time for dinner. Please start heading home,” she says politely, more forced than usual.

“All right. Hey, can Kat come too?” I think, why not give it a shot while asking.

“Umm,” bye-bye to politeness…, “not tonight, Tori. Don’t even try to argue. Just get home now. ‘Bye.” And I hear the click as she hangs up.

“Hey, guys, I gotta hit the road. Call ya’ll tomorrow?”

“Totally!” Kat replies for all of them. Ivory waves, Nick smiles. But then he starts to walk over.

“Would ya like it if I walk you home?” He asks with such innocence I have to agree.

 

Uptown is about a mile from my ranch. And of course Nick decides to walk us down the path in the forest, which takes twice as long. I look over at my best friend in the dim light in the fading sunset over the hill, casting its rays shyly on the small lake in the forest. Pine, cedar, maple, and oak trees sprout up every inch. Their green and purple leaves are being tickled in the teasing wind. The path we’re on is just dirt and mud with plenty of fox, moose, and deer footprints. If you’re here early in the morning, around sunrise, you’ll see a bunch of deer out, along with the bluegill and bass in the crystal clear lake.

“So,” Nick started, his hands in his pockets, staring down at the dirt path.

“Yeah?”

“Why’s your mom want ya home so soon?” Usually I don’t part from my friends till around 10 in summer.

“Oh, I dunno. She sounded overly polite over the phone, which isn’t a great sign. I just hope everything is all right.” Nick nods. “Okay, I’ve been curious. Why are you walking me home?” He never does that, even though he is the sweetest guy I know.

“Well, uh,” his face flushes, “no specific reason. I just wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay, y’know?”

*N{[<3 I love you! Duh, that’s why I’m always around you! <3]}N*

“Oh, okay. Thanks,” I say, looking over at him. He smiles, and then looks back down, still blushing.

“Uh huh, anytime.”

We continue to walk in silence. But it isn’t those awkward, quiet moments where you just want to break it open with a needle. No, it’s a comfortable one, one you don’t want to end because it seems so perfect. It feels like a candle to heart, since Nick cares about me. He wants to make sure I’m safe. Love.

We get to a fork in the path. Taking the left leads to my farm. About two more minutes and we’d be at my house. Right now, we’re walking by the pastures for the horses that line our long gravel driveway that leads to the road. Andrew, my six-year-old Thoroughbred, races to the fence. Nick looks up and grins.

“Hey, boy!” Nick loves Andrew. Can’tcha tell? “How’s Tori treating you?” I laugh.

“Hey, Nick, you should probably go now. Like, I’m not trying to sound rude, but Ma must now I’m home now so…”

“Oh yeah, totally. Call me later,” he says and flashes a smile, then runs down the forest trail to his place.

I pet Andrew’s forelock for a moment, then head inside. I see my mother at the stove, her brown hair in a bun, her dress flowing around her. I see my brother, Ty, sitting at the table. He’s a sophomore now, so he’s a year older than me. Yeah, he can be annoying, but he can make anything funny if he’s in the mood. He has curly blonde hair, and is tall and a bit muscular"maybe that’s why Iv’s obsessed with him? Anyway, my dad’s on business in California.

“Oh, Victoria, please sit down,” my mother tells me, while placing dinner on the table.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, worry shooting through me.

“Oh, nothing really.” She sits down and smooths out her dress. “I just have some news for you and Ty.”

“What?!” we say at the same time.

“Oh, shush! You guys are just going to go to an overnight camp for two or three weeks.”

“Oh, sweet!” Ty says excitedly.

“Yeah, what’s so bad about that?”

“You’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“What the heck, mom? I had plans tomorrow! Now what, just destroy my summer?” Ty banters.

“Are we going to the same camp?” I ask, scared.

*Please no, please no!* “Yes.”

“Oh, come on!” Ty say, exasperated.

“And you’re in the same classes and by the same cabins.”

Ty and I just groan.

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Fyi everything above the *'s is a flash forward. Thanks :)

Reviews

[Gitana Deneff]

I realllyyy lovvve how you write! This is a book i would definitely read fully. :) I wish i could write like this. I do NOT have the attention span though haha which is why poems are more my speed ;) good job though :) cant wait to read more :)