Chapter 78

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

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Friday 26th May 2000

 

 

So… a lot’s happened. Nothing fantastical or preternatural, but totally ordinary things… and I think they hit all the harder and more profoundly for it.

 

First things first. Dakota, Bao, Kendal, Zahid and I… we’ve finished school. Permanently, completely, finished school. We still have exams ahead of us – pretty much a month’s worth – but Thursday 25th May was our very last day of ordinary schooling. Actually, that’s a technicality, because there wasn’t much schooling going on…

 

We went in a little earlier than usual and pretty much had a big farewell party, with the Sixth Form Centre done up like a wild west saloon and all of us doing our best to dress up to match (just a Stetson, a patterned shirt, jeans, and boots with fake spurs on my part). A breakfast buffet was laid out, teachers stopped by, and all of us Year 13 students chatted and laughed and reminisced about the past seven years. We were all given yearbooks – and oh, man, my photo – which we proceeded to try and get as many people as possible to write in. The whole thing was a chaotic mess and it almost made me forget that this was an ending. This was my – our – final day of school, and once we wrapped up and left the school grounds, an entire chapter of our lives was closed forever.

 

You never really appreciate finality quite as much as when it actually happens. (Trust me, I know, I’ve just finished school.)

 

Russell and I had a little chat, and of course promised to keep trying to catch up with each other when we could. At one point, Harriet and I locked eyes across the room, and she gave me a faint smile and a little nod, to which I responded in kind. We wound up exchanging light pleasantries with Kayleigh and Will, of course, though I can’t imagine it will be the last time we ever see them. And Harmony, keeping up pretences, chatted with us all briefly with her usual peppy spirit, reminding us of fun moments from years gone by… she almost seemed genuinely fond of it all. Almost as though she was as enamoured with them as she was with making us suffer…

 

Soon enough, we’d been herded into seats for a final assembly, with Mrs Bath making a speech about our accomplishments and making the most of the future ahead of us, and then we watched a big commemorative video, which included a clip of me playing in the talent show. … I’d forgotten they’d filmed that, and man, watching myself play piano was both unusual and deeply embarrassing… Still, the students who pieced the video together did a fantastic job with it. By the end, with Goodbye by Spice Girls playing under especially sentimental shots, half the year-group was in tears and half of the rest were struggling to hold tears back.

 

And from there… it just ended. No real grand finale to it all, no special departure. The end came and the whole mass of us 17- and 18-year-olds sort of dissolved through the room and began leaking in trickles out of the building. The five of us only spent a few more minutes there, saying any potentially-final farewells or making plans to stay in touch, but then Kendal rounded us all up and had us get going.

 

Dakota, Bao, Kendal, Zahid and me, walking off of the school grounds and knowing we would never be returning for a normal school day ever again, knowing there were people here we would quite possibly never see again. And yet, as much as that end-of-an-era feeling encompassed every moment, we were there together, laughing and smiling with the sun on our faces. Every step was taking us into a bright new future.

 

Sorry, sorry, making it all soppy now. If it helps, the decision had recently been made to celebrate both us finishing school and my 18th birthday with a party that, in Kendal’s own words, would last through till Sunday.

 

(I pointed out how weird it would feel to be celebrating on a Sunday but apparently that doesn’t matter… I figure we’ll be worn out by then, anyway.)

 

We stopped off at the supermarket to buy some stuff – mostly food and drink, some of which may have been alcoholic – before returning to Dakota’s. Yes, we went into the shop in our Wild West clothes. I felt as conspicuous as you’d imagine, though it was just before 11am on a Thursday so, thankfully, it wasn’t too busy. Once we got back to Dakota’s and unpacked our stuff… it sort of sunk in on me all over again. It took a poke in the sides from Dakota to snap me out of it.

 

Honestly, the rest of the day was a little disjointed, as we didn’t want to get things started too early. Kitty and Lucy were still at school until 3pm, plus we all wanted to stop by our own homes and see our parents (or rather, we figured our parents would want to see us). Dakota phoned Saoirse, too, and they spoke for a while. It was well past 5pm by the time anything close to a party finally kicked off, and us being us (and the attendance being only seven people), it was hardly your average party. “Party” for us tends to mean more of a souped-up celebratory version of our usual happenings. Pizza, video games, music, laughter and drinks until 11pm, at which point Dakota insisted we should all get to bed since Kitty and Lucy still had school the following day. Of course, Lucy was the most resistant of all of us, and as the rest of us were heading to bed, she was still prancing around the living room.

 

Friday arrived, and with it came my 18th birthday. All those months ago, I’d been blown away by Kendal reaching 18 and becoming an adult… and finally, I’d hit that same landmark.

 

Not that I got to dwell on it immediately, since, as promised back on Christmas Day, Dakota completed the trifecta and I awoke to her soft soles rubbing against my face.

 

“Happy birthday, feet-heart,” she greeted me so teasingly, so pleased with herself.

 

“Thaaaanks,” I replied, muffled somewhat.

 

“Y’know, we’re gonna have a busy day today, and we’re probably gonna have to get up soon…” my girlfriend mused, continuing to toy with my face all the while. “Maybe we should make the most of this opportunity…?”

One of her feet moved down, her big toe poking my nose a couple of times.

 

“Yes please,” I purred back at her, and gave her foot a peck.

 

But, uhm, I’ll spare you the rest…

 

“Happy birthday!” Bao and Kendal sang out as Dakota and I entered the living room, lightly-dressed for the day. Zahid poked his head out from the kitchen and echoed it, with less cheer but no less sincerity.

 

“Thanks, guys!” I enthused, unable to help but smile. After how things panned out last year, this was the first time I’d been able to celebrate a birthday with everyone.

 

“Now for your birthday beats!” Bao declared, advancing on me.

 

“What?” I squealed. “We’ve never done that before…!”

 

“Sure, it’s making up for you not being here last year!”

And with his vengeful intentions made clear, he suddenly lunged for me, fists flying.

 

I’m sure I got way more than eighteen beats. The madman bruised me!

 

By the time he’d finished, I noticed Dakota had vanished.

 

“She’s in the kitchen,” Kendal informed me. I must have looked confused. “Guess she’s gonna be Zahid’s sous-chef for a bit.”

 

“Not a birthday breakfast buffet?!” I asked in mock-awe.

 

“Nah, he said he’s keeping it light,” Bao mentioned while returning to the sofa, settling down with the remote. “A fry-up, I think.”

 

“Sounds good!”

I sat down next to him. He seemed to have some kind of history documentary on, but it went to the break before I could figure out exactly what it was about. And while the adverts were playing:

 

“Grub’s up,” Zahid announced from the kitchen doorway.

 

“To the dining room!” Kendal chimed, making a beeline for it. I heaved myself back up (I’m old now, you see), with Bao turning the TV off before the two of us headed off after Kendal.

 

Breakfast was pretty great, and we followed it up with a little walk in the notably-warm weather. By the time we got back to Dakota’s, there was unanimous agreement that we should get the pool out. Thankfully, I now had a pair of swimming trunks at Dakota’s, so she and I were tasked with inflating the pool while Kendal zipped off with Bao and Zahid to get their swimwear. Considering it took forty minutes to get the pool up and filled, I don’t know how we finished before the three of them returned…

 

We frolicked through the early afternoon heat, lounging about in the pool or dashing about with super-soakers (no need for me to name names), until Kitty and Lucy returned from school shortly after 3pm.

 

“Awh man, lemme go home and get my bikini!” Lucy bleated, already dashing frantically back inside.

 

“You would’ve gone home anyway!” I called after her. She was still in her school uniform, after all.

 

“And I know you want to but don’t walk back here in your bikini!” Kendal added, leaving herself open for a blast from Bao.

 

“You joining us, Kitty?” he asked our younger friend.

 

“If my bikini still fits…” she nodded, blushing a touch.

 

“You could always use your yellow Shadowcat one,” I chuckled from the pool.

 

“Yeah…”

That was the voice of someone who had no interest in wearing that bright yellow one-piece. She shuffled off into the house, and returned a few minutes later in her regular swimwear. Lucy made it back in record time, and naturally had to throw herself into the pool and create a huge splash.

 

We spent a little while longer hanging around in the garden, before finally heading back indoors, switching back to regular clothes – thankfully, Lucy remembered to bring some with her – and moving on to my birthday presents. We’d decided to wait until Kitty and Lucy got home… I’m not sure I’d ever waited so long to open presents, and it goes to show how much I enjoy hanging out with everybody that I hadn’t been particularly impatient (perhaps a little). Most of them were only light presents anyway, stuff like a bottle-opener that played drunken chanting and a t-shirt with “I turned 18 and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” on it. Dakota had bought the bulk of the items, everything from more jokey ones (hello, packet of crisps) to Transmetal 2 Megatron and a blown-up and framed photo of the two of us.

 

I could tell everyone was more impressed with the big gnarly techno-organic toy dragon than the photo, and I get that, because the photo only really holds meaning to Dakota and me, while the cyborg dragon is a cyborg dragon.

 

Dakota, Lucy and I stopped by the Matthews household shortly after that, since Dad would’ve finally returned home from work not long before then. I got some big hugs, of course.

 

“Look at my boy, all grown up…!” Mum cooed over me, holding my face to get a good look.

 

“Yep, I’ve completely changed since yesterday…” I jested, trying to move my head out of her light hold.

 

“You’ve changed since you were born… look at you…” she smiled fondly as she released me.

 

“And I’ll be 18 before you know it, too!” Lucy chimed in, hovering over my shoulder like a stubborn fly. “Both your children will be adults and then we’ll be moving out and I’ll be a star actor…!”

 

“One thing at a time,” I told her, reaching my hand up and patting the side of her head patronisingly.

 

I opened a few more cards and presents, which included a big “18 Today!” badge (promptly affixed to my chest by Dakota), and a collective £50 from both pairs of grandparents.

 

“Now don’t go spending all of that on those toys…” Dad cautioned me while Lucy leered over the notes in my hands.

 

“He can spend it on what he likes…” Mum scowled softly in turn.

 

“I’ve only got a few left to get now, anyway,” I noted. “Then I’ll have the whole set.”

 

“Uh-oh…” Dakota spoke, so authentically that I immediately looked to her. “I won’t know what to get you for presents now…”

And she flashed one of her gorgeous teasing smiles at me.

 

“Ha ha, you’ll have the same problem I have with you!” I smirked back at her just as playfully.

 

We didn’t stay too long, and I received a few more hugs before the three of us returned to Dakota’s to find the others discussing dinner. There were some interesting ideas bandied around, but as a group of active, thoughtful teenagers, we ultimately settled on getting some drive-thru McDonalds.

 

Look, we were still in celebration mode. We’ll eat healthily when the party’s over.

 

I went with Bao and Kendal to get the food, and we drove with the windows down, the warm early-evening air blowing through as our slice of suburbia whizzed past outside and the likes of Fill Me In played on the radio. I had just enough time to dwell on it all, to recognise that today – these moments – would be seared into my memory forever.

 

Once we got back, the seven of us sorted out whose food was whose and ate and chatted and laughed and almost choked twice (Kendal both times, actually), and amidst it all…

 

“Oh! I just remembered!” Bao remarked loudly, eyes wide. “I was gonna say yesterday and I totally forgot… god damn it…”

 

“It’s all good,” Dakota assured him. “What was it?”

 

“Well… y’know how we went to Weymouth last year?” he asked us all.

 

“Oh, I was wondering what that week was…” Zahid scoffed sarcastically.

 

“I…”

Bao stood upright. The atmosphere in the room shifted, anticipation gripping us.

“I booked us another holiday. And it’s… an American road trip!”

 

“WHAT?!” Kendal screamed out in sheer joy.

 

“An American road trip!” Bao repeated for her, grinning himself, arms spread wide. “Happy last day of school and Alex’s birthday!”

 

With that, Kendal began running around the house, screaming and wailing, practically painting the walls with undiluted excitement. It almost made the rest of us look unimpressed by comparison, which we most definitely weren’t.

 

Bao waited for a breathless Kendal to return to us before elaborating:

“It’ll just be the five of us for most of it, because it starts on July 13th, and Kitty and Lucy will still be at school, but they’ll fly out to join us in Los Angeles!”

 

“Hang on, when you say a road trip…” I began, but apparently, I didn’t have to say any more.

 

“We fly in to New York City and drive across the country!” Bao confirmed with an invigorated nod.

 

“Bao, I could kiss you!” Kendal blurted, bouncing on the spot.

 

“I mean, I guess going to LA’s better than nothing…” Lucy pouted.

 

“Sorry, I just thought we needed to do it earlier in the summer so we still have some time left in August and all that…” Bao explained to her. “Plus, this all started with the five of us and we’ll all be 18 then, so it’ll be cool for us to all just… adult around the US.”

 

“Is that a euphemism?” Dakota asked with a giggle.

 

“Hey, what you and Alex get up to while we’re out there is your business,” he retorted with a thumbs-up. “The rest of us can try and find some cute American girls, though, yeah…!”

 

“This sounds awesome as hell,” Zahid grinned shamelessly. “The whole thing, I mean, but I’m up for finding some girls.”

 

“Where will I stay while you’re gone…?” Kitty spoke up, her drink in her hands. Lucy promptly wrapped an arm around her.

 

“You’ll stay with big sis Lucy!” she chirped brightly. “And we’ll have loads of fun!”

 

“O-Okay…”

Yeah, Kitty looked fairly spooked by that prospect… I couldn’t blame her…

 

“Really though,” I looked to Bao, “this is amazing. Like… holy shit! But we’re gonna owe your parents so much for all this…”

 

“No, it’s all good, it’s my money!” he replied. “So you’ll just owe me, I guess!”

 

“Your family’s way too rich but I’d kiss them too!” Kendal managed to say while continuing to bounce eagerly.

 

“Kendal, you need a better way of showing your gratitude than snogging people,” Dakota laughed.

 

“I’ll think of one when I’m not super-duper-pumped!”

 

Once we’d let out McDonalds go down, a big chocolate birthday cake was delicately brought through from the kitchen, adorned with eighteen lit candles which I managed to blow out in one go. That got sliced up and shared out (the cake, not the candles, obviously), and we indulged on that for a bit before, like the previous night, the music went on and the booze came out.

 

Things kind of got wild from that point onwards, and I think I’m going to keep most of what happened to myself… I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was nothing extreme, but… we all got pretty drunk, even Kitty (shhh, don’t let anybody know we let a 14-year-old drink half a can of beer). Inhibitions disappeared. Antics were had. Air-instruments were performed. Things happened which I wouldn’t have expected and that I’m still not sure how I feel about…

 

Everything kind of petered out by something close to 2am. Zahid and Lucy had already called it a night not long ago, with Lucy in Kitty’s (or Anna’s) room since Kendal had accepted a dare to sleep naked in the now-empty pool outside. Bao was passed out on the sofa, on his front, bare feet up on the sofa’s arm, and Kitty was sat next to it, still awake but looking exhausted and worse for wear.

 

“Nighty-nighty, Kitty-Kitty,” I bubbled to her with a haphazard wave, Dakota and I supporting each other as we stumbled for the door.

 

“G’night,” Dakota wished her in turn, and the younger girl groaned a response back before we left the room.

 

The journey upstairs seemed to take ten minutes, and the bedroom went from unimaginably dark to blindingly light-filled once Dakota found the light switch. We stripped, and that seemed fine enough for a night’s sleep, the two of us clambering onto the bed and wrestling with the covers until we found ourselves beneath them.

 

“Happy birthday ‘gain, handsome,” Dakota slurred as she kissed my face.

 

“You too,” I responded because I wasn’t able to concentrate enough to think about what we were talking about. I was fully-cognisant of the fact I had naked Dakota snuggled up to me, and my hands found their way to her butt, much to my giddy satisfaction.

 

“Cheeky…” she mewled cutely, and shook her hips as best as she could in response. “Hey, hey…”

 

Trying to get my attention. It was a tough battle for me in that state, but once she raised her head a bit and I saw her ever-beautiful face, she had me.

 

She smiled down upon me…

“Everything’s… gonna be okay.”

And she gently kissed my forehead.

 

Maybe it was simply based on the concerns I’d voiced before, or maybe she’d glimpsed something about me that even I hadn’t noticed during the day. Maybe she was speaking her own thoughts about how I might feel about all of this change, purely through being my partner rather than from anything I’d said or any expression I’d pulled.

 

Again, at the time, I couldn’t think of any of that. I just heard the words and soaked in the sentiment.

 

“Thanks… cutie…” I beamed back up at her, the lights left on illuminating her from behind and her hair falling forwards to frame her face. I was completely captivated.

 

Sleep caught us tightly very soon after, and so ended my first day of adulthood in a drunken haze.

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