I wake up with a small jump. My boyfriend, Chris, is standing over me looking heavenly in the morning light. I roll out of bed (literally, I'm on the floor), Chris chuckles. All of the sudden he's out of my way, standing by one of my posters on the wall, a poster that's still there from when I was little and was obsessed with the stars and planets. Chris slides the poster aside and shows me a paper on the wall that has a bunch of horizontal strips of paper, collectively they form a gradient going from dark blues and greens to a small band of yellow fading to orange and then red. Chris lets the poster slide back over the paper, gives me a smile, and leaves.
I get dressed quickly, hoping that I get to hang out with my boyfriend for the day. When I get downstairs he's nowhere to be found. When I step out onto the porch I see a bunch of swimmers from other schools pull up on our lawn and driveway. This does not seem unusual. I think to myself, my brother must've invited them...
We're in somebody's living room. It's large, but still cozy, partly from the dark wood paneling that makes up the ceiling and floor. A handful of the school's GSA board members are there, I think we were planning topic meetings for next year. Brittney, Angela, April and Jake are there, among others who I didn't see clearly enough to make their faces out.
All the sudden there are swimmers in the room, from our school. We stand up, but nothing happens for a while, until Jake runs at them. I run after him, and pull him back into our group. There's Jake, crying in my arms. He just broke down. I'm there for him, 'cause that's what friends are for, right? That' all Jake and I are now, friends, right? I'm certain that's all it is, besides, I have my lovely Chris. But I have no idea what Jake's crying over.
We go outside, having decided we we're going someplace else to finish the planning. Jake is still crying in my arms. I ask if he wants to ride with me, but he declines, and gets into Brittney's car. Out of the corner of my eye I see my car starting up without me. I catch a glimpse of Adam, a swimmer, drive by me and down the long driveway through the woods. I chase after him, until we get to the road, and a little way's up the road there is a drag race starting.
We can both see he lights around the starting gate. Adam turns the car around and I take the opportunity to sit on the back hatch and hang on. I ask Adam if he knows where we're going and he says no. I give him directions to another friend's house just down the street. Incidentally it's also where the board members were regrouping.
I slide off the car watching Adam reconnecting some wires underneath the steering wheel, with some sparks and smoke. He says it's as good as before, and gets out of my car. Somehow I'm not angry.