The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter four: Acceptance

James

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Harlee was ubiquitous, it seemed.

Everywhere I went, it was like her presence followed me.

Not because she was necessarily following me, but more because memories of her were. The two of us had made years worth of memories all around Winnington, in our neighborhood, and in our homes, so they weren't something I could escape that easily.

It was almost like the universe was trying to remind me of how much I was giving up.

As if I needed a reminder at all.

I knew the severity of what I was doing.

That didn't change the fact I had to do it.

This time it was my phone wallpaper bothering me as I sat alone on my bedroom floor. The wallpaper was a picture of Harlee and me; we were at the ice cream shop clinking our cones together like they were glasses of wine. Harlee had a gleeful smile on her face, and I was in the middle of a laugh when the photo was taken.

Before the memory could upset me too much, I changed my wallpaper to a picture of Evan and me. Then I got up and snatched the photo of her and me from the corner of my mirror so it couldn't keep frustrating me either.

There was no sense in torturing myself even more.

My plans to keep Evan in the dark about Harlee and me were foiled that night when he asked me about Farrah's party. She'd sent virtual invitations for an end-of-the-school-year party out that night, and both he and I had received one of them. I knew Harlee was probably one of the first people to receive an invite to the party, meaning she'd be there too.

That was the last thing I needed.

I'd successfully avoided her all around school and in our neighborhood. But at a party, it may prove more difficult.

Especially since Evan didn't know that I was avoiding her, and he wanted to attend the party together.

I was sitting in my bedroom, glaring down at the phone screen before me, trying to will the invitation to disappear. In a cursive font, Farrah had written RSVP with little hearts surrounding the letters. When Evan sent me a screenshot of his, I noticed his invitation was covered in hearts entirely.

I felt like Farrah had a thing for him.

She'd gone all out on everyone's invitations, but she'd really gone all out on his invite.

"I wonder if there is some way I can get my invite revoked," I mumbled to myself. A message from Evan popped up on my screen, and I immediately clicked on it. I was wasting time thinking about the situation with Harlee. No amount of regret or angst about it would change my decision. So I just needed to let it go.

Evan had chat messaged me, asking if Harlee was going to tag along with us to the party.

I bit down on my lip cautiously.

How was I supposed to word this?

How could I tell him Harlee and I had stopped being friends?

My fingers tapped the keyboard, but everything I typed, I immediately erased. I didn't want to give him an explanation for why our friendship had ended. I just wanted him to know it had, so he could stop bringing it up.

After a few seconds of trying to figure out what to type, I sent him a blunt message saying,

Harlee and I aren't friends anymore, Evan. Don't ask me why.