The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter twelve: Dandelion wishes

Harlee

🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖🏖

The Monday after the party tipped off the first official week of summer vacation.

I planned to spend it relaxing at my house before all of the summer festivities began. Left to my own devices, after my parents had gone to work, I decided to invite Rachel over. I wanted to know why she hadn't shown up to the party, and since inviting James over was out of the question, I sent her a text.

We'd exchanged phone numbers on the last day of school since Rachel didn't have any social media.

She had said, "Social media is for people with friends."

I'd told her I was her friend in reply to that.

She'd just smiled at me weakly as a response.

I tidied up my bedroom as I waited for her to arrive. I'd thought of inviting Farrah over as well but thought better of it. I had forgiven Farrah for the Spin the Bottle incident, but I had a feeling if Farrah came over, Rachel might not be as open with me. Farrah wasn't exactly the easiest person to be around, especially not if you were a shy person. So for Rachel's sake, I didn't text her an invitation.

I was making my bed up when I heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. I skipped downstairs then hurried to answer it.

"Hey!" I greeted her eagerly after opening the door.

"Hey," Rachel smiled weakly. I noticed she seemed a bit nervous, and I wondered why this was.

Then she looked over her shoulder. I followed her eyes and noticed a white car parked by the curb. I couldn't help but notice how worn out the vehicle looked. Sitting in the car were two older people that looked like Rachel. There was a tiny Indian lady with Rachel's glowing complexion and silky black hair, and an Indian man with dark brown hair, Rachel's brown eyes, and her bright smile. The resemblance let me know they had to be Rachel's parents.

They both waved to me simultaneously, and I gave them a friendly wave

back. What I didn't understand was why she needed both of her parents to bring her to my house.

Rachel noticed the confusion on my countenance and held her head down in embarrassment. "Sorry about my mom and dad. You're kind of my first friend in junior high in a while. So they kind of had wanted to meet you. Do you think you could come over and just say hi?" she asked.

I could tell she felt quite humiliated by her parents' actions, so I made sure to make it seem like no big deal at all. It really wasn't a big deal to me, but I could understand her embarrassment. If I had no friends and my parents had pulled a stunt like that, I would be mortified too.

"Yeah, sure," I said, giving her a smile.

We made our way over to the car, and I introduced myself to Mr. and Mrs. Krenshaw. They were both very nice people, but I noticed they were both almost as shy as Rachel was. After introductions, and after I gave them an itinerary of what we'd be doing that day (staying in the house and relaxing was pretty much all I had planned), they said their goodbyes to Rachel and me, then Mr. Krenshaw put the key into the ignition.

The engine made a weird sputtering sound, but it didn't start.

Her dad looked embarrassed, while Mrs. Krenshaw and Rachel looked more accustomed than humiliated.

"Uh, Rachel, could you?" he said while gesturing to the front of the car.

I wondered what exactly he needed her to do to help.

Rachel sighed like this was just routine and went and slapped the car on the hood like she was giving it a spanking.

Still, nothing happened.