My Heart's in Alabama

10 - Kiersten

The first day of school is tomorrow. Not that it's like a big deal or anything. By now, I pretty much have it figured out that the first day of school is more or less the same as every other day. I take a quick shower, then head to my room to watch some reruns of an old show. I push play and flop down on my bed. Two seconds into the show, I hear a soft thud against my window. I reach over and crank it open.

"What are you doing?" Matt asks.

"Watching T.V.," I answer.

"Wanna do something fun?"

"T.V. is fun."

"Are you coming or not?" He says with a coy smile then disappears from his room. Even though I know he can't hear me, I yell after him.

"Wait! Where are you going? Matt! Matt!"

No answer. I roll my eyes and drag myself downstairs. I rush past my dad who's bumming it on the couch like always and my mom who's standing in the kitchen gulping down ice cream straight from the box.

"What are you getting me into now?" I ask Matt.

As soon as I stepped outside I saw him standing at the bottom of my porch steps waiting for me.

"Wanna go to the lake?"

"That's it?"

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know."

"Do you wanna go or not?"

I roll my eyes and hop down my front steps to meet Matt. He turns and heads towards the lake. I have to jog a little to catch up with him. He walks so fast, it doesn't take us long to get to our destination.

I kick off my keds and dip my feet into the water. Matt pulls off his sneakers and socks, strips off his t-shirt, and slowly lowers himself into the lake. He stays facing me while he treads water near the dock.

"I thought you were sore," I say.

"I am," Matt says. "Swimming helps release lactic acid."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Uh-huh," he says. "Why don't you get in?"

"I don't have my suit. Or a towel," I say although the water does look nice.

"Swim in your clothes," Matt says with a nonchalant shrug.

"I can't swim in my clothes. What if I ruin my dress?"

"You won't ruin your dress. Besides you have like a thousand dresses," he says.

"I do not."

"You sure do," he says. "Let's see there's the pink and white one, the red lacy one, the stripe-y green one, the yellow one with the bow, the light blue one with the white lace on the top, the light blue one with the white lace on the bottom, that one with the roses, the one that poofs out when you spin in a circle, the uh...the one with the belt, um...oh yeah that white one you wear with that long bird necklace-"

"That's hardly a thousand."

"Well, you didn't let me finish."

"If you think you're gonna get your way by being smug you've got another thing coming," I say even though by then I had already decided to go in.

"Okay okay," he says. "Please?"

"Since you asked nicely," I say with a shrug and tie my hair up in a bun so it doesn't get wet. As soon as I drop in the water I feel the instant chill of the cool water. It was hot today, so I welcome the cold. It's refreshing.