Almost Heaven

*mild references to female puberty*

The students of Chesterton Middle School all but clamored for the final bell of the school year. Seventh-graders Samantha, Alexis, Sydney, and Kayla congregated in the commons area while awaiting their dismissal.

"This summer is going to be so dope, guys! We'll all be thirteen by next school year--actual teenagers!" Kayla exclaimed, "We could all shop at Sephora literally by ourselves then!"

"Your birthday falls on the start of Grove Summer Nights Festival!" Alexis noted, "Will you have a party there?"

"Yass! My parents are down with it! We may even rent a boat for the night!"

Everyone gasped, oohed, and ahhed.

"Get this!" Sydney added, "My sister just got her driver's license and a job at Dairy Queen! I could see if she can drive us there sometimes! We should get you a cake from there too!"

Kayla, Alexis, and Sydney were the cooler girls in Samantha's class; their own coterie since elementary school. With parents who had either good money or good position in the community, they lived in the more upscale parts of town, wore the trendy threads, and enjoyed enviable luxuries, like VIP suites at the local stadium, trips to the major cities, and season passes to several amusement parks. Not to mention, the grapevine whispered for a while that they already started puberty. Whatever truth there was to that, their bodies and personalities certainly blossomed over the last few years.

"Are you going to Summer Nights?" One of them asked Samantha, the new girl to Chesterton this past year. Her blue-collar dad found good work in Quincy Grove after layoffs at his former employment. Since she wasn't nearly equal to their means, her "in" with this crowd was getting paired with them for group projects or as study partners for several classes and she just kept hanging around with them after the fact.

"Um...yeah!" Samantha shared their excitement for the plans, but deep down, wished she could contribute something exciting as well. "I'll see what my parents say, but it should be fine." For months, she worked hard on her schoolwork and tried not to be difficult at home, hoping that her parents would allow her to go out on her own this summer. The privilege had to be in the bag by now.

The bell finally tolled and the campus released the masses. As they parted, Samantha told the group she'd check in later after talking to her parents. On the walk home, the thought occurs to her that her parents' anniversary is coming up soon--she just couldn't remember what day. She also remembered it was their twentieth wedding anniversary. She wondered if they were doing something extra special this year. Would they go out of town for a weekend--a week, two weeks--and let her stay at home...by herself? Surely, she's shown herself to be capable enough for things like that. She was almost thirteen anyway. They had to at some point, right?

Once Samantha got home, a few things stuck out to her while she settled in, showing her some of the answers she was looking for. On their calendar, one of her parents scrawled a line through fourteen consecutive days and marked it "anniversary trip". On the counter, she spotted a pile of cruise brochures, passports, and other notes for packing and travel plans. They were planning a special trip for two weeks--a Caribbean cruise! She was only jealous she wasn't going--given the occasion--but maybe if there was a next time she could. In the meantime, she wondered how she could be so lucky that she was about to be on her own for two whole weeks! Helping herself to the microwave mozzarella sticks from the freezer, she just hoped they would replenish the snacks before leaving.

Her summer fantasies only lasted until dinner though.

"Hey, would it be alright if I went to the Grove Summer Nights Festival?" She brought up the question while they ate.

"We won't be home," Her mom answered.

"Could I go by myself with my friends?” Samantha was perplexed over why that mattered, but no less determined. It starts on Kayla's birthday."

"If we were going to be home," Her dad reiterated, "we wouldn't have a problem with it."

"You're going on a cruise for two weeks," Samantha started to balk, "but I can't go out?! That's not fair!"

"We're not letting you stay at home by yourself for two weeks." Her mom announced.

"You don't let me do anything!" She shrilled and threw her hands up, her fuse getting shorter than it should be. "What am I going to do that whole time?!"

"You're going to stay with your grandparents in West Virginia," One of her parents said. "We'd feel more comfortable knowing you were looked after while we are gone."

"But there's nothing to do there!" Samantha cried angrily. "All my friends are doing fun stuff, and...and..." She shrieked and just stormed off to her room, sobbing; leaving her dinner plate abandoned and slamming the bedroom door behind her.

Fuming, Samantha couldn't believe what she heard. She was not going to the Summer Nights Festival. She was not staying by herself while her parents were gone; she would be staying with her grandparents--who lived in West Virginia, of all places! Kayla, Alexis, and Sydney talked like they knew all the coolest places anywhere, even in Nebraska and Wyoming. To her knowledge, they never mentioned anything cool in or about West Virginia. Even though she was thinking about her classmates, she couldn't bear to talk to them right now. She was too caught up in thinking this was going to be the lamest summer ever.

A few days later, Samantha was heading to River Run, in southern West Virginia, where her grandparents lived. They couldn't have at least lived near anywhere or anything cool, like Morgantown, Harper's Ferry, Lewisburg, or The Greenbrier? She thought to herself with a sullen mood that hadn't subsided since dinner a few days before. Her friends at least texted disappointment in her absence when she messaged them. One of them hoped she'd have fun--just to be polite, no doubt. Against better judgment, she scrolled on social media for the umteen-dozenth time, her feed full of check-in's, pictures, and stories connected to the Quincy Grove event she was missing, among other enticing summer-related posts. She rubbed at tears forming in her eyes, believing she had FOMO to the point of depression, maybe anxiety too given how her face had broken out now. What's more, she had to be polite around her family even though she felt emotionally numb. She wondered if she could just sleep the whole two weeks.

However, Samantha felt she couldn't even do that. She thought she'd cry herself to sleep her first night with her grandparents, only to cry because she couldn't fall asleep. Her stomach was also cramping and she didn't know why. Then, a sight in the bathroom at an odd hour of the night shocked her to the point of screaming and waking her grandparents.

"Oh! Bless your heart!" Her grandmother sympathized when she saw blood in the toilet. "That explains a lot!" Grandmother wasted no time tending to the situation, drawing a sample package of pads from a bathroom cabinet. "These may not be much but they'll tide you over until the drugstore opens. Do you know how to use it?" Samantha nodded and obliged as Grandma bustled away to give her privacy and prepare some remedies. She started in the kitchen to warm up some chamomile tea, rummaged through the linen closet for a heating pad, and glanced into Samantha's room to check on the bedsheets.

"Thankfully, we caught it in time," Grandmother told her granddaughter when she emerged from the bathroom. She pulled her in for a comforting hug. "It's always a mess when it starts. I'm getting some things ready to help you rest."

"Th-thank you, Mawmaw..." Samantha gratefully sobbed into the matriarch's body. As she sipped the tea in bed and held the heating pad to her lower torso, she didn't want to imagine having to go through this alone.

Her grandparents let her sleep in the next morning and even brought her breakfast in bed before they went to the store for feminine hygiene products and some acne treatment. Within a few more days, Samantha looked, felt, and acted more normally--she was still disappointed to have missed the start of the Summer Nights Festival, but she didn't feel driven to tears anymore. She messaged Kayla, Alexis, and Sydney about starting her period. Their responses entailed, "OMG!" "No way!"--brief acknowledgment of her as they focused on sunning, swimming, and partying at the concerts back home. Her mother wouldn't find out until she had the means to contact them. While that left her Mawmaw as her only other conversation partner, she had already dodged "The Talk" from her, as she already got it from her parents and a little at school.

The mid-week evening service at her grandparents' church happened about the same time that Samantha's hormones were more bearable. Extended visits with her grandparents were about the only time she ever attended church and most other times it worked out either on Sundays, holidays, or one time, a Vacation Bible School event. However, the last time she visited was five years ago on a Sunday when she would have been in a separate class that colored activity sheets and watched Veggie Tales. She didn't even know church could have mid-week services. What did people her age do there?

Come to find out she was old enough for the church's teen youth group meeting held in the gymnasium. Before even entering the room, the atmosphere beckoned with a smell of fresh pizza, modern Christian music playing from somewhere, and vigorous energy echoing off the walls. Inside, a handful of boys played basketball in the central part of the hall. On the side near the pizza were also foosball and table tennis set-ups. Throughout the gym, smaller packs of teens ate, mingled, or played hand-clap games.

So she wouldn't have to join the fray alone, Samantha's grandmother introduced her to Olivia, the granddaughter of a friend. Olivia was very cordial, almost as if she were playing hostess, showing Samantha around and introducing her to others. Many were just as friendly and welcoming and likely from working-class families like her own. If anybody was of higher class, they weren't as outspoken about it as Kayla, Alexis, and Sydney tended to be. Her school peers, while never snobbish with her, were never quite this warm with her either. Before the end of the night, Samantha even traded phone numbers or social media contacts with a few people from the youth group.

After some time, the youth pastor summoned everyone together to start their meeting. During announcements, he mentioned a day trip to Ace Adventure Resort waterpark coming up the following week, while Samantha just so happened to be around. She might get to go to a cool place in West Virginia after all!

"Do you think you'll be able to go?" Olivia whispered to her.

"I hope so! I'll just have to ask my grandparents. Do you think it will be alright since I'm practically coming at the last minute?"

"Shouldn't be, but talk to the pastor before you go."

Samantha, joined by Olivia, made a point to do so after the meeting and he was happy to oblige, provided her grandparents signed the necessary paperwork and covered the costs. As much as she wanted to settle things right away, she first wanted to play Foosball with some of her new friends, including this cute guy, Isaac. By the time her grandparents came to collect her at the conclusion of the night, the youth group crowd diminished to stragglers and the Foosball spectators. Sure enough, they agreed to her going on the day trip too. She couldn't have been more thrilled!

In almost no time, Samantha started to feel like she had been among the youth group for longer than the few days she had known them. Of course, several of them--including Olivia and Isaac--lived right in River Run, so they could easily hang out in the following days, visiting the parks, the library, and a local carnival; simpler venues compared to the places that Kayla, Alexis, and Sydney seemed to prefer, but they were still enjoyable, especially with such good company.

The start of Samantha's summer couldn't have been more perfect by the day of the waterpark trip. The skies were sunny and blue--clear and warm all day; Taking on the inflatable implements floating on Tygart Lake with her new friends was definitely out of this world, in her mind. What's more, Isaac asked about--and she agreed to--being boyfriend and girlfriend!

As the group loaded into the church van for their departure that evening, the two of them held hands and straggled behind everyone--trying to steal a moment for themselves. (Not to mention, they were playfully teased by the others as they got wise to their infatuation and the youth pastor's rules for the trip discouraged anything more than hand-holding between couples.)

"I wish we could stay here forever," Samantha wistfully sighed, drinking in the evening's natural beauty as they lingered. Finally certain they'd not get caught, Isaac snuck a kiss on Samantha's cheek as she stared at the surroundings. It shocked them both initially, catching each other's wide eyes and cheeks blushing. But bashful giggling followed and the two bolted to catch up with the group.

Samantha messaged Kayla, Sydney, and Alexis about both the waterpark and Isaac after she got back to her grandparents. For about ten seconds, her phone pinged with GIFs, emojis, and messages that conveyed shock, awe, excitement, and feigned jealousy, mostly over the boyfriend and kissing ordeals. It happened to Samantha before any of them! She mused to herself that the three of them were practically globe-trotters but hadn't had their own boyfriends or been kissed yet. She couldn't believe her luck!

When the time came to go home, Samantha was almost as reluctant to leave as she was to come two weeks before. The continued connection with her youth group friends helped though. Plus a few said they may travel through the Quincy Grove area with their families soon and could possibly meet up. The boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with Isaac fizzled out but they stayed friendly--they weren't fans of long-distance. However, the fling somehow gave the school grapevine something new to talk about when it came to the cooler girls. The collective saw Samantha as cool for having a boyfriend, if not cooler than them for being the first in the group to do so. Association with them started to pale with how it felt with the youth group though. It was almost heaven, she thought, like West Virginia itself.