Everything Changes

It was August. Brian was enjoying what was left of vacation. Summer Vacation hadn’t been long enough. It never is. He wasn’t looking forward to starting high school. He wasn’t looking forward to a new school and learning new routines. New schedules. Middle school was hard enough but at least he had his friends with him. People were talking about high school as they made their way to the end of the eighth grade.

High school was in Brian’s mind throughout summer vacation. No matter what was happening throughout June and July and into August, he thought of high school. Brian was in the basement playing Call of Duty. The first week of August was coming to a close. Soon it would be the second week, halfway through August and then the end of August and the end of vacation. Brian thought of this as he tried to play his game. He was on the same level he had been all week. It was that level that always stumps a gamer. No matter what you do, no matter what experience or weapons you earn, there is always that one level you can never get past. He heard his cell phone ring. It was his friend, Holly. She couldn’t have called at a better time. He was about to throw his controller at the television.

“Hello,” Brian said.

“Hey,” Holly answered.

“Hey,” Brian said as he got up to turn off the game.

“So, you remember how I was put on the waiting list for St. Caroline?”

“Yeah,” Brian said. “I remember that.”

“Well,” Holly said. “My mom said they called today, and a space opened up.”

“So, you’re not going to high school with the rest of us?” Brian asked. He was disappointed. He and Holly had been friends. They let each other copy homework. They were in the same circle of friends that hung out. Brian and Holly had been close. He was upset when he found out she wouldn’t be going to high school with him.”

The next day, Brian rode his bike to Pharrell’s house. He knocked on the door. Pharrell came out.

“Hey, what’s up?” Pharrell said.

“Nothing,” Brian said. “Holly called me last night. She’s going to St. Caroline’s this fall.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s too bad,” Pharrell said. “I know you two are close.”

“Yeah,” Brian said. “At least everyone else will be there.”

“That’s true,” Pharrell said. “I mean, it stinks that Holly won’t be there, but at least it’s just one person leaving.”

Brian agreed. The two boys decided to play basketball in the driveway. More boys showed up and the game grew. Brian went home after the game. He had dinner with his family that night.

“How are things?” Brian’s father asked him.

“Alright,” Brian shrugged. “Holly called me today. She’s not going to South High School with us this fall.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” his mother said. “You two are close friends.”

“Yeah,” Brian said. “At least Pharrell and I will be in the same school without other friends.”

Brian noticed his parents looking at each other. “What?” Brian asked.

“Brian,” his father said, putting his fork down, “Do you remember how we talked about you going to St. Kevin’s in the fall, but we signed up too late?”

“Yeah,” Brian said hesitantly.

“St. Kevin’s called today,” his mother said. “A space opened up. South High School isn’t a bad school, but we think St. Kevin’s would be better for you.”

“So, I’m not going to South with my friends?” Brian asked.

“You can still see your friends,” his mother said. “Just like you’ll see Holly outside of school. Plus, you’ll make more friends. This will be good for you.”

Brian wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It didn’t matter. St. Kevin’s would be good for him. His parents told him so. He would have liked to have a say in where he was going. Oh, well. It’s not like it was his life.

August continued to pass. It got cooler some nights. People needed a sweatshirt on those nights. Sometimes an extra blanket was needed at bedtime. It was getting closer to the beginning of September that it was the beginning of August. School would be starting. Then again, so would the football season. School started to creep into the conversations at dinner more and more. Mom and Dad didn’t seem to mind it. Brian and Brenna? Not so much.

“Your grandparents are coming over for dinner next week,” his mother said as the family ate.

“Cool,” Brian said. He liked it when his grandparents came over. His grandfather liked football as much as Brian and his father did, maybe even more so. August meant the football season would be starting very soon. Brian was looking forward to watching a preseason game with his father and grandfather.

Pharrell came over the next day. The boys played video games. In the middle of playing, Pharrell said, “Did you hear Mr. Wallace retired?”

“He did?” Brian replied.

“Yeah,” Pharrell said. Brian rolled his eyes. Mr. Wallace was the most popular English teacher in the school. All of the students loved him, and everyone wanted to be in his class. There was no other teacher like Mr. Wallace. Brian was hoping to have at least one class he could look forward to every day. The chances of that one class all but disappeared when Mr. Wallace retired.

Brian had dinner that night with his family. His sister, Brenna told everyone that she and her boyfriend had broken up. Brian almost choked on his food.

“Things haven’t been great between us,” Brenna said.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Sweetie,” their mother said.

Brian went to his room after dinner. He liked Derek, Brenna’s boyfriend. Derek would play basketball with Brian. He fixed Brian’s bike when Brian’s dad was at work. Sometimes, Brian would go to a baseball game with Brenna and Derek. Brian wasn’t sure he’d be able to do those things with Derek anymore. He wasn’t even sure Derek would be around anymore now that he and Brenna had broken up.

Brian laid down on his bed. “This is turning out to be a great month,” he thought to himself. He felt bad for his sister, of course, but breaking up made Brian feel like he had lost a friend.

A few days later, Brian and his family took a day trip. They went to Funland, an amusement park that wasn’t too far from where they lived. Funland was a favorite place for Brian to spend the day. It meant ice cream and fried dough. It meant all the cola he could drink. It meant riding the “Speed Demon”. The “Speed Demon” was the fastest, scariest ride in the whole park. Brian had wanted to ride it ever since his first visit but was told he couldn’t ride it because he wasn’t tall enough. As soon as he was tall enough, “The Speed Demon” was his favorite ride. It was the first and last ride he always went on when his family visited Funland. Brian knew exactly where “The Speed Demon” was. He went with his father to get in line while his mother went with Brenna to drive the cars. Brian stopped walking and looked around. He was sure “The Speed Demon” was around here somewhere.

“Excuse me,” Brian said to an employee. “Isn’t ‘The Speed Demon’ around here?”

“It got replaced,” the employee said as she pointed to a ride with ducks. “We now have “The Happy Ducklings.”

The Happy Ducklings?

Brian still had a good time at the amusement park. He went on other rides. He had ice cream. He got a cheeseburger. He had all the cola he wanted. It was a fun day. He just wanted to know why the best ride in the entire park had to be replaced with ducklings.

Brian was just about ready for August to end until he remembered September came after August. September meant school starting. For Brian, that meant starting high school. Maybe August didn’t need to end so fast after all. Besides, if everything just skipped to September, that means he would miss dinner with his grandparents. Brian didn’t want that to happen.

Brian’s father went food shopping for dinner with the grandparents that night. Brian was promised chocolate milk that night. Brian’s father came home. Brian helped bring the groceries in the house. He looked for his favorite chocolate milk.

“Where’s the Choc-o-Moo?” Brian asked.

“They told me they weren’t selling it anymore,” his father said. “It got replaced with this.”

The groceries were put away. Brian and Brenna helped their parents make dinner. Everything was prepared and in the oven when the grandparents arrived. Brian’s mother set the timer, and everyone went into the backyard to talk while dinner was cooking.

“So, what do you think of the Bucs this year, Brian?” his grandfather asked. “Think they can do it again?”

Brian shrugged and said, “We’ll see. If Brady does what he did last year, it’s possible.”

The whole family, Brian, Brenna, their parents, and grandparents, sat down to dinner. Brian tried the new chocolate milk with dinner that night. It wasn’t as good as what he had before, and he wanted to know why the supermarket needed to replace it. As the family ate, the grandparents had an announcement to make: They were selling their house and moving to Arizona.

Brian nearly choked on his chocolate milk. His father looked at him.

“Are you alright?” his father asked.

“Not really.”