Nadia was waiting in the parking lot, absorbed in her phone. When
the police had begun investigating the island where Morshton
Academy once was, they had found her cell phone, and, well, let's
just say Nadia would have had a lot more trouble if she hadn't
saved lives, and as she said in defence, "The president really
liked that pizza and I payed for it." Being a year younger then
Colt, she still had some high school time left, and she was
certainly going to miss the idiot. She was still in close contact
with Salene and Dan, and often talked with them a lot. She hadn't
heard from her father, even after the newscasts. She didn't care
though, since she considered the Taylors to be her real family.
"Hey, 'Bell, ready for summer?" he said with a mischievous grin as
he walked up to her, unlocking the car. Holding out the keys, he
added more sincerely, "Want to drive today? Last day of school
treat." Colt glanced down at his own phone. "Oh, also, I forgot to
tell you; I invited everyone over for a ceremonial burning of any
and all useless papers in a large bonfire later this everyone."
Naturally, the more important papers would be spared.
At first, Nadia smiled, while gritting her teeth. "I swear Colt,
you never seem to drop the nickname, huuh?" But then, it turned
into a genuine smile. "First of all, I drive today," she said,
taking the keys from him and jingling them, tossing them up in the
air and catching them nimbly. "Second of all, that is amazing and
if I don't get to light more then 10 papers I'm hiding a snake in
your luggage when you go to college."
"You do that and you won't be burning anything.
Ever." He shook his head and walked around to the passenger
side, chucking his backpack into the back seat. Leaning back and
letting out a breath, he took a moment to contemplate that this
would be the last time he did this in this setting. "I can't quite
believe it," he began. "I actually managed to get through high
school without turning into a blob of pathetic sludge."
"Orrr maybe I will anyways!" She sang as she got into the front
seat. As she fiddled with the adjustments on the seat, mumbling
under her breath, "Colt, how do you drive so far away from the
steering wheel?!" she looked up at him, grinning. "You made it
through a lot, my friend, a whole lot. And now you get to go to
college!" She said, punctuating her sentence with jazz hands.
"Ah, long arms," he said with a grin. "Some love 'em, others hate
'em!" Thinking about her second statement, he added after a moment,
"And if that's not the understatement of the century for both of
us, I don't know what is." About 15 minutes later, they pulled into
the Taylor's driveway. "Don't bother pulling into the garage; Cam's
home from work early, so his car's already in there," Colt
instructed. Cam hadn't gone straight to college, still unsure of
what he wanted to do, and two weeks prior had finally announced
that he'd decided to go into the printing and mailing business. He
was planning to move out sometime in July. Colt would miss him, but
he was glad for his brother, who at that moment could be seen in
the backyard lugging some wood from the wood pile near the forest
to out behind the house.
"Gotcha," Nadia said, stopping the car. After parking the car, she
quickly jumped out. Ever since she had healed, Nadia had become a
lot more active, gaining a new appreciative for being able to move
around and be flexible. She closed the door to the car, saying,
"It's still weird thinking that that was the last time I'll be
coming home from school with you. Now who's backpack am I going to
fill with snakes when he leaves it within reach?"
"Literally, anyone except me," he laughed, then grinned. "Although,
perhaps yours could stand to be randomly infested with arachnids
should you ever attempt it." The blond was always amused by Nadia's
increased springy-ness to her movements. He himself had been
considering picking up a sport, but none really appealed to him,
aside from maybe tennis. Sobering a bit as he walked across the
grassy lawn, he added, "I'll miss you."
"Hey! No arañas espeluznantes!" As she followed him quickly, she
herself became more serious. "I'll miss you too. I can't belive
it's only been a month, but it feels like years since I got you in
detention and pegged you with a paper ball." She tried to smile.
"But hey, you're going to Caltech! That's a really big deal, and I
am really happy for you."
He let out an attempt at a laugh. "Well, I am indeed a nerd, so I
can't say you were wrong. Thank you; don't worry, you'll catch up
soon. Any thoughts about where you'd like to go?" Reaching the
already-substantial bonfire that Cam had been building, Colt waved
to his brother, knelt down, and tore open the marshmallow packet,
popping one into his mouth before standing and lobbing another at
Nadia with a smirk.
"Honestly, I haven't really thought about it." She fumbled for the
marshmellow and barely managed to catch it before it hit the
ground. "I meant to do that," she muttered. She waved to Cam as
well, straightening up and popping the marshmellow in her mouth.
After she finished chewing it she said, "I still have some time
anyways, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Her face
fell and she mumbled, "Oy, I sound like an old lady saying that."
"Hey, Colt! Unhand the marshmallows, dude!" Cam called from the
wood pile upon seeing what he was doing. "Sure, sure." He chuckled,
flowing over the bag and setting it back down, saying in a pleading
tone, "Grandmother Nadia, may I please have a cookie? Grandma, can
we get ice cream?" As if on cue, the sound of Colt's grandparents'
car pulling up could be heard from the front of the house.
"Shut it, Godzilla," she grumbled. "Or I might just follow through
on that threat about hiding a snake in your luggage." She perked
up, hearing the sounds of the car pulling in. "That's gotta be
them, right?" Although she had been keeping in contact with Dan and
his sister, there was a difference between calling and actually
seeing them. After the entire escapade, Amaya had become much
friendlier and entergetic, reminding Nadia of herself when she was
her age. Of course, she was a lot rowdier then Amaya, but she still
loved seeing her.
Two hours later, after the sun had gone down, Colt, Nadia, Cam,
Dan, Amaya, and Salene all sat on a large picnic blanket in the
grass. Colt and Cam were trying to see who could fit the most
marshmallows on a stick at a time, the former currently holding the
record at six.
Nadia found this battle extremely interesting, and was recording
the entire thing on her phone while egging both of them on in
Spanish. Salene was trying to convince them that they were going to
end up dropping it at one point with all of the marshmellows, and
Dan was having a similar problem convincing Amaya to not try the
same thing.