I rolled down my windows and blasted the stereo. Summer was finally here, and with it was the opportunity of a life time. Or at least, that’s what I hoped. This was my last summer I would spend in my hometown. Rust Creek is a small town in southern Minnesota and has a population of exactly three thousand one hundred and sixteen. Needless to say, we don’t exactly hold a huge spot on the map. In fact, I have never met a single person who had ever heard of it. All I could think about for the past few years was how much I couldn’t wait to get out of this town. But at the same time, I couldn’t stand the thought of ever leaving. As I turned onto my road, I heard my cell phone vibrate in the cup holder.
As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I picked it up and read the message from my best friend, Charlie. And no, Charlie is not a guy.
“Are you going to Mack’s party?” it read.
“Duh!” I texted back.
Everyone knew about Mack’s parties. He had one every year to celebrate the end of the school year. He also had one at the end of the summer, on New Year’s, and on Halloween. Everyone went, and the adults all pretended they were oblivious to what went on at them. After all, there weren’t many secrets in Rust Creek.
As I walked up the path to our front door, I saw my horse, Buck, running along his fence, and I had to smile. A light breeze fluffed my hair as I reached for the doorknob, and I heard one of the dogs barking out by the barn.
“Is that you, Bethany?” my mom called from the kitchen.
“Yeah, Mom,” I called, setting down my backpack on the bench in the entryway. My older brother had graduated two years ago, but Mom still asked if it was me when I came home. Sometimes it seemed like she forgot he wasn’t here anymore.
“How was school?” she asked, coming around the corner and wiping her hands on her apron.
Her brown hair was falling out of the bun she had pulled it into, and she had flour on her cheek. The sunlight streamed in the windows, and I could feel it’s warmth on the back of my neck.
“I’m just glad it’s over!” I exclaimed.
She smiled, and I noticed, not for the first time, how pretty she was.
“I can’t believe you’re going to be in college come the fall. It’s going to be so quiet around here with both of you kids gone,” she said, shaking her head.
She got that almost teary look in her eyes, and I walked over and gave her a hug.
“It’s not like I’ll never visit, Mom,” I said.
“That’s what your brother said.”
She was right. My brother had promised he would come back and visit whenever he could. So far, we had seen him once. But he had been miserable here. All he wanted to do was party and become a musician. He wasn’t a small town guy. As soon as he could, he had flown out to New York to live in a tiny, over-priced studio apartment on the Lower East Side. We didn’t talk about him a whole lot, and it was an unspoken rule that no one mentioned him to my dad. As my parents’ one and only son, he was supposed to have stayed home and taken over the tiny hobby farm we lived on. While he would never admit it, I think my dad was pretty hurt when Jake left.
“What are you making?” I asked, hoping to cheer her up.
“Apple pie. It’s almost done too,” she said, her face lighting up.
There was nothing my mom loved more than cooking. Well, except maybe my dad. I always looked forward to whatever she made, because I could always be sure it would be good.
“I suppose you’re going to make me wait until after supper?” I teased.
“I suppose that since it’s that last day of school, you can have some as soon as it cools,” she said, smiling.
“I’m going to go up to my room. Call me when it gets done,” I said, heading for the stairs.
I climbed the steep stairs to the second floor and turned down the hallway to go to my room. Pulling open the door, I walked to the windows and opened the blinds. As the sun streamed in and illuminated the dust that floated in the air. I sat down on the edge of my bed and looked around. My bedroom didn’t look much different than it had when I was little. I had gotten new bedding and new curtains, but everything else was still the same. The walls were still painted that pale pink color. My furniture was still white painted wood. The closet was still bursting at the seams. Where colorful picture books had once sat on my bookshelves, thick books with broken bindings staked their claims.
I could hear Mom humming to herself downstairs, and outside, I heard one of our calves calling for its mother. Standing up, I walked to my closet and opened the door with extreme caution. A basketball, a sweat-stained volleyball knee pad, and a few wrinkled T-shirts fell out and landed on the floor next to me. I kicked the aside and started thumbing through the hangers for something to wear. I had to look perfect for the biggest party of the year. I had just thrown a few possibilities on my bed when I heard my mom calling my name.
“The pie is ready, Bethie!” she called in her sing-songy voice.
I bounded down the steps and rounded the corner into the kitchen where Mom was setting a piece of pie on a plate for me. I grabbed a fork from the silverware drawer and eagerly took a bite.
“It’s fantastic, Mom,” I said.
She beamed as I took another bite. If she would let me, I would live off her apple pie. Well, any kind of pie she made, really. I couldn’t ever really decide which was my favorite for sure.
“Are you going down to the party at the Copur’s tonight?” she asked, cutting a slice of pie for herself.
“Yeah. It’s the kick-off to my last summer here; I can’t not go,” I said.
Mom’s face fell a little, and I started talking as quickly as I could.
“But I’m not going to stop visiting. And I’ll come home for a few weeks every summer, I promise,” I said.
She managed a smile, but I could tell she was thinking about Jake again. I couldn’t help but curse him a little. If he hadn’t gone off and left like he did without ever taking a second glance in our direction, I would be able to have the freedom I wanted so badly. Because of him, my parents gave me a stricter curfew, and they couldn’t stop talking about how nice it would be when I came to visit from college and how they were going to remodel the house so I could have a bigger bedroom. I loved them and all, but I wanted to see more places in my lifetime than the sleepy corners of Rust Creek.
“Don’t forget to be home by midnight,” she said, her voice warning, as I dumped my plate in the dishwasher and headed back up to my room.
“Yeah, Mom,” I said. I knew I wouldn’t really be back by midnight, but I could keep her happy by saying I would be.
At eight o’clock, I heard Charlie’s rusted out pick-up pull into the driveway. I took one last look at myself in the mirror and headed down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“Have fun, Bethie,” Mom called as I passed the kitchen.
“I will, Mom,” I called over my shoulder as I pushed open the front door.
I dodged a few stray chickens and one of our barn cats on my way to Charlie’s truck. Pulling open the door, I threw myself up onto the passenger seat and tried to slam the door shut. After four tries, I got it closed and she put the truck in reverse. It backfired and rattled, but we got out of the driveway without it falling apart.
“This party is going to be amazing,” Charlie said as she drove down the road.
We had the windows open and the radio cranked up. The wind coming through the open windows smelled like summer, and our hair flew around inside the cab. My favorite song came on, and I sang at the top of my lungs, letting my hand swim through the air outside the truck.
As we rounded the last corner before the Copur’s farm, Charlie let out a low whistle. We were still half a mile away, and there were already cars starting to park here. Shrugging, she pulled off to the side of the road and hid her keys under the floor mat. In any other town, that would have been a terrible mistake, but this was Rust Creek. Well, that and her truck looked like it was about to die. No one would want to go through the trouble of stealing it for anything more than parts. We started walking down the firmly pack dirt road, and I could have sworn I could hear the music already. That was on advantage to living so far off the beaten path; the cops couldn’t come tell you to turn down your music because there was no one close enough to hear it and complain.
When we finally got to the house, there were people everywhere. The barn doors were wide open, and I could see people milling around inside. The music wasn’t real loud yet, but I knew without a doubt that it would be later. I could smell the grills that were set up right next to the barn, and I was suddenly hungry again.
“Bethany! Charlie! It’s great to see you!” I heard someone say.
I turned and saw Mack’s girlfriend, Amber, coming towards us. She had moved here a year and a half ago, but she still didn’t fit in. Her bleached blonde hair and fake tanned skin only hinted at the piles of money her parents had. While everyone I knew drove around old and usually rusty cars, she had a brand new sports car. Her family had bought a farm that had gone bankrupt when the old man who had lived there went into a nursing home, and now they had built their huge mansion and sprawling horse stables. It was totally out of place here, but I guess her parents had wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I didn’t really care for her, but I tried to be nice to her because I knew she didn’t fit in around here.
“Hey, Amber,” Charlie said through gritted teeth. She didn’t even bother trying to conceal her dislike of Amber.
“I hope you guys have fun… I tried to convince Mack to have his party at my house, but for some reason he just refused! Can you believe it? At least at my house there’s a pool. Can you believe how hot it is already?”
She fanned a perfectly manicured hand in front of her face, and I wondered absently how she could possibly be hot in her thin tube top and microscopic mini-skirt.
“It’s tradition to have the party here. You can’t mess with tradition,” Charlie said flippantly.
“It’s never too late to start new traditions, you know,” Amber shot back.
“Come on, Charlie, let’s go see if we can find something to drink,” I said, steering her away before she could pick a fight with Amber.
“I just don’t get her. Couldn’t she at least try to fit in around here?” Charlie asked as we walked towards the barn.
“She doesn’t like it here; I think she’d leave in heartbeat if she could,” I said, feeling the need to defend her.
“I’m sure if she asked, Daddy would fly her home on a pink jet,” Charlie said bitterly.
I sighed and hoped I could find something to keep her mind off Amber.