'Freedom' as a sixteen-year-old doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot. What 'freedom' essentially boiled down to for me and everyone else I know, is the option of either staying at home to play video games until your eyes fell out, or going to the woods to drink warm, cheap beer with a bunch of idiots whose sole purpose in life seems to be informing you of 'how wasted' they are.
Neither of these appeal to me tonight, or ever really. Despite Luke's assurances to the contrary, tonight will likely end with Luke and I walking around the neighborhood bored out of our minds before we inevitably end up at a diner eating chicken fingers. Same old, same old.
Luke's my best friend, and by best friend, I mean he's my only friend. Generally speaking, Luke's slightly more outgoing than I am. Or at least slightly more interested in seeming to be part of the actual general population of the school itself. It can be annoying at times, but at the end of the day, he's still a great friend. He's never let me down and is always game for just about anything. Unfortunately tonight, anything means going to the woods to drink warm beer with the popular kids.
Well, in all likelihood it'll be more like watching the popular kids drink lukewarm beer while we sit on tree stumps. Neither of us have a way to get beer (nor am I really interested in the first place), and the kids throwing parties like this aren't exactly known for picking up a few extra cases of beer just in case the unpopular kids, who weren't invited, show up. At sixteen, anyone who can get beer is basically looked up to as metahuman themselves.
"I don't think I really want to go," I say to Luke.
We're at his house, playing video games until our eyes fall out. Luke sighs.
"This again? Come on, man," he says.
"What do you mean; this again?" I say.
"This. The whole 'too cool for school' routine. It's getting old man," Luke says.
"Old? Old to who?" I ask.
"Old to me, who coincidentally is the only one who'll ever be around for it to get old to if you don't come out of your shell a little bit," he says.
"I'm not in a shell," I lie to him.
"Yes you are. When's the last time you've been to a party?" he asks.
"You mean a real party or one of these lame 'let's all talk about howwasted we are in the woods get-togethers?" I shoot back.
"Oh, I didn't realize that woods parties were beneath you all of asudden. Surely, you must have other, much more exciting, plans tonight Mr. Bond. Shall I send the helicopter to fetch you from your penthouse afterwards, so we can get chicken fingers at the diner?" he asks.
This actually does make me laugh.
"Seriously though dude, it's the last day of class. Relax a little bit for God's sake. Is one party in the woods going to kill you?" he asks.
"Who knows, it might. What if there are bears?" I ask back sarcastically.
"I give you a zero bears guarantee. And on top of that, I give you a 100% percent Lexi McRae guarantee," he tells me.
"Why would I care?" I lie to him again. The reason I would care, of course, is because I like Lexi McRae. Like, like her. You'd have to be literally insane not to like Lexi. She's funny, beautiful, and probably one of the smartest girls in our class.
The only thing keeping every guy in our class from falling madly in love with her; is probably that she's too smart to ever really like any of them back. Guys my age don't like smart girls. There's something about the mind of a sixteen year-old male that makes most of us put girls in either the 'hot' or 'nerd' category. Lexi's smart, so that overrides everything and puts her in the nerd category for most. Not me though.
"Don't say anything in front of her, all right? I really don't need that kind of aggravation tonight Luke."
"Would you relax already? What are you so afraid of that I'm going to say?" he asks while casually beating the hell out of my team in NFL Blitz on his ancient N64.
"Uhh, probably something along the lines of 'Hey, Lexi, did you know that Jason is insanely in love with you even though he'll never admit it?' like you did literally two weeks ago in front our entire social studies class." I practically yell.
"Those were crazy times, Jason. I've grown a lot as a person since then. You should know that," he replies. He hasn't, but still, if there's a chance Lexi's going to be there, it might just be worth the risk of public humiliation...