Vanessa

I feel terrible when I wake up the next morning. When I get high, I feel lighter and relaxed. Then there's the comedown, that's when your emotions come back to you 10x stronger than they were before. And if you're someone who gets high to escape your reality, this is no-question the worst part. I look around and see the others still sound asleep, they look so calm. I wish I could sleep in the way they do, but I'm what people would call an "early bird". I ease off the couch, trying my best not to make any noise.

Peter slept on the floor last night. You would think he would seem extremely uncomfortable, but no, he looks peaceful. I'm hypnotized by his messy blond hair, the way it sticks up and still manages to look perfect. As if he can hear my thoughts, Peter jolts awake. I jump backward about to curse him out, then take into consideration how that would wake up the others. Peter smirks, putting a finger to his mouth, shushing me as he walks over towards me. He takes hold of my hand and leads me around Evelynn's house. My mind is racing and I'm having many thoughts about what the hell is going on. Are my hands sweaty? Where is he taking me? Why is he holding my hand? My thoughts are interrupted as we stop in the foyer. At least, one of my questions got answered.

He drops my hand and smiles seeming to be deep in thought. "Remember when we first met, Vanessa?", Peter questions. I roll my eyes at him. Of course, I do, it's one of those things you never forget. "It was in Kindergarten, Ms. Booker's class to be exact. Our seats were placed next to each other for reasons I still don't know to this day. You asked me a bunch of random questions like, " What's your favorite toy" and "What's your favorite sport". I answered them respectively and decided it would be fun to play a little game. I was all like "I dare you to taste the Elmers Glue, if you do it, I will be your BFF". I don't know why I thought someone that crazy should be my best friend. The actual crazy part was that you got the glue and SWALLOWED it, the rest is history." I say on the verge of laughter. "You forgot the part where I "accidentally" spilled my juice box on you, then you SLAPPED me in the face", Peter roars with laughter. At this point, we're both laughing so loudly the whole house could wake up.

"Oh look at you two lovebirds, waking me up from the pleasant sleep I was having?", Juliette says with a grin from ear to ear. I say " Shut the Fuck up" at the same time Peter says " Fuck off". We give each other a high five and flip her off. " Now that you guys are done reminiscing about your times together, the rest of us were thinking we should go to The High Point today" Juli states. The High Point is this lake area we found the summer before high school. It's about 30 minutes away so we treat it like a road trip. I enjoy long car rides with my friends because we always end up playing ridiculous kids games like I-Spy or 2 truths and a lie to kill off the time. "I'm down anytime to go to The High Point, but let's get some food in our stomachs first" I voice as my stomach grumbles. Juliette goes to get the others and we all head to the kitchen.

We sit around the large dining table while Cole makes us pancakes. Out of the five of us, Cole is no question the best cook. He could start a career in cooking if he wanted. I'm not sure what exactly Cole wants to do after we graduate, he doesn't talk much about himself. That's why I think he's the perfect match for Julie. Julie always likes the quiet guys and as a bonus, he can cook, which would be a great thing for her. The pancakes are placed on our trays and my mouth waters. I dig in right away, eager to have some food in my mouth. Julie does the same but that's not a surprise at this point. "Hey Julie, you're enjoying Cole's pancakes aren't you?" I grimace. She rolls her eyes and glass playfully at me. Cole blushes looking quite embarrassed.

We finish eating breakfast and get in the Range Rover to head over to The High Point. "I better drive, I don't want you druggies to drive us off the road" Evie remarks. "For your information, I am NOT a druggie, save that title for Cole and Julie please" I correct her. Cole and Julie do consume more drugs than Peter and I do though. It's probably because Peter gets drug tested and I don't like the feeling that I'm going to blackout from my consumption of the various drugs we manage to get our hands-on. Peter has to be completely sober at school because if his basketball coach found out, he could get kicked off the team. That would ruin everything for him. Peter needs that basketball scholarship to get out of this town and go to college. I won't let him ruin his chances of a better life out of this shit town by snorting up any drug on the school campus.

We ride in the car struggling to figure out what songs to put on while we drive. We all have different types of music we listen to, so it's hard to compromise. I look out of the windows and watch the evergreen trees pass by in the distance. They always have green leaves no matter what time of year it is. Nothing ever changes for them... I imagine it must get pretty boring. I like change because it gives me something different and new to experience. It doesn't matter to me if it's good or bad, because I feel like any change is better than the contrary.

"I Spy with my little eye something brown," Peter says out of nowhere. I groan and roll my eyes, but proceed to look around. There's satisfaction in winning this game, for some unknown reason. "The car seats!", Cole shouts. Peter shakes his head. " You thought I would make it that easy?" Peter gloats. "Cole and I's hair?" I question. There are not many things that are brown in this car, so I have no idea what he could be thinking of. Peter pretends to think long and hard, then he gives me a sad look. " I regret to inform you that your answer is incorrect," Peter said, feigning his sadness. Ugh. I can't with him, why does he have to be so annoying and alluring at the same time.

"Well I give up," Julie says, disrupting me from my thoughts. " Julie, you haven't even made a guess yet" Evie exclaims. "You can't even be talking, what guesses have you made" I declare. "Guys, calm down, there's no point in arguing when none of us got it right," Cole says calmly. Julie smiles at him, there he is to save the day from a catfight. "Cole's right guys, I'll tell you what the correct answer is," Peter announces. All of us wait in anticipation. Even the car stops...but that's because we're at a red light I must admit.

"The answer is...MY BEAUTIFUL HONEY BROWN EYES" Peter shouts with amusement. "Wow, I didn't know you were such a narcissist Peter, you should see someone for that" I fired at him. "Hmm... I didn't know just because you have AP Psychology, you could diagnose people with mental illnesses" Peter retorts. We glare at each other for what seems to be minutes. The tension is thick but then I see his mouth twitch. He's trying so hard to hold back his laughter. We both bust out laughing at the same time. "Fuck you, Peter" I giggled. The tension that was once there is replaced by relief from the others. I think they're still expecting us to get mad at each other, we do this all the time. It's just how things are between us and I wouldn't change it for the world. That's why I'm so scared to tell him how I feel.

We arrive at The High Point a few minutes later, ready to have some fun. It's a very secluded area, so no one else even knows about it. We found it out by accident when we decided to wander around the woods during a camping trip. The water is shockingly blue in the lake. It's quite surprising considering the lake is in the forest. I backflip into the water showing off my epic skills. "No need to be such a show-off Nessa," Julie says as she jumps in. "Sorry... not sorry" I say swimming over to her. Everybody gets into the lake and Cole pulls out his vape and takes a hit. Julie snatches it from him and inhales the smoke. I take it from her and inhale the fruity pebbles flavored weed from the vape. Delightful. The smoke comes out of my mouth, smelling exactly like my favorite cereal. " Hey Nessa, follow me" Julie smirks. I follow her to the other side of the lake, far away from the others. "What is it, Julie?" I ask. "Well... I have a plan to get Peter back" Julie announces. I laugh out loud as she tells me her wild plan. Now it's time to execute it.

We swim back over to the others and join them in Marco Polo. After the game is finished, I stealthily go underwater to where Peter is located. Julia goes up to talk to him at the same time. I wait for her to signal me with a whistle and that's when the action starts. Prank time! I wrap my arms around Peter's legs and pull him toward the bottom of the lake. "What the-" Peter begins to shout. He is interrupted by Julie pushing his head down. He is plummeted underwater by our combined forces. We swim away in record speed to escape being taken down with him.

It's a few moments later and Peter still hasn't come up. What the hell? "Peter!", I shout across the lake. There was no answer. I look around and the others look worried, making my anxiety spike through the roof. Suddenly, Peter floats back to the top of the water. I let out a sigh of relief. Then I realize he still isn't moving. I swim over to him and his body moves with the currents. I slap his face trying to wake him up but his head stays still. "Guys, come here, something's wrong!" I utter. " What the hell is wrong with him?" Julie says. Her face is drained of color, free from the high we once had. Silence follows for what feels like minutes. "Boo!" Peter screams coming out of his lifeless state. We all scream and jump away from his body. Peter laughs hysterically as he examines our faces. " Peter! What the fuck was that?!" I shout angrily. " Oh come on, you guys started it" Peter responds. "We didn't pretend we were dead, who does that", Julie questions. Exactly. Does he know how we felt in those moments of silence, with Peter floating above the surface looking deceased? Does he know how I felt? I thought he was...gone. I get out of the lake and stalk away to the car. I can't stand the sight of him right now.

The others follow me and Evie starts the car. " Well that was fun," Evie says sarcastically.

"Yeah, totally," I say rolling my eyes. " Look, at least Peter is okay," Cole says, trying to calm the situation down. It's not going to work on me. I'm just trying to figure out how the others are just fine with Peter pretending to be dead and then saying it was all a "prank". "Nessa, I wouldn't have done that if I knew you were going to get so angry," Peter remarks. I ignore his stupid apologies and look out of the car window. I need to zone out. Alcohol and drugs will help me get out of this emotional state. I rummage through Cole's bag of goodies and pull out a beer. I hate beer but I chug it down in one gulp. I don't want to feel anything, I don't want it to matter to me if Peter does stupid shit like that. The others look at me weirdly, they probably see me as unstable right now. In spite, I grab the vape and take a hit. I'm going to get completely wasted tonight. I think I deserve an escape right now.