The Best Year - 1. Chapter 1

Sitting across from the empty desk, I couldn’t help smiling at the pictures on it. Not because they were funny or not because there was anything extraordinary about them at all. They were just familiar and that meant that I was awaiting yet another lecture that I wouldn’t listen to. Nothing would change, there wouldn’t be an epiphany at the end. I would walk out the same way I walked in, with a smirk on my face.

“Jackson Forrest,” Principal Welker snarled as he entered the cramped office. I could hear his secretary punching away on her loud cheap keyboard just down the hall.

“Steven Welker,” I responded leaning back in the low-backed uncomfortable chair. The legs were set too wide for me to prop it up onto two feet, I knew that would just upset him more than he already was.

I heard him grunt when he heard his first name. I knew I was pressing my luck a little, his face had reddened and the vein on his forehead was becoming more prominent by the second. I didn’t know what the big deal was, exactly. This was high school and I a senior. A little fooling around never hurt anything, or anyone. Nothing could touch us, not anything that would last. The rest of the world envied us for our youth and limited to no responsibilities. I didn’t do anything different than anyone else.

“I’ve called your parents, we will wait for them to arrive,” he announced, not smiling as he rested his hands on his desk in front of him.

“Fine with me,” I said shrugging as I saw his jaw clench and relax.

“You could do some homework while we wait,” he countered pointing to the desk off to the corner by the small bookcase that held old yearbooks, usually stacked neatly and organized by year. He hadn’t noticed that I scrambled them yet and I wondered if he would before I left.

“Don’t have any,” I commented glancing over his head and out the open window. I could just see the maintenance man mowing the lawn out by the flagpole.

“If your grades weren’t near perfect I would assume you were lying,” he said sighing. I could almost hear the, “you’re a good student, why can’t you follow rules,” lecture in my head, but he seemed to have given up on that approach.

We both stared across the desk, neither of us backing down. I could tell the easy grin bothered him. Over the years he tried to intimidate me with threats of calling my parents. They all went to this very school together, went to church together on Sundays. I wasn’t afraid of him, like I said nothing could get in the way of me having fun my final year of high school.

“That almost sounded like a compliment Steven,” I said smiling when his eyes narrowed.

“Principal Welker,” he corrected, “ and if you continue to disrespect me you will have detention on top of everything else.”

I shrugged knowing I pushed him just as far as I wanted as the door opened and I could instantly smell my mother’s perfume. She worked as one of the top managers of the only real business in town that mattered. Everything else was fast food or banks. It was still a factory that made commercial sinks and washing machines, but most of the town was employed to work there in some fashion.

“Jackson Austin Forrest,” she hissed as soon as she entered the already cramped space. I looked up as she stepped around the second chair and took a seat beside me. Dad followed her in and hovered behind me, not having a seat to sit in.

“Hi Mom,” I greeted. Feeling my Dad’s hand fall on my shoulder, “Dad.”

“Enough,” Mom hissed hearing the tone in my voice. I didn’t dare glance at her, but I could feel her glare on me. I was momentarily saved when Principal Welker cleared his voice.

“Grace,” he said, getting her attention. I looked over to see him nod his head towards dad. “Craig.”

“What has he done now?” Mom asked and I glanced down to see her knuckles whitening on the armrest between us. She had become accustomed to these meetings over the years, I figured the anger would have worn off by now, or at least cooled a bit. Mom was a band geek in high school though and Dad a science nerd. They didn’t really get the high school dynamics past their own geeky friends.

“Caught trying to steal snacks from the vending machine,” Principal Welker started and I remembered my morning attempt to reach my hand up the flap to the lowest rung, just to see if I could. The machine was notorious for stealing change as it was, but I hadn’t put any money into it yet. “I was going to let that slide with a warning, but after gym him and his friends decided to see just how far they could slide on the gym floor--”

“I’m sure there is more to the story,” Mom said after Welker fell silent, his face flushing despite the angry vein still protruding on his forehead.

“Naked,” he coughed and I heard my Mom’s breath leave her lungs. Dad’s grip tightened on my shoulder and I wanted to shrug out of his grip, but ended up laughing at the memory. I would have the floor burn on my ass for a couple of days, but it was worth it to see everyone laughing.

“Jackson,” Mom groaned, releasing her grip on the armrest to rub her temples feigning a headache I’m sure she didn’t have yet.

“Was there any damage to the floor?” Dad asked getting to the bottom of the discussion, he likely worked overnight in Emergency and didn’t have the patience for a lengthy discussion.

“No,” Principal Welker answered glancing up at him. “Coach Young wasn’t too thrilled, it nearly gave her an anxiety attack, she didn’t handle it well at all.”

“She’s probably never seen a penis,” I mumbled and I heard Mom sigh.

“What do you suggest?” Mom asked looking across the desk to Principal Welker. I glanced over at her, hearing the new approach to my shenanigans.

“Well as you are likely aware, the community outreach program is in need of volunteers during weekends,” Principal Welker said, reaching for the notice on his desk. I hadn’t noticed the flier, I guess it had been posted all around school, there wasn’t much for us to do on weekends but get up to trouble or go to football games. I had already started shaking my head at the prospect of my weekends being taken up by picking up trash on county roads or something stupid like that.

“I have swim practice every Saturday,” I countered crossing my arms over my chest. “I can’t show up tired for that, I’ll be benched.”

“Consequences,” Principal Welker argued, cocking an eyebrow. “You weren’t worried about that when you got up to your meanness earlier today.”

“Mom,” I groaned, “don’t consider it, just give me detentions.”

“You don’t seem to be learning anything from those,” Dad argued and I felt my face flush. “What sort of programs are available?”

“Well picking up garbage, there’s teaching swimming lessons, but that requires people skills. Cindy and Henry are in charge, they can tell you more about it,” Principal Welker explained and I looked over at him, smiling smugly for the first time during these meetings in his office. “Their number is on the flier or you can talk to them Sunday of course.”

“We will do just that,” Mom said and I heard the determination in her voice. I wondered if it would last until we got home, her resolve usually melted away when I smiled and hugged her. I was their only child, I got everything I wanted - even freedoms from punishments.

“Then I’ll see you Monday for your in school suspension, three days,” Principal Welker said, standing to shake Mom and Dad’s hands before we left the cramped room. Only in this county would the school require you to attend during suspensions. I really wasn’t looking forward to sitting in a small unused classroom all day doing extra homework that he could scrounge up from my teachers. At least I would have Toby and Derek doing their sentences as well.

Mom didn’t waste any time ushering me outside of the room and down the dimly lit hallways to the parking lot. If I didn’t drive here, she likely would have dragged me all the way out to her car, but instead she turned on me just outside the front doors.

“Straight home,” she ordered, shaking her finger at me. “No stops for food, nothing.”

“Fine,” I shrugged and then I noticed that Dad held out his hand to stop me.

“We’re serious Jack, if you’re not home directly behind us you will be punished for that too,” he said then he reached up and adjusted his glasses. He only wore them when his eyes were too tired to wear contacts, which he wore at work. I could see the bags forming under his eyes, it was definitely his night to work the emergencies last night, it was unlikely anything happened it hardly ever does. Still the small unassuming hospital with the shitty service, aside from Dad really, meant we lived in the nicest house in the nicest neighborhood our small town offered. I didn’t really understand why my parents returned to this shitty place after college where they fell in love. Mom had a business degree, she could work anywhere and of course with Dad’s medical degree he could as well. Instead they wanted to raise me here, where they grew up. So I was stuck here, trying to make the most of this uneventful town - if only they could have remembered how dull it was growing up.

I watched them cross the small parking lot to my mom’s car, she walked around to the driver’s side and I saw the lights flash as she unlocked the doors. I sighed reaching into my pocket for my cell phone, I glanced down at the missed texts. Smiling, I saw that some of them had sent me video evidence of my slide, I had gone the farthest out of the three of us and the floor burn only annoyed me a little.

“Straight home!” Mom yelled from the window as she shoved the car into drive and took off down the small road that led to the exit. Looking around to make sure no one witnessed her outburst I took off in the direction of student parking. Some people liked to linger there to talk, but when I turned the corner I saw that my car was the only one in the lot. A metallic blue mustang, bought mostly because it was a hot car. I ran my finger over the shiny paint, over the summer I convinced dad to let me install new chrome wheels and tinted windows. I couldn’t help smiling when I slid into the leather seat and heard the hum of the engine as I started the ignition.

Knowing they wouldn’t be cooled off until I was parked beside them in the driveway I closed the door and took off towards home, spraying gravel as I went. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Principal Welker leaving the building for his car, I waved when he noticed me, but flipped him off when he turned his back.

At home I looked up at the two story brick house. It was the newest house on the street by decades. The paved driveway, I kept clean power washing it every so often on Sundays while Mom and Dad were gone to church. Looking around, the other houses failed in comparison, all of us divided by small metal fencing and shrubbery to hide the ugliness of the rusting metal. Mom and Dad had taken their usual spots and when I got out of the car, I sighed wondering if Derek and Toby got the same threat of community service that I had. They were on the football team and this time of year, they were more busy than I was. Like every one of us in the Senior class we all started school together, hell Toby and I were born on the same day, within the same hour. We shared birthday parties in the shitty park until we were twelve and too old for that.

I sent a quick text to them, telling them that I wouldn’t be hanging out this evening before I started up the stairs to the front door. I barely had the door open when I heard their voices coming from the living room, still discussing me. When I shut the door behind me, they both hushed and turned to look at me, the phone on the table resting on the flier from school worried me. I didn’t think she had enough time to discuss me joining the community outreach program yet, I had been right behind them like they wanted.

“Sit,” Mom said pointing to the other end of the couch. Dad sat across the tiny end table in a chair, the television was off and I hated the silence, but tried not to show it.

“It really wasn’t anything,” I offered smiling at her, completely losing the smirk from earlier.

“Don’t try to weasel out of this young man,” she countered, shooting me a glare. “You’re grounded indefinitely.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“It means we get to decide when you’re no longer grounded,” Dad answered, shaking his head. “Pretty self explanatory son.”

“It was just a small prank, no one was hurt,” I groaned looking down at the phone in my hand. It had buzzed with a new text, but I ignored it knowing I would have it taken away if I paid it any attention. Usually I was only grounded for a weekend or two, since nothing ever happened during the week and they would tire of me hovering around the house complaining.

“No one was hurt,” Mom whispered, then she slid her phone out of her purse and pressed a few buttons. “Look at what Judy’s son sent her, of course she sent it to me.”

“Why would that idiot send his mother that?” I asked, the video of me sliding bare assed and soapy down the gym floor no longer made me crack a smile.

“People take pictures of their take out before they eat it,” Dad responded crossing his arms over his chest. If he wasn’t a slight, skinny person the gesture would have been more intimidating. I had outgrown them both by more than a few inches and swimming filled me out a bit too.

“Well I’m sorry about that,” I said pointing to the phone as Mom deleted the file and dropped it back into her purse. “I had my junk covered, I think.”

“Jackson,” Mom hissed, “that is not the point of this!”

“Didn’t you do anything crazy in high school?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. Even if it was a lie and they had, they wouldn’t tell me that they ever did anything wild or spontaneous. They wanted me to be all business, graduate near the top - which I am - and get into a nice college - which I was, on a swimming scholarship. Something that hadn’t happened to our tiny county school since it expanded from the one room schoolhouse in the 1940s.

“You need better influences around you,” Dad said, sliding the flier out from under the phone. “You better think long and hard on what program you want to do, because the next few weekends you’ll be doing it.”

“No Dad,” I groaned hoping he was bluffing.

“Park restoration is a short-term one,” Dad continued like I hadn’t said anything. “Maybe if you behave while doing that, we will terminate your grounding by that time as well.”

“Dad,” I started, but he shook his head.

“It is time for you to start growing up,” he countered, “that is the most favorable one to go along with your swimming demands, but there are others.”

He handed me the flier and I looked down at the list at the bottom just below Cindy and Henry’s contact information. They were always doing fundraisers to fund these outreach programs. Not that they ever really amounted to anything grand. Everyone who lived here, were used to the way things looked. A few fast food bags on the side of the road never really bothered me and everyone knew to stay well away from the park, unless you had your tetanus vaccinations up to date. The river that ran along it tended to flood any repairs into a muddy, rusted mess anyway. Dad had been telling the truth though, it was the only one that looked reasonable apart from giving swimming lessons, but I didn’t have the years of lifeguard certifications to qualify.

“So which one are you interested in?” Mom asked after we all fell silent.

“None of them,” I answered, rolling my eyes as I dropped the flier back onto the coffee table.

“This isn’t up for discussion,” Mom argued, “do not let me decide, I know which one you will benefit from most.”

“The trash pick up,” I sighed knowing that she would pick the one that would lead to the most embarrassment. The county jail took their good behavior prisoners out to pick up trash along the roadway to possibly shorten their sentences. I could already see my friends driving by and honking their horns and laughing at me as I shoved trash into large plastic bags for the trash collector to pick up on trash day. “Am I right?”

“Yes,” she answered smiling. “It would be good for you to learn some humility.”

“I’ll do the Park Restoration project,” I said sighing and slumping back against the couch. “But can I please not be grounded on top of that?”

“We’ll think about it,” Mom countered as she stood grabbing the phone and the flier. She quickly dialed Cindy’s number, not really needing the contact information.

“Was it really that bad?” I asked as Mom turned the corner. Dad was easier to break than Mom, his mind kept drifting back to work and he tended to forget that I was even supposed to be in trouble.

“It is the straw that broke the camel's back,” he answered shrugging. “You need to find more appropriate ways to have fun Jack, I see too many kids your age carted into my emergency room.”

“I’m not stupid enough to end up like that,” I countered crossing my arms. “But I’ll do this park thing, can I go now?”

“To your room,” he answered, but he didn’t hold his hand out for my cell, so I sighed as I stood and walked around the couch to the stairs that led to my bedroom. It was the first door on the left. Mom and Dad’s room was down the long hallway divided by a spare room only used during holidays by relatives that had nothing better to do than come back to this small town.

Mom only bothered me twice after Dad sent me to my room. Once to announce that dinner was ready and I sighed and walked down to eat. There she told me that they still had plenty of openings for the park restoration. I guessed most people thought the park was a lost cause as well. It only meant more work for those that actually did sign up though, but both of them seemed pleased.

Then later she came to hover at my open bedroom door to make sure I was still in the house. I was on my phone chatting with Derek, mostly bitching about the park project. All they received was a couple of weeks of grounding and a threat of having to quit football. We all knew that was a lie, you couldn’t get away from Derek’s Dad without him bragging on the team and the fact that Derek was one of the stars. Not that they won many games, being a small school that barely filled the roster. Still, it was all this small town had to offer and people ate that up.

“Goodnight, I love you,” she said walking into my bedroom and rubbing her fingers through my short brown hair. I kept it just long enough to try out different styles, but still fit comfortably under my swimming cap.

“Yeah yeah, I know,” I responded glancing up at her long enough to offer her a smile. She smiled and playfully pushed my head to the side.

“Tell Derek, Toby, and whoever else you’re talking to that it is bedtime,” she said as she left my room closing the door behind her. Glancing at the clock I rolled my eyes, it was barely past nine, not even my ten o’clock curfew during school nights. It was the weekend anyway, I had nothing better to do.

When my cell buzzed I glanced down at the message, instead of being from Derek it was from Toby wanting me to go out to their family’s farm for a bonfire. Groaning I glanced at the door before responding to tell him that I was grounded and had to be awake early for my community outreach orientation in the morning.

I was about to press send, cursing under my breath I hit the delete button instead then sent a short, ‘be there soon,’ and stood to get dressed.

Sneaking out was never all that difficult here. I was already farther down the hall and closer to the stairs, none of them squeaked since they were carpeted. Mom and Dad always watched a few late night sitcoms before bed in their room when he was home at night. Mostly it was just Mom there, but she waited up for his call around eleven.

I just had to walk down the stairs and slowly through the living room. The place stayed spotless now that I was too old to ransack it being the only kid in the house. It wouldn’t look lived in at all apart from their stuff cluttering the coffee table.

Once outside I slid into my car and let the door barely click closed. I glanced up to see the quick flickering from the television in their darkened bedroom. I could probably honk the horn and they would not hear me outside. I still grimaced when my engine came to life, even if it was a newer car and it was pretty silent, it seemed louder out here when I attempted to be sneaky. Taking one last look up at their window, the curtains hadn’t moved so I knew I was clear to back out of the driveway. I didn’t turn my lights on until the car was out into the street and not angled towards the house.

Everyone was a short drive away out here in the middle of nowhere, but Toby’s house was the farthest out. His father had the largest working farm in the county. He didn’t care if we had parties on the unused part of their pasture fields next to the forest as long as we all stayed there and didn’t drive home drunk. Being part of the football team, Toby could get away with anything as well. Parents knew that sports were all we had, probably the only chance apart from keeping our grades up to get any scholarship money for college. Our football team wasn’t good enough for anyone to make it to the next level, I was independently coached by Derek’s dad. We didn’t have a swim team and practiced at the YMCA an hour drive away. I had to earn my scholarship by winning time trials against larger schools. I had been good enough, my parents should have been proud, but they didn’t really care for that sort of thing. They were more happy that I had a near A average, mathematics always being my worst subject. Even then, I managed a decent B most of the time.

The fire was already rolling when I pulled into the field. I didn’t want to mess up my car, so I got out not long after clearing the highway and walked the rest of the way. The bonfire spot was nestled just behind a small outcropping of young trees. Just enough to partially hide it from the road. The police hardly ever broke these up, mostly they called Toby’s dad to make sure we were all staying all night. They all knew what we were up to - nothing really remained a secret here for long.

Toby saw me first and stood smiling as we slapped hands. He shoved a beer in my other hand and I sat down in a fold out chair encircling the bonfire. The usual small group of friends were sitting in the other chairs.

“Hey guys,” I said after taking a few drinks of beer.

“Didn’t think you’d show up,” Derek slurred smiling as he tried to sit up straighter. He didn’t last long at these bonfires before falling asleep in his chair.

“Why the fuck not?” I asked as Allison moved her chair closer to me. I smiled as she grabbed my hand.

“Did my dad give you another lecture?” She asked, rolling her eyes. He didn’t know that we were dating, and he definitely didn’t know that she was out here on Toby’s farm.

“No,” I answered. “I did get sacked with community service for a while though.”

“With those church fucks,” Toby added laughing as he leaned over to knock Derek out of his chair, it didn’t take much effort. I laughed as he rolled over, then staggered to his feet. They started wrestling on the ground. The girls rolled their eyes and turned back to one another to talk. All three girls were best friends, so it worked out so easily that we were all dating.

“Really?” Allison asked, frowning. “For how long?”

“Until it’s done I guess,” I answered shrugging. “Don’t worry about it Ally, I’ll make time to see you.”

“You better,” she said leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.

“It’s not like he’ll cheat on you with one of those good church girls Ally,” Heather said, turning to look at us.

“They say they’re the wildest, Jackie doesn’t have a chance,” Derek joked after pinning Toby to the ground. I shook my head watching as Derek’s boot kept inching towards the fire.

“You’re going to catch your foot on fire, dumbass,” I said rolling and kicking out with my foot trying to hit him in the leg. “Get your drunk ass off Toby.”

“Made you my bitch, knock me out of my chair again,” Derek grunted as he helped Toby to his feet. Toby had to keep hold of Derek to keep him from falling backwards.

“Jack will be praying before he’s done up there,” Toby added, “after he gets a taste of the preacher’s daughter.”

“Knock it off, losers,” Ally said, trying not to laugh.

“I want to go tubing down the river tomorrow,” Lily said, laying back in her lawn chair. We dated last year and she was my prom date. Now she was with Derek, but that never bothered any of us. None of us had been too serious, but we had all been friends first. The girls coming along around middle school when we all really started noticing them.

“That sounds fun, better do it soon or the water will cool off too much,” Derek said, always agreeing with what Lily wanted to do.

“Pussy whipped,” Toby coughed glancing over at Heather to make sure he hadn’t pissed her off. I laughed knowing he was just as whipped as Derek.

“I’ll come with you Jackson,” Ally said standing up just long enough to sidestep her chair and slide into my lap. Grimacing I hoped the cheap lawn chair would hold, but she really wasn’t adding much weight to it. I grunted when her ass landed uncomfortably against my dick and she giggled apologizing in a whisper close to my ear. It made the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I hoped my dick behaved.

“No go on with them,” I countered nodding my head. I looked past her to see that the bonfire had gotten a lot more relaxed. Lily and Derek were both sitting on the ground next to it, she was folded into his lap laying against his chest. His arms were around her and they were talking to one another, but the crackling fire drowned out what they were saying. I glanced at Heather and Toby, who were making out. Ally followed my gaze and smiled.

“Guess they’re comfortable,” Ally said leaning against my chest. In the chair, it was difficult to find a comfortable position. In the end Ally ended up turning around and awkwardly straddling me as I held on to her hips to keep her from falling backwards as we kissed and I couldn’t help thinking how fucking good I felt and that this was going to be the best year of our lives.