My eyes stayed on the ground as Mayra led me over to a large group of kids already occupying a decent chunk of sandy, man-made beach at the edge of Acton Lake. When I glanced up, I could tell most of our class was already here. Someone had a few Bluetooth speakers set up on the nearby picnic tables to play music from their phones. I could smell the grilled burgers and hotdogs, and bags of chips and other snacks covered the tables. A large popcorn machine was plugged into a power outlet sticking out of the ground, and a decent-sized bonfire burned in a fire pit not far from the edge of the water.
Mayra had a huge smile on her face as she moved closer to the other graduates, waving and greeting them like it was perfectly normal for me to be there with her. A few people said hello to me as well, but in the chaos of the people and the stuff all over the beach, I couldn’t manage to respond to any of them.
“Hey, everyone!” Scott O’Malley stood up on one of the picnic tables and waved his hands in the air. “Now that Mayra is finally here, I have a little announcement.”
Aimee glared up at him from her spot on the sand.
“What, baby?” He leaned his head down and she whispered into his ear. “Oh, shit—sorry. Now that Mayra and Matthew are here, I have an announcement. Or rather, Aimee and I have one.”
He pulled on Aimee’s hand until she was on top of the table with him and wrapped his arm around her waist. He had a huge grin on his face, and Aimee appeared to be blushing.
“Now that graduation is over, we want to let you all know”—he paused then and looked over at her with a smile—“Aimee and I are getting married this summer!”
A whole bunch of people started talking at once—lots of squeals and screeches from the girls, snorts and chuckles from the guys, and one voice resounded above all the rest.
“Oh my God!” Carmen yelled out. “You’re pregnant?”
The whole group went so silent, the only sounds that could be heard were the surf behind us and the crackling of the wood as it burned. My body went tense as I tried to figure out just what was going on. When I looked at Mayra, her mouth was hanging open, and her head was shaking slowly back and forth.
“You promised!” Aimee screamed as she reached back and ripped Scott’s hand from around her waist. “You said no one would know!”
She gasped then and covered her mouth with her hand. Scott’s eyes were wide, and he began shaking his head slowly, the same way Mayra was. Then Aimee burst into tears and ran off down the beach.
I felt like I was watching a movie.
“Shit,” Scott muttered.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Samantha yelled at Carmen.
“What?” Carmen asked with innocence that was obviously disingenuous, even to me. “Why else would you get married at eighteen?”
Everyone exploded at that point—Carmen defending herself, Scott standing in shock with one of his friends trying to get him to confirm the news, Sean and Ian restraining Samantha from attacking Carmen, and everyone else in a tsunami of gossipy talk, shock, bemusement, and horror.
“Matthew”—I felt Mayra tighten her grip on my hand for a moment—“I have to go after her.”
Our eyes met for a moment, and I felt myself nod right as she released my fingers and raced through the sand after her friend. I was at the very edge of the group, wondering if I should be eating popcorn or not. My feet danced back and forth a little bit, and I considered heading over to the Porsche, but I wasn’t sure how Mayra would feel about it, and she had the keys.
I really had no idea what to do but figured it was especially weird to just kind of stand there. Besides, my feet were getting tired and my shoes were going to get covered in sand if I stayed where I was. I meandered slowly over to one of the picnic tables and sat down.
There was still an exceptional amount of chaos at the edge of the water. Mayra and Aimee hadn’t come back, but a couple of people were trying to get Scott to relax. I wondered what he must have felt like, not just because of how everything came out bu
t also because of the whole idea of impending fatherhood. It certainly would have scared the shit out of me.
“Dude.” Joe dropped down on the bench next to me. “Some way to start a party, huh?”
He laughed, and I knew he wasn’t expecting me to reply, so I didn’t.
“It kinda completes high school,” Joe said. “I never would have thought I’d see you at a party at all, but here you are!”
He took a large swig out of the red plastic cup in his hands and laughed again.
“Come on, Scott, just sit down a minute.”
I moved over on the bench as Ian and Sean brought Scott over and sat him down on the other side of me. He looked pale and was kind of mumbling to himself.
“Should have gone after her,” he said. “Probably never should have suggested the engagement thing at all…”
“It’s all good, dude,” Sean told him. “It would have come out soon enough anyway.”