Chapter Text
Paul Holden sat in the back of the school bus, cheering and shouting with his friends about how today was his last day of high school—well, school in general before he goes off to college ever.
"Yo man! This is amazing, our last day of high school! What are ya gonna do over the summer, Paul?" a friend questioned loudly, wrapping his muscular arm around the other boy.
"Oh the usual; smashing hot babes, drinkin', relaxing. Maybe even go to the bar." Paul smirked as the rest of the guys around him laughed and cheered obnoxiously.
The bright yellow school bus pulled up to Paul's house. It was a smaller sized mansion, with brick walls. He said goodbye to his friends and hopped off the bus, strutting over up his houses driveway with a cocky type of confidence.
He pushed the doors open, kicked his shoes off , which landed god–knows–where, and practically threw his backpack in front of the trash as he called out to his parents
"MA! I'M HOME!" He paused before speaking again, "IS DINNER DONE?!"
When he was met with silence, he groaned softly and rolled his eyes, exasperated, as he stomped into the living room, where his parents were sitting and discussing something under their breaths
". . . What y'all talkin' 'bout?" He questioned, leaning against the wooden, white doorway with his arms crossed. He quirked an eyebrow.
His parents looked up at him and gave each other a look. "Hey, kiddo." His father started with a smile on his face, "Can ya go fetch ya sister? She's in her room. We need to tell you two something."
Paul raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh, alright?"
He gave them a skeptical look before he walked upstairs, pounding loudly on his sisters door pink door when he got to it.
"HEY, LOSER. MOM AND DAD NEED US DOWNSTAIRS." He shouted, snickering when he heard her yell something unintelligible stuff at him. She came out a minute later, a pout on her face. He blonde ponytails fell behind her as she gave her brother a punch to his arm.
"You got to be more quiet, Paul." She snarled at him, though he wasn't quite scared of it. "Nah, Crissy, I don't think I will." He howled with laughter before sprinting down the stairs, Christina in tow, mumbling something under her breath.
Once they got downstairs, they sat in front of their parents, Christina's hands in her lap as she sat up straight, while Paul was manspreading and leaning back into the couch. His dad gave his a small glare but shook it off before speaking.
"So kids. We have something to tell you," his father started as him and his wife looked at one another. "Well, you two." His mom spoke up, an anxious look on her face, but Paul didn't know why. Did something bad happen?
"You two know how we go to vacation every summer? Well..." She paused, taking a breath. "Were gonna go to the country for this vacation."
Paul and his sister were shocked. They all knew how much their family hated the countryside, due to how little stuff there was around and also how it takes them so long to get anywhere around there. Why were his parents changing their opinion all of a sudden?!
"I know you two are shocked, and I know we said we would never visit the countryside for vacation, but just listen to us. It could be a good learning experience for all of us on how to... uhmm, take care of plants and... how to do other things of that nature." He mumbled the last part. His father tried to sound optimistic, though he didn't seem to be convinced himself.
Christina thought before speaking. "...When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow." His father confirmed, folding his hands into a ball and placing it onto his lap. "You two need to pack your bags righ-" Paul cut him off, speaking loudly with a distasteful look on his face. "Where are we even gonna be staying?"
His dad sighed, annoyed by his son's defiance. "Were gonna stay close to a family. The Curtis's. They have three sons, one is your age Paul. Maybe the two of you boys could be friends." His mom spoke up after a beat of silence "And, Christina, their middle child is also around your age. He seems like a good boy by the way his parents talked about him—well, they all do—maybe you two could learn a thing or too much from them and learn how to be respectful."
Paul shot his mother a look before he groaned, stood up, and left to go upstairs to pack his bags, his sister staying back to ask more questions. "Stupid, goody-two-shoes, little nerd..." Paul thought as he walked into his room. He grabbed his football bag and began to pack what he always did; almost all of his clothes, his hairbrush, his football, deodorant, etc. "Does the boy my age know how to play football? Would he even be any good? Is he cool? Nah. Hes probably a damn nerd."He shook his head, blonde hair moving with him as he did so. He finally finished packing after about 7 minutes because of how much stuff he had packed. He sighed in relief, "thank god its done," he thought, before he got up to go shower with him taking a pair of pajama pants and a new pair of clothes for post shower out of his bag.
His day went on as normal. He showered, ate, practiced football, went out for a little, got yelled at for being annoying, smoked, brushed his teeth. The usual. He walked up to his room and changed into his pajama pants, almost breaking a bed board by how hard he threw himself onto it. As he drifted into sleep, he thought of tomorrow and wondered what was going to happen.