Soundtrack ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Waking up to the first day of the last year: My little corner of the world by El La Tengo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hiking and Flirting: 6 Military Wives by The Decemberists ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kayaking: Pressed in a book by The Shins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Swimming: The Celibate Life By the Shins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A successful bus ride: Golden Touch by Razorlight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ combined birthday: Debaser by the Pixies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ride home: Passengers Seat by DCFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A bad new year: The New Year By DCFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Romantic Retreat: The only living boy in new york by Simon and Garfunkel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Field Day with the second Graders: Turn a Square by the shins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back at Trents House: Positive Tension By Bloc Party ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A tragic Fake birthday: Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A night of Intended Reminiscing: All we have is now By The Flaming Lips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Something to Remember, Courtesy of Trent: One By One all Day by the Shins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Night on The town or in the Lake: Agenda Suicide by The Faint ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heading our separate ways: So here we are by Bloc Party
One question. Would you ever, ever go to a school that started everything on the side of the road? Well my school started everything with a pathetic sign on the side of the highway. That’s it. “Recruiting students of all ages. 10 to a grade.†It was followed by the number and address but we were too young to see that. Recruiting students. Sounds like the army. And who thought of 10 per grade? Who only wants 9 other classmates? Well let me tell you about my school now that I have over written my one question. Lamplight children’s school was the weirdest school in the country. In my opinion, anyway. It went from preschool to senior year. We spent more time learning outside then inside and we weren’t graded. Btu what and up surd thing that was. Not being graded? Not nearly as up surd as the answer. To continue on with my story, the 10 life long friends met when all of our moms or dads noticed the sign on the side of the highway and called the unknown number. The tuition to this so called private school was nothing. But only at his mysterious school. We were immediately signed up and that’s when we all met our favorite people. Let me tell you about the 10. How about we start with Avanna Bliss. An interesting character. And yet she was a complete best friend. She was so creative and fun. Probably the richest person I’ve ever met but I never went to her head. Let’s move on to Adam Barr. Oh so cool. Avanna and him had known each other their entire lives and I always thought that they would get married. But that’s were Paul came in. My whole life I have tried to remember something about Paul other than how attractive he is. Now, after years and years of knowing him I can safely say He is completely sweet. Personally I didn’t find myself attracted to him but of course I was alone on that one. He was marrying Avanna. Some time in the future. But now a days Adam doesn’t need Avanna to drool over because he has someone knew to impress. That would be Claudia Stover. Hysterical person. She was completely tiny and blonde and would have these weird mood swings were she would go from laughing to not talking and be very stern. Speaking of tiny and blonde… Gwen Parker… I’m not quite sure how I feel about her. I defiantly have mixed feelings about her. Half the time she wouldn’t say anything unless it insulted at least one person and the other half we were practically best friends. Next would have to be Natasha Molash. Don’t you completely hate that name? She was loads of fun though. Extremely loud. She was my best friend. Almost I think that would be Adam and Avanna. Patrick Wall. The athlete. Wow… after my entire life of knowing him that is all I can say. Well let me think…. He was cool. So I guess that brings us to Jack Fuller. His hobby was making fun of people. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny. He had the mullet. He was the mulleted. There are 2 people that I put off till the very end. The people I’ve had the strangest relationships with. The people that have had the biggest impact on me. The first one is Jackson Warner. I’ve been in love with him since the 7th grade when he grew his hair out. He was very sweet and incredibly creative. I guessed the reason I saved them for last is because I cant quite describe them. My second last is Trent Mercer. Actually I would say that he is my best friend. Hands down the funniest person I have every met. We had the most interesting relationship out of everyone. He gave me the greatest adventure I’ve ever been on. You’ll learn much more about Trent, but for now that is all I can put my finger on. Now let me fill you in on what’s happened over the years. Nothing happened in preschool, except meeting each other. Meeting the 10 greatest friends we’d ever have. And in kindergarten we were still meeting each other. I think that we were meeting each other until the 4th grade. We had our first couple, Claudia and Paul. They lasted about a year. They never ever talked. 6th grade was the year for me. I got my first boyfriend. His name was Chris and he was one year older. But after that Trent began to smile at me every time I looked at him. In the 8th grade I was so head over heals for Jackson that I broke up with Chris. By the time we were in high school we grew even closer and closer. We’re seniors now. It’s our last year. Everyone was planning on letting this year go by as slowly as possible. Non of us were ready to let go. Luckily we had a whole year till we have to. Today is the first day.My name is Hayden Tamborello. I’m 17 years old and I live 500 big steps away from Lamplight society/Children’s school. Every morning I morning I will walk those big steps. Until of course, my car starts running again. Our school starts at 10:00 AM every morning. But everyday all 10 of us have gotten there an hour early. An hour of enjoying each others company. When I reached the school I sat under my favorite tree very bear the few gravel parking spaces waiting for some one to find me. The actual school building is a long yellow building with a red roof. At the end of it was a huge octagonal shaped room. Lamplight was parallel with the main rode. But it had a gravel rode that got a tiny bit bigger to make the tiny parking lot then got smaller again. On the other side of the parking lot was a fish farm with springs and a small lake. ‘ If you kept going on the gravel road you could either go to my house or the Lamplight mansion. But if you turned around and walked back past the greenhouse and apple orchard, to the parking lot and under the huge evergreen, you would find me reading my book. The first person to find me was Trent. Another thing about him was that he loved jumping from high places. He had apparently seen me coming and climbed up the tree and jumped when I sat down. He landed with a thud inches from my foot. I screamed and moved my foot, “Holy shit, Trent! You could have chopped my ankle off!†I yelled quietly. Is that even possible? “Chopped your ankle off? How?†He asked. “Well….you could have bent our foot at an odd angle and it could have gone right through and….and….†My point began to fizzle out. “Sorry, I must have left my razor sharp sneakers at home.†I smiled, “Well give me a hug!†I said standing up. We happily hugged and examined each other shooting out comments at each other as we often did. Me: Tired Trent: Tall Me: Short! Trent: Too happy Me: Too skinny Trent: Double too skinny Me: Thank you!!!! Flippyish…. hair….. I got nothing. Trent was cute. He had dark flipped hair and blue eyes. He was just a little taller than me and skinny! Very athletic though. Before he had a mouth full of braces but they were recently removed. “So, how was your summer?†I asked him “Are….Are you serious? I just saw you like yesterday. I told you then.†“It was 2 days ago! Well fine don’t tell me then.†I replied. “Where is everyone?†“I don’t know. Probably on their way.†He answered dully. Right then as if it was planned, Adam and Claudia pulled in and for some reason went right past us even with our waving. They were soon followed by Avanna’s Outy with Paul in the passengers Seat. “What’s with all these couples? Why are they all coming together? I feel so hopeless. Trent exclaimed. Trent liked me. I liked him. But as of right now not as much as Jackson. Jackson liked me too. I liked him. But unfortunately they were both way too shy to ask me out and I wasn’t going to. Trent was secretly a hopeless romantic. He would flirt with me and drop hints, and smile at me when ever I said something to him. He didn’t even realize he was. I knew he was flirting. Jackson was way to shy to do anything like that. And it was kind of odd since they were both 18. I ran up to the car and tapped the hood. Avanna ran out and gave me a huge hug. Paul and Avanna had started dating in the 11th grade. Avanna had naturally curly brown hair that matched her brown eyes. She could have been a model for anything that she wanted. “I really don’t want to wait around here for everyone to show up†I told them. “But school doesn’t start for another half and hour so what else are we supposed to do?†Avanna reminded me. “The octagon is unoccupied right now.†Paul muttered. “What was that Paul? I asked him. I heard what he said perfectly I just wanted him to stop mumbling. He indefinitely ignored me and trudged up to the school. This was of the school there was a raised sidewalk. The roof covered it and wooden pillars held it up. When we got to the octagon the first thing we did was sit down. We’re such lazy bums. The octagon was so huge. On one side of the 8 sides was a ½ foot raised stage that came out about 30 feet. Since our first day at Lamplight we were constantly reminded not to wear shoes on the stage. It was kind of silly but we still strictly followed that rule. We sat and congregated, frequently checking the clock because we didn’t want to be late. We waited until finally the moment came when it was close enough to go ahead. Our classroom was small but still but just the right size for 10 people. It was the biggest classroom because we were the only full class. The other classes had to join with each other. They hadn’t let any new students in for about 5 years because the school was unfortunately shutting down as soon as the 3rd graders graduated. Our teacher is amazing. We’d had Jim our whole lives. He couldn’t be better. We all shouted our greetings and waited for the days seating chart. It changed daily depending on how he felt. That day I was with Pat and Alicia. After my walk home, I dropped my backpack on the ground. My mom was in the other room, I could see her. My dad was away on business. He owned a construction company. I didn’t have the best relationship with either of them. It wasn’t bad or anything. We just weren’t close. My sisters were at college, which would be lonely if I didn’t have Adam so close to my house. I could only see his house from mine the winter because he lived in the woods. But I could walk there. And that’s just what I decided to do. On my way to his house I had to pass our crazy neighbors house. Her 13 or 14 dogs came running after me. I wasn’t alarmed because I knew about the electric fence. So there for I was completely perplexed when I was tackled by 4 dogs. I ran and they followed. That’s about when I took my shoe off. The barking caused Adam to come out of his house and to run after me. “ADAM!!!! These stupid dogs!!!†I yelled at him. “I know! I can see them! Put the shoe down!†he yelled back, trying not to laugh. “You put the shoe down!†I yelled, stalling for something to say. I really didn’t want to put that shoe down. “what? I don’t even have the shoe!†He was confused but then he apparently figured it out for himself. Adam took the shoe from me and pulled me away from the dogs. “I’m sorry but I couldn’t put the shoe down. I love animal. I would never want to hurt one. I am a vegetarian! But those dogs… bug the crap out of me! “I get it.†He said smiling. “Well I’m not coming inside.†Adam had a few older sisters that I hated!! And hated me back. I didn’t like being any where near them and Adam got that. “To the lake!â€Adam and I didn’t talk about much. I asked him why he and Claudia drove right past us, but he answered with a few mumbles. It was so hot outside that by a half an hour we had Natasha and Pat there to, to go swimming. Natasha was hopelessly in love with Pat and Trent. They both had known this for a very long time. I think that I might have let it slip that Pat was coming to, so she showed up in a small, small, red bikini. The best dock to be on was right behind the little cottage. It had the deepest water and we had the most fun. The next day we had our first hike. As usual it was to the mansion. The girls were walking with there arms crossed and for some reason the guys were putting on English accents and swooning like they were drunk. “I say! It is a smashing day out today!†Trent said loudly. “Positively spiffing!†Jack agreed “And you there! Hayden! You look smashing today to!†Trent commented! “Ah, yes!! The lovely ladies!†Adam said strolling over to Claudia and kissing her hand. “And the lovely Natasha!†Patrick said. “And sweet Avanna!†Paul said. Instead of kissing her hand he dipped her and gave her a big kiss. “By the way,†Jackson whispered, hence the accent, “you do look really good today.â€In the 3rd week of school we had our first retreat. There were 4 a year. The first one was a camping trip. It was probably the most fun. Jim would have his own camp and go to sleep super early. After that we were allowed to anything we wanted to. I have to say that the ride there was not fun. I sat next to Claudia on a hot school bus. I tried to make conversation with Jackson because he was sitting right in front of me but he was so tired. “Are you kayaking or Canoeing?†I asked him. “Eh? Hmmm…… I don’t remember,†He said he eyes slowly shutting. When we got to the point we were starting at in the river, the people who were canoeing had to pick partners and the kayakers (myself) had to put together their oar. “Will you tie your kayak to mine?†Avanna asked me. “Sure! I am so bad at this!†I said. We got a rope and tied a very big knot to both of our kayaks. We started off very fast because we were stupid and wanted to use up all of our remaining energy. The first person to flip was Trent. Avanna and I stopped to help him get back in. You wouldn’t be able to tell unless you knew him as well as I do, but he but he was defiantly blushing, but laughed when Jack started mocking him. The rest of the ride everyone yelled things at each other from the other side of the river. A few more people fell and there were numerous seaweed fights.. “Avanna your slowing me down! I have to break the knot!†I told her. “gahhh!!!†she yelled but excepted her fate. I didn’t realize I was going slowly until Avanna passed me. And I knew I was going really slowly when I couldn’t see the rest of the group. The people who were back there with me were Trent, Pat, Gwen, and Natasha. "We will never ever catch up with them." Trent sighed, taking it upon himself to lay down and go to sleep. I splashed him with water to make sure he wasnt actually Sleeping. He sat up and gave me the evil eye. I smile like a little girl and continued paddeling. "By the time we get there they'll probably be finished unloading" Gwen Said happily. Everything had to conoed over from one side to the other becuase there was no way of getting a car on the camp. "soooo, whats new with you?" I asked Trent. "weelllll," he replied in a strange accent,"Paul and i will be taking our move into the Cottage neeeexxt week." "oh wow!" I gasped,"I thought you were kidding about that!" His accent stopped. "Why?" " I dont know," I answered. "I didnt think that you could pull off getting the cottage for free." "Well we did." All of a sudden we had all pulled up to a giant fork in the river. One way looked completely normal and the other was completely covered with trees so it was very dark. I knew what was about to happen. Trent and Paul would take the dark way and I would take the latter.