Carter's Peak

"carter's peak is a small town at the base of a monadnock about 30 miles south of lake erie. it was founded in 1805 by sir heironymous carter. my friend kameal told me he had every single std. lily says that probably wasn't true, but i think it's funnier to believe it is.

"it wasn't until they found anthracite under the mountain in the 1930s that the town really boomed, but that was pretty short lived. my grandpa was actually in the mine accident that shut the whole thing down.

"tomorrow we have a tennis match against reedville prep. i was hoping lily would want to get some practice in with me but i guess she was too busy.

"she's probably at amber's right now.

"i hope my bike is okay."

"the nights get a different kind of cold here. in the shadow of the peak, the town is in shade long before the sun sets. downslope winds keep the air brisk well into the summer, and if you aren't ready for it then the cold will find you quick.

"we move to keep warm, we dance to burn."

"amber and i met in third grade. the first thing she ever said to me was that my shoes looked old. i responded by biting her so hard i drew blood. our relationship hasn't really changed much since then.

"i think most people still think of me that way; teeth usually speak louder than words."

“lily moved here a little over a year ago. it was off-putting to be approached by her the first couple of times. she would sit next to me whenever she could and talked to me like a dog-trainer. i remember telling her off about it once, got real pissy about it and dragged her for every little thing i could, and she just said ‘i see what they mean now.’ after that she didn’t talk to me for a week. it made me want to throw up, every time i saw her chatting with amber and kimberly...

"of course, the moment i finally went out of my way to ask her how she was doing she acted like nothing had happened, went back to chatting with me during the day and texting me at night. i didn’t even need to apologize. eventually she even started hanging out with me and kameal when we’d go out to the woods. she’d still come off as judgy at times, but it was… different from when the others were.

"i feel like she’d made a deal with me after that week of silence, and i kind of didn’t mind it.”