Summer Cons

Everyone is so excited for summer

and I don't dislike them for it

but I don't understand why.

The heat is overwhelming

temperatures of 80, even 90 this year

and it's only barely June;

my 8th-grade friends are leaving for high school

and I do want them to grow

to keep learning

but I want them to stay here,

to stay with us

where I can see them nearly every day

and connect more with people I like being around.

Summer also means

camps

that my parents signed me up for

trying to occupy

every

single

second

of my life

to get me "out of their way"

I can handle myself, thank you!

I don't want to go mountain biking twice a week

especially when it means there are kids my age who are stupid enough to glare at me when I first arrive like they think they already know me

and I don't want to meet new people every other week

or talk to my family members

or drown in the heat as I take final school pictures in the football field

or think about next year

with all of the anticipation

am I going to get the same kids that were in my class this year

or will I get the kid who beats up his "friends" and bullies me because he can?

Too many possibilities

too many chances

of things going wrong

of losing a friend to the distance that summer puts between everyone

of losing my chance to talk more to my old teachers before I, too, depart for high school

almost exactly a year from now

and I keep thinking

as I drown in schoolwork

as I mentally plan out next year

as I write this

because what stops summer from going wrong?