"JENNIFER KALE BLACK. You come down here RIGHT now, or you're grounded," I woke up with a start when I heard my mom shout.
Ugh. It's just 11 am, so why's she so riled up? "Let me sleep," I shouted back to her. Hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, I turned away from my door and pulled the blanket up higher to snuggle in. "Jen, I know it's your vacation, but you need to get up on time. At least by 8. Don't change your body clock or you're gonna become unfit, if not fat. So get your ass up and come on down. We've got guests coming over for lunch too."
"WHO THE HELL GOES TO OTHER PEOPLE'S HOMES DURING THE VACATIONS??"
"FRIENDS! NOW COME ON DOWN."
It was the summer after our last year of junior college. We'd done pretty well in our final exams and the results were out too. The admission process for colleges would start in a month or so. Recently, Jaslin had been staying over very frequently, and she'd grown quite close to the gang as we'd hang out together most of the time. The thought of leaving them behind and having to move on with life was all that occupied my mind; when we weren't goofing around or having fun. It was like the low you'd feel after having come back from an amazing one-day trip through the school. You'd miss everything, knowing it probably won't happen again for almost a whole year. But in this case, it felt like just going to the park together or watching a movie probably wouldn't happen for years on end.
Clearing my mind of these thoughts, I finally got up for the sake of our guests. By the time I freshened up and had a bath, it was already noon. I headed downstairs and felt my tummy growl at the smell of food. When I reached the dining area though, I saw the table loaded with so many different dishes that it looked like a whole feast.
I turned around and walked to the kitchen and asked my mom, "Is the whole town coming over?" She chuckled and said, "You'll see."
Well, okay then.
I switched on the TV and lazed on the couch while I waited for our guests to arrive. The doorbell rang and I walked up to the door to open it. I certainly did not expect Mr. and Mrs. Spinster, Alex's parents. We greeted them and called them inside. As we were sharing small talk, the doorbell rang again. I excused myself and went to get the door. It was the Tribbianis and the Cordons. What confused me was that if it was only going to be the parents, why'd my mother want me to get ready? I'd usually have my lunch in my room while watching Netflix on the laptop, I could've done the same today as well.
After all the parents of my friends arrived, and I had done small talk with all of them, I excused myself to go to my room. Instead of Netflix, I just straight up fell asleep.
I don't know how long I was knocked out for, but some time later, there were voices whispering things in my head. I felt fingers crawl up my sides and mess with my hair. A shiver ran down my spine at the spooky atmosphere and hushed breaths that I was hearing around me. All of a sudden, the voices and whispers stopped. I didn't feel the hands either, and relief washed over me, though it was short-lived.
"Wakey wakey, Jenny." A creepy and rasp voice drawled out in my ear.
I hated it when someone called me that. But the voice sounded familiar. Very familiar. I gasped and sat up abruptly, banging my forehead against something, and heard a cry that wasn't mine. When I opened my eyes while rubbing my forehead, I saw creatures sprawled around in my room. With hazy eyes, I reached out to the one straddling me. As my sight cleared, I saw Sa Rang holding onto her forehead with teary eyes.
And then, loud laughter followed. As I looked around the room, I saw the creatures - my friends, one of them recording everything. Taking everything in, I started laughing too and rubbed Sa Rang's forehead.
"That's what you get for waking me up like that." I laughed as I got up from my bed. I opened the door and shouted, "MAA! WHY ARE THESE BAFOONS HERE?"
"Bring everyone down here, Jen," came her reply. I splashed my face with water and dried it, walking out of my room with my friends. When we reached the living room, I saw our parents sitting on the couches, laughing together, with a few booklets/pamphlets sprawled across the small table.
We greeted everyone and then stood around behind the couches or sat on the floor in between them. Mr. Yamaguchi spoke up, "We have a surprise for all of you." We exchanged looks and Sa Rang stood up, excited, and said, "WE'RE GONG TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK TOGETHER?? Oh, it doesn't HAVE to be an amusement park, AN OUTING WOULD BE JUST FINE TOO!"
Mrs. Kim laughed as she said, "It's something much better than that-" Mr. Sheikh interrupted her and said, "Though it's something all of you will have to work hard for." No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't think of anything that'd be good enough a surprise for us to willingly say yes for working hard for it.
Mr. Smith spoke up, "It'll be worth it, and you'll be independent of us too, for most of the time." I turned around to look at my parents for any kind of hint, but I saw them already looking back at me with excitement.
My brother, Logan, who I noticed only when he stood up from beside my dad, broke the silence and said, "They're buying you guys a place to live in together," and walked away with his hands in his pockets.
The parents all stared at where my brother was until a few seconds ago, while we stood in silence, taking it all in. "Damn you, Logan," the parents grumbled. A few seconds later, we erupted into shouts and questions and jumped around the room.
"WAIT!" My dad's voice boomed and was heard clear over all of the racket we were making. My dad had a very intimidating aura around him, though he wasn't so. Everyone fell silent instantly. My dad continued, "Don't forget about the part where you work hard for it. We have given the deposit money for it and will be paying the rest too, but you will be paying us back for it, except the deposit money, of course. It's partly a gift from us, after all. That way, you'll have time enough to make that money, and you'll have paid for your OWN house."
Mrs. Cordon continued, "IF you are willing to work for it, we'll take you to see the house and then pay the remaining money." She looked all of us in the eyes as she said, "You can't excuse your studies for the same. You'll have to become responsible, manage your time and energy, and take care of your health as well."
Mrs. Spinster said, "That's right. Give up on staying up late to watch your series. You'll need the sleep to work during the day, along with your college. No skipping classes. No late submissions on projects. Take a sick leave from work if you want, or rather if you get a good boss who understands your situation."
"I guess that's enough pressure for now. Do you all agree to this?" my mom asked us. Looking at each other, we could see the excitement and nervousness on our faces for this adventure-to-come.
We nodded enthusiastically and agreed to the deal. "Well then, let's get on with lunch," my mom said, as she led us all to the dining room where the feast was waiting for us. The chairs groaned as we pulled them back to sit and we filled our plates. Devouring the tasty, mouth-watering dishes that my mom prepared, we thought more about how and what we were going to do. Mr. Tribbiani offered us work at his restaurant, but there was a vacancy for only two people. Sa Rang asked Mrs. Spinster if there was a vacancy at her salon, to which she replied that there wasn't, but she could refer her to the other branch that was owned by her sister.
A week later, when we met at our usual hangout spot, the ice cream shop, we discussed who got what part-time job.
Ali and Penny grabbed the offer that Mr. Tribbiani presented and passed the interview to get the job at the restaurant.
Sa Rang was accepted at the salon easily, too.
James and Justin took up jobs at a cafe, James as the cashier and Justin as a barista. They would get a week's training before they could start working.
Alex got a job at a convenience store. Coincidentally, it was the same one where Jaslin was working part-time too.
Chase became a lifeguard at a swimming pool that was frequented by kids and adults all the same.
I reached out to my friend's aunt, who owned a dance studio, and got a job as a choreographer.
We asked each other questions about the places we were going to work at and shared instances that took place during the interviews. We were happy with the jobs we got but knew it would all take a lot of time and energy, no matter what our jobs were.
But all those thoughts were pushed away when we went to see the house we'd be living in throughout college. It wasn't what we expected. At all.