Monsoon | Teen Ink

Monsoon MAG

January 12, 2009
By Anonymous

I was surprised when Ali called and invited me to the movies. We weren’t very good friends, though we orbited in the same social solar system. But Harkins had given her some free tickets to a prescreening of “The Island,” and she had to go with someone. It was mid-July, and our rich friends had ditched the white hot Arizona sun for islands with delicious names. Barbados. St. Bart’s. Turks and Caicos.

Anyway, I was convenient leftovers, and I wouldn’t say no to a free movie, especially if it contained Ewan McGregor kicking major clone booty astride a futuristic motorbike. It was the summer before high school, so my parents had to drive us. We picked her up at her place. I remember that we accidentally wore the exact same shade of green, and that she looked better in it than I did.

“So, Ali, how are your parents?” That was my dad.

“Oh they’re great, Mr. Ramos! We’re all having a great summer!” Her normal modus operandi is so determinedly cheerful that it seems pharmaceutically enhanced, but she is really just that happy. I remembered why we weren’t better friends.

“And are you looking forward to high school as much as my daughter?”

At this one Ali and I exchanged a glance.

“Um‚ I don’t know.”

Maybe she wasn’t so bad.

“You should be jumping up and down. It’s the best time of your life, you know.”

Another glance. “I suppose.”

With their duty as inquisitors ­fulfilled, my parents turned up the ­music, leaving us free to indulge in real conversation – a.k.a. talking about guys.

Both of us were madly in love with upperclassmen‚ Cole and Brandt, respectively. It was just about the only thing we had in common, the might of our crushes. They left battle scars: Ali’s narrow shoulders sunburnt from hours spent watching Cole from her roof, my fingertips ­callused from learning jazz guitar to impress Brandt.

But even the minutiae of our potential love lives weren’t enough to last the whole drive. Casting around for a topic, I landed on high school.

“So, you’re about as thrilled as me about being a freshman, huh?”

Ali laughed. “You have no idea how many parents I’ve had tell me it’ll be the best time of my life … and how many high-schoolers tell me it’ll be the worst.”

“I know, right! I’m totally terrified. It’s like, you have to get a job, get a car, get a boyfriend, get involved, get great grades so you can get into a great college so you can get a great job.”

“Exactly. What happens if you don’t get it all?”

There followed a nervous silence, but it was mercifully cut short by our arrival at the theater. In all the bustle of finding seats, we could almost forget about it. Almost.

The movie wasn’t very memorable, a standard summer orgy of explosions and chiseled actors. Afterwards there was about a half hour before my parents’ movie got out, so we needed to find a way to waste time.

We walked out of the theater to wait in the thick, hot night under the dim ­orange lights by the wall of upcoming movie posters with the clusters of other middle school kids. All of us were ­trying to look as though we weren’t being picked up by our parents, like we didn’t even know such things as parents existed – we just popped out of test tubes and were spared all that embarrassment. It was awkward.

Ali and I had run out of safe, ­superficial things to talk about before the movie. I mentioned the already thoroughly dissected subject of our high school expectations, and we found five minutes worth of material, talking too happily and too loudly in our relief. All too soon we were quiet again, and in my desperation I said, “I wish …,” and could not think what for.

I looked around for inspiration, hoping that it lurked somewhere in the stifling, aching night. What could I say? I wish for everything? It was true, but not right. Sweat trickled in that hideously unpleasant way down the small of my back, and suddenly I knew.

“I wish it would rain.”

Unbelievably, impossibly, miraculously, out of the blank black sky a ­solid wall of water whumped down on us. Heat lightning fractured the horizon, and thunder came so loud it pulled at our ribs. The heat that had smothered the sienna desert pulled away, and that wet dirt mineral smell filled the air. For a moment Ali and I merely goggled at each other, matching green shirts and matching expressions of wonder. Then we screamed and danced like dervishes in the warm rain, shouting all our other wishes to the sky, more than half believing that they would come true too.


The author's comments:
This is the first work I've submitted anywhere, and it may be under fiction but it's pretty much entirely true. Remembering and writing about it made me feel a bit more hopeful about life and the possibility of magic, and I hope reading it has that effect as well.

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This article has 54 comments.


on Jul. 6 2012 at 11:22 am
albinotiger GOLD, Gloucester, Massachusetts
13 articles 0 photos 186 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win&quot;- Stephen King<br /> &ldquo;In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate&rdquo;- Isaac Asimov

oh thats such a good story i love it :D

on Jul. 6 2012 at 12:15 am
PhoenixCrossing GOLD, Tinley Park, Illinois
14 articles 0 photos 178 comments
Really great story. Sounds like a great memory as well. I hope you and Ali are still friends!

on Jun. 14 2012 at 2:40 pm
broadwaystar1998, Annandale, Virginia
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;I&#039;m not crazy, I&#039;m limited edition&quot;

i absolutely loved it! Keep on writing girl!

on Feb. 3 2012 at 9:31 pm
This is fantastic. It feels so, so real, and it was written in a way that felt poetic but not contrived. EXCELLENT job--keep it up!

on Jan. 12 2012 at 3:19 pm
beautifyyourname SILVER, Simsbury, Connecticut
5 articles 0 photos 10 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.&quot; - Anne Frank

I thought this was really good! Something I struggle with at times is showing and not telling, and I think you hit it spot-on. :)

on Dec. 21 2011 at 11:18 pm
SweetTart BRONZE, Monclova, Ohio
4 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
In three words I can sum up everything I&#039;ve learned about life: it goes on. <br /> ~Robert Frost

this is wonderful:) You are an awesome writer & I loved this so much haha you captured that awakward 'we're friends but not really' sort of atmosphere PERFECTLY! Keep up the great work & maybe check out some of mine(:

on Nov. 7 2011 at 4:01 pm
LifesIllusion BRONZE, Cicero, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 127 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Don&#039;t let your fears slow you down. Instead, chase them down and beat them.&quot;

LOVED IT

 


on Sep. 24 2011 at 8:35 pm
austenite77 GOLD, Appleton, Wisconsin
13 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
Die my dear? Why that&#039;s the last thing I&#039;ll do

I like it because it's so normal and relatable, but it has that little hint of magic that makes it special

on Aug. 11 2011 at 5:41 pm
Tongue_Blep PLATINUM, ????, Ohio
40 articles 1 photo 769 comments
wow that was amazing! I loved the story alot!!! ur an awesome writer!!!! if anyone had time could you check out my new story called Terror out of this world: The whole story

Steph0804 said...
on Jul. 19 2011 at 12:08 am
I almost cried when they said, "What if we don't get it all?" but I laughed out loud when it rained.

on Apr. 23 2011 at 10:24 pm
Odessa_Sterling00 DIAMOND, No, Missouri
87 articles 108 photos 966 comments

Favorite Quote:
All gave some, some gave all. -War Veterans headstone.

It seemed kinda straight forward, not really catching me on anything paticular.

on Feb. 19 2011 at 10:13 pm
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L&#039;Engle

that was absolutely beautiful and so heartbreakingly true. I almost cried. "What if we don't get it all?" That part really rang true.

LetLoveLive said...
on Dec. 12 2010 at 12:33 pm
I have no words except this was FANTASTIC! It reminds me of when I met my friend nearly the same way! You bring memories in your writing! Keep It Up!

on Oct. 7 2010 at 12:48 pm
Chitra.I PLATINUM, Dubai, Other
44 articles 2 photos 131 comments

Favorite Quote:
Everything makes sense if you think too much about it.

This is amazing!

on Aug. 24 2010 at 10:06 am
JennaBeaSwimma SILVER, High Point, North Carolina
9 articles 13 photos 21 comments
Really good! I felt like I was reading a real book. I'd like to vote for it but I don't know how! I'm new on here and I've been trying to figure it out. Does anyone know?

sundancer GOLD said...
on Aug. 12 2010 at 7:52 pm
sundancer GOLD, Reston, Virginia
10 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
If you only have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy hyacinths to feed your soul.

Amazing article, by the way! I favorited. :)

sundancer GOLD said...
on Aug. 12 2010 at 7:52 pm
sundancer GOLD, Reston, Virginia
10 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
If you only have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy hyacinths to feed your soul.

Ok, sorry "on" not "one." My bad.

sundancer GOLD said...
on Aug. 12 2010 at 7:51 pm
sundancer GOLD, Reston, Virginia
10 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
If you only have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy hyacinths to feed your soul.

CapitAls. Not capitOls. Please, if you're going to go one about grammar, use it correctly. Come on.

on Aug. 2 2010 at 7:35 pm
DiamondsIntheGrass GOLD, Martinsville, New Jersey
14 articles 1 photo 278 comments

Favorite Quote:
Worry is simply a misuse of the imagination.

so. realistic. cool.  wait... this is ur first article!? wow.

TheLifeLiver said...
on Aug. 2 2010 at 6:17 pm
TheLifeLiver, Saco, Maine
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
You're only supposed to put periods inside of quotations if someone is talking. It was right.