Excuses were made. Lies were told. The group made sure that they covered their tracks and they worked together well enough that their alibi was airtight.
Instead of going to any of their houses, they got on their bikes and started riding. The children rode their bikes as the town fell away from them as they headed along the streets to the northwest. There was a forest that bordered the town on the western side. Towards the north, the land curved upwards. Eventually leading to a large overlook. They had festivals up here sometimes. A fair number of the children of the town had been conceived there as well.
But tonight, a group of theater kids were gathering there. There would be four of them in total. Two girls, two boys. Ages ranging from fifteen to seventeen. The first to arrive was Robin, a tall, willowy young white woman with two toned hair, the left side pink, the right side black. She like to wear long fanciful dresses that she found while thrifting. People would ask her that night how she rode her bike with the dress on and she would simply say bicycle shorts and the conversation would end. The dress she chose for tonight was baby blue and had a great deal of lace on it.
The second was Michael, a young black man that rode with a guitar on his back. He was a bit overweight and dressed much more simply than Robin. T-shirt and jeans. When he got there, Robin was gathering up twigs and leaves for a fire. He helped dragged some larger pieces of wood for them to use throughout the night.
Two arrived at the same time, a slim young Asian man named George who dressed in hoodies and jeans as well. His hair was styled, he had eyeliner and black nail polish on. He was hauling a huge backpack of snacks. The friend he rode up with was a short, plump young white woman with jean shorts, a shock of red hair and wearing a flannel shirt. She had a large bag with all kinds of pins covering it. They brought up social issues as well as a number of indie rock bands. Robin clocked her arrival immediately immediately and went to give her a hug.
“Cheery!” Robin said in greeting. “I missed you.”
“I just saw you a few hours ago at school,” Cheery said.
“That’s long enough for me to miss you.”
Michael had gotten the fire going and they went to sit by it. He pulled out his guitar and started playing quietly. First things first, they discussed theater business. What they could improve, what they thought would be best to do in the show. Who they thought was secretly dating amongst the cast. Who had crushes on who.
Next came the songs. Michael, being a devil on the guitar could play almost anything they shouted out. There were some favorites of course from a variety of shows that they loved, Wicked, Rent and the like. Michael put the guitar away, which meant it was time for s’mores.
“God, I love nights like this,” George said.
“I like looking down at the town from up here,” Robin said. “Leaves all the boring down there.”
“It’s not that boring,” Cheery said.
“Yeah, the last place I lived only had like a movie theater with four screens. Plus the owner was obsessed with Titanic and always dedicated at least one screen to it at all times,” George said.
“How did he stay in business?” Michael asked.
“You would be surprised at how often people would just pop in and go see Titanic. It was actually comforting. Your life might change in all kinds of ways but that theater would still be showing Titanic.”
“God, Kate Winslet was so hot in that movie,” Cheery said.
“She’s still hot,” the rest of her friends chorused.
“Agreed!” Cheery said raising her soda to the sky.
“I know that there’s some things about Ravenwood that I’m going to miss but I have to get out of this town. The city holds my dreams for me,” Robin said.
The others didn’t say anything. They didn’t want to rain on her parade. But for them, they would only go as far as high school. Robin was a lifer. She was going to try and make the theater everything about her. To that end, she had started posting songs and line readings on her Youtube page. They had attracted the usual internet reaction. Some people calling her hot, some people actually talking about her talent and others saying that she was terrible.
“I don’t know if I could leave,” Michael said. “My family’s here.”
“You’re right, son,” a voice said from the woods.
Everyone’s heads turned and they saw a black police officer holding his flashlight emerging from the woods.
“Hi, dad,” Michael said nervously.
“Hi, son for whom I am well pleased and said that he was staying at George’s house,” his father replied.
“To be fair, Mr. Block, he is with me,” George said.
“Not helping, George,” father and son said together.
He sighed and pressed the buttons on his walkie talkie. He said that it was a group of campers on the ridge and it was nothing to worry about. He came and walked to the fire, he pointed at it with his flashlight.
“That should be smaller if you want to stay out of sight,” officer Block said. “You lit a signal fire for the entire town.”
“The beacons are lit,” Robin and Cheery said.
“Gondor calls for aid, yes, yes, Michael’s watched those movies a thousand times. I’m glad that you kids are having fun but you need to make sure that you put that fire out and spread the ashes. I would run you off here if you weren’t as good of kids as I know.”
“Sorry, dad,” Michael said.
“We’ll discuss this with your mother tomorrow, I’m not that angry and I’m not disappointed, just be smarter.”
“It could be in our favor that we are such good kids because we’re really bad at being bad,” George added politely.
“Still not helping,” the two Block men said in unison.
“It’s crazy the way you two do that,” Cheery said.
“Be home for breakfast tomorrow,” officer Block said to his son and started walking back to the woods.
“I love you, dad,” Michael said.
“I love you too,” his father said as he hit the tree line.
The group decided that it was time to turn in and got into their sleeping bags. Of course, that’s not where it ended as the minute there was silence someone would ask if they were sleeping and then they would start chatting again. Whispering secrets. Giggling. Laughing. Loving one another in ways that surpassed romance because they knew that those bonds would last forever.
The night didn’t though and soon the sun woke them up. They got on their bikes and Michael rode to keep his promise. Wondering what the talk would be like when he got home. But for right now, George wanted to race him and the city streets were empty. They pumped their legs, laughing for the sheer joy of it.
