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life was, four years ago.

    “ Hey,”
I snapped. Samantha yanked a large cup of ice cold lemonade from my
hand. Her face sour. “Why do you like this stuff so much?”
Airi and Avril echoed together…“Are you kidding me, that
stuff is good.”
    “ What
I wouldn’t do for a warm pretzel with a cheezy dip right now,” I sighed. Pretzels were our favorite afternoon
snack. Our eyes all lit up as we scoured for change in our purses.
    “ Okay,
I got three dollars and eight quarters…so how much is that?”
Sue blurted, as she flicked the shiny coins from under her palms.
    “ That’s
five dollars, Sue.”
    “ I
knew that…I was just playing.” Scratching her head, she
smiled awkwardly.
    “ Well,
I have six dollars. Airi handed me six dollar bills and placed them
on the table.
    “ Here’s
eight.” Sam reached to dump the bills on the pot.
    “ Okay,
whatever we’re short on, I’ll cover.” Jen rummaged
through her purse, pulled out a twenty and fanned it across her face
before dumping it with the other bills. Grabbing the pile, Sam got up
first. We followed her, as we all rushed out to the blinding
sunshine, crossing the street, we all headed to our favorite, popular
hang out café after school.
    High
School seemed to have been the starting point for our friendship.
We’ve been inseparable since then. That’s the way we’ve
always been—seven girls and six guys had been the best of
friends.
    Three
months ago, everyone graduated with the exception of Sue and I—that
was the month we all went to Brazil—exotic food and gorgeous
beaches. Not that we didn’t have enough beaches here. I never
thought anything could be greener than where I live, but it‘s
quite different there. We even learned a little samba. But the
biggest attraction was the rainforest—It was stunning—like
you‘re in a different world—full of many exotic animals
and wildlife. The macaw was my favorite, intelligent, strikingly
rich, colored creatures…I wanted so badly to slip one of them
in my suitcase.
    Then,
there were the people; everyone could not stop talking about soccer.
El futbol was so popular that we all started watching the games when
we got back to the states.
    A
month after that amazing vacation, we all went to Jen’s
parents’ beach house in California for two weeks. Her parents
had always been so nice. They packed their fridge and practically fed
us the whole duration of our stay. They came over almost every other
day to see what else we needed—although, a part of me was
pretty sure, that wasn’t the only thing they were checking up
on.
    The
beach house was a 2,500 square feet home, sitting on a hill and below
the steps—long stretched sand gave way to the beautiful blue
waters. It had three bedrooms, a very spacious open living room and a
very generous size kitchen. In the middle, sat a massive granite
island counter with eight bar stools and several blue speckled glass
pendant lamps that hung from the ceiling. It had very modern
appliances and deep chocolate colored cabinets. The room extended to
a large open living room with two large sofas and two chairs. Fifteen
foot sliding doors, showcased the 180 degree panoramic ocean view. On
the east corner sat a bricked fire place. On the mantle, displayed
photographs of Jen’s family and some photos from their trips
and a picture of all of us. It was an amazing vacation. I miss Jen
already. Jen had short hair all through high school. She wore her
hair, clean and short. She
was quite lovely and very funny.
    Then,
there was Sam. Sam had large, slightly wavy hair and always clipped
her hair to the side like the glamour girls from the fifties. She
sometimes wore it long and straight. Both suited her. She had dark
hair, midway to her waist. Her eyebrows were well defined, perfectly
arched and full lips to match. Her olive eyes matched her skin tone
and she had the most amazing cheekbones to die for. Looking at her
made many people stare longer than usual; she looked like