Escapism

Micah, Noah, Jada and Angel celebrate the last day of summer before Term 1 starts.

The tunnel was dark at first. Micah lifted the splintering manhole cover and late afternoon daylight poured in, illuminating the group of teenagers.

Noah was beside Jada, his girlfriend of four months. Angel, clad in a long white dress with pale flowers in her hair,  rummaged through her bag and brought out a bottle of white wine.

“Wine?” Said Micah, who had recently turned eighteen and was the oldest of the group. He took off his jacket and placed it on the damp floor of the tunnel to sit on. “Angel, you’re so classy.” Angel flashed him the peace sign, and started setting out red cups for everyone.

“We’re in grade twelve now. We have to set the bar high. No more shotgunning cheap beer, guys,” Angel replied.

“Not quite yet,” said Micah. “For tonight, we still haven’t entered grade twelve.”

“Especially Noah,” said Angel. Everyone turned to Noah. He was a year younger than his friends and was going into grade eleven.

“He’s my little boy,” said Jada, and her and Noah kissed.

“Guys!” Said Angel. “Make room for Jesus.”

The afternoon turned into the evening, and it wasn’t long until the four friends were passing around Jada’s pipe. Angel watched the smoke drift up through the manhole and took a sip of wine. Micah was on his phone, scrolling through messages. He paused on one in particular and read it through.

“Apparently we’re getting a lot of new students this year,” he said. Micah was on the student council, so he knew these types of things before others.

"I hope there will be cute new girls at Rosewater," Angel mumbled, mostly to herself. "There are like … No gay girls here." She took another sip of wine, then threw the cup into the bushes outside the tunnel.

"You should have recycled that," Jada pointed out.