Untitled Rough Draft

"Jillian, hurry up they're outside!" Margo whispered loudly, with a frantic undertone in her voice. Jillian quickly shoved a third and final pillow underneath her duvet cover, took a step back to evaluate her creation, and cracked a sly grin, satisfied with her work. She turned towards the mirror and twirled her dark ringlets while puckering her lips, like she always did before leaving the house. 

Margo and Lauren jumped up from the couch and the three girls put on their sandals and fleece jackets. "I hate the weather in Chicago…it’s practically 100 degrees during the day and below freezing at night? There's something seriously wron--" Lauren began to rant.

"Shh!" Jillian and Margo simultaneously warned. Lauren often went off on passionate tangents, progressively raising the volume of her voice. She was never offended when her friends shushed her because she understood her rants did not often occur in appropriate situations.

Margo went to the front of the pack and unlatched the creaky, white door. She carefully opened it to a 60 degree angle, knowing from multiple experiences that it would not make any noise. Her swift hands indicated it was safe for the other girls to go through the door. After everyone slipped out, Margo took her time to close the door and turn the knob to ensure the process was silent. 

Everyone held their breath as they crept around the side of the house. It felt like ages before they finally arrived at the front steps. The three girls took a few cautious steps forward to the sidewalk and released their breath.

"Where exactly did they say they were going to be?" Jillian asked her friends, panning the block and trying to make out any figures in the darkness. As if to answer her question, three bodies popped up from the steps of the neighbor's house across the street, startling the girls.

Lauren intertwined her fingers with the girls on opposite sides of her and checked both sides of the road. She whispered something to them and they cupped their hands over their mouths, releasing muffled giggles. Quietly, they trotted across the street. 

The girls released their grip and greeted their friends with a gentle embrace. "It sure took you guys long enough," AJ teased, "What, where you waiting for everyone in the city to fall asleep?” He gave Jillian a small nudge and shot her his irresistible smile.

"Yeah really. We've been sitting out here for almost forty minutes." Wesley complained, and Josh nodded in agreement.

"Oh, can it." Margo told Wesley, playfully punching him in the stomach.

The six teens had been best friends since the age of five when they formed their neighborhood clan, naming themselves the Sensational Six. They all lived within a two block radius of each other. Now that they were in high school, they didn't make plans as frequently. Lauren, Margo, and Josh went to the same school, but the rest attended different ones. They spent every minute of their summers together and were practically inseparable.

The group walked to 711 a few blocks away and purchased a few liters of soda and some snacks. They opened a bag of Lays barbeque chips and a bottle of Coca Cola as they left.

“You know what we haven’t done in a while?” Josh asked the group, a sudden excitement coming over him. Everyone handed their attention to Josh. “We haven’t gone to our old tree house! Remember the one we spent summer of ’05 building?”

“How could I forget!” Lauren shouted with a mouthful of chips, spitting some crumbs into her straight blonde hair. She hopped in place and bombarded Josh with a huge hug. The kids were overrun with a newfound exhilaration.

"To the treehouse?" Wesley asked, confident that he already knew the answer.

And so the Sensational Six were on their way. The air was heavy and humid; it hung over them as they walked down the middle of the black road. On their way they reminisced of the days when they worked from sunrise to sunset building the treehouse. They laughed at AJ when he brought up the memory of him falling off of the treehouse ladder and fracturing his wrist. 

As they reached the corn field where their treehouse was located they created a human chain in a single file line behind Josh. They ventured further back behind the brush until they reached the familiar wooden ladder. One by one they climbed up into the safe haven they built from the world.

The place looked just as they had left it: beanbag chairs in a circle, a mini table with a kite on it, and even a pack of dusty Uno cards laid out. Everyone leaped onto the squishy seats, and Jillian and AJ shared a chair.

AJ was in love with Jillian. For as long as he could remember he always liked her as more than a friend. She never reciprocated his feelings until this summer. They flirted with each other but did nothing more than that. With the encouragement of his friends, AJ finally built up enough courage and decided he was going to ask her out. Tonight. 

“Does anyone want anything to eat? We have a lot of food here.” Margo offered, standing up. 

“PB&J for me please,” smiled Josh. 

AJ was feeling nervous. “Yeah can I have a....uhh...just a jelly sandwich? You know ‘cause of my allergies.” Margo nodded, more than happy to prepare an easy snack for her friends.

Everyone began talking again, and Josh shot AJ a look, indicating it was a good time to talk privately. “So Jill..” Aj breathed, fidgeting with his keys. “This summer so far has been amazing. I’ve had a blast spending so much time with you.” He looked up and met her eyes, focusing his gaze on her. She had a sweet, sincere smile across her face.

“So have I,”

He rested his hand on top of hers. “I think what would make this summer even more awesome, though, would be if you wanted to be my girlfriend...?” He asked, coming out in between a statement and a question.

Before she had the chance to answer, Margo interrupted their conversation. “Does anyone have another knife? There’s only one in here,” she asked. No one seemed to have one, so Margo shrugged and went back to where she was making the food. 

“So, what do you think?” AJ  proposed.

The grin evaporated from her face as she took a moment to gather her words. “That’s really sweet AJ. And I truly am flattered,” a look of confusion came over his face. “But don’t you think that would be a little weird? I don’t mean for the two of us. I mean for the group. I’ve had so much fun hanging out with everyone, and I think we would drift from the group if a relationship between us did work out.”

Dissapointment was written across AJ’s face, but he quickly masked it with his famous charming smile. “Yeah that makes sense. Thinking about it now, maybe a relationship wouldn’t be best right now.” Jillian gripped his slightly clammy hand. At the same time Margo walked over and handed him his sandwich wrapped in a white paper towel. He thanked her and took a bite, giving her a thumbs up.

“I really don’t want you to take it personally though.” Jillian said, obviously feeling guilty. “So is it ok if we just leave things the way they are for now, and at the end of the summer have this talk again? Assuming nothing really changes between now and then.”

AJ had a hard time getting his words out. “I would like that,” he said with difficulty. He tried to clear his throat but found that it was becoming increasingly more challenging to breathe. His arms flailed nervously and he began gasping for air. 

“AJ?...What’s going on?” Jillian panicked. The other four friends rushed over. By this time AJ was on the floor pounding the ground and tossing violently in different directions.

“He’s having an allergic reaction!” Josh shouted. “Did he have any peanuts? What happened?”

Then it hit them. The sandwich. “There was still peanut butter on the knife when I made his sandwich.” Margo began crying. “This is all my fault, he’s deathly allergic...we have to fix this!” AJ’s face was turning a sickly shade of blue and he looked miserable. Wesley searched AJ’s pockets for his epee pen but couldn’t find it.

Jillian grabbed his hand and sobbed. “Call for help. Now.” She said through her tears. “We can’t waste any time.”

The other four friends took out their phones but none had any service. Josh climbed down the ladder quickly in pursuit of gaining service to get help.

In the meantime they helped AJ sit up, though he was hunched over. His body began to slow down and his eyes were glassing over. He took Jillian’s hand and put it over his heart, which was beating much slower than it should have been. He locked eyes with her and mouthed three simple words: I love you. He set his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. In the treehouse, where AJ came as a child to escape the world, he tragically escaped the world one final time.