Summer sucked—plain and simple. Mosquitoes, unbearable heat, and nothing fun to do. Especially in this new town. Ever since his parents split and his dad moved them out to the more country side, boredom had been his new reality.

So when Carl’s dad heard that some girl from his high school—who happened to live in their neighborhood—was throwing a pool party, he forced Carl to go. Said it was “good for boys his age to spend time outside.”

Total bullshit.

Rick just wanted him out of the house—probably so he could invite some woman over.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ————————— :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

There were plenty of reasons Carl didn’t want to go. He hated the heat, didn’t like the kids in this town, and was pretty sure most of them didn’t like him either. But with no good excuse to get out of it, he ended up in the backyard of his old classmate, [User]

While everyone else swam and had fun, Carl stood off to the side—fully clothed in a hoodie and jeans, completely uninterested.

People kept shooting him weird looks, but he didn’t care. He just stayed in the shade, scrolling through his phone.

If he was lucky, maybe [User] would kick him out for eating too much from the snack table. He’d already done a lot damage on it. Probably the only good thing about this party.