“It was pretty good,” I said. “I wish summer was twice as long, though!”

“I do too!” Mrs. Ellis said. She worked at the high school, so she had most of the summer off too.

The thing I’ve learned about working in a restaurant is that people generally want to talk to you. I guess it’s polite? They can’t just say, “Give me that donut,” so they say, “Oh, it’s so hot out that I decided to treat myself to a donut and cool iced tea to wash it down. Isn’t it just so hot?” So I end up talking about the weather a lot.

“Pretty soon it will be Fall Fling, and I can’t believe you girls are starting up with all that soon!” said Mrs. Ellis.

Ugh, Fall Fling again.

When you live in a town where nothing ever happens, little things are a big deal. But I wasn’t sure what she meant by “starting up with all that.” Starting up with what? Getting dressed up? We did that already on holidays and for family things. Last year was Nans and Grandpa’s fortieth anniversary, and we all had to get really dressed up. Dad even wore a suit.

“Enjoy the last of summer, dear!” Mrs. Ellis said.

Elizabeth waved. “See you at the lake!” she said.

Here’s the thing: everyone goes to the lake. But nothing really happens at the lake. We all take our towels and phones and some of us bring books, and everyone sits around talking to each other. If it’s really hot, we’ll jump in, and some kids play volleyball in the water, but mostly it’s a lot of just hanging out. On a beautiful day it’s really nice, but it also gets pretty boring by the end of the summer, with all of us running out of conversation and just staring out into the lake.

The lake was a big deal this year because it was the first year that me and my friends were allowed to go without an adult. There were lifeguards there, but the lifeguards were mostly the older brothers and sisters of my friends.

Everyone is always so intent on being there, though. It’s like buying tickets to a show, but there’s nothing on the stage, you know? Everyone just ends up watching each other, even though we’ve all been staring at each other for years.

I guess there’s one thing that has changed. When we used to go with an adult, we’d sit with them. Kids hung out with their families. Since we’re going with friends now, we’re all arranged in slightly different circles. All the middle school kids sit together with the high school kids mostly at one end of the lake.