June 8, 2020
6:30 P.M.

Ramsey High School, New Orleans, Louisiana

"Adam Foster, please come to the podium to receive your diploma."

The crowd in the auditorium claps politely as he walks up, weaving throughout the rows of other students seated on the massive stage. Adam almost trips on another chair, eliciting a curse from the boy he accidentally kicks in the process. With a graduating class of over a thousand students, this ceremony has been nothing short of a shit show. Names being butchered, some students getting skipped over entirely, and they weren't even halfway through the goddamn alphabet. Oh, and the A.C. was broken. Again.

Try coming up with a worse combination than a sweatshop gymnasium mixed with a couple thousand angry, exhausted, and overheated family members.

Adam finally reaches the podium and shakes the principal's hand, takes his diploma book, and looks out into the crowd where he knows his family should be. And by family, he means his older sister Angie. His parents were too busy with work and had to miss his graduation. Which you know, only happens once in a person's life. Angie on the other hand, had sacrificed a number of her paid leave days from work to travel down and surprise him. He does an awkward peace sign and a smile that looks as though he's in pain. Which wasn't entirely inaccurate given the fact that he could pass out from heatstroke any second now. Hell, everyone could.

He catches Angie jumping up and clapping while taking a video with the flash accidentally on, making an obnoxious scene and cheering on her little brother. Nothing new. This turns Adam's fake smile into a genuine one, and he allows himself to laugh a little bit. The two had always had each other's backs, ever since they were in grade school. With their parents always focused on their work and improving their reputations to their snobby friends and colleagues, it was only natural that they'd become close to offset the pain they felt from being ignored. They'd missed her graduation as well two years prior.

After a few more hours the ceremony finally ends, and the loudest round of applause comes when the principal dismisses everyone to go home. Caps are thrown in the air, families celebrate, etc. etc. Adam finds Angie and she hugs him tight.

"Ok, are you trying to crush one of my ribs?" Adam wheezes. Angie lets go of him and laughs, punching his shoulder. The fact that she was a Marine didn't make things better. He rubs his shoulder and yawns.

"The usual?" He asks.

"The usual." Angie nods. They start walking out to the parking lot when a hand grabs Adam's shoulder. He turns around and is greeted by his best friend Carter, who gives him a raised brow.

"Aren't you coming with us tonight?" he asks, two girls and another guy standing behind him on their phones, coordinating rides and finalizing things. The plan was to sneak into one of the hottest nightclubs in downtown New Orleans and party the night away. They all created their own fake I.D.'s and had spent about two months planning the excursion. Adam shrugs and shakes his head slightly.

"Sorry man, I'm gonna have to pass. Angie decided to surprise me and is only home on leave for a few more days so we're going out to Eddie's." Adam explains. "Y'all should go have fun tonight. Maybe we'll do it again sometime this summer."

"Oh, right," Carter's eyes glance past him to his sister, who gives a curt nod and a faint smile in greeting.

"Hey Angie, how've you been?"

"Cant complain. Every day above ground is a good day," Angie crosses her arms. "Nice job on actually graduating. Never thought I'd live to see the day that Carter Li walked across that stage."

"Oh well, you know me," Carter shrugs. "I can be resourceful. Besides, I had your brother to carry me through Ms. Shackleford's calc class."

"That old witch is still allowed to teach?" Angie scoffs. "Sara Wilson and I will forever be convinced that she killed her husband and hid him somewhere in the school."

"How could I forget?" Carter laughs. "It was practically all you would talk about whenever I came over to hang out with Adam freshman year."

"Anyways, make sure y'all stay safe," Adam interrupts, turning to Carter. "You better prepare yourself mentally if Lu is still riding in your car."

"Oooh," Carter winces sarcastically. "I was having a grand time here, thanks for reminding me."

His friends say their goodbyes and the two siblings exit out into the humid night air. Adam feels a little disappointed that he wasn't going out to party with them, but it was worth it. Angie didn't come back very often, and there was no way that they would miss going out to their favorite run-down, retro diner.

------------------------

"This burger is raw. Completely raw." Angie spits out a chunk onto her plate and downs a glass of water.

"I wouldn't chug that so fast if I were you," Adam warns her as he warily examines a chicken tender that resembled anything but chicken, "It might give you dysentery or some shit."

"Honestly I'm fine with those odds. I'm here for a good time not a long time," she retorts, checking the time on her phone. "Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off with your friends downtown?"

"Yeah I'm totally sure, stop asking." Adam pops a fry into his mouth and is taken aback by the fact that it actually tastes normal. A new record for this place. "Already told them I'd go down another time. Besides, they understand that you're like never home so it's cool."

"Alright if you say so." Angie pokes her burger with a fork and sighs in defeat. "Why do we even bother coming here again?"

"It's for the experience," Adam states matter-of-factly. "It's tradition. And we can't not come here. I don't make the rules, sorry."

"Well that's eight bucks Im never getting back."

"Not true, you've still got the possibility of winning a lawsuit and getting a little more in return. You just gotta almost die in the process," Adam shrugs.

"Hmm, you're right. Better finish this off then," his sister rolls her eyes and gives a tired smile. "You know, I've been meaning to ask about you and-"

The ringing of her phone cuts through the little building, causing other patrons to stare. Angie fumbles for it.

"Sorry man, just one sec," Angie glances at the caller ID and raises a brow. "Oh, it's Dad."

Adam stuffs a handful of fries into his mouth and laughs wryly, "What the hell could he possibly want."

"Your guess is as good as mine." Angie stands up from the table, "I'll take this outside so I spare you the shouting."

"Thank you for your service," Adam folds his arms and rests his head on the table.

Angie flips him off and begins to walks towards the door. She pushes it open and steps out into the brisk evening air. Adam raises his head off of the table and leans back against the seat cushion behind him, pulling out his phone. He checks the group chat labeled "Partay Timeeee" and sees that his friends were just about ready to head downtown, everyone sporting their best "clubbing" attire and excited to get on with the night. He smiles softly and chuckles to himself, knowing full well that Carter had no clue what his alcohol tolerance was. Additionally, he was most definitely a lightweight, even if he refused to admit it. That combination will no doubt lead to some fantastic videos that'll be sent in the chat the next morning. Meaning that Adam could enjoy them without the blasted hangovers and enjoy his first full day free from high school.

"Free from high school." Adam thinks to himself. Most of his classmates would go on and on about just how much they hated having to show up every day, but honestly, high school wasn't the nightmare people had made it out to be. Sure, it did suck towards the end of the year, but people never really put thought into the fact that, if they were attending a college this fall, they'd be freshman all over again and the cycle would repeat itself once more.

Adam hears someone at the bar about twenty feet away throw up. He turns to see the man fall over onto the ground, knocking over a plate of food as he goes down. Ah, Fridays. Adam puts a hand on his head and sighs. It had been such a long week, finalizing college plans and figuring out what to do with his track scholarship. He had offers from a few schools and was busy weighing his options. Meaning that he was trying to find out which had the most benefits while getting as far away from his parents as physically possible.

A woman sitting in a booth in front of Adam gets up quickly, spilling a drink. She practically sprints towards the restroom, a hand over her mouth.

Must be another round of food poisoning. It's a miracle that this place hasn't been shut down by health services yet.

A text notification lights up Adam's phone. He turns it over and ignores it, looking up to see if Angie was back inside yet. His phone vibrates with another message. And then another. He picks it up and unlocks the device, scrolling to the Partay Timeeee group chat where they were coming from.

"Hey this is Ash, Jomari is really sick all of a sudden. Don't know if she'll be able to make it"

Another read:

"Same with Oliver. We had to pull over to the side of the road and change drivers because he was about to throw up everywhere."

More people start to type, but then Angie walks back inside and stands over the booth. Tapping Adam on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, something's up with mom. Dad says that she's not doing well and wants us to pick up some medicine." She starts to pick up her jacket from the booth and put it on.

"Why can't Dad do it," Adam responds, staring at his phone and waiting for more texts to come through.

"Because," Angie sighs, "I'm pretty sure he's not in any condition to drive right now. He sounded terrible and was coughing during the whole call."

"Alright, we can head out then," Adam nods. They quickly pay the bill, and as their waiter returns with their cards he suddenly falls collapses to the ground, eliciting some gasps from startled patrons. Angie drops to the ground and tries to help him up. The man is unresponsive for a moment but then returns to consciousness.

"What just happened?" the waiter asks in a panic.

"You just took a bad fall," Angie answers. "How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad," he starts to stand up as Adam helps him. The waiter clutches his stomach and groans. "Actually on second thought, not the best. You two enjoy your night."

Angie gives a worried smile to the waiter as he stumbles away and makes it to the nearest trash can. Another person gets up to run to the restroom. A girl starts coughing behind them, sounding like a pack a day smoker as her parents try to help her.

"Must be a bad batch of food here tonight," she shrugs and turns her head to Adam. "You ready?"

Adam unlocks his phone and gives it to Angie, showing her the group chat. More people were commenting about feeling sick and having to cancel.

"Not just here Angie. A lot of my friends are sick too." He states as Angie scrolls through the chat, raising a brow.

"We should go. Don't want to pick up anything here." Angie zips up her jacket and they leave the diner. Adam plugs in directions to the nearest pharmacy and they take off.

"It might be kinda crowded Angie," Adam warns," Seems like everyone is coming down with something."

"You worry too much Adam," his sister laughs in response while they pull out onto the road," How bad could it be?"