【 ʟ ᴇ ɪ ʟ ᴀ ɴ ɪ 】

"See you fucking never, school!" Leilani cheered, shielding her eyes with her hands to get one last good look at the high school building.

It was over. Thank the gods.

"Could you be any louder?" Billie questioned quietly, burying their hands in their jacket pocket. A part of Leilani flared up with the need to accept the challenge. Seeming to notice this, Billie quickly spoke up again, "Kidding. Please don't."

Cody snorted in amusement as he approached, slinging his arm around Billie and ruffling their hair. The young adult swatted the hand away, a look of sheer indignation spreading across their face like a wildfire as they quickly smoothed the now wild strands of hair down. Leilani bit back a laugh.

"Alright, who all survived?" Cody inquired, readjusting his school bag on his shoulder and leading the walk away from the building.

Following Cody with a slight skip, Leilani wracked her brain for the answer.

Billie must've found it first, "Ruairi checked out earlier, and Maya, in her own words, 'didn't want to waste her energy'. Isla should be around here somewhere, though. Text her, maybe?"

"That's what I was gonna say," Leilani finished, flashing Billie a cheeky smile. The young adult rolled their eyes in amusement, and Leilani decided to seize the moment and switch topics. "Who's stoked for the trip?" Her voice bubbled over with excitement at even just the idea.

One day and they'd be on the road for the entire summer.

What else could someone ask for?

"Less excited the more you ask," Cody teased, before giving in at Leilani's furrowed expression. "I'm just fucking with you, 'course I'm excited." His voice held a note of discord, but Leilani let it pass by without comment. She'd never been good with serious topics or comforting people, besides... whatever was troubling him could easily be soothed with ice cream and being miles away from their hometown, right?

Billie just smiled widely to display their eagerness, and Leilani took it without a second thought. "Isla just texted. She's at the front of the building waiting for us."

Flashing a thumbs up, Leilani gave a twirl before straightening out her walk once again. "You know what I can't wait for?" Cody's mouth opened to give a reply, but the young woman didn't give him time to actually say anything. "Being done with the dress code. I am sick of being told I can't wear whatever I want."

There was a beat of amused silence, and Billie lost the fight against their self-control. "Come on, the school's pretty lenient. You just can't wear toddler shorts and your swimsuit top everywhere you go."

Leilani gasped, feigning insult, "Toddler shorts? I don't wear toddler shorts! I just... don't like to confine my legs."

"Yeah, Bills, don't bully her for her toddler shorts."

The trio glanced at Isla as she approached, and Billie struggled to hold back either a laugh or another teasing remark toward Leilani. "Thank you for your support, m' lady." They responded jokingly to Isla.

In reply, Isla dropped into a dramatic bow before breaking into a mess of giggles. Once she finally had control over her laughter, the young woman turned to Cody, "Ruairi just texted me. She's on her way with a ride and Maya."

"So, I don't get to walk home in this heat? What a sham."

Billie punched Cody's arm playfully, and Leilani placed her hands on her hips. "This heat? Don't even get me started on how hot it used to get in Hawaii!" No matter how hard the town tried, it was no match for what Leilani had gotten used to for the majority of her life.

"Let me complain!" the young man interjected with a huff. Isla's eyes flickered upward to read his expression, and she visibly relaxed when she realized he was joking. As a newer member of the group, she often seemed unsure about what was a joke and what wasn't.

Leilani didn't blame her. She hardly knew most of the time.

She just assumed everything was a joke because that was a much better way to live life.

OoOooOOOoo

"Get in, bitches!"

Leilani let out a loud whoop at Ruairi's instruction, climbing into the jeep and moving aside to provide enough room for the others. With Cody, the largest of the group, having rights to the front seat, the four others had to squeeze into the back.

Not that it was too much of a struggle. The jeep was missing its doors and roof, which made the whole thing seem very freeing.

The young woman turned her gaze to Maya, who was holding a vape in one hand and had the other strung comfortably over Leilani's shoulder. While the Hawaiian didn't really like the vape, she loved being so close to the other female. There was just something so uplifting about being that close to someone for Leilani.

"How boring was it?" Maya asked casually, switching her gaze from the road to the group. A small, blink-and-you-miss-it, smile flickered across her face.

Cody, moving around in his seat to face everyone, rested his chin on his chair. "Actually, it wasn't that bad. Probably the best ever if I'm being honest. You definitely missed out." His biting sarcasm quirked Maya's lips up into an amused grin.

"Hey, no school talk! That boring shit is over for the rest of the summer, capisce?" Ruairi quickly cut in, turning up the music in the car to drown out any conversations about school that remained.

Leilani smiled, her gaze catching onto the fading image of the high school.

A warm feeling of completion settled in her stomach, and she leaned slightly into Maya. Ruairi was right. No more school talk. Hopefully, that would keep people from asking her about college. Because she wasn't ever going back to sitting in a stupid class with boring teachers and boring schedules.

She wasn't going to college.

She just didn't know to break it to Ruairi, who appeared to care more about everyone's education than they did.