30 seconds. 29...28...27 seconds until school is out and summer is in.

15 seconds, 14 seconds. My eyes along with everyone else's were glued to the clock which read 2:59 at the moment.

5 seconds... 4...3...2...1. The shrilling sound of the school's bell echoed throughout the whole school.

"Have a great summer!" My now former English teacher Ms. Lancaster called as everyone in the room yelled and practically ran out of the door.

"You too Ms. Lancaster!" I called speed-walking out the door.

"Thank you Abby!" Out in the hallway I walked straight to my locker and grabbed my stuff.

"Hey Abby, am I still taking you home?" One of my best friends, Danny, asked.

"If that's alright."

"Of course it is."

"Alright thanks."

"So are you excited?" I looked up and saw amusement in his dark blue eyes

"Excited for what?" I reached down and stuffed my notebook in my bag

"Summer, duh."

"Yeah, I guess so." I fought the tears that threatened to come every time I thought about it.

He wrapped me up into a tight hug and I buried my face in his shoulder. "Oh I'm so sorry Abby, I didn't mean it like that." I looked up into his eyes, "You'll both get through it."

If only I could believe him.

"So I was thinking..." He started as I let go to finishing getting the last stuff out of my locker, "want to stop at the diner?"

"Brittany is working?"

"Yeah last time I checked. So do you want to go? I'll buy you an ice cream." He pleaded

I put my finger under my chin and pretended to think about it. "I guess I could go if there will be free ice cream involved." I smiled at him and he laughed

"Of course my dear." He grabbed my backpack from me and flung it over his shoulder.

"I can carry it."

"Well obviously you can but I won't let you." I sighed, I knew I wasn't going to win this. "Besides you couldn't get it from me even if you tried."

"Oh really?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Yes really." He smirked at me before taking off down the hallway and out the door of the school.

"Danny!" I yelled as I ran after him, laughing the whole time.

"Hurry up slow poke!" He called from his car

"Shut up." I mumbled, glaring at him

"You're cute when you try to look angry."

"Well I'm about to look adorable!" I glared at him and he doubled over laughing, "Unlock the door." I said pulling on the handle

"Oh I will." He walked over to the passenger side of the car and unlocked my door.

He pulled on the handle and opened my door for me. I looked at him incredulously, "Really?"

"Yes really." He laughed as I slid into the car, he closed it behind me.

Danny walked around to the other side of the car and started the engine.

"Why do you insist on being a gentleman to me?" I asked after a few minutes

"Because you deserve someone to be a gentleman to you." I had to think about that for a second.

Did he just compliment me?

I was kind of confused so I just kept my mouth shut until we passed a billboard that said "Come down to Bob's Resale Shop! Our prices are so low it's ridiculous!"

For some reason I laughed out loud at this.

"What?" Danny looked at me like I was crazy

"Ridiculous!"

"What?"

"That billboard said ridiculous!"

"Okay?"

"Ridiculous is such a funny word!"

"You're ridiculous." He said matter-of-factly

"No you're ridiculous!" I busted out laughing

"Well you're impossible."

"Well you're idiotic."

"Well you're stupid."

"Smarter than you." I said laughing

"Nu-uh."

"Yu-huh."

"Nope."

"Yup."

"We can do this all day."

"Okay."

"Alright."

"Okay."

"Alright you win." He sighed as he turned off of the road we were on.

"Yay!" I laughed and pumped my fists into the air. Danny started laughing and turned the radio up a little bit. I didn't know the song so I turned to look out the window.

We sat comfortably with the radio playing a slow song and after a couple minutes I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes.

"Hey, hey Abby, we're here. You awake?" Danny was speaking softly and moving my shoulder back and forth.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, yeah sorry. I'm awake." I looked up and saw that we were at the small diner.

Johnson's Diner was a small, simple building with bright colors on the outside, more simpler ones on the inside. The people that worked there were friendly and treated everyone like family. Danny got out of the car and came over to open my door for me. He grabbed my hand and helped me steady myself as I slid out of the car.

"You okay?" He asked me with a worried look.

"Oh y-yeah, I'm fine, just tired."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Did you tell Brittany we were coming?"

"No, it's a surprise." Brittany was one of mine and Danny's best friends. She leaves right after school gets out most days to work the night shift at the diner. I immediately felt better as Danny and I walked through the diner doors. The blast of pop music filled my ears and the smell of home cooked meals made my mouth water as I realized how hungry I was.

"Abby! Danny!" I heard Brittany's voice over the music and slight chatter. I turned to see her golden-brown curls smack me in the face as she hugged me. She pulled away and her dark brown eyes were filled with excitement. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked as she gave Danny a bone-crushing hug.

"You didn't think that we would let you spend the first few hours of summer alone did you?" Danny asked with a grin as she let him go.

"Oh you guys are so great!" She looked over her shoulder at a table and sighed. "You guys go have a seat, I'll be right there."

Danny and I made our way over to the bar and sat down. A girl named Maria who I knew from school came and brought us some drinks and then Brittany finally sat down next to me.

"So what are we going to do first?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's summer! What are going to be our first plans?"

"Britt we've only been out of school for like an hour, we're already going to make plans?!" Danny asked incredulously

"Of course we are!"

"The first plans I'm making is sleeping in." I yawned tiredly

"Well you do that, maybe we can have a sleep over Friday."

"Yeah that would be cool."

"Hey what about me?" Danny asked with a frown on his face

"Well that's what you get for having two girl best friends."

"I have guy best friends!"

"Name one." I laughed

"Well um-erm."

"Exactly." Brittany and Danny continued bickering as my phone buzzed in my pocket and I sighed.

"Hello?" I asked

"Abigail are you alright?"

"Oh yes. Sorry Aunt May, I meant to call you. Danny and I stopped at the diner."

"Well darling, you have fun. Do you mind getting me something on your way back?" Her voice sounded tired

"Of course. Are you alright?"

"Yes dear, just tired." I knew that excuse all too well

"Well I'll only be a bit longer. See you soon."

"Oh don't mind me Abigail I'm fine."

"Okay I'll be home soon Aunt May. Love you."

"Love you too dear." The line clicked dead

Danny and Brittany were looking at me expectantly.

"I have to go soon."

"Alright well what do you want to eat? It's on me." Danny gave me a small smile

"Danny I can pay for it."

"Not going to happen. And you know you're not going to win this argument so you might as well tell me what you want."

"I just want a root beer and a small sundae." Danny looked both shocked and worried at the same time. "What?"

"That's all you want?"

"Yes that's all I want. I'm not that hungry."

"But you're always hungry."

"Well I'm not right now." It was true, I wasn't that hungry anymore. What concerned me was that Danny knew exactly why, and I didn't want to talk about that right now.

"Well alright." He gave me a sidelong glance that said "we're talking about this later" before ordering the food.

After we had finished eating and gotten Aunt May something, Danny and I said goodbye to Brittany and climbed into his small Monte Carlo.

"What's wrong?" He asked me once we got onto the freeway

"It was my Aunt May."

"Is something wrong?!' He asked frantically

"No, it's just she-she was asking where I was and if I was okay, and I don't know. Danny even thinking about her makes me upset."

"Abby it's going to be okay, alright? We're here for you, both Brittany and I, and we always will be."

"She just sounded so tired." I fought the tears threatening to pour out, "It must've just been one of those days, and I didn't even know about it."

"Abby she doesn't want you to know about it, she knows how worried you get."

"I know it's just." I looked out the window and wiped away the few escaping tears. Danny sighed but didn't push me any farther, he knew better.

Hey guys! So this is the first chapter of my new book!

Okay, so I know with my other books I haven't really put much effort into them, but with this one I already have most of it written.

Also a great, big, HUGE thanks to my editor (that sounds so official lol) and also best friend writingxobsessed. So go check out her and her amazing books.