“Alright, I’m grabbing us some drinks. We’re out of ice, and I feel like this chat needs a little something extra,” she said with a wink, disappearing inside to the kitchen.
And just like that, the mood shifted. It wasn’t bad, just… quieter. I glanced over at Harper, who had gone from laughing along with Mia to sitting there in silence, her fingers absentmindedly fiddling with the edge of her shirt. The night sky suddenly felt a little heavier.
For a moment, neither of us said anything, the crackling fire the only sound between us. Then Harper spoke, her voice breaking the silence.
“Gwen.”
I looked over, her tone telling me this wasn’t going to be small talk.
“About the music festival…” she started, but I could already tell where this was going.
I knew this conversation had been coming for a while now. The festival had been days ago, and the tension around it had never fully disappeared. Everyone had been talking about how something wasn’t right with the results. Harper had been on the organizing team, and, well, there’d been whispers.
I sighed, not wanting to make things heavier than they already were, but I wasn’t about to let Harper off the hook either. “Set it right, Harper,” I said, cutting her off before she could explain further. “It’s what’s right.”
She blinked, her lips pressing together in a thin line. I wasn’t mad—just honest. And I knew she needed to hear it. 
“The real winner that night deserves to be recognized,” I continued, glancing up at the sky. The stars twinkled back, unbothered by the weight of our conversation. I let out a heavy breath, feeling the responsibility of the words hanging between us. “Am I wrong?”
Harper didn’t respond right away. Instead, she looked down at her hands, her fingers still fidgeting. After what felt like forever, she finally shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “You’re not wrong.”
I nodded, not feeling the need to push further. She knew what she had to do. “Time’s ticking, Harper. Don’t let someone else clean up your mess, or it’s only going to make your regret deeper.”
Harper looked up at me then, her eyes heavy with something I couldn’t quite place maybe guilt, maybe frustration, or maybe both. But before she could respond, we heard Mia’s voice echoing from inside.
“Guys, I come bearing refreshments!”
Harper and I both turned to see Mia stumbling back onto the terrace, holding a bucket of ice in one hand and a six-pack of San Miguel apple-flavored beer in the other. She grinned at us, her usual mischievous energy filling the air as she held the bucket up triumphantly.
“Where on campus did you even buy that?” I asked, chuckling, grateful for the distraction. The tension between Harper and me melted away, just like that.
“Shh!” Mia put a finger to her lips, eyes wide as if she were sharing a secret. “I didn’t get it on campus. I snuck out and bought it outside. So can you just drink, Gwen, and stop asking questions?”
I laughed, reaching out to take a bottle. Mia playfully slapped my arm before handing Harper one as well. Harper hesitated for a second but then took the drink with a small smile.
We all popped open our bottles, the sound of the caps hitting the ground signaling the end of any heavy conversations for the night. I took a sip, the sweet apple flavor surprising me. “Not bad,” I admitted.
“Told ya,” Mia said, taking a big swig. She plopped back down into her bean bag, looking entirely too pleased with herself. “Now, let’s toast to… to crazy high school stories, and the fact that we’ve all survived this long without getting expelled.”
I raised my bottle, laughing. “To survival.”
Harper clinked her bottle against ours, her smile soft but genuine now. “To survival.”
We all drank, and for a while, it was just easy. No more heavy talks. No more tension. Just the three of us, under the stars, laughing about nothing and everything at once.
Mia leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. “Okay, okay, I’ve got a new game. We’re going to tell the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to us in school. Harper, you go first.”
Harper raised an eyebrow, her bottle halfway to her lips. “Why do I have to go first?”
“Because it’s more fun that way!” Mia grinned, nudging her. “Come on, give us the good stuff.”
Harper sighed, but there was a playful glint in her eyes now. “Alright, fine. Most embarrassing thing? Okay, so… I guess freshman year, I was new to the student council. And there was this big assembly, like, huge. Everyone was there, and I had to give this welcome speech.”
“This is good,” Mia said leaning her head towards me, already knowing where this was headed.
“Yeah,” Harper groaned, running a hand through her hair. “So, I’m up there, ready to give my speech, and I completely blank. Like, I forgot ‘everything’. I just stood there in front of the entire school, staring at them like an idiot.”
Mia burst out laughing. “And it was epic!”
Harper nodded, looking a little red. “It gets worse. My phone was in my pocket, and for some reason, it started ringing. Like, full volume. The ringtone? It was ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua.”
I almost spit out my drink, laughing so hard. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I wish I was,” Harper groaned, covering her face with her hands. “I couldn’t get it to stop, so I just ran off the stage. It was horrible.”
I was doubled over now, clutching my stomach from laughing so hard. “Harper, Barbie Girl? What are you, 8 years old?”
Harper glared at her, but even she couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, well, I never lived it down. Everyone called me ‘Barbie’ for the rest of the year.”
I wiped a tear from my eye, still laughing. “That’s gold. Okay, Mia, your turn. What’s your most embarrassing moment?”
Harper rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at her lips. “This should be good.”
“Oh, it is,” Mia said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, already getting excited. “So, senior year, right? I’m stressed out of my mind. Exams, assignments, teachers breathing down my neck. It was rough. So, what do I do? I sneak out to the back of the school building, and I smoke a cigarette.”
I blinked in surprise, but Mia just grinned wider.
“You smoked?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, trying to hold back a laugh.
Mia nodded proudly. “Yep. I’d never done it before, but it felt like the perfect way to blow off some steam.”
I snorted, already imagining where this was going. “You idiot,” I said, laughing uncontrollably.
“Senior year is stressing, okay? You can’t blame me!” Mia shot back, though she was laughing now, too. “Anyway, so I’m back there, thinking I’m being all sneaky, but of course, I get caught. Who walks around the corner but ‘Harper’.”
I glanced over at Harper, who was now crossing her arms, her expression dead serious, though I could see the hint of amusement in her eyes.
“Yep,” Harper said, shaking her head, “I had to drag her ass to the dean’s office because, you know, student council secretary and all. I couldn’t just let it slide.”
Mia groaned dramatically. “Yeah, yeah. So I’m sitting there, waiting for the dean, and I hand Harper the pack of cigarettes like, ‘You want one?’ She almost strangled me to death right then and there!”
I burst out laughing, picturing it perfectly. “You—WHAT?”
Mia nodded, wiping tears from her eyes as she laughed. “Yep. Handed her one like it was nothing. Harper was so mad she looked like she was going to combust.”
“I can’t believe you,” Harper said, but even she was laughing now. “That’s the day I realized you would never learn your lesson.”
“Hey! In my defense, it was only ‘one’ cigarette. Well, and maybe one more after school. But that’s it!” Mia added, still grinning.
“You’re hopeless,” Harper said, rolling her eyes but smiling despite herself.
“I just needed a break!” Mia said with a shrug, though her grin showed she knew how ridiculous it all was.
We all laughed, and for a moment, it felt like we were back in high school, reliving those chaotic, stress-filled days. The memories felt so close, so fresh, even though it had been years.
I leaned back in my seat, the warmth of the fire and the buzz from the drink making everything feel a little lighter. “Alright, my turn. But mine’s not as wild as yours, Mia. I didn’t go around offering cigarettes to student council members.”
Mia snorted. “Come on, Gwen, give us something juicy.”
I thought for a moment, searching through the archives of high school memories for the one that always stuck out. “Okay, so junior year, I’m in astronomy club. We have this big presentation, right? I’m super excited, because, you know, space is cool and all. But when I set up the projector, I didn’t realize the image was upside down. So I’m going on and on about the planets, pointing to the wrong ones the entire time. It wasn’t until the very end that someone pointed it out.”
Harper shook her head, smiling. “That’s not so bad.”
“It was humiliating!” I insisted, though I couldn’t help but laugh now. “I was so embarrassed I almost dropped out of the club.”
“Please, that’s nothing compared to getting dragged to the dean’s office for smoking,” Mia teased, still giggling.
“Or having ‘Barbie Girl’ blast during a speech,” Harper added, shaking her head.
We all took a drink, and for a while, we just sat there, enjoying the peace and the company. The night was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, with a sky full of stars twinkling above us. The laughter, the shared stories, the drinks, it all felt like a brief escape from the chaos of life, like we were back in high school again, carefree and invincible.
Eventually, Mia leaned back, looking at the sky with a soft smile. “You know, this is nice. Just sitting here, talking to people who can relate.”
“Yeah,” Harper agreed quietly. “It’s been a while since we’ve done something like this.”
I nodded, feeling the same warmth in my chest that I’d felt earlier. “Yeah. We should do it more often.”
We spent the rest of the night talking about old times, laughing about the things we used to worry about that seemed so unimportant now. The stories flowed, one after another, and with each one, I felt the bond between us grow stronger. High school, with all its chaos and drama, had shaped us, but it hadn’t defined us. We were different now, stronger, closer.
And as we sat there, the stars above us, the sound of laughter still echoing softly in the night air, I couldn’t help but picture this night as one of the most memorable one yet.