Jennifer and Nate walk down the streets of Brooklyn after a day of hanging out. She’s smiling and laughing as Nate looks at her with his baby face. He’s carrying her book bag on one shoulder with his guitar case on the other.
Jennifer: Are you sure you’re okay? I can carry my own bag—
Nate: I’m fine, I’ve carried a lot more on my shoulder before.
Jennifer: Well, be careful about straining your shoulders; by the year 2025, you’ll be hunched over because you decided in your teens to carry 100 pounds of crap.
Nate: 2025? *laughs* That’s literally 18 years from now; by then I’ll have one of my brother’s kids carry my things! I’ll be too busy holding my walking cane.
Jennifer: *confused* Nate, we’ll only be, like, in our 30s…
Nate: Exactly, we’ll practically be middle-aged!
Jennifer laughs at Nate’s banter, she smiles at him afterwards; he notices right away.
Nate: What?
Jennifer: Nothing, it’s just… *sighs* Thanks for making my day better. I’ve been going through a lot these past couple of weeks, and it was nice to get away from all of that for once.
Nate: You want to talk about it?
Jennifer: To ruin the mood?
Nate: No; to get it off your chest.
Jennifer sighs, contemplating the thought. Nate also notices it.
Nate: I’m not going to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do, but maybe talking about it will help you put some things into perspective.
Jennifer looks at Nate for a moment before ultimately sighing.
Jennifer: I feel like everything is changing in my life, and I don’t like it. Like, yeah; I know all of us are feeling how different high school is from middle school, but I feel like I can’t even adjust to the change properly because everything else in my life decided to change at the same time.
Nate: Like what?
Jennifer: Well, for starters, my mom is dating my dad again after not being in our lives for 11 years. My mom expects me to just go with the flow and accept him just because he’s my dad.
Nate: But you can’t because you feel betrayed by what he did?
Jennifer takes a moment to reflect and think.
Jennifer: Yes. I don’t know anything about him, and he doesn’t know anything about me. It’s just strange that my mom expects me to be happy that he’s back and they’re expecting a baby and—
Nate: *shocked* Oh! They’re having a baby?
Jennifer: Exactly. Like, you’re bringing another baby in this world and yet you haven’t done anything to show us that you even care about the two kids you left a decade ago.
Nate: That sounds like a lot—
Jennifer: *goes on a tangent* And on top of all of that, my band is on hiatus because—
Jennifer stops her train of thought; it alerts Nate as he looks at her.
Nate: Because?
Jennifer: *sighs* Because Milo and I can’t get our shit together.
Jennifer looks down at the sidewalk as the two teens continue to walk. Nate ultimately stops in place, which makes Jennifer lift her head and look up at Nate.
Nate: Can I be honest about something? The more you tell me about Milo, the more I realize how much I really don’t like him.
Jennifer: He’s not a bad person, Nate—
Nate: But he’s a bad friend.
Jennifer: *defensive* You can’t judge a person without ever really knowing them.
Nate: You’re right, but I also know that friends don’t make each other feel like shit at the end of the day. His feelings are not your responsibility, Jennifer. Now your band isn’t together because he isn’t man enough to apologize to you.
Jennifer is taken back my Nate’s response. Half of her wants to defend her best friend, but the other half is questioning if he’s even her best friend anymore.
Jennifer: He’s been too busy hanging out with his new best friend.
Nate: While you’re out here, stressing out about someone that isn’t even thinking about you in this exact moment.
Nate places his hands on Jennifer’s shoulders, now facing each other.
Nate: You gotta stop making yourself small for people that fear to see you do bigger and better things. You’re an amazing singer! If I wasn’t already committed in a band with my brothers, I would’ve totally had you sing lead for my band! You are such a cool person to hang out with, and it sucks to see you shrink yourself when it comes to the people that are supposed to want to see you grow.
When Jennifer doesn’t say anything back, Nate looks directly in her eyes to reassure her. She looks back at him, taking Nate’s words for consideration.
Jennifer: Really?
Nate: Really really.
The two teens giggle as they look at each other. They slowly lean in for their first kiss; Jennifer’s face immediately turns red once they pull away from one another.
Jennifer: *nervous* I, uhm… I—
Nate: *smiles* It’s okay.
They look at each other one last time before Jennifer’s ringtone goes off; a snippet of “SOS” by the Jonas Brothers.
Jennifer: Shit; that’s my mom looking for me—I have to go.
Nate: No worries, AIM me when you get settled in.
Nate kisses Jennifer’s cheek before smiling and walking away. Jennifer feels like she’s on cloud nine… until she walks up the steps of her house and opens the door.
Jennifer enters the house, leaving her book bag on the ground next to the doorway. Immediately after, Lydia comes into the living room area with Justin following after her.
Lydia: Jennifer Ann Castro! Where the hell have you been?
Jennifer: *confused* I was hanging out with my friends—
Lydia: Don’t lie to me, Pep.
Jennifer: *defensive* I was! My friends are in their own band and I went to hang out with them at their rehearsal—
Lydia: If that was true, then where is Milo?
Jennifer scrunches her eyebrows, not expecting that to be the follow up question.
Jennifer: What?
Lydia: For Christ’s sake; I told you before his parents left that you both come back here together after school in order to let him in.
Jennifer: Yeah, that was if no one was going to be home, and clearly, someone was—
Lydia: Nobody was home when I got in an hour ago, Pep, and I’ve been trying to reach you since then—
Jennifer: *annoyed* Milo is not my responsibility! He’s his own person and knows better—
Lydia: He is your responsibility when you both are due home together after school!
Justin steps in between the mother and daughter, trying to keep the peace.
Justin: *to Lydia* Lyd, take it easy—
He turns around to look at Jennifer.
Justin: Your mom is just worried that Milo isn’t with you—
Jennifer: Yeah well instead of yelling at me, why don’t she yell at Milo for not checking with me today!
Both the parents turn around to look at Jennifer.
Justin: You weren’t hanging out with him after school?
Jennifer: *to Justin* I know sticking around to hear the whole story isn’t your thing, but like I said before: I was hanging out with my other friends—
Lydia: Jennifer!
Justin: *turns around* Babe, it’s fine—
Jennifer makes the gagging noise overhearing her parents speak to each other. Justin turns around to face Jennifer.
Justin: Just found out where he is, Pep—
Jennifer: Wow! You really don’t listen to a word I say, huh? Didn’t I say to never call me that ever again?!
Justin: *slightly annoyed* This is a serious matter—
Jennifer: But respecting my wishes isn’t consider a serious matter?
Lydia: Jennifer, please—
Justin: I’m just trying to figure out where Milo is, Jennifer—
Jennifer: Sure; care about everyone else besides the ones that should really matter—
In the gist of the argument, a knock is heard from the front door. Justin walks over to the door and opens it. There stands Milo.
Lydia: Milo Kamalani!
Milo straightens himself out, looking nervous at the adults.
Milo: I’m so sorry—
Jennifer: Dude, where the hell were you?!
Milo: *annoyed* Waiting for you after school to drop my things off here, but you—
Jennifer’s eyes widen as she looks at Milo, signaling him to shut up. Milo stops speaking and looks at Jennifer’s parents.
Milo: When I didn’t find Pep at school, I just went back to my house to wait until she AIMed me, asking me where I was…
Both adults take a sigh of relief, particularly Lydia. She takes a seat on the sofa, in which Justin walks over to check on her.
Lydia: Milo, you need to understand that we have a curfew few in our house. This curfew applies to both you and Pep, and I expect both of you to follow instructions regarding about coming home after school.
The teens don’t say anything in response. The adults begin to walk out of the living room area. Both Milo and Jennifer stand there for a quick moment; Jennifer is the first one to begin walking out the room.
Before she leaves, she looks at Milo with a peculiar look on her face.
Jennifer: You weren’t wearing that sweater in school today.
Milo: Like I said, I had to wait at my house for you to come back here.
Jennifer rolled her eyes and walked away from Milo. She doesn’t look back to see if he was following her until she reaches the top of the stairs towards her bedroom. To her surprise, he wasn’t.
Letters From Liz. 