Surviving Stanley's House

"This is so great! I can't believe we're finally here!"

Amber, who was the first of us to get a driver's license, was in the front seat of my mom's minivan as we sat parked across the street from Stanley's house. It had been a week since school let out for the summer and we finally had the chance to hang out with him.

"I know! I can't wait to see what he's got," I said from the middle seat. "He always has the best stuff!"

"You guys are lucky." Sam sighed from behind us, peering up from her phone on the last row. "My brother is such a dweeb, all he does is play video games all day."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but at least your parents are still together."

"Ugh." Sam groaned again as she put away her phone. "That's true, this is gonna be so much better than any family night at home."

"I'm just stoked that we're all gonna be hanging out at Stanley's house after school pretty much every day this summer," Amber said. "It's gonna be sick!"

Sam laughed nervously and shrugged. "Yeah, it will be cool."

I'd met both Sam and Amber in sixth grade when they moved into our neighborhood in the suburbs. We'd been inseparable ever since then, but it hadn't been until eighth grade that we'd stumbled upon Stanley while trying to sneak into his back yard to smoke cigarettes like all the older kids at school did. He'd caught us right away and offered to roll us each a joint if we didn't tell his parents. He'd told us about how he had an entire basement filled with hilarious movies and weird stuff he stole from his dad whenever he went on business trips. Ever since then we'd hung out there almost every day after school until summer hit and we could go over there during the days too.

Stanley was a total troublemaker who'd gotten kicked out of his old school for fighting before moving schools again because of drugs. When he moved to our town though, people looked past his bad reputation and seemed to think they could actually change him by being nice to him and helping him get back on his feet. They even gave him a job at the library where my mom works as soon as he got hired there himself, but no one knew more than us that he would never change for anyone or anything anytime soon. His attitude was always foul and he loved making fun of anyone who tried to be nice to him or give him advice about changing his ways, but strangely enough I still liked hanging out with him because somehow it felt fun to mess around with someone so nuts whenever I spent time with him.

The three of us walked down Stanley's driveway until we reached the back door, where Amber knocked twice before pushing it open herself without waiting for an answer.

"Stanley?" She called as she stepped inside his kitchen where I could hear pots clanging around loudly in an effort to cover up our voices. "We're here!"