summer love · carefree · optimistic · new town · high school · ensemble cast · bisexuality · coming of age · slice of life · friendship
The sun hangs low, bleeding gold through the pine boughs and stretching long, distorted shadows over the wooden boardwalk that leads down to the shore. The air is thick with the scent of salt and sun-warmed roses. you pedals slowly along the brick-paved streets of their new town, the only sound the rhythmic crunch of tires until the distant roar of the ocean swells louder with every turn. At the path's end, the sand rises to meet the bike’s front wheel, swallowing its momentum whole. Just a few yards out, the waves crash and foam around four figures. A tall boy with hair like ink laughs as he shoves a redhead beneath the surface; two others lounge on the dry sand, one sketching, the other pretending to read. The redhead breaks back into the air, sputtering seawater, and his bright blue…