"It's cold, bring a sweatshirt." Alex wore a rain coat, he always wore a rain coat, just in case. Grabbed the We Buy Gold! one, pink with gold lettering, and a stack of bars on the back.

Out the window and onto wet lawn at night. Sprinklers have stopped it must be after 1. Schoolwork takes the ghost of my mother's face, it must be September again. But fuck this year, this year can suck a dick, I'm done caring.

At the tracks, the branches let go around the rails, beat away by the trains probably. Gravel bank for the fire. Stumps, milk crates, Alex brought some beer. And Hillary. Hillary was sitting there, with her hands rolled in the sleeves of her sweatshirt, pulling it down from around the sides of her neck. Her hair dyed strawberry, her shoes white flat. There were probably some other people there too.

We drank and smoked and stared at the fire. We had a summer in a night because we wasted the summer or it felt like we wasted it. Alex was naked and making the girls scream. I thought it made me look smart. I forgot all about everything, until the sun started to come up and it all came funneling back. Like the sun was the source of all my problems, voraciously toothing its way back into my life. I said, quite dumbly, "We have school today." Nobody laughed or said anything.

We all walked drunk or with bikes to school, and I walked with Hillary. "Are you going to college?" She had her arms fully in her sweatshirt now, the sleeves empty and loose, "Of course, aren't you?" I pretended I was. Didn't really want to apply, to be honest, but I pretended. "Where are you going to go," I asked, "in town?" She kind of laughed but mostly sneered, "I don't think so. I gotta get out of here." I suddenly had to piss really fuckin bad.

In homeroom I think I must have been really mad cause I was sending Alex 4 and 5 texts at a time. All about Hillary. she's kind of a bitch. who does she think she is? I get it, so she likes me but Im like some stop on her journey. Im like some hostel she stays in on her trip to europe to go find herself, well thats bullshit alex. and I knew I was mad but I knew I must also be still kinda drunk, cause I'd wait, and I'd wait, and just get back: ??

It was 11 now and now it was Gym. Outside cause the weather's still nice. Warm in the sun. Actually, hot in the sun. We had to run laps around the track and my head was spinning and my gut felt like it was sloshing in my shoes. The runner in front of me, Luke Schubert, started to get farther and farther away, I turned to puke in the big black garbage can, flung the heavy domed lid off.

Mr. Carson was headed my way, clipboard and white visor and dress pants with running shoes. He asked me something about being okay, but I didn't let him finish. "You think you're so important, don't you. Well, let me tell you something.." I was speaking slowly and in long sentences, and I was talking to the whole class now, who were looking at me, two weeks into September. "Outside these walls, of this school, you're nothing. None of you are anything! So enjoy it while it lasts, you stuck-up pricks. Money's just a number." Alex was sweating and looking at me with a strained face. He didn't think that last part was as clever as I did.

I left the field like I'd just finished a marathon, and I was headed to the bus stop, when "Hey!" I turned around, slowly as if being ready for the worst would somehow make it better. But it was Mr. Carson, just holding up my sweatshirt, with a big chunky stain on it, We Buy Gold!

Cannon Bros' album Firecracker/Cloudglow is not about the singles. It's almost not even about the sound. It's about the album, start to finish, as a fleecy, whole-felt thing. It's pure teenager, it's as important as anything was as a teenager. It's lovely.

[release slated for Oct/Nov]
[an old EP featuring "Out of Here" is available for free]

(image source unknown)