Teen Ink

Prologue

The sun shined brightly, but not enough to make the heat unbearable. A breeze lazily swept up leaves, causing them to dance around the children's feet. I could feel the sand that drowned out all of the grass in the schoolyard gently slip between my toes and my flip-flops. We were out for recess. The best time of the day.

Most kids were playing and socializing. Not me though. I was leaning on one of the swing-set poles, minding my own business, when I suddenly felt a small shove and almost fell over. I grabbed the pole for support and regained my balance. I quickly scanned the playground to see who had pushed me. The area around me was basically clear, but I looked further and spotted two prime suspects. To my left, there was a boy with shaggy brown hair and a Scooby-Doo shirt on, hiding behind the tunnel slide. There was also a small girl with blonde pigtails and light blue dress who was attempting to conceal herself behind the giant swiveling tic-tac-toe board, but was giggling to loudly to go unnoticed. I looked from the boy to the girl, and quickly made a decision. I bolted to my left and ran straight for the tunnel slide.

The boy sat there, caught off guard for only a moment, but then leaped into the slide's wide opening without a second thought. I could hear him scrambling up the slippery inside, struggling to keep from falling back down. I waited patiently at the small circular end, knowing there was only one outcome. Just as I had suspected, the boy lost his footing and began sliding back down, right toward me. My hand shot out and managed to poke his outstretched leg before I stepped out of the way of the opening. He fell out of the slide and onto the sand, exactly where I had just been standing seconds before. He landed on his back, where he could see me clearly. His deep brown eyes stared up at me thoughtfully. I smirked down at him, knowing I had won.

He grabbed hold of the edge of the slide and slowly got to his feet. I shifted slightly to my right, ready to make a run for it, when he smiled. “I’m Danny,” he told me in a friendly tone.

I studied him curiously. Danny… Well, he seemed harmless enough. If a fourth grade boy could be considered harmless, that is. “I’m Amy,” I replied.

“You’re really good at this game. You know, for a girl.”

He just had to add that last part, didn’t he? I laughed. “And you are really bad. You know, for a boy.”

He frowned, but I could tell by the look in his eyes he didn’t mind the teasing.

“You might be surprised. I’m better than you think.”

His statement made it obvious what he was going to do. I dodged his hand, just as it went flying inches from my arm. His eyes widened in mild shock. I twisted around and started running, not even looking back to see if he was following me. I could hear him though. It didn’t take him long to get himself back together. Then he started chasing me. The sound of his feet sliding in the warm August sand filled my ears as I blocked out every other noise. Tiny grains of sand were hitting the backs of my legs as his feet launched them into the air. I pumped my legs harder, trying to put more distance between us.

Somebody joined the chase. It was the girl who had been crouching behind the tic-tac-toe board. I could hear her giggling. She was actually much faster than she looked. I could feel her as she got closer and closer. She was mere feet away from me, leaving Danny far behind. Suddenly I heard something over the giggling and the pounding of my heart. It was Danny.

"I'm going to get you, Amy!"

The girl behind me squealed in delight. She apparently thought this whole thing was absolutely hilarious. Then again, she never seems to stop laughing anyway. I decided to ignore both of them.

I ran as fast as I could go, which is exceptionally fast, if I do say so myself. My surroundings whizzed by me in a colorful and dizzying blur. Nothing could stop me. Except, that is, a tree.

At first I didn't realize that I was falling. I thought that the air whooshing past me was an effect from the running. It turns out that I had actually tripped on this huge and obvious tree root. I don't know how I could have missed it, but then again, I was a little preoccupied and somewhat clumsy. I fell sideways, landing on my right arm. Pain shot up through my elbow. Ugh. I hate it when something hits your elbow; it always feels like your whole arm is being shocked, with the current racing to your fingertips. I didn't really have time to react. I just lied there with my eyes closed.

I could hear the sound of people quickly approaching. My eyes slowly opened. The giggling girl was beside me within seconds, with Danny not far behind. "Are you okay?" the girl asked. I blinked a few times and realized that I actually wasn't really hurt. I was mainly just frozen with my arm bent over my chest. I met her worried gaze and replied, "Yeah. I'm fine..." I broke off as I remembered I didn't know the girl's name. "Lauren," was all she said. It was as if she had read my mind. "I'm Amy." I inclined my head toward Danny and added, "This is Danny." Lauren smiled at me, then at Danny. She seemed to be back to her normal chipper self. I had already noticed it doesn’t take much to make her smile.

Danny returned the smile politely, but then inched past her in order to get to me. He held out his hand as an offer to help me up. "You'll be okay, Amy. And don't think that this is getting you out of the game." I took his hand with my left hand and pushed off the ground with my right. I winced slightly as my arm tingled with tiny pinpricks of pain. "Wouldn't dream of it," I replied.

"Good. Because as of now," Danny punched me playfully on my good arm and jerked away, “you’re it." Then he turned and began running wildly in the opposite direction, closely followed by a, once again laughing, Lauren. I shot forward and ran as if I had never even fallen in the first place, but they had had a head start.

"No fair!" I yell after them. Danny just laughed and yells back at me, “Catch me if you can, Amy! You'll never get me now!" I pushed myself harder, trying to catch up. Our feet slid on the loose sand, and we had to quickly dodge other students and playground equipment. As we circled around the schoolyard I slowly got closer and closer until Lauren was almost within reach.

Carefully, I raised my arm and my fingertips grazed Lauren’s bouncing blonde ponytail. She moved her head to the side at the touch and slightly slowed her pace, which caused me to run right into her. We fell forward and somehow knocked over Danny in the process. We sat in the sand; all of us tangled up and sprawled at awkward angles. At first, we sat there in silence, but then busted out in uncontainable laughter.

“You know what?” Lauren asked. Danny and I look at her with sincere curiosity. “I think that we are all going to be best friends forever.” We smiled and wrapped our arms around each other’s shoulders, as if symbolizing our now seemingly inseparable bond.

If only Lauren’s prediction had been true.