Theme Week Two

 2002...

"Ouch!" I cried as my barefoot slammed down on a thorn bush. I stopped for a moment and rubbed my foot, but soon enough I was running through the forest as fast as I could.
Perhaps the bare feet were a bad idea, but I didn't really care. I ran through those woods barefoot for years. I've stepped on plenty of thorn bushes, bumble bees, broken glass piles and even a few staples that my feet were as rough as a caveman's. Never once have I encountered poison ivy.
I was hopping over broken trees and stumps as I sprinted even faster. I could hear my mother yelling for me to come to dinner. At this point, I could see the house through the thicket. Finally, I emerged, stepping on a rotten apple that fell from the apple tree. It squished in between my toes and made a down-right gross noise. I shook my foot until the gook flew off.
"HOLLIANNNNN!" I heard my mother yell. I knew that was the last time she'd yell it. Her tone was clearly unimpressed. I walked in the house; the heat from the fire of the wood stove warmed my bones. My legs were raw from the cold autumn air and scratched from the wild I just ran through.
My mother saw me walk in the house, but didn't say anything. She stared at me and I could tell... She was mad.
I did this all too often. I ran off whenever I felt like thinking or singing to myself. Living in the middle of the woods as we did, we had no neighbors. Privacy was your only choice.
My mother hated that I ran off so much. It bothered her. My father encouraged me to adventure the forest we were surrounded by. But as I looked past my unhappy mother, I saw my father sitting at the kitchen table. He was visibly unhappy as well. It was deer hunting season and I had made the mistake of going out with my natural light-bronze colored hair falling all around my shoulders, with no hunter-orange hat in sight.
"Hi, Mom." I said, cutting the tense silence, "Sorry it took me so long to get back to the house."
She didn't say anything right away. She mainly looked at me with disbelief in her eyes. Finally, she sighed, and I knew the lecture had begun.
"Have you ever looked in a mirror, Holliann?" Mom asked me.
I wanted to make a stupid joke but I knew it was too soon. I simply nodded.
"Tell me something... Does your hair look about the color of a deer? Because I think it looks like the color of a deer. Don't you agree, Don?" She asked, turning to my dad.
"Yes, Anne. I think her hair is almost exactly the color of a deer."
Mom looked back at me and narrowed her eyes, "The next time you decide to run off, if you're not wearing an orange hat, you're grounded. You could get shot! Someone could see you running through the woods and they'll think you're a deer. You understand?"
I nodded slowly and bit the inside of my cheek.
"And why aren't you wearing shoes?" My dad added, "You're going to hurt your feet if you keep doing that."
I exhaled quietly. I got this sort of lecture from my parents all too often.
"I don't like shoes." I replied simply. My father rolled his eyes.
With that, the argument ended, and I sat down at the table. My mother hurried off to call Donny and Cindy to the table.
Cindy sat down with a mud mask on her face and her hair piled on the top of her head. Donny sat down wearing nothing but his underwear. At 12, Cindy was all about learning how to apply make-up and going through Mom's beauty supplies. Donny was 6 and refused to wear clothes whenever he was at the house. (The fact that Mom got him to wear underwear at all was a big step.) At 10, I was almost never inside. I'd ride bikes with my friends or explore. Our 150 year old farm house sat atop a hill and was surrounded by 96 acres of land that belonged to my parents. This land was pure untouched, despite a few hunting trails that had been there for years. My home town consisted of less then 150 people and had one general store. I was the gas station, redemption center, post office, liquor store, bate shop, smoke shop, and grocery store all in one. There wasn't even a school in my town.
So most of my childhood was spent running around in the woods, completely barefoot. I have scars scattered on my legs from unfortunate accidents I encountered as a clumsy kid who liked to play in the woods too much.
Dinner that night was surprisingly nice. My parents didn't break out into an argument. My sister talked about boys at school and how she really loved the fifth grade. Donny had just started kindergarten, and he said a few things about how nice his teacher is. I said a few things here and there, but mainly all I could think about was getting back to that forest and running around again. Being surrounded by that enchanting wilderness is possibly the most whole I've ever felt.
I just had to find where I put my hunter-orange hat.

2005...

It was another normal day for me. I was riding my bike to see a few friends at the general store, which is a fairly short bike ride from my house. As I rode down a hill, I stuck my arms out straight. I smiled at how the wind felt. It was March, and the snow was melting quickly and it was warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Well, it was warm enough for me to wear a t-shirt and shorts. It was about 60 degrees out, which is practically a heat wave after the winter we just endured.
I turned off the Bingo Road (the road I live on) and turned onto the main road. The store was a short distance from there.
I pulled into the dirt parking lot of the store and parked my bike. I could see my friend Damien waiting for me, sitting on the ground throwing a rock.
"Hey," I said once I saw him.
"Hi." He replied and smiled. He pointed up the road in the opposite direction of my house. I could see Felicia walking down the hill, "She's almost here too."
I nodded and sat down to talk.
Felicia, Damien and I were best friends when we were kids. We spent every day doing this; taking bike rides and having long talks. We were inseparable. So much so, in fact, that Felicia and I both had a huge crush on Damien.
And at 13, how could I not? He was the kid in class who always acted up and was always sent to the office. He was tall and had big blue eyes and a killer smile. Of course I had a crush on him. He lived really close to me, and we used to hang out for hours on end.
Once Felicia got there, Damien had a bit of a proposition for us.
"Let's play spin the bottle." He said, once the three of us greeted each other.
I didn't say anything. I didn't want to play that! My first kiss was when I was 8 and was attacked by a boy at Felicia's birthday party, but still! I didn't like the idea at all.
"Um, sure." Felicia said, a bit hesitant.
Damien smiled and then looked at me. I shrugged and said, "Why not?"
Before I knew it, the three of us were behind the store playing spin the bottle. It seemed like a really silly game to me. There were only three of us... Why even bother?
Damien spun the bottle and it landed on Felicia. Since Felicia was much better with guys then me, she simply smiled and leaned in. They kissed, and I felt like the most awkward third wheel on the planet.
Then, it was my turn. I spun it an it landed on Felicia. I quickly spun it again, and it landed on my only other option... Damien.
I didn't want to do this. At all. But, he looked at me and smiled. Almost involuntarily, I leaned it.
When I went to kiss him, I accidentally wrinkled my nose; a nervous habit I've always had. It was an awkward experience anyways, but the nose wrinkling made it worse.
Once the silly game was over, the three of us went to the old basketball court up the road and sat around and talked. We laid on our backs and watched the clouds float by, talking about everything under the sun, except the game of spin the bottle we just played.
None of us had a curfew; we just had to be back before dark. Once the sun started setting, we all took off on our bikes. Felicia in one direction, Damien and I on the other. He stopped somewhere along to way to say hello to someone, so I waved goodbye and continued on.
The whole way home I thought about what had just happened. Why did they both act like everything was so normal? He had just kissed us both! That's not something that should be taken lightly.
The air got colder as I turned onto my road. Trees were thick on both sides of me as I winded down the beat-up old Bingo Road to my house. I avoided pot holes and stuck my arms out as I went down hills, all the while still wondering why he wanted to play spin the bottle with both of us.
I passed an old swamp that's on my road and was asking myself why I was thinking about it so much... it was just an innocent game of spin the bottle.
It never occurred to me then, but it really wasn't an innocent game at all.

2008...

I always had the same friends in high school. In fact, I pretty much have the same friends now. We're all incredibly close, and try to see each other as often as possible.
But in high school, we were never apart. We played the same sports, joined the same clubs, hung out after school every day. 
Not too long after the spin-the-bottle incident, Damien moved away. But I was still best friends with Felicia for all of high school. I befriended a couple of girls through my cousin, there were a couple girls who lived in town close to us, and we all just connected instantly. There was a circle of about eight of us. We had sleep overs at least once a month, and all of them had themes.
They always ended the same way... Us laying awake and talking about the future.
One night, we had a sleep over at one of the girl's camps. The theme was murder mystery. We all came dressed as a character from a murder mystery game and we spent the evening trying to figure out who was the murderer all along. It remains one of my fondest memories. 
"Do you think we'll be friends truly forever?" I asked later, when we were all sprawled on the floor in our sleeping bags. I was 16 years old, and I was afraid of what the future had in store for me.
"I think we will." Asia said, always so sure of herself, "I can't imagine any reason why we wouldn't."
"My father always tells me that I'll never talk to my friends from high school again once I start college," Laura said quietly, "He tells me that I won't even recognize you all in ten years or so."
There was a silence. This always comes up. We're all equally scared of what's to come within the next two years. We all want to go to different schools and do different things. How can stay as close as we are?
"That's not true." Felicia butted in, sitting up, "I would never let that happen."
"I don't think any of us would." Tiffany added, sitting up to put her glasses away.
"I honestly want you all in my life forever." I said with a sad tone.
"You're all talking like graduation day is tomorrow." Asia started, "I don't even graduate for almost a year and a half, and I'm a year older then you."
"It'll go by fast, though." Felicia added dimly. We all thought it, she said it.
We all sighed, almost in unison.
"All that means is that we have to have as much fun as we can these next two years." I said, "And promise to never stop being friends."
I sat up and looked at my best friends. Their faces, so young and fresh, all looked at me with wide eyes. We were all afraid of what was to come. Soon, our sleepovers would end. After school adventures would end. We wouldn't be able to pass notes in between classes, or gossip in the hallway. We were still young and so hopeful, and on that rainy night, we made the promise to stay friends.
I'm in my second year of college, and so far, we've kept our promise.

2010...
It was 'the big day'.
Four years of hard work had all added up to one day of sitting in a chair waiting to receive my diploma.
I woke up early that morning, even though graduation wasn't until 3 in the afternoon.
I spent the preparing for my day. I've been preparing for it for 4 years, but now it was really here.

I sat in my chair in the gym, on the stage, in the middle of an ocean of purple and gold robes. I listened as the principal spoke about how this class had really given him a run for his money.
I looked around. It was true. This class was full of misfits and trouble makers. Kids who flooded bathrooms and broke windows. Started fights and vandalized. Sold drugs in the hallway and drank before school.
But when you went to a sporting event, we were all one. We'd paint our faces and make signs. We'd scream and yell for our classmates. We never let them down.
This was the last time we'd be together as a group.
I sat up there and waited as they handed out scholarships and awards. I won a few, but all I could think about was that diploma.
Once I got it, time almost stood still. It was the happiest feeling I've felt. I felt so accomplished... It was a freeing feeling.
After graduation, we all took pictures and greeted our families as high school graduates. Once all of the guests moved out, it was time for an over-nighter that we were having in the school.
We had a bouncy house, a live band, manicures, casino games, and massages. We even had a hypnotist show. So far, it was one of the funnest nights of my life.
At one point, Laura got a strange text message from a friend who was a year younger then us.
He hid in the school and had been there all night.
Stifling our laughter, Laura and I escaped the chaperones and scoped him out. He was hiding in the wood shop classroom.
"Why are you here?" We asked him once we found him.
He shrugged, "I didn't have a ride home."
We all stood and laughed. Throughout the night, we'd go off and find him again, bringing him food when we did. Eventually, our class and chaperones found out, but no harm was done.
After the all-night event, I drove home to Waite. I cried the entire time. It was as if I couldn't control myself. The tears just flowed out of me. Once I got home, I collapsed into my mother's arms and sobbed.
I laid in bed with my parents for days. I couldn't seem to find the strength to get up. My father was worried about me, I was worried about me. My mother just stroked my hair and told me it was alright. I thought I'd never feel okay again.
It was just so painful to accept that it was all over.
That huge part of my life had ended that day, and the realization didn't hit me until I was on my way home.
Those people who I'd spent years learning to grow and love... They were all going off places. I was moving two hours away within the next three months. It was all happening so fast and I didn't want it to happen any faster.
Once I got up and showered, I hung out with my friends. I had forgotten that it was summer. I had something to look forward to.
We had an amazing summer that year. We spent every day together; swimming, biking, walking, talking, playing card games and spending as much time together as possible.
The group of us... we seem to be soul mates in a way. We all need each other, in different ways. I can't even imagine the person I'd be without them.