Week 8 Prompts

31. Eeenie, meenie, minie, moe, catch a rabbit by the toe....

"You're it this time!" She cheered as she finished the rhyme.
"Nuh-uhhh!" I cried back, "That's no fair. You know that game doesn't work."
"You're it." She said again and stuck her tongue out at me.
I sighed and ran to the porch and started to count. My friends shuffled outside, and I could hear them whisper as they hid. I counted to 50, and I ran outside.
"Ready or not, here I coooome!" I called out into the darkness of the night. Considering this was my backyard, I knew the best hiding places. I knew that Felicia would be hiding with someone else, considering that she is blind at night.
I started to inspect the perimeter of my dad's truck; figuring that someone would be hiding in the bed.
I stood up on the tire and poked my head over so I could see.
As I expected, Felicia and Nicole were crouched down inside the bed of the truck.
"Awwww, man!" Nicole said as I found them.
I smiled, "Haha, you guys are it!"
Nicole scoffed, "Big deal. I like being it."
"I can't see anything." Felicia said as she carefully climbed down from the old GMC truck, "Maybe I shouldn't play anymore."
"We've been playing for a while," I said as I helped her down, "We can go inside and watch that scary movie my mom rented."
Felicia made a face at that, "I'll try and watch it. I usually get pretty scared of those movies."
I called, "Olly olly oxen free!"
Slowly but surely, all of my friends and my little brother emerged somewhere from the darkness of my over sized backyard. As to be expected, they were all sick of playing too. We had been playing since after dinner. So we all retreated inside, laughing with each other, our pigtails bouncing as we walked.


35. Three of them sitting there in complete silence.
Felicia, Damien and I lay on the pavement at the basketball courts and stare up at the sky.
What were they thinking about as we watched the cumulus clouds slowly travel by?
Personally, I was thinking about how I wished Felicia was gone, and how I wished Damien liked me more then her.
I was awkward with glasses and my baby fat was still lingering about. I hadn't grown into a woman like Felicia had. In my class, I was the girl who never had a boyfriend, never had sleepovers, and the one who learned how to complete the newest math problem only when it was time to move on. I had always done things a little slower in life, and making a move on boys was definitely no exception.
I tucked my arms behind my head and bit my lip. Should one of us say something? Silence bugged me. It meant that there was nothing to say, but there always was something to say.
My eyes wandered to the old basketball hoop that was bent from years of kids hanging from it. How many times had I been to this old basketball court? Trillions. It was where I learned so many of life's valuable lessons.
I sighed and looked over at Felicia and Damien. Felicia had brown eyes that were larger then mine, and she had developed the body of a teenager years before I would. I looked like I was wearing a barrel. My face was as round as a basketball, and acne decorated my rosy cheeks. I wore sweatpants and a hoodie every day, and I never thought I'd be pretty like Felicia.
And Damien... He was so cool, I felt lame even being in his presence. His parents were divorced and he was always home alone, he would drink beer with his mom's boyfriend and he never had to tell them where he was going and what he was doing. I had to be home by dark and in bed by 9 every night. My parents always had to know where I was and what I was doing. 
How could I even kid myself into thinking that Damien would ever like me over her? I was a fool for even hoping.
"Well..." I said sighing, "I better go. Mom's making an early dinner."
"Okay..." They said together. I stood up and said goodbye to them, leaving them alone. I got on my bike and yelled that I'd see them tomorrow morning on the bus.
As I sped off down the road, I knew that they'd kiss or hold hands as soon as I left. I didn't know if it should bother me or not; they're both my best friends. I should be happy for Felicia and I shouldn't like Damien at all.
Even if it shouldn't have bothered me, as the wind blew my hair behind my head on my ride home, I knew that it did.

37. Down in the boondocks.

The canoe ride out was full of laughter and jokes. I splashed Laura with my paddle, and Gilman splashed me with his. We had sodas sitting at our feet, and a canoe full of camping gear. We were headed out to a sandy island for a three day camping trip that was going to rid me of the blues I was feeling.
The hot August sun was pounding on my back, and I knew I'd wake up with a sunburn. I didn't mind though. A sunburn was a sign that you had a good time.
"The place we got is perfect," Laura said as she paddled, "It's really sandy and we found a perfect little clearing in the thicket where we set up the tent. It's really great. The only thing is, a bunch of people left tents and other gear out on the beach. Felicia called her step dad and said that people do it all summer long to keep people away."
"That's so ignorant." I said, scoffing, "How much stuff is out there?"
"At least 10,000 dollars worth of stuff, I'm not even kidding," Gilman said, "There's a bunch of deep-sea fishing gear. This is West Lake.. the most shallow lake around... Why would they need that?"
"There are radios and coolers and at least seven tents." Laura went on, "It's absolutely ridiculous. We've been here since 11 this morning, and no one has stopped in."
Suddenly, Gilman's phone vibrated from the pocket of his lifejacket and he answered.
"Hello? Oh, okay. They keep coming up to the shore? That's weird. I don't know. Well we'll be there in about half an hour. The wind is against us this time. Okay, bye." He hung up, "That was Felicia. She's got a fire going and is waiting for us, but she says there are people who keep pulling their boat up the shore and looking at the island."
"That's weird," I said, "Maybe they are looking to see if anyone's there?"
"Well, people around town know about the gear that's left," Gilman said, "This happens every year. People swipe stuff, but I don't blame them."
Laura, Gilman and I paddled on. They had been here since 11 that morning, but I had to drive from Old Town to get here. I had the weekend off, and my brother and parents were out of town, so I was going camping.
Once we got to the island, I realized that they weren't kidding.
"There is so much stuff over there!" I cried as we hauled the canoe onto shore. Over on the other side of the island, there were enough tents to house 30 people. All the tents looked nice and expensive, and it pissed me off that people could leave it all there.
"If you go over there and look, there is no sign of recent life." Laura said, "It's creepy."
Felicia emerged from the clearing where our tent was kept, "Hey guys! Took you long enough!"
We laughed, "Sorry. It was windy this time!" Gilman added.
Felicia waved a hand, "It's not a big deal. I had time to start a fire. Come and check everything out, Holliann." Once we unloaded the gear, we flipped the canoe upside down to get the water out. Gilman and I put up a clothes line (which came in handy, considering it poured that night and collapsed our nice 6 people tent, making the 4 of us huddle together in a 2 person tent), and Felicia and Laura started on dinner.
Once it was dinner time, we all sat around the fire and relaxed under blankets and stars. It was a clear, and perfect night. Across the lake, another camp sight was shooting off fireworks. We all watched as we ate fire-grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. It was nice to sit and talk with them, and none of us mentioned our problems.
We talked about this trip, and how much we all needed it.