Tara There is nothing I hate more than 11:30 AM on a weekday. I walk into the bustling school cafeteria and my head starts to pound from the obnoxious chatter of high school students. I grip my lunch tray tighter and walk toward my usual table with my friends. “Tara, you’re finally here! Have you made plans for your birthday yet?” asks Kaitlyn. “Not yet, I’m working on it,” I reply. “You better be quick, it’s this Sunday. Plus, it’s your sweet 16!!!” Emma adds. I don’t even want to have a birthday party, but I probably will since my friends keep begging me to. “I can’t believe you share a birthday with that freak,” Kaitlyn says while eyeing Linda from across the room. Linda is one of the art kids. I watch her at another table tilting her head back with laughter, her short red hair bouncing up and down. I can’t help but feel a pang of envy. “Yeah me either,” I say. “Tara, you should really get your roots redone,” Emma says. My hair is bleached blonde, just like Emma’s. “I know, I was thinking about making an appointment,” I reply. “Are you guys coming to the football game on Friday?” asks Kaitlyn. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask, so I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t my parents won’t let me.” Which is a lie. I don’t like lying, but I already have plans that night that I don’t want to tell them about. “I can go, I’m free that night,” comments Emma. “I guess it’s just us then,” says Kaitlyn dissapointedly. When I get home from school, it feels like I can finally breathe again. I pull my hair out of its slick back braid that Kaitlyn, Emma, and I decided to wear today. My bright blonde hair falls loose onto my shoulders. I slip off my white sneakers and tread up my house’s spiral staircase to my bedroom. My parents are at work, and my little brother is still at school so I have the house to myself, but I won’t be in the house for long. Once I’m in my room I check the time, 3:28 PM, I’m running late. I quickly change out of my tight leggings and blue tank top, into denim cutoffs and an old yellow T-shirt. I grab my purple notebook and pencil and run down the stairs to the kitchen. I rustle through the cabinet and find 2 bags of potato chips on the top shelf. I get a text saying, “Where are u???” Instead of replying, I put on my sandals and slip out the back door. As I walk on the trail behind my house, I breathe in the fresh late Spring air. The dandelions are in full bloom, springing up all around the pathway I’m on. I’ve always loved Spring, a reminder that Summer is coming. The grass softly brushes my ankles while I stroll along the pathway to the woods. I feel a buzz coming from my front pocket and pull out my phone. I have a text reading, “Come on Tara hurry uppp!!!!!!!” I put my phone back into my pocket and pick up my speed. The pathway leads farther into the woods, but I turn right, off the trail instead, and walk through the rough bushes deeper into the forest. I know the way by heart and don’t need a trail to guide me. After a short walk, the forest opens up into a clearing. The afternoon sun shines down on me, warming up my skin. In the middle of the clearing, there is a glistening blue pond, reflecting the sun and the pine trees all around it. In the center of the pond, Linda is smiling up at me. Linda I wade towards the shore in my black one-piece, the pond’s gooey bottom feeling soft beneath my bare feet. I wave to Tara, who is smiling ear to ear. “Where’s your swimsuit?” I ask. “Shoot, I forgot! But I brought chips!” Tara replies while grinning. I wrap myself in my dry towel and walk over to her, my wet hair dripping onto my shoulders. I hold out my hand and she gives me a bag of chips. “Come on, let's go to the hut,” she says. We walk over to the hut that we built a year ago. It's small, but big enough for the 2 of us. Made of sticks and logs, the top has a tarp I brought from home so we could stay dry on rainy days. A few feet away is a firepit that we sometimes use. Inside the hut, there is a corner with stacked firewood and on either end of the shelter is a long stick holding up the triangle-shaped roof. We sit on the grassy floor and open our bags of chips. “I wrote a new poem, can I read it to you?” asks Tara. “Of course! Go ahead,” I say. Tara is always writing poems. “ These beautiful days, have passed by in a haze, making me feel brand new. The glorious walks, the late-night talks, ever since I met you.”
1 Year Ago Linda stumbled through the thick brush of the forest. She was running away. Away from everything, her home, her school, her life. She couldn’t go back. She wouldn’t! She was tired of everyone telling her what to do. How to wear her hair, how to dress, how to act. She kicked every annoying rock she passed on the forest’s trail while fuming with anger. In a moment's decision, she decided to ditch the trail and turn right off it instead. No trail would get to decide what she did with her life. She ambled through the thorns and bushes. The pain of the prickers felt good against her bare arms. She saw light ahead of her and moved faster, and suddenly felt her legs give out when she tripped on a tree root. She landed with a thump on soft, dry grass on her stomach. She lifted her head off the ground and looked in front of her. There was a shimmering pond, and a girl about her age sitting on the shore. The girl had bleached blonde hair and didn’t even look up from the notebook she was writing in. Linda started walking over to her, and she finally looked up but didn’t speak a word. She went over and plopped down on the shore next to Tara. They sat in silence for the rest of the evening but still enjoyed each other’s company. After that evening, they began to come to that spot every day and eventually became accustomed to each other. They talked about their life, their problems, and their worries. They built a second home by that clearing, which they called “the hut”. On cold winter afternoons, they would bring blankets and hot cocoa and sit by the fire. Sometimes they would skate on the pond when it froze over. In the warmer seasons, the two girls would swim in their favorite pond, tell campfire stories, and sleep under the stars. It felt so perfect. But once they were away from their secret Eden, everything changed. They were forced to pretend not to know each other by their peers and parents. This is part one of my 3 part story I hope you enjoy reading!!
