Where They Go

Chapter Four: Down The Hill

The two girls had decided on going to the local park while their parents were at work and Zoey's brother was spending the day at his friend's house.

Erin had ridden her bike to the park while Zoey had ridden her skateboard.
They rode around the park, talking about a range of different things.

Every few minutes, Erin glanced to her right to look at Zoey, who was riding her board down the paved road.
To Erin, she looked really cool.

As their ride in the park went on, Zoey did the same thing.
What caught her eye was a small, green backpack that had been decorated with all sorts of buttons and patches, which had designs that she couldn't make out.

They continued their conversation as they soon sat at the bottom of a steep hill.
"Do you want to go up it?" Zoey asked.
"Yep."

Neither of them had the strength to ride up the hill, so they walked up.

Erin looked down the hill, seeing that the drop was very steep, a lot steeper than she had first thought.

The steep hill slightly frightened Erin and excited Zoey.
Zoey nudged Erin's shoulder and asked,
"You okay? You sort of... zoned out."

Erin looked Zoey in the eye, snapping out of her thoughts.
"I'm okay."
She took a deep breath and got on her bike, shaking off her worries.
"Do you wanna race?" Zoey asked, smiling excitedly. Erin nodded her head.

Both of them pushed off down the hill.
Zoey started off ahead of Erin.
Erin pedaled faster in an attempt to catch up to her. Her attempt worked.
She was now ahead of Zoey.

They were roughly halfway down the hill, when Zoey started to pick up a good amount of speed.
She kept going down the hill, getting faster and faster until-

Thud!

A small gray pebble had gotten caught on one of the skateboard's wheels, which caused Zoey to go tumbling down the hill.

Erin hastily pedaled to the bottom of the hill, hopped off her bike, and knelt down beside Zoey, who was holding her left leg.

Her leg had a bright red, bloody cut on the knee, along with some other pinkish-red scratches surrounding it.

"Oh my God. Are you okay?" Erin asked, pulling out the mini first-aid kit that was kept in her backpack.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Zoey said, wincing slightly. "You brought Band-Aids?"
"Mhm. You never know when you might need one."

Erin stuck the bandage over the cut.
"Thanks." Zoey sighed, then cleared her throat. "I guess that means that I won." She said jokingly.
"What?"
"I got to the bottom before you did, so I guess that means I won."

Erin cracked a smile.
"But you fell to the bottom, Zoey." She said, laughing.

Erin walked Zoey home later that day and exchanged phone numbers with her.

She had successfully made a friend.