Chapter 1: Memories

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Life had been tough on me. It's been unforgiving. Lady luck had rolled her dice, and I had gotten a 1- just about as low as possible. But maybe, with her in my life, that one had hopes to become something as high as a seven. Maybe my luck is taking a turn for the better. Then again, maybe it hasn't.

It was a warm summer day, just like every other. It was becoming autumn though, so the warm tropical breezes had cooled down into chillier winds. But, it was still vacation. It had come late that year, due to a change of school superintendants. As long as we had the three months off from school, we were happy.

We planned to gather what little munny we had, and take our final trip to the beach before we cracked down on summer homework. So we met at the Usual Spot, a hidden place where we could hang out. We brought our supplies for the beach- bathing suits, toys to have a sandcastle building contest, towels, and books (for Her only). But, we all forgot the sunscreen. We all went back to our houses to get some. We each had an excuse for why we came back empty handed. The Boys had run out; Her mom had brought it to her tanning salon; I had left the keys to my house inside, and couldn't get back in to get some until my parents came home from work. So, with some extra munny (courtesy of His father's wallet) we bought some. With all of our supplies set, we headed out, on the train that sped across the ocean to a small island covered in beach sand. Not many people were there- most kids our age had already stopped their summer fun for homework. So after a long day of watching seagulls, finding crabs, building sandcastles, eating sticky rice balls and sea salt ice cream, and watching the sunset with my best buds, we headed back. Earlier in the day, I had found a sand dollar on the beach, which was a rare find, so I went to sell it to the man who had sold us sunscreen. While arguing over the real value of a sand dollar "nowadays", a man ran up to me. This was when all hell broke loose.

I don't even remember their names. The tallest boy was skinny, but slightly muscular. He liked to wear camo greens and browns against black. He wore a leather friendship bracelet that I made for Him in the second grade, which seemed to grow with Him. He wore a star necklace, made by the Girl, and a light army vest from His father. He had spiky hair, dirty blonde in color, and I think He had brown eyes. He had been my first friend from the group, when I stopped a bully from punching Him in first grade. He owed me eternally for that- and He told me with a Darth Vader accent. I would never forget that.

The other boy was shorter, less muscular, and, well, bigger. He wore a tee shirt from His favorite band, Dog Street, almost every day, with simple blue jeans and His prized basketball shoes. He secretly had a horrible rash on His neck, so He covered it up with a purple bandana that He told everyone was "lucky". One day, the bully that had tried to punch my other friend had yanked off the bandana, revealing the rash. Me, being the good citizen that I am, yanked off his sleeve to reveal a horrible rash going up his arm- much bigger than and twice as red as my friend's. That put him off, and gave me another pal to hang with. His hair had always been on the longer side; in order to keep it long, His mother made Him wear an ugly headband, which He was never without. In fact, I used to believe He slept and bathed with it on, until we all went to the beach the first time. His face was framed with a wide grin and big brown eyes.

The girl was the only one whose butt I didn't have to save. She actually helped me. On a day that I had forgotten my lunch, She offered me half of Hers, and let me color a page in Her coloring book. She was always like a mother to the rest of us, but She was the youngest. Only about 4'9'' in height, She wore a floral orange shirt with khakis and long orange socks. Around Her arm and neck was the set that my friends and I had gotten Her for Her eleventh birthday- a pearl necklace and bracelet pair. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green, and long brown hair always surrounded Her face.

None of the kids here are as memorable as they are to me, even though it's been a few years. My school wears uniform, so I don't know what their styles are. I don't know what their personalities are like either- I haven't tried to make friends with any of them, and they haven't exactly been pushing each other to sit next to me at lunch, or in class. I'm pretty much a nobody here. Fine by me... as long as no one asks where I came from, why I moved here, or what my parents do for a living.

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