Dreamtopia - THE FIRST CHAPTER

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        3:30 pm, the clouds were rolling in and it was getting darker by the minute. School had just closed and kids were heading home, some in pairs, others in groups, some with their parents, lots with their friends . I and Ned were heading home together as always . Ned and I stopped at the bike rack in front of the school yard and I picked mine out of the clutter of other bikes there. It was a black bike  with really cool flame streak stickers on the frame, had a shiny silver bell and it had my initial imprinted on the seat . 

       Ned and I set off . I held onto one of my bike's handlebars and pulled it along while we both walked over to Ned's house , whichwas only a block away from the school while mine was four blocks from his. 

        “Soo will you be coming over to help me with the maths homework” I asked. “Yeah, I will get there as soon as I can and also before a storm hits. I can't believe Sir. Cecil gave us this much homework just as punishment for what you did” Ned snickered and I huffed . “Well I'm off then”, I said and got on my bike. “Happy birthday in advance”Ned shouted as I rode off. “Thanks” I shouted back.

          ★★★★★_-_-_-_★★★★★

      “Hey, Jace ...”I heard someone yell from behind me. I stopped pedalling my bike and turned my head round.

         The deep, low sounding voice came from Brian. “Hey Jace, wait up.” Brian was just 14 years old but his voice was soo deep you would mistake him for someone in his late teens.
         Brian and the other two, Fred and Chuck, were riding towards me. So, I turned my bike and rode over to them.

         When I reached where they were we parked our bikes and did our secret handshake. Fred came up with it and they'd been doing it every time they met. We formed a circle,kinda ,with a person on each side. It wasn't quick so we usually had our conversation while doing it. “Hey Brian, why something wrong”, I asked. First each of us gave the person adjacent to us a fist bump.

          “Nope, we just wanted to wish you a happy birthday in advance”, Brian replied. Secondly, we each crossed our arms and opened the knuckles of our fists and interlocked them with the one adjacent to us.

          “Okay then”, I was wondering how they found out. Next we released our knuckles and slapped fives with the one opposite to us and held on. After they were done wishing me , I was  just about to ask how they knew about it while we made the same gestures with the other hand.

            There was one last move we had to make to complete it. It was a head butt , which we decided not to do since we were still on our bikes.

        After all that ,Chuck beat me to it and finally let the cat out of the bag. He told me that they overheard Ned and I talking about it in the cafeteria at lunchtime. “Oh, yeah, right...” I'd forgotten.

            Chuck continued,“ Yeah and we also wanted to remind you that we're going to the Tech-ville woods tomorrow very early at six. We were wondering if you'd like to come or not”.

             And apparently I also forgot about that too. On the outskirts of our town Tech-ville there's a forest, known as the Tech-ville woods. The forest has a large lake in the middle of it. There have been a lot of rumours about strange things going on in those woods. A wire fence was put up around the forest to keep people from going in.

            Chuck, Brian and Fred liked going to the Tech-ville woods. They'd dare each other or dare others to see who'd stay the longest despite the rumours about the place. They usually went at night but got caught once by the forest ranger, Bill F. Kings. He was appointed to keep guard about a year ago, due to all the rumours and to keep hooligans like Brian and the guys at bay. But that still didn't stop them. Now they go very early in the morning before Bill even gets there.
  
             “Well, okay”, I answered. “Cool we'll meet at the fence gate around 6:00” Brian said. Later we said our goodbyes and they rode off.