Chapter 3

269 17 3
                                    

Madden's POV
9 years old

  I had a tight grip on the rope that was attached to the tree, and when I looked down, I felt my stomach drop at the distance from me to the ground.

   "Come on, you chicken! You can do it!" Baker yelled from below me.

   "Just hold on and let go as soon as you get over the water!" RJ added on.

   "He's going to kill both of you." That was Edge, and I knew who he was talking about. But Harry wasn't here.

   When we came out to play today Harry's mom said he couldn't come until he decided to do what she asked of him. They had been arguing a lot more ever since we were getting older.

   So just the four of us came out to play, and the boys found an old rope swing that was tied to a tree and that you could swing out over the marsh and fall into it. The only problem was, there was ground on both sides of the marsh and if you didn't time your drop perfectly, you weren't going to hit the water.

   "I didn't see either of you assholes up here, now did I?" I yell back at RJ and Baker, who have been giving me hell for the last ten minutes that I've been up here trying to get the courage to jump.

   None of us had ever made this jump before, and I lost to rock, paper, scissors and had to go first and make sure the rope didn't snap. Edge said no, but the other two were right on board with sending me up first. They loved to give me a hard time.

   "You lost the game, you know the rules Madden! Unless you're too much of a girl!" Baker yelled.

   "I'm not a girl!" I yelled back, hating it when they called me that.

   "Sure look like one to me!" RJ said, and I could hear them laughing at my expense.

   Edge was silent, just watching from below and knowing this wasn't going to be good. But I was never one to back down from anything, and I knew if I didn't do this jump, I'd never hear the end of it from the guys.

   "Okay," I told myself. "You can do this. It's just a rope and water, you swim all the time. Easy."

   "Tick, tock, Madeline!"

   "When I get down from here Baker, I'm gonna give kick you right in your small penis!"

   "Hey!" Baker screamed as Edge and RJ fell into a fit of giggles. "It is not small!"

   "That's not what Giana Wilson said when she said you showed it to her on the school bus!" I'm totally making that up just to get under his skin.

   "WHAT!" He yells and I swear I can see his face reddening from here in anger. "I didn't show her my dick!"

   "Good, nothing to show. Now shut up!"

   I finally decide I'm doing this, and just need to toughen up. I grab the rope between my eyes, let out a breath and step forward.

   "What are you doing up there?!" I hear his voice yell suddenly.

  Harry.

  "She's going to jump off the rope into the water, duh." Baker tells him.

   "Have you all done it yet?"

  "No, she lost the game we played to see who would go first."

   "Are you fucking serious?" Harry asked, the menace in his voice clear to me even from up here. "Get down." He said looking at me.

   "I can do this!"

   "I don't want you to, it's not safe! Get down, now."

   The way he was telling me what to do pissed me off. "You ain't my daddy!"

The Time Capsule (Harry Styles Fanfic) Where stories live. Discover now