~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~5 Years Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sabrina!" My best friend, Christine, calls.
"Wha-at?" I shout back, seeing her bounce off the trampoline.
"Hot dogs!" That's all I need to hear. I jump off of the trampoline (fitting, right?) and bolt over to the grill. We're at Christi's house; having a cookout with our families. She and her family live in a large house with a huge backyard. Her backyard consists of a pool, a trampoline, and a swing set. I absolutely love her house.
I spot my friendship necklace on their deck table. It's settled next to Christi's with its yellow heart-shaped tourmaline with my initials, SJW, imprinted on it. Christi's friendship necklace is a star-shaped purple tourmaline. We found them on our beds with a card written from the other. Neither of us actually wrote the letters, but we keep it as a reminder that we were meant to be best friends.
Thinking of friends reminds me of family. My parents, Mackenzie and Xander, and my little brother, Jago, are also here. My dad has fiery red hair, freckles sprinkled across his face like sand, and forest green eyes. My mom has strawberry blonde hair and sky blue eyes.
I look a lot like our dad, where Jago resembles our mom. I have freckles, and long, wavy red hair. The only thing about me that is like my mom is my eyes. I have bright blue eyes, that Christi (and my entire family!) say are very large for my face.
Jago, on the other hand, has dirty blonde hair, with green eyes. Basically, we look like the parent of the opposite gender, except the eye colors are switched.
That brings me to Christi and me. We have been friends for, I don't know how long! We met through our dads actually. They crashed into each other while driving, which sounded very scary at the moment, but this time it definitely had its benefits.
I gaze down into the grill, longingly. The hot dogs are getting good grill marks and are bubbling. The smell wafts through the air, and I breathe it in. I catch Christi's eye and she raises an eyebrow. I shrug and call to her,
"You like them just as much as I do!" And it is true. She hops over and gazes down at them with me.
"Ahh! Da-ad! The hot dogs are getting burnt!" Christi wails.
"You're so weird," I tell her.
"Well just because you like having a burnt hot dog, doesn't mean I do," she retorts. That's true. I do like having a burnt hot dog. It gives it taste!
Christi's dad comes rushing over and quickly takes off all but my two of the hotdogs. Our families know each other so well, he knows about my weird preferences.
"Hot dogs, hot dogs, hot dogs!" Jago yells, noticing they're off the grill. He may be only eight, but boy is he fast! Jago likes to run a lot, and I like to swim.
After approximately two minutes, my hot dogs are nicely charred, so I take them off the grill.
"Hot, hot, hot, HOT!" I yell, sprinting to the table and dumping my precious pieces of meat on my plate.
"You know it might not be so hot if you use the tongs." Christi laughs.
"I did! But the metal was hot," I shrug. She rolls her eyes and goes back to munching on her hot dog. I dump a pile of ketchup on my plate and dig in. The rich flavors burst in my mouth.
I quickly polish off the rest of the hot dogs. I use up all my ketchup, so my plate only has a small ketchup smudge and some of the blackened stuff that fell off the meat. Then, I glance at the dessert table and something catches my eye.
"CUPCAKES!" I shout, nearly diving onto the table. I can't help myself. Their smooth, creamy frosting and soft, moist cake draw me to them like a magnet. Sadly though, they're the mini cupcakes, but they're still just as good!
Red velvet and chocolate are sitting innocently on the platter. I snatch three red velvets and five chocolates.
I can't help myself!
I take a deep whiff of the deliciousness and start to lick the frosting off of a chocolate one. I shift my gaze away from heaven on earth itself and spot Christi looking at me, eyebrows raised. I raise and lower one shoulder, and continue licking. I can practically hear Christi's eye roll.
When I took the mini cakes, I told myself that I would only eat one of each kind. However, somehow I ended up with one red velvet left, and no chocolate. Ah, well, if ya love food, how can you resist it?
I'm about to go back on the trampoline, but I decide not to after all of that food. I turn around on my heel, to find Christi biting into a chocolate cupcake.
"See, you like cupcakes just as much as I do!" I tell her triumphantly.
"Haha, very funny," she says humorlessly.
"How about we have a race, two laps around the yard, and whoever wins gets each flavor of cupcake," I tell her with a sudden strike of inspiration. She nods, and I smirk.
"Just remember, don't fall in the pool," she warns through a mouthful of cake. I shrug. This is going just as I wanted it to! She finishes up and we get ourselves ready for the race of our lives.
I reach for my necklace to convert it into a bracelet, but I notice it is in a slightly different spot than when I had put it down. Odd. I notify Christi, and we go attack Katy, her sister. Who else would touch such pretty necklaces? I'm worried, but quickly shrug it off. I've got a race to run and someone to beat. I bend my knees low and prepare myself. Then, I patiently wait for the signal.
"Go!" Christi's brother, Easton, shouts. I don't waste a beat. I push forward and feel my feet thrumming on the hard ground. Running isn't too bad, but I much prefer swimming. The grass rushes past me, and soon I'm finished with my first lap. I spot Christi just ahead of me. I note that the finish line is only yards away. I put in a burst of speed and manage to pull ahead. I could see her determination, but it was too late. I had already won.
"Yesss!" I shout joyfully, excited to taste all the flavors again.
"That's not fair, you already had every kind!" Christi whines. Just then my mom pops out.
"Actually, she hasn't," she tells us smiling, "we brought some as well!"
"Yesss!!" I shout again. I absolutely love trying different flavors, so this is just fantastic. My mom is amazing.
"What kinds?" Christi inquires. I eagerly await her response.
"Vanilla-chocolate swirl, and mint chocolate mix!" she says matter of factly. I'm practically bouncing around now. All of those amazing flavors! It's too good to be true!
"Pinch me, I must be dreaming!" I instruct Christi, but seeing her smirk I quickly fix my mistake, "umm, on second thought, don't." Her shoulders droop, so I try to think of something.
"Hey, Christi, our deal was the winner got to try all the flavors. But you can have every single kind, but one! That still means you don't get all of them!" I remind her. She perks up at that.
"Hey, you're right!" she exclaims, joy re-entering her voice. We saunter over to the table, where the cupcake plate is filled with an even larger variety. My mouth waters at the sight of the treats. I grab one mint and chocolate, one vanilla chocolate, one red velvet, and one chocolate. I bite into the scrumptious delicacy, and buttercream frosting explodes in my mouth.
Christi is just finishing her last cupcake, the red velvet. She has chosen to have all of the cupcakes, but the chocolate one.
My mind drifts off to a fantasy place. I love thinking about the improbable.
"Hey, Sabrina," Christi says, breaking my thoughts, "how about we go to the beach and try to find some cool shells?"
I smile, answering, "You know it!"
After consulting my parents to agree with the concept, we head to the beach. I can almost feel the sand and smell the salty ocean breeze. Then, we're there; the sun gleams across the clear blue water.
"C'mon Christi, let's swim!" I exclaim happily, racing Christi to the waterfront. I dive for the water, Christi just feet behind me.
"Remember Sabrina, we can't go out too far." I roll my eyes at Christi's response, still splashing with joy.
"Whatever," I answer, beckoning Christi to swim. She sighs.
I stroke my way to a deeper part of the ocean. Christi looks worried but I ignore her protests as I go further into the sea. After a while, I'm about to swim over to Christi so we can go home, but a tug on my foot stops me. I yank my leg from whatever it is, but it's not giving up. It won't let go.
"Christi, I—" I try to say. I don't get out much. Fear swirls in my mind as I'm dragged underwater. My vision is blurry when I try to swim up to the surface. Every attempt to surface results in a drag down further into the deep ocean.
Then, it's no use.
I'm gone.