Chain Reaction 4.2: Aspen

 

 

 

Brylee Taylor

      I find my friend Aspen at one of our typical meeting spots. She and her family moved here a little over a year ago, when we both started middle school, and we quickly became friends.

     "Hey, you," she says to me after I say hey. "What's wrong?"

     How does she always know? "Nothing."

      "Bull plum, Bry. Was it Scott again?"

     I pout. "Maybe."

     She sighs. "I don't know why you let him even talk to you."

     Scott Johnson is a jerk. He's that kind of jock who thinks he's the Maker's gift to all womenkind. If there's a sports team at our school, he's the captain. He caught me playing, or rather trying to play, basketball one afternoon and has been on my case ever since. He thinks I should play for the girls' team... after he 'teaches' me to play. He's a year ahead of us, in eighth grade, and honestly, he kind of scares me. He's always touching me any chance he gets, and it creeps. me. out. even though it'll only be like on my shoulder or something.

     Aspen continues, "You should tell a teacher."

     "And say what? Scott is touching my back?" It's the vibe I get from him that sets my teeth on edge. "They wouldn't understand."

     "So tell him!" She means tell Scott.

     There's no point arguing this. He'd get upset and say it's nothing and that I'm being stupid. But maybe that might make him leave me alone... "Okay." Honestly, Scott practically has a fan club of giggling girls at school. He probably just sees me as a charity case. Sure, he's a jerk, but what if he's actually trying to help me? I'll just tell him I don't want to play basketball, and he'll leave me alone.

     "And if that doesn't work, run away and find me. I'll mess him up for you." She grins.

     My eyebrows come together. "Huh? How would you be able to?"

     "All boys have their weak spots."

     I remember back to when I first met Aspen. She'd told me she used to get into a lot of fights at her old school because she was bullied. She says it's one of the reasons she and her mom moved here.

     I give a little smile. "Well, it couldn't hurt."

     She giggles. "Yes, it could. For him." Now we both giggle and decide to play in the sand.

 

      I'm so glad she moved here.

     "I'd better get home," I tell her once we've finished our sand castle.

     Her face falls. "Okay, but do you have to? Mom is working late again." She looks sideways with a kind of glare. She doesn't like her mom, blaming her for her dad walking out on them. I don't know what her mom does for a living, but it's something that makes her often work late.

     "Well, I don't have the freedom you do." I remember when she was happy that her mom was no longer going to hire a sitter to keep an eye on Aspen, saying twelve is old enough to take care of yourself. My parents would never agree to that. Truth be told, Elle would probably burn the house down and John would break something in the house before she could.

     She suddenly smiles like she got an idea. "I know! Let's go to the lighthouse before you have to go home."

     "That's a bit far. Will we have enough time to do stuff before I really do have to go home?" My curfew is at nine.

     "Sure we will! It's only four now! Let's go." She grabs my hand, and we make our way over to the ferry.

     As we ride the ferry, she starts acting like she's a pirate at sea and we're heading into port to raze the place to the ground. I love it when she gets like this. It's like she's still a kid. I happily play along. Once we get ashore, we run around giggling and pretending to fight trees to the death. We win, of course. Then, she surprises me when she buys us tickets into the lighthouse. I'd never actually been up it before.

      "Now we've truly conquered the island! Henceforth, it shall be called Brylee-Land!"

 

     My giggles have made me start hiccuping. Right now, everything is funny!

     She smiles as she watches me laugh, and eventually, I calm down.

 

      "Normally, I'd be too scared to be up this high, but I'm okay," she admits.

      "Yeah, this lighthouse has been here for ages." I look behind her. "But we should be getting back."

      She checks the time on her phone. "It's only six!" The sun has been setting earlier and earlier. "Let's watch the stars come out. Then we'll go back down."

      I sigh. "Okay."

     "The air is so much cleaner here than in Bridgeport," she tells me. "I love it here."

     "Did it smell bad?"

     "Eh, you stop noticing after a while, but when I got here, the whole place smelled like a rose garden. So I guess that means I got used to the bad smells before."

     "Aspen?"

     "Yeah?"

     "We should head back down."

     She sighs. "Okay."

     However, when we get to the bottom, she convinces me to take a walk in the woods. It turns into a long walk, and we get cold. We spin into our outerwear.

     "I knew it!" she exclaims.

     I'm scared. "Where are we? I want to go home."

     "I was messing around on SimEarth a few weeks ago and saw this. I just knew it had to be around here somewhere!" She eagerly dashes into what looks like a graveyard.

     "I don't like this. Aspen, come back!" I decide being out here alone is worse, so I follow her in.

 

     "It's a graveyard," she says.

     "It's a pet cemetery," I correct her. After all, the tombstones all have little paws on them.

     "Ooooo remember that old movie?" She whispers now, "The ground... is sour!"

     "Don't you even!" I still can't believe she made me sit through that once.

     She laughs. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

     "Ugh!" I have a seat on the old bench. She plops down next to me.

     "You're my best friend," she says out of the blue.

     I smile. "Duh."

     She giggles. "Well, I just realized I never said that before."

     I look over at her. "Well, best friend, have you had enough exploring? Because I seriously need to get home."

     She sighs dramatically. "Okay. Fine. Let's go."

     We've been walking for a minute when she stops. Then she takes a few steps and stops again. "Uuummm." She turns right and walks a few steps.

     "What is it?"

     "Nothing. It's fine."

     My heart beats quickly. "Are we lost?"

     "No. I just lost the trail. I think we left the cemetery from a different exit. Hmmm."

    "That means we're lost." Mom and Dad are going to kill me. 

    "No, not necessarily." She looks straight up, and she must find what she's looking for because she turns with confidence. "There's no trail, but this way is south because the opposite is north. If we just keep going in this direction-"

     "We'll fall off a cliff," I finish.

     "No, not if we don't go too fast."

     "But I'm late!"

     "It'll be okay, Bry. I'm sorry. Blame me."

     I pout. "That won't help. I'll still be grounded."

     "Grounded isn't so bad. Better than-- Hey! Here's the trail!"

 

      I turn to her. "Can we hurry now?"

      "Yes." We run down the trail and make it to the ferry just as it was getting ready to cast off. Now that I have a signal on my phone, I text my mom to let her know I'm on my way. All I get in response is "k." Yikes.

      Even with all our hurrying, we don't make it to my house until ten.

      "I'll see you at school on Monday since I'll probably be grounded forever," I tell her and hug her.

     She hugs me back. "Don't be upset with your mom. She's a good mom."

     What a strange thing to say. "I'll keep that in mind."

     I wave and walk into the house at the same pace someone might use as he or she approaches the guillotine.