HIDEOUT
Spring 2019 |
| Today was the day! I would finally be able to go out of my house. I had been cramped in here for weeks on end, and it was getting dreadful. I slipped on my black Detroit 94 hoodie and put my iPad in my backpack. It wasn't even snowing! Which, I was surprised by, considering that I lived in Missouri. It was actually rather hot today, a lot hotter than usual. Which means it was a perfect day to go out to the hideout. My blue-green eyes glanced past the room before I shouted, "Mom! I'm going now!"My mom replied almost immediately, "Okay, you know when to be back.""One o'clock," I chimed, opening the door before blinking for a few seconds. The wind had picked up more than yesterday, maybe 25-30 miles an hour? My eyes almost instantly lost moisture. "Well, this is annoying…," I muttered, wanting to retract my previous 'perfect' statement. I took a step out onto the landing and closed the door behind me. I stepped off of the concrete and right into a mud pile from the last time it had rained.I hadn't even been gone for a minute and I was already done with the outdoors. The mud splashed on to my black sweatpants, making me sigh. I continued on, the wind blowing the muddy water off of my pants, yet it left a big area of a lighter shade on the hems, which of course, irritated me. The dirt hadn't dried up yet, it was hotter than 80 degrees. The dead leaves crunched under my white shoes as I stepped across my yard to the woods next to the field. This was almost making me smile, one of the very few things I enjoyed about the outdoors were the trees, and the actual plants themselves. The winds made the trees rustle in annoyance. My iPad dinged in my bag, I stopped for a moment to unzip my backpack and take it out. A message from my friend Felix said, "When are you getting here? We're all waiting for you!" Laughing gently, I typed in a reply faster than I could think and then sent it. "Sorry, mud sucks man!" I put my iPad in my big pockets, slung my backpack on, and started walking again."The last rain didn't even last long! How could it have made this much mud?!" I scoffed, looking at my now dirt-covered shoes. I passed the street, and walked through the dense trees, past all of the bristles, and away from the last apple tree that was placed on my property. This area was covered in pieces of concrete from trashed buildings. Since the trees still had leaves, the area wasn't that terribly filled with water. Even if it was almost half-way through fall. My eyes squinted as I felt another gust of wind blow in my face, the shadows of the trees not doing much to cool the ground, or myself. The wind was dry, and blew the hot air into my face."I should've worn a baseball hat today," I fumed at myself, blinking again. The familiar broken concrete was strewn across the forest ground. The pieces of the concrete heaved up and down as I jumped across them, a minigame just to enjoy myself, not to mention, to avoid the disgusting dirt. My eyes stung, I couldn't tell if it was from the wind, or something else.Soon enough, after a few minutes of jumping, as well as bearing the agonizing summer air, I stopped jumping. I looked around again, and around 20 or so yards to the right was the hideout. I took a sharp right turn and climbed above the small, around 5-foot-tall, hill and peeked over. Just as I expected, my friends were already there, talking to themselves.Almost laughing, my lips turned up into an evil smile, maybe I could scare them?I slowly crept over the hill area, part of the dirt from the edge crumbled and fell off the side. Four of them sat together on a few larger pieces of concrete, Irene sat on the right, Felix sat on the far left, and Emilia sat in the middle spot. Chris, or Chan, sat in the dirt. A tuft of golden orange hair turned a bit in my direction, Felix no! He's so close to catching me in my act of dastardly enjoyment."Eh?" he whispered, before looking directly up at me. His eyes widened the smallest bit, and his lips parted as well. In an automatic reaction, a sheepish look appeared on my face, putting my finger up to my lips in an attempt to make sure he wouldn't say anything about me being there. A malicious grin grew on Felix's face as well, he knew what I was going to do. In order to make sure they would get scared, he looked away and began talking to Irene and Emilia again. His white t-shirt was filthy, indicating he must have walked through a lot of mud on his way to our hideout.I got up, crouching before jumping down and yelling, "Boo!"Irene, who was usually a quiet girl, screamed louder than she had ever talked.Emilia's head snapped in my direction, a small "Ah" coming from her.Chan screamed more like a girl than the others.Felix, even though he knew this was going to happen, shrieked in a manlier tone than I expected for someone as dorky as him. I almost started instantaneously laughing, if not for the sudden hit to the shoulder I got. Irene, the innocent, kind, fluff ball, just hit me. Wow, I felt honored."I didn't know you could be so cruel, Irene!" I whined, holding my shoulder in a dramatic way. Irene laughed loudly, her eyes filled with temporary despise. After a momentary silence, Chan spoke up for the first time since I arrived there."So, why exactly did you call this meeting thing?" Chan inquired, sounding hyper, as usual, moving his hand to push his abnormally long bangs behind his ears. He looked at Irene expectedly for an answer."I'd like to know why, too," Emilia's soft voice piped up from the side."It's really difficult to say this," Irene said, looking at her hands. This made me question the once happy look on her face. Her blue camisole ruffled as she rubbed her thumbs together."What's wrong?" I queried, my brows furrowing in confusion before sitting down next to Chan.Irene inhaled deeply before beginning her explanation, "I-I'm having problems with my family right now, my grades are dropping again, I can't understand the curriculum, and they're getting mad at me for it. I have a D- in math and a C in literature, I can't bring them up. I don't know what to do!"Emelia looked over at her and hugged her gently. "It'll be okay, we're here for you. We all have our strong suits, and we all have our negatives," Emilia consoled her, her brown eyes watching her carefully. She tried her best to cheer her up whenever she was sad, they were the closest. "Chris and I can help you with math, and Maddie and Felix can help you with literature!"Irene, by now, had tears falling from her eyes. She sniffed softly, Emelia's loose arms hanging around her neck. Chan let out a gentle sigh, we were gonna be here for a while until she finally understood the work. Irene had been in extra online classes, to make her regular school classes easier for her to get through. She was kind of sensitive whenever it came to people helping her."Of course we will! We're friends, that's what we do!” Chan exclaimed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I laughed and nodded."We'll help you…. As long as we get some of the cookies you make," I bargained jokingly, my eyebrows wiggling. I was trying to brighten the atmosphere; it was getting unusually tense with us."Thank you guys so much," Irene whispered, her words close to inaudible. Her voice cracked as she spoke almost silently. She looked up and smiled gratefully."That's what friends are for, you little dork," I laughed out, hugging her tightly, the rest of our friends jumping in on the hug. Guess we really are best friends. |
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