✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

37. Go Out and Play

When they got downstairs, Ffrances offered two laughing girls their shoes so they could play in the garden. Gabby got regular canvas shoes, while Tess had to put up with weird translucent plastic things that felt like they would slip off if she was too active. She shrugged; even if she was still thirteen, she was supposed to be dressing like a little kid. She hadn't paid attention to her shoes in the photograph, but Ffrances had probably picked something that looked the same.

It wasn't a big deal, and they turned out to be comfortable enough. Ffrances wanted them to pose for the camera first, so she could make a new copy of that photograph that they would all be laughing at later. In fact, Tess and Gabby already couldn't stop giggling at every little thing, but any photos Ffrances took would allow them to keep a reminder of how much fun they'd had.

It wasn't as easy as they had expected. Ffrances told them to move, and to change their positions, but it just didn't look right. They were trying to recreate a photo of them chasing each other, and just standing there didn't look the same. Even when they stretched out and tried to imagine they were running, it wasn't the same. Ffrances tried telling them to imagine that they were sisters who were always competing, and although that was funny, it didn't help to make the scene look real. It just made it easier to keep on laughing, until both of the girls were feeling out of breath.

"How about you chase each other around, and I'll try to get a picture?" That worked a little better, but they both kept stopping to look at the camera, wanting to know when she was taking the picture. So after a few more minutes, Ffrances had another idea. She put a hand on Tess's shoulder to stop her, and whispered a question while Gabby was still catching her breath. All she needed was a little nod, and then Ffrances was giving instructions again.

"Okay, girls! You're both eleven now, and when you start chasing each other you get so into it that you really want to win, and you don't notice what else is going on around you."

Tess blushed as she imagined herself being a little smaller. She knew that anyone who saw her would think she was a little kid now, too small to even pretend to be a big girl. When she looked down at herself she saw that she could just have been a toddler, legs like twigs with no curves at all. She'd been expecting Ffrances to just say they were a few months younger, but she didn't mind too much. It was only a small difference, still, and she could tell herself it wasn't real if she started caring at all. She couldn't tell if Gabby had changed, but she was sure it had happened. There was nothing funnier right now than Gabby's desperate attempts to pretend she was a big girl, not even realising that she was getting smaller too.

"My turn!" Tess yelled, and ran straight towards her cousin. Gabby yelped, and turned around too slowly. Tess tackled her and almost knocked her down, which was hilarious to just about everybody except Gabby.

"No fair," she pouted. "You didn't warn me. And it's not your turn anyway, I'm chasing you now. I'll show you, I'm going to be the big one and I already got longer legs, so..."

Tess was already running away, looping around a flower bed in the middle of the lawn so that Gabby would have to decide if it was easier to run after her or go the other way. This time the race lasted a little longer, and Tess was determined that she was going to get away. She managed to dodge Gabby's attempts at pursuit for so long, and laughed a little each time she came within an inch of being able to grab the back of the weird green dress. She'd never imagined that just running in circles could be so much fun.

Gabby caught Tess, who pouted and said she was cheating. Then she was running again while Tess chased after her. Ffrances said that she'd got some pictures, and she thought they were good. But the two girls just wanted to keep on playing, never ready to admit that they had lost. Whoever got caught, they were determined that they would be able to catch the other faster.

Tess ended up lying in the flower bed, cruising some plants that were probably dead anyway. Cleaning her clothes after this was going to be a big job, but she didn't need to worry about that now. And her arms were wrapped around Gabby's leg, so she knew she had won this time and nobody could argue.

"Maybe you won this time," Gabby smirked. "But that's only because... because you cheated. When you're the little one you won't be able to get away with your little legs."

Tess just laughed. Even when she was eleven, she still remembered the rules; and she knew she would be the older one whatever Gabby tried. She thought about saying no; she should have done, because she had only agreed to this when she thought she would be able to stay the age Gabby had been in that old photo. Like the babysitter she remembered. But right now, she was having too much fun to bring it to an end. And another year surely wouldn't make all that much difference to her. It would be worth it just to see Gabby's face when she noticed she was tricking herself.

"Let's make it interesting," Gabby was saying something that might have been teasing, but Tess wasn't even paying attention. She just dismissed it all as more of the same boasting. Gabby just couldn't accept how small she was, and that made it even funnier.

"Tess, you're nine now," she said, and Tess knew those were the words she had to pay attention to. "And you're really ticklish like a little kid, you can't stop me tickling you once I catch you. Okay?" Tess nodded slowly as she heard the instruction, and waited until she was sure Gabby had finished before she stopped giving her full attention. Gabby had counted on that, and was already reaching out to grab the edge of the ugly green dress.

Tess just about ran away in time, and leapt over the flower bed to the other side. Gabby was already chasing, but she wasn't quite so fast to turn around. And this time Tess had a real reason to dodge, because she wasn't looking forward to being tickled. They circled the garden three or four times, but Tess was always ready to leap aside and start running in a different direction before her cousin could tag her.

It couldn't last forever. Tess skidded on the grass, struggling not to crash head first into Ffrances, who was standing there trying to follow the girls with her camera. That delay was all Gabby needed to catch the back of her dress, and pull her down to the ground. Tess tried to fend her off, but her arms weren't long enough, and there were too many parts she needed to defend. Gabby was tickling her sides, and Tess was laughing more and more now, until it was getting hard to breathe.

It was the most fun she'd had in a very long time.