Ellie Dixon

Catching Frogs

Dad left yesterday, he promised to come back. He tried to find out what it was like with mum when he wasn't there, but I wouldn't tell him. But, he said as soon as he came back that I can stay with him all the time.

The next day, a couple hours before dinner, me and Sophia were sitting in a tree, just talking. Well, we were until Jacob came over and stood under the tree. "You girls wanna go swimming?"

"Where?" I asked.

"The quarry, obviously." Jacob pointed out.

"It'll be freezing." Sophia stated. "Besides, we don't even know if Ellie can swim."

"I can swim. I was the fastest swimmer in my school. Me and my friend would go swimming everyday after school. After she died, I swam alone." I said, sadness taking over my tone.

"I'll be your friend." Sophia smiled at me; I smiled back.

"So, you coming or not?" Jacob called up.

"Are we allowed?" I raised my eyebrows.

He groaned. "Girls are wimps anyways."

"No, we're not." I jumped out of the tree, Sophia carefully climbing down next to me.

"Yes, you are. Otherwise, you'd be coming swimming." Jacob crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine, I'll come swimming. Sophia?" I turned to her.

"If you're going, then I am too." Sophia nodded.

"Good. Hey, Carl!" Jacob called to Carl who was passing with Shane. "You wanna come swimming?"

"Sorry, I gotta catch frogs." Carl replied with a smile.

Me, Sophia and Jacob watched as he walked away with Shane. "What about Eliza and Louis?" I asked.

"They're with their mum, doing their work now cause they went on a walk earlier." Jacob informed us. "Let's go get changed and meet back here in ten." Jacob then turned and walked away.

"We aren't wimps." I said to Sophia.

"I know that, and he knows that. He just gets upset when he doesn't get his way. That's cause my dad always lets Jacob have his way." Sophia told me.

"I'm sorry." I gave her an apologetic look.

She sighed. "It's all right. Jacob may be my dad's favourite. But, my mum loves us equally."

"Carol seems nice." I acknowledged as we started walking over to the tents.

"She is. I'm sure your dad is too." Sophia said.

"When he's not arguing with my mum he is. And they argue a lot."

Me, Sophia and Jacob changed into our swimming costumes before running down to the quarry with some of the women as they were going to do laundry. Amy, Andrea, Carol and Jacqui that is, my mum was nowhere to be seen when it came to helping out. We put our towels and shoes with Carol who tied mine and Sophia's hair up before we went into the water. We went into the cold water and started to swim when we went out of our depth. We started to tread water about twenty feet from where saw Shane and Carl catching frogs or something. "I thought Rick was Carl's dad." Sophia commented.

"He is, but Shane and Lori were doing it while they thought Rick was dead. I accidentally saw them in the forest a couple days ago." Jacob told us.

"Ew, Jacob! This is why mum says you shouldn't be so nosey." Sophia pointed out.

"What does "doing it" mean?" I asked. Sophia covered her mouth while Jacob laughed. "What?"

"Don't worry, Ellie. You're too young to know." Sophia smiled at me.