Jia Mancini was an adventurous child. She was a daredevil, a thrill seeker, an adrenaline junky.
It absolutely terrified her parents. She had been hurt more times than they could count, broken and fractured bones, pulled muscles, bruises galore.
(It was honestly a miracle they hadn't gotten CPS called on them.)
At the age of 11, she was always messing around at school, disregarding warnings from the teachers and other students.
Jia had decided she wanted to see just how high she could get on the swings when they went outside after lunch.
A few of her friends were cheering her on, others were begging her not to do it. But she did it anyway.
She starts the swing small, building her momentum as she gets higher and higher. The swing set itself actually starts to move slightly, bending in time with her swing.
Some of the kids called for her to stop the minute they saw it move, but she wasn't listening.
All Jia could feel was the air rushing her face, the feeling of flying surrounding her every thought.
As she looked around her, she decided it was time to test her abilities. Taking a deep breath, Jia prepares to take flight.
What she didn't see was the boy walking by just as she left the seat.
It all happened in a split second. The yells of "look out!" to the "oof"s after the crash. All Jia knew was that one second she was posed to land on the ground and the next she was landing on someone.
Standing up as quickly as possible, Jia puts her hand out towards the boy. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't see you."
He groaned, taking her hand to assist him up. "I wasn't paying attention either. Not totally your fault."
He was rubbing his ribs, having been kneed there during the impact.
"I'm Jia. What's your name?"
The boy looked at her. "I'm Reuben. Do you always jump off swings like that."
She shook her head. "No. I just felt like today was a good day to do it."
Reuben let out a laugh. "Can't argue that. Maybe next time, make sure your landing is clear."
Jia smiled at him. "Only if you make sure to stay out of the way."
They shook on it, making it seem like a business deal, even if they were only in middle school.
And from that day on, a friendship was forged. Always watching out for each other, keeping the other on their toes.
It was truly one for the books.
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Word count: 429
We have an adorable little meet cute from our babies when they were just babies themselves!! Jia has and always will be a thrill seeker so Reuben is going to have to be her calm.
We dive into the movie next chapter, so see you there. Bye guys!!
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