It's In the Dark

Chapter 1: Red Light, Green Light: Riley

Green light.... red light! I spun around so fast that my neck almost rolled off my shoulders. I surveyed the field, everyone frozen in place, not even their chests were moving, "hmm, are they even breathing?" I was looking for anything to send someone back to the starting line. Come on. Even a bead of sweat rolling too fast would do it. I sighed and spun back around only to be stopped in my tracks. Was that movement? "Brandon! I saw that!" in that instant he let out an exasperated sigh... "Ugh Riley, you're way too good at this game! Can someone else be "It"?" he asked as he walked back to the starting point. Me and my four best friends had gathered in the field near our houses and decided to play red light, Green Light. I'm not sure when this became a common occurrence for us, or why this is our main game of choice, but it feels like we've been coming here to do this for as long as I can remember. We were all rather good at it I guess, but naturally, I'm the best, if I do say so myself. Yup, at being "it" AND being "not it". When being the traffic cop I've never been touched, not even once. A fact that my friends never fail to remind me of every time I volunteer to be "it". According to my friend Courtney, my reflexes and visual perception are just too good... no, those weren't her exact words, but I figured I could make them as flowery as I want in my own mind. We had been playing this current game for about 20 minutes. I had volunteered to be it, and no one had come close to even touching my shadow. I was about to turn around and resume my calls when I heard a voice saying:

"Ok, that's enough, we need to switch." The voice was that of my best friend Victoria. "you're too good, and this is taking way too long, by default, you're no longer it.

"What? Default? what kind of-" I asked before being cut off by our friend Josh.

"Agreed, let's pick someone else to be it, Riley can be a driver... or a car... or whatever."

"Aww, but I almost had her," Brandon cried, approaching from a few feet away."

"Yeah, good luck from all the way at the back," laughed Josh. "Who are you, Mister Fantastic?"

"Who?" Courtney asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"... Never mind," replied Josh.

"It's not my fault you guys' suck," I responded sticking out my chest in pride and placing my hands on my hips, "you guys are just mad because you're losing to a girl.

"Well, I AM a girl, and I just hate to be losing at all," retorted Victoria.

"Ok fine, let's switch, but I'm still gonna win," a smug grin appeared on my face.

"Not this time, game on," Brandon said as we began walking back to the start line.

"But we haven't even picked who's "it" you guys!" called out Victoria.

"Oh right." We responded in unison, followed by scattered laughs.

Victoria is kind of the leader of our group, or like the mom. We were all 14, but she felt like she was 30. She's really bossy, and in most cases, she had the last say. Weirdly enough, none of us minded much, considering that her "say" pretty much ended up being what we all wanted to do in the first place. She's tall and has a figure almost like an adult, at least compared to mine. I look like a borderline elementary schooler, both in height and width. Two years ago, Victoria had come to my rescue when I was about to fight with this group of girls who thought they could bully me out of my seat; well not so much came to my rescue but more so, stuck her nose where it didn't really need to be. Despite my small stature, I was scrappy, and wasn't gonna take any B.S. from anybody. Regardless of how it may have looked, I had the situation well in hand, but anyway, Victoria helped me out and we've been close ever since. Courtney and I became friends by default. She was already friends with Victoria, so it was kind of like a "can't have one without the other type of deal", not that I'm complaining. I had no friends to begin with, so the more the merrier, I guess. Courtney is probably the nicest person that I know. She's shorter than me, but a little bit thicker. Her presence easily fades into the background. She's the type to take anything anyone says as absolute fact. I could be late to class one day and tell her it's because I just jogged from Paris, and she'd tell me that that's amazing. I don't want to say that she's dumb exactly. but that naivety can't be a good thing. I worry for her parents. I guess Victoria does too, maybe that's why she took her under her wing? Victoria was pretty enough to be popular if she wanted to, yet she was still friends with an airhead and little ol me. Maybe she has like, a hero complex or something.