Against the Stars

Chapter 48

Ginny didn't the couple of days running. She ran back and her house and Lottie' s, trying to get Lottie. Finally though, Mother allowed her to have a break.

As soon as Mother said she was free, funny dashed off to the general store. Mother tried to stop her, but it was no use; she was already gone.

Summer had finally arrived in Williamsburg and everything was hot and humid. Ginny had to keep her hair tightly braided to keep it from going frizzy. Ginny didn't mind though. She loved the only having to wear one petticoat and a thin dress. It was so much more freeing than in the winter when she was laid down with skirts.

Ginny found herself in a particularly good mood that day. The sun was shining and the sky was pale blue, but not a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful to Ginny. However, that sounds her didn't seem to appreciate it like she did.

Women carried fans and furiously waved them in front of their faces. Most men had their sleeves rolled up as high as they would go. Children say on porches sucking ice, to hot to play. Ginny couldn't understand why.

The general store was fairly crowded but Ginny didn't mind. She would find Ben all the same. She skipped in between the crowd, looking for those little cracks. This was und of the few advantages of being short. No one seemed to notice the short, red headed girl slipped through the crowd... till she tripped over some lady's foot.

Ginny let out a cry, more high pitched then she would have liked, came tumbling down. She lay face first on the floor, everyone starring at her.

Ginny felt the blood rush to het face and she knew it was as red as her hair. She stumbled, trying to push herself off the ground, when she saw a hand.

"Need help?" A familiar voice asked. Ginny looked up and saw Ben there, his hand extended out to her. Ginny grabbed it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. After seeing she was done, the cried went back to whatever they were doing before. Ginny sighed in relief.

"That was quite a fall there Ginny. So you like hurting yourself?" Ben asked.  Ginny playfully shoved him.

"No but it seems whenever I'm around you I always do. Maybe you're had luck."

Ben chuckled. "Not with this face. Why don't we go ask Celia and see what she thinks?"

"All right," Ginny said, dashing out of the store, Ben lagging behind her.

For once, Ginny could keep up with Ben. The less skirts, the freer she felt. She and Ben dashed through the streets, their laughs echoing off of everything. The sound seemed to magnify, engulfing them in laughter. Ginny wanted to throw her hands up and cheer.

They were still laughing when they arrived at Celia's house. Ginny, by now, had forgotten why they had been laughing. It didn't matter.

Ben went to knock on the door, but more fell on it since he was laughing so hard. Someone heard him and opened the door. Ben nearly fell into the house. Ginny's hands flew to her mouth to hide her high pitched cries of laughter. Ben growled Will, who had opened the door, helped him to his feet.

"To bad Ce didn't see that. She would have loved it. I'll go get her," Will said once Ben was stable.  Ginny chuckled again and Ben glared. His glare only made her laugh harder.

"What's going on?" Celia asked, giving Ben and Ginny a confused look as she sourced them.

"Ben… Ben… he … fell," Ginny said, trying to catch her breath.

"All right, I fell!" Ben said, throwing his hands into the air.

"He fell into your door more like it," Ginny said, to Ben's dismay.

"All right, fine, that's what happened. Can we please go do something?"

"Let's go ride!" Ginny cried.

"No! You already made me ride once, I do not want to do it again!"

"Fine," Ginny said, scowling, "what are we going to do then? Sit here?"

"I've got it! Tag, you're it!" Ben cried, tapping Ginny on the shoulder. Before Ginny could blink Celia and Ben were gone.

"Hey, not fair! " Ginny cried, running after the two of them. She hiked up her skirts much higher than she should have. She didn't care. She would do whatever it took to catch either Ben or Celia.

As Ginny was running, Celia tripped over a root. She tumbled to the ground. Ginny ran over to her, tapped her on the shoulder, and cried, "You're it!"

"That's not fair!" Celia said, trying to pull herself off the ground.

"Oh well," Ginny said, dashing away leaving poor little Celia in the dust. Ginny Tran away from Celia as quick as she could. In doing so, she nearly ran headfirst into Ben.

"Watch it! I'm pretty sure the point of tag is to stay away from people, not run into them!" Ben cried.

"Don't think I don't hear ya talking!" Celia said, running towards them. Ben and Ginny looked each other, then spilt, Ben going one way, Ginny another. Celia decided to go after Ben, and Ginny continued to run as fast as she could the other direction.

Ginny dashed behind a tree at the other end and watch as Celia chase Ben around the yard. With the fact that she was in skirts, Celia was pretty fast.

Eventually, the three of them collasped in giggles; sweating from heat and running. One adventure may have ended, but they knew another one was waiting to begin.