Falling Petals of a Blue Rose

Chapter 17

 Before Marisa knew it, Saturday had come. After having lunch, she jumped into her car to head for the bowling alley. As soon as she got there, she spotted Thomas waiting for her.

“I’m sorry, Thomas. Am I late?” She asked as she rushed up to the door. Thomas smiled.

“Not at all. We just got here a few minutes ago.” Marisa smiled. Just then, she looked down at his arms. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt so she couldn’t see his skin. Cautiously, she reached for his hand. Thomas just smiled as Marisa picked up his arm and pulled his sleeve up. Marisa gasped. All the burn marks he had were gone, but he still had a few marks from where his skin was all cut up. Marisa couldn’t help but form a sad look on her face as she ran her fingers over his cut marks.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, Thomas. But, I still feel terrible that you’re arms were all messed up.” To her surprise, Thomas took hold of her hand. Looking up at his face, she saw him smiling.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be just fine.” Seeing him smile, Marisa couldn’t help but smile back. Just then, Thomas looked down at her hand and saw her wearing the bracelet he had given her on her wrist. Marisa noticed he was looking at it.

“It’s my favorite.” Thomas formed a surprised look at first, then he smiled as he started to lead her into the building.

“Well, shall we get going? I’m sure the others are all set up and ready for us by now.” Marisa nodded. With that, they headed inside. It didn’t take long for them to spot the others. Marisa and Thomas walked up to them.

“Okay. Let’s get this party started. How should we split the teams? Boys verses girls?” Yoshi asked.

“No that won’t work. We have 4 girls and 2 guys. Which means one of the girls will have to play on the guy’s team.” Miki stated.

“Yeah you’re right. Guess that means you’ll have to do it, Minnie.” Minnie shot up.

“What?! Why me?!”

“Cause the last time we came bowling, I was on the guy’s team and the time before that Miki was on their team. Which means this time it’s your turn.” Minnie groaned but agreed.

“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of it. It’s not like you’re gonna win anyway no matter who’s on your team.” Marcus teased with a smirk on his face. Yoshi spun around.

“You know we have just as much of a chance to win as you do!” Marcus grinned.

“Care to make a wager on that?” Yoshi grinned.

“How about this? Whoever loses 2 out of 3 games has to treat the winner to lunch at the Cat’s Eye Café everyday for a week?”

“Make it 2 weeks and you’ve got a deal.”

“You’re on!” Marcus and Yoshi just stared each other down. Thomas scratched his head.

“Shesh, we haven’t even started and those two are already competing against each other.” Marisa chuckled.

“At least they’re really getting into it and having fun.” With the teams all set up, Yoshi stood up to make the first throw.

“Alright, first strike of the day. Here we go!” With that, she gave her ball a powerful toss. Everyone watched as her ball flew down the aisle. Within moments, it crashed into the cones. For a second, it looked like they were all going to go down. Just then, the cone on the left corner straightened itself back up. Yoshi let out a growl as Marcus threw his head back laughing.

“What’s wrong, Yoshi? I thought you said you’d get the first strike of the day?” Yoshi’s anger fumed as she picked her ball back up. Taking a deep breath, she stared at the cone intensely. Marisa watched as she carefully grasped her ball. Then, with another powerful swing, she let it fly. Bang! The ball crashed right into the cone. Miki jumped up and cheered.