"Ew," Lexi said.
I glanced at myself in the mirror, not sure what was wrong with this one.
"What is it this time?" I said with a loud sigh.
"Ruffles."
With only three more weeks left until we left for Ocean City, Lexi had convinced her mom to take both of us bathing suit shopping. So far, Lexi hadn't been satisfied with any of the suits- for her or me.
"I like them," I said.
She shook her head. "I am not going to Ocean City with you wearing that thing."
"What do you want me to wear then?" I said, getting a little annoyed by this point.
Lexi shrugged, and headed over to the rack, looking for other options.
"This."
She held up a rainbow swimsuit with sparkles all over it.
"No. No way," I said.
"Fine. Then I will just try it on," she said, heading into the open stall next to mine.
-
"Mom!" I yelled down the hall.
"Yes?"
"Have you seen my flip-flops?" I asked.
"Yeah, they are in the garage."
We left for New Jersey in just 4 days, and tomorrow was the last day of school. Yes, I was super excited, but I also had never packed before, and my mom said that I had to do it all by myself. I had started out with writing a checklist of what I would need to wear, and then things that I would need on the beach. The only thing that my parents gave to me was money, of course.
I ran down the stairs into my garage and looked for my flip- flops. When I found them, they were all mangled.
"Mom!"
"What?"
"Did you run over my shoes!"
There was a silence, and I sighed. Of course she ran over my shoes. Perfect.
"Hey, Lexi," I said into my walkied- talkie.
"Yup."
"Do you have any extra flip- flops?"
"Yup."
"Can I borrow them?"
"Yup."
"Kay, thanks."
That night when I finished all my packing, though it took a bit of jumping on the top of my bag, I stood in my doorway looking at my suitcase, satisfied. I was so ready for this trip. However, I was a little afraid to be away from my parents for a whole week and a half. I knew that Lexi would make me have fun though, so I was pretty certain it would turn out alright.
-
"Last day!" Luke exclaimed to me.
I nodded, and smiled. Today there was a pool party in my neighborhood, and I had invited both Lexi and Luke over. I hadn't told Lexi that Will lived in my neighborhood, and I had a feeling that she would be both surprised and happy when she found out. Though she wouldn't admit it, it was pretty obvious that she liked him.
"Where are you going for the summer?" I asked him.
He thought about this for a moment. "New York."
"Cool. I'm in New Jersey," I said.
He nodded.
"I will see you at the pool party tonight, right?" I asked.
He nodded again. Even though I had known him for a while now, I guess he still didn't want to come out of his shell. If it was just towards me, I would be offended, but he pretty much kept to himself. Now that I thought about it, I guess I was kind of the same way.
-
When the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and the school year, everybody jumped for joy. Especially those lucky fifth- graders, who got to move on to middle school.
"C'mon Anne!" Lexi shouted as we grabbed our backpacks. Today, my mom was picking us up from school, so that we could go get ice-cream. I don't know if she knew that ice- cream would also be served at the pool party, and I was going to be eating lots of it. I figured that she didn't, since she was taking us out, but who was I to complain?
After we got home from the ice-cream shop, Lexi and I put on our new bathing suits. Lexi had ended up getting the sparkly rainbow one, and I got a light blue one with flowers on it. We quickly gathered out towels, goggles, and beach balls before heading out the door. The pool wasn't very far away, so we decided to walk down.
"What is there to do at this party?" Lexi asked.
I smiled. "Well, this is the first year I am going, but my mom said that there are inflatable water slides, jumpies, and alot of games to play. And of course, there is always the pool."
"Cool! I am so excited! And Luke is coming, right?" Lexi asked, nudging me playfully.
I nodded, smiling to myself, knowing that Will should be there too. I was pretty sure that she was going to get embarrassed again.
We entered the pool parking lot, only to see that everything was being packed up.
Confused, I walked through the obstacle of deflated jumpies and beachballs to find one of my neighbors. I saw Mrs. Remy, and I decided to ask her what was going on.
"What happened?" I asked.
She smiled at me sadly. "There is a tornado warning, so we had to get everything packed up and send everyone home. And you two need to get back home as well," she said.
I turned around to look at Lexi, who had a look of fear on her face. "A tornado?" she said.
"Yes!"
"RUN!" Lexi screamed.
And we ran all the way home, in fear of getting picked up by a tornado.
Some end of school party that was.
YOU ARE READING
The Cherry Trees
Teen Fiction"It was then that I heard it. The small, quiet, click. I couldn't turn my head fast enough. When I finally saw her, she had the gun to her head. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. And then the whole forest went silent when the sound of her life being taken e...
