The life of a "Nerd"

Chapter 16: Stories

Brad's POV

Stories are things people tell each other, both fiction and experience. Stories help bring people together and sometimes tear them apart. But the good stories make people laugh and be happy. Like for instance if you got married and told your children or your friends, you'll smile and they will too. Sad stories just makes things either uncomfortable or just sad. For instance the story about Juliet always made me sad. And now was the time to tell her.

I was nervous. Blaise was too, we didn't really want to relive the memory, the moment. Juliet, Blaise, Seth and I all went to the park, so that we could talk about what happened. Apparently Seth already knows. Blaise told him during camp the weekend before. I know that it was early afternoon, but the air was starting to get chilly already, winter was here and it had settled in. We sat in a circle on a rug Juliet had brought. 

Blaise sat across from Juliet, and i sat next to Blaise and on Juliet's left side. Seth sat on Juliet's right side. It was like a weird coincidence. Since both me and Seth like her. I've seen the way he looks at her. I sighed deeply, this were complicated. But she might not even choose either of us. Yet it could be one of us.

"Where to begin..." Blaise suddenly said, bringing me back to my thoughts. "At the start" Was all i could say and i knew that Blaise wanted to begin the story. I looked over at Juliet and she looked sad, sort of nervous too. She has no idea what had happened, all she remembers is waking up in the hospital, or so Blaise told me.

"Well, we were 11, and it was a wonderful day. We decided to go for a bike ride, since back then we were allowed to bike around without any of our parents around. So we were just biking around and we had the ball, throwing it around to each other. It rolled away from us so i went and got it. You stuck your tongue out at me, and said "Your turn to pick it up." So i said back "Well i've been doing it for the past 500 years." You laughed but i went to go get it." Blaise began the story, already i felt the sadness wash over me. I continued the story when Blaise gave me a look.

"When Blaise went to go get the ball me and you were having a race, ofcourse you won. But you had a head start, as you always do." I looked at her and smiled brightly. "We were riding pretty close to the edge of the hill that we always ran down with. You know the one just up there?" I asked, pointing in the direction away from us. She nodded and i went on. "We waited for Blaise there, me making fun of you and so on. We rode slowly, waiting for Blaise to catch up when out of the blue i saw one of the boys from school hiding in a tree. Before i knew it he threw a huge stone at you. It hit you right here." I put my hand on top of her head, closest to her forehead. She put her hand on mine and looked into my eyes, searching them for something.

I took my hand away and lay it in my lap. "Next you were tumbling down the hill, your bike spinning and spinning. The hit had caused you to lose your balance and run off course. Your body was faster than your bike and you just rolled, rolled and kept rolling down the hill. I didn't know what to do, i stood there shocked. You screamed for only a short while, then you just stopped. I cried out to you, kept calling your name but i was frozen." I dared to look into her eyes and saw that they held tears. "I couldn't save you, and at the bottom you got stopped by a log that had fallen over, hitting your head on it." I couldn't take it any more i stopped for a breath i didn't realise i had been holding and nodded towards Blaise to continue.

"It was the worst thing i've ever seen. Your body tumbling so easily, your bike following after you. That's what i saw when i got back. Brad was crying out to you. You didn't respond. When you hit your head at the bottom, stopping your fall, you just lay there motionless . I was completely frozen i didn't know what i was seeing. I froze for a while before i got my head around everything and ran back to your house to get your mum. I couldn't really explain what happened but she followed me nonetheless. When we finally got back, only 5 minutes after i'd left, and i found Brad on his knees at the top of the hill, crying your name. I knew he didn't want to go down there, afraid of what may follow." He paused and looked at me, i nodded and felt my throat close up at the sight. I distinctly remember her rolling down that hill like it was yesterday. Time seemed to go both slow and fast. Horrible timing.