Tricking Molly Jones

A/N: it's a boy's POV (his name is Eddy)

It all started with that cat. Why, of all things, did a CAT have to make me run into her? I'm not saying I hate her, or anything, but not knowing her would have made my eighth grade year ten times easier. Oh, who is this ray of sunshine I speak of? It is Her Majesty,

Miss Molly Jones.

When we met in the summer of second grade, I was weirded out by her. And for a good reason too. It was a warm summer day and I had just finished my lunch when I saw the cat sneak around the outside of my property. I popped out of my seat, eager to escape the house.

"Mommy mommy can I follow the cat?? Pleeeaase??"

My mother, who was shredding the carrots, shrugged.

"Just stay far enough away from it that it can't hurt you. Who knows where it came from? You don't want to contract any diseases, you know, if it bites you because you got too close."

"I'll be careful!" I promised.

Grabbing a jacket (though it was 80° outside- who knows my reasons there! Hey I was in second grade, okay?), I tore through the backyard to catch up to the cat, who was just disappearing behind a bramble bush in the back of our yard. I followed it silently through the forest behind our house, staying far enough away where I wouldn't be noticed. After a few minutes of fruitless sneaking, I stopped. The cat had paused in the clearing and was surveying the area around it calmly. I crouched down behind an old stump, waiting for it's next move. Suddenly, it meowed and took off. Yelling, "Wait up!" I sprinted after it. The mottled greens and browns of the trees seemed to blur around me as I ran, and the only thing that mattered to me was keeping up with that cat. I dodged some stumps, jumped a creek, and was just about to vault over a fallen tree when I was tackled.

"Oomph!" I wheezed as I felt myself hit the dirt hard. I flailed, trying to get my assailant (whatever it was) off of me. I was panicking...What was it? Was I going to die? Mom wouldn't be able to find me out here!! I'll be dying, alone, forever! Though that was obviously not true, I freaked out anyway.

"Whoa!" I heard a voice say as I clawed and scratched to fight my way out of the struggle. "Calm yourself right down, mister! You always this 'fraid when someone stops you from following and probably hurtin' their cat?"

The weight was lifted off of me and I scrambled up,embarrassed. But when I looked around, I didn't see anyone. What?? Okay, that was creepy. I whipped my head, trying to see anything that would show me that I wasn't crazy, and that I was actually tackled by someone. All of a sudden I head swung down from view!

"Hiya, chap!" it chirped.

"Ahh!" I screamed, and fell back into the mud. The thing flipped down from a tree branch above, and I watched in disbelief. A girl???!?! I had been tackled, frightened, and plain right embarrassed by a girl??? This was socially mortifying.

She brushed off the leaves on her shirt and wiped her glasses. She extended a dirty hand in my direction. I stared at her. She looked at me and said,

"Well howdy, partner! I'm Molly Jones, ruler of these woods and the creatures inside it. Are ya gonna shake my hand or not?"