365 Days At The Swings

        "No one falls in love by choice. It happens by chance. No one stays in love by chance. It's by improvement. No one falls out of love by chance. It's by choice."

Twelve years ago

        The swings were beautifully broken. Rust surrounded the chains and the seats were worn down. They weren't picture perfect swings, the average family would choose to stay away from them. It was already on the verge of breaking down. Yet you can't ignore the fact that the pair of swings were loved. My mother would always say, "What's worn out the most is loved by all." I believed her. The only reason why my Magic Tree House books were crippled is because I read them all the time. It's not that I didn't take care of them.

        My point is, I loved these swings. They were loved by everyone.

        "Is it safe to touch?" Sarah said with a squirm, her doe eyes lingering on the rusted chains.

        "You're not going to get sick Sarah, we been over this. It's just rust." I muttered with a sigh.

        Sarah has always been afraid of anything that could make her sick. Dirt, sharing food or water, etc. She was the type of person who would get sick for 2 weeks and no counter medication would help. It's reasonable that she'd be cautious, but she's paranoid out of her mind.

        "Come on, I bet on chocolate pudding that you won't get sick. Rust is rust. The swing doesn't have cooties."

        Her eyes gleamed in response, sparkling with hesitation and temptation. She takes a piece of her hair and tugs on it for awhile. Sarah would always take a strand of her hair and play with it, it was how she decided on things.

        "It better be Swiss Miss, I won't take the Jello brand." She announced with a laugh, then without another word, she took off at full speed.

        When she runs, she looks like an idiot, as if a bird was drowning in water. Her arms go around in circles and flap.

        "You gotta be different." She says. Upon reaching the swings, she fell down with a thud. My eyes widen and I bit on my lower lip, making an effort  not to laugh.

        "What the?" Sarah announced, looking at her hands with disgust. Pudding was all over her hands. I took the liberty to cover the chains with pudding. I knew she wouldn't notice until the end. Sarah was a kind of person who would misplace things, even when the object would be staring right back at them. So she hadn't notice that the chains were covered pudding.

        "YOU WASTED PUDDING?" She screamed at me, her voice booming around the neighborhood. It caused some kids to stop playing and glance over their shoulder.

        "Jeffery come here." I overhear one mother say to their child, causing a frightened two year old to dash towards his mother. This was not the reaction I was expecting. She was genuinely upset. So of course, I was scared.

        "It's the Jello brand!" I announced out loud, holding my hands out in defense. My weak effort was heard too late. The Queen of the Swiss Miss was mad. Before I knew it, I was being tackled onto the ground.

        To this day, I can't get over the fact that my best friend beat me up over pudding.