As waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashed onto the shore, I relaxed into the scorching hot sand and leaned my head back to face the blinding sun. I dug my fingers deep down into the ground, feeling the damp cool layers of sand beneath the surface. I was disturbed from my peaceful moment when I felt a sharp pinch on my palm. I quickly pulled my hand out of the ground, and examined it to see what had caused my mild pain.
"Ahhhhh!" I screamed, not expecting to see what I did.
"What now, Anne?" Lexi asked me.
I showed her my hand with a crab latched on to my now red skin.
"So pull it off," Lexi said shrugging and returning to her lazy position under the umbrella.
I gathered my courage and touched the crab, only making it squeeze harder.
"Let go of me you stupid thing!" I said.
Lexi looked over and lowered her plasitc sunglasses, giving me an amused look.
"I am holding your cousin hostage!" I screamed at the crab, referring to Sheldon.
It didn't seem to do anything. Then I had a great idea. I ran over to the water and dunked my hand in. I thought that after a few minutes the crab's grip would loosen from its lack of oxygen, but it just held on. Fed up, I finally just yanked it off my hand, hoping it wouldn't pull off a lot of my skin with it.
"See. Not that hard," Lexi said, laughing from her beach towel.
I rolled my eyes, and walked back up the beach to our umbrella. I took a seat next to Lexi, pulling a large mesh bag that held all the shells I had collected into my lap. I began to sort through them, when I heard Ms. Lotter calling for us from the small patio outside our condo.
"Girl's come in for lunch," she yelled.
Lexi groaned, but I practically ran all the way there, starving from a day of being out in the sun and playing in the water with a very hyperactive girl.
When we walked into the condo, I could immediately tell that Ms. Lotter had attempted to make Mac&Cheese, but it hadn't worked out too well. She wasn't very good in the kitchen, you could say.
Lexi must have also smelled the burning cheese mix, because she immediately skipped over to a cabinet and pulled out what I knew to be an Easy- Bake Oven.
"It's okay, Mom," she said, "we can make Easy Bake pizzas."
I sighed quietly with relief, and went to the refrigerator, pulling out a gallon of fruit punch, and pouring it into two small glasses. Lexi began making the little pizzas while the oven heated up, or the light bulb rather, and I brought the two glasses over to the breakfast bar, placing them on the counter. I always loved making things with Lexi. It was as if we were on a team. Maybe someday we would own a resteraunt together, I thought.
When the oven dinged, we used one of those cheap plastic tools to pull the small aluminum pan out of the slot, and Lexi cut the little pizzas into even tinier slices. I laughed, thinking that I could probably eat that whol pizza with one bite, but I didn't want to say anything to Lexi, since she seemed to be enjoying herself. After she finished cutting the pizzas, we dug in, shoveling the food into our mouths hungrily.
When we finished, we sat back in our seats, and I traced my finger along a crack in the wooden table.
"You want to do something?" Lexi asked, grinning.
I nodded, wondering what she was up to.
She pulled down her plastic glasses so that they covered her eyes, and grabbed my hand, leading me out the door.
"Where are we going?" I asked, a bit confused.
"You'll see," she said, heading towards the boardwalk.
We walked until we finally reached a little tennis court, and next to it was a long runway looking thing, with numbers written all down it. On the side of the court, there were two contraptions, that kind of looked like the tool we had used to pull our pizzas out of the Easy Bake Oven. Except bigger.
"What is this?" I asked.
"This," Lexi said grinning, "is shuffleboard."
She introduced the rules of the game to me, and we began a game. Of course, she won everytime, but we ended up playing it the entire day. It was a fun game, plus I was determined to win.
"I win, again," Lexi said with a cocky smile.
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."
"Hey, we should be getting back, its starting to get dark," she said, looking up at the sky. I nodded, and followed her back to the condo, not wanting to get lost again.
-
"Ouch!" I screamed.
"Fair skinned Anne
Tried to tan
Instead she got red
And now she's wishing she were dead!" Lexi recited, prancing around my bed.
Second degree sunburn on the back of my neck. It hurt like crazy, and I knew I was stupid for not wearing sunscreen. My mom would have a fit, I knew, but I wasn't sure if she would be that mad, after all, I had blisters popping up along with the red soreness.
"The prevention- sunscreen
And now Anne wants to scream
From the pain on her neck
But it isn't at its worst yet!
Just wait 'til it begins to peel
Then you will know how it feels
To be truly disgusting and hurting
From all the sun's rays burning!" Lexi continued.
"Shut up!" I screamed.
Lexi giggled. "Want a popsicle?" she asked.
"Sure, why not."
She went into the freezer and pulled out a grape one. Then she unwrapped it for me, handing me the sticky, sweet popsicle.
"Aww, Anne, sweetheart, here is some more Neosporin," said Ms. Lotter, coming in to rub some more on my neck. With just the slightest touch, pain shot through my skin, making me wince. Of course, Lexi found the whole thing amusing, and she started to laugh silently, hiding her face in her hands.
I rolled my eyes, and tried to lay down, but it hurt too badly. I finally gave up, and went into the living room to sit on a couch that my neck wouldn't touch.
"You should have put sunscreen on," Lexi said.
"I have heard it a billion times in your stupid poems, believe me, I know," I said.
"Anne, Anne getting upset-"
"Shut up! I don't want any more poems! Just leave me alone, okay?" I said, cutting her off.
"Fine," she said, turning on the T.V. and flipping to SpongeBob.
And that is all we did on the last day of our vacation.
All because of my stupid burn.
YOU ARE READING
The Cherry Trees
Jugendliteratur"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...
