Creating a New Neverland

Ch. 6- Normal?

I scramble out of bed and get dressed. I skip down to breakfast hoping to see Jesse. I stop in my tracks when I see him. He is with another girl. She is facing me and his back is turned to me. They are talking. I think that it's probably just a conversation. But the girl starts to cry. He takes her hands and kisses her forehead. I hold my breath in astonishment. He turns around and spots me. He smiles and waves as if that didn't just happen, but I just turn and run away. What was I thinking? He doesn't like me. The whole thing was his bad boy act. I was just a girl. He matters more to me than I will ever to him. That makes my stomach twinge. I don't want to see him, or have him "rescue" me. So I decide to avoid him.

Instead of heading back to breakfast, I decide to go to the small park across the street. My memories there as a kid, just like all the beach memories, were good. The swings, slides, sand pits, climbing walls, and bright colors of the park always resembled a safe place. A place that is locked with good memories, and I won't let any bad ones seep in to destroy them. I cross the street. It is a long cross-walk to the park. The thick white lines seem to stretch forever.

When I get to the park, I sit in the swings. Instead of trying to fly high, causing my butt to bounce off the seat, I just rock back and forth slightly. I can feel the sting of the heat on the hot, black rubber swing. The creacking of the old chains is the only sound. At intervals a wind rushes through, moving all the other swings.

A childish urge takes over me and I decide to actually fly high. I start moving by pushing my self off the ground. Once I can't touch it any more, I start bending my legs in when I go back, and straightening them when it go forward. I fly so high that my seat starts to jump. The feeling of weightlessness takes me in that instant, before I land on the swing again. The chains are now bending to keep up with my height.

I start to slow down. Lazily I drag my feel on the rubberized ground, creating an echoing scraping sound. Soon I come to a complete stop. I try to keep myself busy by walking around, going on the play structure, and sitting in the sand pit. My shoes fill with sand, except its different sand than the beach sand. This is cold and fine. The beach sand it thick and warm. It gets in between my toes and it scratches me.

Not being able to take it anymore, I start back to the hotel. I pause right before the big cross-walk. I check both directions of the oncoming cars, swiveling my head. No cars seem to be in sight so I head out. I am almost half way through it when I hear the roar of a motorcycle. I whip my head in its direction. It's not stopping. It's inching closer and closer. Do I have time to out run it? Or should I just stop in my tracks? I choose the latter. I stop.

The motorcycle swerves out of the way of me and comes to a complete stop inFront of me. The rider throws me a helmet and says, "Get on."

Only I could recognize that voice on the spot. It belongs to the one person I hate right now, Jesse.

Reluctantly I grab the bright red, shiny helmet and strap it on. I hop onto the sleek, silver beast. He cranks the engine, which roars. Then we take off.

He is taking me somewhere that I don't know. We weave through streets until we ride up onto a boating road, which leads directly into the water. We are riding down, to reach the edge of the ocean, when his front wheel popped. His motorcycle starts to spin out of control. Just like in Neverland, my "knight" grabs me and we tumble off the motorcycle before it falls back and stops moving. We roll off the rough gravel and onto the burning sand. I stand up, with the help of Jesse.

He doesn't even make sure I'm alright before he turns back to his bike. He pick it up, dusts it off, and checks it to make sure it's alright. The whole time I am debating whether or not to leave. I decide to walk away. But just as I take my first step away, he calls my name.