GOOD GIRL , BAD BOY

The Almost-death of Toby Sanders

  'TOBY! We could get into trouble.'I say, shivering fevourously as I do. We're at the forgotten pond, but we're not supposed to be. We're supposed to be at the new pond, skating, laughing, having fun. But my best friend (and secret crush) has decided that that pond is too solid for him, too garanteed-to-not-break. He has decided he wants a life full of adventures,and I have decided to follow him.

  We're currently at the pond, and he's tying up the laces on his skates."We could die, or worse, we could get in trouble." I say a little softer. Toby looks up at me with his beautiful exotic brown eyes and quirks his left eye up, his brown curly hair bobbing up due to the gesture."When have I ever steered you wrong?" He says and I find myself feeling annoyed.

"Well, there was that time with the old vacuum in Mr. Johnson's kitchen, and that time with the fire extinguisher at your dad's, and that time with the wedding cake at my cousin's wedding, and that time with the 911 false alarm, and that time with the grumpy bus driver, and my personal favorite, the time you convinced me to have an egg fight with you in my grandmother's farm!" I say, counting them off with my fingers. He looks at me and grins sheepishly. He opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off quickly and say, "there's a lot more than that, of course." "Got me ," he says and I smile. "But this time it won't be like that. Promise." He looks at me with those eyes again. I sigh and finally give in.

  But I should've tried to stop him, should've told him ''NO, TOBY," even though he'd be grumpy, because no sooner have I started to slide, the ice under me starts to crack. I look down in terror and so does Toby. "Holy shh...", but before I can finish cussing, the ground under me is gone, and I'm in ice cold water. I try to scream in horror and instantly my mouth fills up with more icy liquid. Duh! I start to frantically wave my arms, but everything seems to be moving in slow motion.  I finally see Toby's blurry arms dipping into the water and reaching for mine.I bet he looks heroically handsome as he tries to heave me up. No time to be thinking about that now, Chloe!  With little effort I am pulled out of the pond and pushed away from it. I go sliding to where we were buckling up, all while gasping for delicious oxygen and coughing out my poor lungs.

  I hear a crack and look up to see only Toby's head to waist out of the water. He's hanging on to the surface of the ice like it's the last life jacket in a sinking boat.  "Fuck..." I'm stunned for a few moments. Toby never curses. " Toby..."I gasp. "Go get help, Chloe." He says calmly, but there's a slight pang of panic in his voice. "I'm not leaving you here." I say, realising my voice has gone high an octave. "What, you wanna watch me freeze to death? Go get help! Please!!" He shouts, most of the calmness has left his voice, now. 

  I heave myself up and push off my skates. I'm not bothered to wear my boots and I run in the direction of the nearest house with lights on. I glance behind me. Toby is still hanging on. "GO!" I hear him yell. I turn my attention back to the road and run like I'm Usain Bolt's racing partner. It starts to snow lightly and I run faster. I get there in no time and I start to knock on the door like a maniac. A middle-aged man comes out the door and I quickly explain to him what's going on. The man gets back into the house and for a few moments I'm left to think that he doesn't care, but the comes back wearing his jacket and in his hand is an extremely long coiled rope. He asks me to direct him to the pond, and I gladly do.

  When we get there, Toby is still hanging on, but his beautiful lips are turning blue and shivering in the snow. He smiles when he sees me and says,"for a minuite there, I thought you had left me to go home and drink hot cocoa as punishment for not listening to you." I manage to laugh. My socks are now wet and my feet have gone numb.
 
  Soon, the man gets him out and  takes us to his house. Our feet are in hot water and we're sharing a big blanket.I'm hugging him like crazy as we sip on hot cocoa with marshmallows and whipped cream, just the way we like it. "I thought I wouldn't see your teasing smirk again." I sniff. "I thought I wouldn't see your cute face again." He says and playfully pokes my nose, going "Boop!" as he does so. Of course I blush at this small comment and hide my face in the giant ceramic cup I'm holding as heat spreads all over my cheeks. Toby chuckles fondly.

  We are soon notified by the man's wife, who appears to be called Agnes that her husband,(Steve) has contacted our parents and they are coming to get us. Relief washes over me. At least I won't have to explain much to my mom, except the reason why we decided to go to the pond and those questions that go," honey, are you okay? Any pain, anywhere?"

  I look at Toby and see that he's deep in thought, too. He turns to look at me. "I believe you owe me a thank you." He says smugly. Of course I know what he's talking about, but there's no way I'd actually admit it. "A thank you? For what?" I ask innocently. "For saving you." He says. "But I saved you, too." I say. "Yeah, but I saved you first!" He repeats. "Yeah, but it's kinda your fault we got into that situation anyway!" I say and raise my chin up, challenging him to say anything more. He opens his mouth and I say,"Careful not to attract flies."and he closes it immediately. I look at him and say,"Chloe=one, Toby=zero." He glares at me and I laugh. "You'll get over it."

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                                               -Irene x