The Forest

Chapter One

June 17th.

Standing in front of what looked like thousands of trees, I gazed up at Johnathan. He had the sweet smile he always had on his face. I grasped onto his arm and we walked towards the forest where all of his other friends were.

That day was the day I was going to meet Johnathan's other friends, and the day I got to see where they would hang out during their free time; where Johnathan would go when he was not hanging out with me.

We got closer and closer to the large forest where most of Johnathan's friends were. As soon as we got to the start of where the trees grouped into a forest, a girl taller than Johnathan and me ran up to the both of us and gave us a kind greeting.

The girl, as I said before, was tall. She had blonde hair and her eyes were dark brown. She had a very bubbly personality and she seemed carefree.

"Hi, Johnathan! Hi, Alexander!" The girl yelled cutely. "It's nice to finally meet you, Alex! My name is Sally!"

I stood there in confusion. She knew my name? I thought. Johnathan must've told them about me.

"Oh, uh, hello. It's nice to meet you, too, Sally," I managed to say timidly. It was hard to meet new people because of how shy I was.

After that, Sally acted as a tour guide and showed Johnathan and me around. She must've forgotten that Johnathan already knew everyone and had been everywhere because she seemed to have no second thoughts about showing him, as well. Maybe it was just her getting into character for something.

"So, what do ya think?" Sally asked cheerfully after all of the presentations and showing off of the places and people she did.

"It's a pretty place, but I don't know how well I'll do with the others."

Just then, Johnathan tapped my shoulder, which was quite easy since he was much taller than me. "You'll be fine," he tried reassuring me.

I gave a quick nod and all three of us started to walk to a place near where most of the people were. Around twenty or more people from the ages twelve to sixteen were around the main part of the forest, about fifteen feet inside where the forest started.

"Is this Alexander? He's shorter than what you described him to be," a new voice said. This time it was a boy's voice.

The new guy had light brown hair like mine. His hair was wavy, too. He was an inch or two shorter than Johnathan, but still taller than me. Almost everyone there was taller than me, even the twelve-year-olds. His eyes were dark blue and they looked purple from where I was standing.

"Yeah, this is Alexander. It's not that I described him differently, you just have a bad imagination when it comes to height," Johnathan stated.

"Oh, well. Not everyone is perfect," the new guy started. "It's Alexander in the flesh! Hi, my name is Daniel."

"Hi, Daniel," I said shakily. "It's nice to meet you." The shyness in my voice really shined through the confidence I wanted to show but was unable because of my personality.

"Hey, Alex, want to go sit down and meet some new people?" Johnathan asked. I knew he didn't want to go without my permission, which was kind of him.

"Yeah. Sure," I answered.

As I started to walk, the arm that I had gripped minutes before was refusing to go forward for a moment, but the limb quickly caught up to me; following was Johnathan. The closer and closer I got to the fifteen plus people, the more anxious I felt. My stomach started to twist and my heart started to thump hard. It was like someone was trying to punch their way out of my body. I knew everything would be all right, but something still made me dwell the experience I was about to have.