Their Playground

Chapter 4

As Kim lay on her bed at home, per Sarah's instructions, she felt an overwhelming feeling of dread. What would her best friend say to Cole?"

Kim could picture it now. First, Sarah would accidentally let it slip that she had a crush on him. Then she would relentlessly interrogate him until she could determine what his feelings were towards Kim. Regardless of his answer, Sarah would order him to ask her on a date. And not many people could say no to Sarah, that was for sure. Finally, being a true friend, she would threaten to kick him in his "you-know-where" if he ever broke her heart. Those were Sarah's words, not hers.

Subtlety had never been Sarah's strong point.

Properly horrified after considering the possible scenario, Kim decided that she must call Sarah as soon as possible. She knew she would never be able to dissuade her friend entirely (though she would certainly try!), but at least she might get her to tone it down a bit.

Kim rummaged around her room, looking for her phone, until she finally found it stuffed between her dresser and her bed. She was always losing that phone of hers. Then she hit the speed dial for Sarah's number.

"Hey," Sarah answered immediately. "What's up, girl? I just saw you an hour ago, you know. Did you really miss me that badly?"

Kim laughed. "I had a favor, actually."

"Shoot."

"Is there any way I can convince you to forget about me and Cole?" Darn. That didn't come out as firm as she had hoped it would.

"Nope." Sarah popped the p, telling Kim that was the final word on the subject. After finally discovering Kim's crush, there was no way she could forget about it, even if she tried!

Kim sighed. "That's what I thought. In that case, just don't tell Cole that I like him, okay, Sarah? Gosh, that would be so embarrassing!" Please let Sarah agree, she prayed silently.

"Okay, I won't," Sarah readily agreed.

"Really?" That was a lot easier than she'd expected. She was, quite frankly, shocked that Sarah had agreed immediately. Was that even possible?

"From this point onward, anyways," Sarah added, mumbling so that Kim almost missed it. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Kim heard exactly what she said.

"What?" Kim shrieked. Calm down, she immediately scolded herself. Heart pounding, she asked as calmly as she could, "You don't mean you've already told him?" Please, let her say no. Please, let her say no. Please, please, please let her say -

"Well, I may have accidentally let it slip. Sorry 'bout that." Oh, no. That imaginary scenario from earlier was quickly becoming reality. And the worst part was that Kim couldn't do a thing to prevent it.

"Sarah!" Kim groaned. "You didn't."

"You can believe that if it makes you happier." Kim could practically see her best friend looking pleased with herself on the other end of the phone.

"I didn't tell Brady you liked him! Or Tony! Or heck, not even Samuel! And you had one heck of a crush on him. Or - "

"I'm sorry, okay? It slipped out. You have every right to be mad at me," Sarah added dutifully, even though deep down she knew it was her job as a best friend to do whatever possible to make sure Kim ended up with her crush.

Kim sighed for what felt like the twentieth time in this one conversation. "I'm not really mad, Sarah. Well, not super mad, anyways. But tell me, how did he react? Did he seem interested? At all?"

Sarah laughed. "You who doubted my methods, now you realize the error of your ways!" Kim shook her head, trying not to smile, even though she knew Sarah couldn't see her. "And to answer your question, he turned bright red, like a tomato or something. Then he mumbled something about needing to go do something else."

There was a long pause. Finally, Kim broke the silence. "Is that a good sign or a bad sign?"

Sarah didn't answer. Then she laughed. "Sorry, Kim, I had a blonde moment there. I forgot you couldn't see me. Anyway, I shrugged, because honestly? I really don't know. It could go either way, I guess."

"That's discouraging," Kim said. "Your description was really vague; are you sure he didn't say anything noteworthy?"

"He was being vague."

"I guess we'll just find out on Monday. See how he acts at school."

"Guess so." After a brief silence, Sarah changed the subject, deciding it was best not to give Kim a chance to realize that she was, in fact, super mad at her for accidentally-on-purpose revealing Kim's feelings to her crush. "So, let me guess. You had a letter waiting from this Thomas when you got home."

Reminded once more of Thomas and a letter that had never arrived, Kim frowned. "No, actually. He hasn't written yet."

"Hmm," was Sarah's response.

"Hmm what?"

"Hmm nothing. I just thought he'd be a bit more punctual about writing to his long-lost best friend, that's all. Going off of what you told me about him."

Kim opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the shrill ring of the doorbell. "I've got to go, Sarah. Someone's at the door, and my parents aren't here to answer it. I'll call you back later, okay?"

She ran down the stairs and reached for the door with one hand while ending the call with the other. She didn't want to keep the person at the door waiting. That was simply bad manners, after all.

She flung open the door. "Hello - " she began, but her voice stopped working when she saw who was standing there. What was he doing here? She cleared her throat and willed her voice to work again. "Hello, Cole," she finished.

Hello, everyone! I've been meaning to write this note for 3 chapters now, and I keep forgetting. So this is my Titling Challenge work. Basically, @MythGal supplied the title, and I wrote the story. I may have mentioned that when I posted the prologue; I don't remember. The reason it was on hiatus for such a long time is that I wanted to finish the whole thing before I started posting. Now it is complete, and I'll be posting a new chapter every couple of days, so you should have the whole thing up soon enough! I'll be honest, while the plot hasn't changed, the tone of the story has gone in a totally different direction than I expected. It was going to be a more serious piece, but it's become more light, humorous, and slightly cheesy. I really like it now, though. To be honest, it was all Sarah's fault. She was supposed to be a minor character, but she had this personality that just wouldn't stay out of the story, and thus the current version of Their Playground was born. I really like Sarah. I hope you've been enjoying it thus far!

-Lucia<3