Shooting Stars

Chapter 3

The zoo

It's two days until school starts now. I am really scared. I know that everyone who is going is going to be feeling the same way, so why am I freaking out so much? I don't know. Oh well, I guess that's just what happens when you are going into high school.

Today my family is going to the zoo. We go every year before school starts - it's just our thing. I have always liked going - ever since I was really young. It's like the perfect place to go for a date. There's this spot behind the penguin enclosure that's called 'lovers hideout' where they say that this one couple was hitting it so hard there that they knocked over one of the solar powered lights on the wall attached to the enclosure. It really makes you wonder if it's true, but they also say that if you go behind there to check and you don't have your soul mate with you that you'll never find true love in your life. Yeah I know it's crazy, but everyone believes this stuff. You just don't do it.

"Amber! Kyle! Get your shoes on we're going to the zoo now!" My mom called from the kitchen. "Coming!" we both yelled back. "I bet you can't beat me to the door." I told Kyle, because I know that he's the competitive type and he CANT back down from any duel. "You wish!" he yelled back as he jumped out of bed and raced down the stairs. That's one way to get an 11 year old to get ready to go. "I beat you." Kyle told me once I finally got down stair. "Yep, you beat me." I agreed, making a huge exaggerated sigh afterwards.

The zoo is only about half an hour from our house, so we didn't have to suffer through Kyle's complaining for too long. He only ended up saying "Are we there yet?" 7 times. He is very impatient, especially when he forgets to plug in his iPad and has to sit and stare at the road and his feet the whole time.

So many childhood memories flooded through my mind as we walked through the entrance. Things like when I was only like 7 and we were taking pictures I front of the gorilla statue, or when I fell in the garden by accident when Kyle and I were racing to the zoo entrance when I was about 10. Yep, those were the good old times. Then this summer hit, and now all the fun times are over... for now I guess.

We walked around for a while, not even grabbing a map because we knew the place so well. After over 20 years of visiting one place, you start to get to memorize where everything is or the different animals here. My childhood favorite was the poison dart frogs. There was this one bright blue and black one that was my absolute favorite, but last year when I searched I couldn't find it and when I asked where it was they said "Sometimes things change and unfortunately she died." I told them that I was sorry and that she was my favorite, and they just told me that I should look around at the other frogs and maybe see if any of them would be another favorite or something. I guess that some things do have to change. I never found another favorite frog then, but I guess I was still upset about it. Some things just don't work out, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just like relationships. Like me and Mason.

When we passed the penguin exhibit, I thought of another thing to add to my high school list; 10. Bring someone behind the penguin enclosure and check the light.

I totally had to add that.

"When are we going to see the frogs?" I asked my dad. "We can go there now if you want, they are just around the corner." he said. So we went to the frog exhibit and just as I turned the corner to get to the poison dart frogs, I saw Andrew. He's this other guy who I kind of have a crush on. He's from my old public school and I remember on grad when he was dancing with this other girl I got SO jealous. My feelings for him are kind of all over the place - he has this charm that just irresistible. One moment I like him the next I don't. And it just happened to be that once I saw him, all of a sudden I felt the huge crush coming in again and I felt my face go bright red.