Silver Vixen [✓]

Mari

Flashback
(before the Particle Accelerator went off)

It was the first day of 8th grade. New school meant new friends. As much as I dreaded it. None of my friends followed me here to Keystone High which was a bummer. Summer had just ended and classes were the usual bore. Public school was apparently better than private. But all schools had the same thing in common: bullies. There was a girl that moved here because she was being bullied by a group of girls that used to beat her. It was horrible to imagine. She said her name was Diah, short for Diamanda. She hated her name. When she explained some of the things her bullies had done, I felt so sorry for her. 

"It's okay, I'll be there for you," I brought her into a hug as she joined in.

"Thank you, Anashé," she held a beautiful bright smile on her as she shone just like her name.

We were in a few of the same classes including the first one we had on Mondays.

Struggling to adjust I guessed was normal. I knew Meia before I moved schools because we met through friends I made at Starling Elementary. She welcomed me with a warm hug and introduced me to some of the cute boys she hung out with, including the girls. There were so many that I only remembered few of their names. Mari was the one she had befriended and welcomed into her home. They lived together like sisters. She was the one Meia talked about the most. The one who got arrested for theft so many times her own family kicked her out and forced her to become homeless. Since it was a public school, she could attend Keystone High. 

I had many classes with Mari and Diah, and then there was our science one - where all four of us were joined at the hips. Luckily, it wasn't an odd number so we could easily partner up. 

Days traveled past. Us girls grew closer. Diah's father had to relocate to Australia and there was a chance she could too if it became permanent. I didn't want her to go but there wasn't much I could do. When it came to the end of 8th grade, she had to leave. So we did one last hurrah.

Before she left in the middle of Summer, all four of us ran down to the cliffs where no one would catch us jumping. A beautiful waterfall met with the pool inside as it headed out to a shore. Diah mentioned she hadn't done it before, and neither had the rest of us, so it was worth it for us all to do it together for the first time. It would become memorable.

"Whoo!" Mari was the first to jump. She was definitely the daredevil out of the group.

Two seconds later, her body splashed into the water as she came up only a second later. 

"How are going to get back up here to get our things once we're down there?" Diah turned to face me.

"Swim to the shore and walk back up," I thought. Seemed like the most logical thing to do. "There's a track to get back up from the water so I figured we'd use that."

"Oh, yeah I didn't look down," Diah firmly spoke.

"Don't blame you," I added with a smile.

Meia jumped as she joined Mari in the water. "Do you want us to wait for you?"

"That would be nice," I suggested knowing I would panic once I hit the water.

What if something happened? It would be a comfort knowing there was help if plausible.

"Let's do this," I grabbed Diah's hand.

"Together?" she worried.

"Do you want to jump alone?"

"Not really, but our hands will separate anyway," Diah had a good point so I let go.

"On three?"