Fallin' For You-Part 4

TWELVE

"So...you guys have been walking out here, alone, for ten minutes?" Tam asked when he'd "found" Sophie and Jensi.

Actually, he'd been looking for Biana because he wanted to hang out with her, but Sophie and Jensi said the word rivalry, and he immediately understood.

"Pretty much," Sophie said with a nod as they continued to walk. "It's actually super nice."

Tam nodded, looking around. "It is pretty peaceful out here,"

Suddenly, Jensi got super excited and said, "Hey, I know this super cool place that looks really cool and pretty during November! Follow me!" Then he dashed away.

Sophie and Tam shared a confused look before running after him.

"Slow down!" Sophie yelled to him. "I'm tired!"

"You know, for a short kid," Tam panted. "He run's really fast."

That was very true—and somehow saddening. But Sophie wasn't going to let Tam's words make her feel like a total failure.

"How much farther?" Sophie asked when Jensi had finally slowed to a normal pace. "Because the Festival ends at 9:00, it's getting dark, and I don't want to get lost."

"We're here," Jensi motioned to a black stairwell with millions of different colored leaves all over it.

They were deep in the woods and trees with leaves of red, yellow, orange and brown surrounded them. A bright lamp stood at the bottom of the leaf-covered steps, illuminating the area.

"This is..." Tam stared at the scene before them.

"Beautiful," Sophie finished, taking a step forward.

"I know," Jensi said. "I found it one day after school because I got lost. It's actually not far from my house."

"Really?" Sophie asked, still looking at the beauty of it all. "That's so cool,"

"You know what else is cool?" He asked with a laugh.

"What?" Tam and Sophie asked, not even really paying attention.

"This!" Jensi said before running down the stairs—which was honestly a safety hazard—and jumping into a giant pile of leaves at the very bottom.

Sophie's eyes widened at what had just happened. There were so many leaves on the ground that they basically buried Jensi.

"Come on," Jensi called, rolling around in the leaves. "It's fun!"

Sophie and Tam shared another look before smiling and racing down the steps, jumping into the leaves at the very last second.

As soon as Sophie landed, leaves swallowed her and she let out a full, happy laugh. This was so much fun!

"Wasn't it great?" Jensi asked as the three of them started to play around in the leaves like a bunch of six-year-olds.

"It was," Sophie laughed, throwing leaves up in the air. "This is awesome!"

They all laughed and played and goofed off for what felt like forever before Tam finally pointed out that it was getting super late.

"You're right," Sophie said. "I'm pretty sure the Festival's over."

Sophie checked her phone and, sure enough, it was 9:10. She also had tons of texts from her friends asking her where she was.

She hopped onto the group chat and said: Me, Tam, and Jensi took a little detour. We're fine and we'll see you guys tomorrow. Then she also texted Grady and Edaline and told them she'd be home soon.