22 years earlier
“Hi,” I say shyly with my hands wrapped around my back. This girl has been here all day, sitting at the edge of the playground. Her head hangs low while she plays with the wood chips. I haven’t seen any of her friends. Does she have friends? I feel bad, so I wanted to come say hi.
She looks up at me, squinting from the brightness of the sun, a small frown on her face. The small breeze blows strands of her blonde hair across her face. “Hi,” she mumbles.
Now that she’s looking at me, she seems very sad. “What’s your name?” I ask.
“Rya.”
“Hi Rya. My name is Violet.”
Her frown turns into a slight smile. “Hi Violet.” The sun shines down on her face, making her light brown eyes shine with flecks of green. Her eyes match my Barbie’s green eyes.
“Where are your friends?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t have any.” Her head hangs low again, the tips of her hair glide across the woodchips. “Myparents made me move away from all my friends,” she mumbles with sadness in her voice.
That makes me sad. I don’t know what I would do if my parents made me do that. I would miss my friends so much. I plop down right next to her. “We can be friends.”
She flashes me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. “Really?” she says, like she doesn’t believe me.
“Yeah.” I jump back up on my feet. “Come on,” I say, waving at her to stand up. “My other friends are at the river catching Skeeter bugs.”
Me and my two friends that are boys always catch bugs. They’re the only boys in my neighborhood that let me play with them. They told me once that they think it’s cool that I’m a girl and like to do boy stuff like them. There aren’t many girls around here that like to do that kind of stuff. My other friends that are girls don’t like to do a lot of stuff that gets you dirty. They’ll play night games and sometimes that gets you dirty, but they do nothing like this. I do like to do the girly stuff, like play dress up, play with Barbies, or paint my nails. But in the summer, I love to be outdoors and see what adventures the day brings.
She stands up and follows beside me. “What are those?”
“They’re these bugs that ski across the river. They’re so fast. We try to catch them, but it’s hard because of how fast they are.”
She scrunches her nose, and her lips curl in disgust. “Do you guys kill them?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “This way.” We both duck under a huge branch. The path is filled with dirt and twigs. I can hear the river up ahead and the sound of laughter. I point ahead behind all the trees. “It’s right over there.”
We step on a ton of twigs that make crunching sounds beneath our feet. I step on a bigger twig that makes a louder snap that echoes toward the boys. Both of their heads turn towardus, eyes wide. “Vi, you missed it. Ezra caught a huge one,” Zayn yells.
We stop at the edge of the river before our toes hit the water. “Come meet my new friend,” I say, waving them over. They both walk over toward us, dragging their feet against the flow of the river. “This is Rya.” I point to her. “Rya, this is Zayn and Ezra.”
“Hi,” Rya says both her cheeks turn red.
“Hi,” both of them say.
“Come on. I’ll show you how to catch the Skeeter bugs,” Ezra says.
“Is the water cold?” she asks as I step my foot into the river.
I turn to her and say, “It’s not that bad with your socks and shoes. It helps keep you warmer.” The river isn’t that deep, only going up to my knees in some places, and some parts don’t go that high.
“Here, take my hand,” Ezra says and holds onto Rya’s hand. “The trick to catching these bugs is waiting for them to come to you. Because if you chase after them, they’re harder to catch.” All four of us slowly walk into the river.
Ezra has always been a nice boy. He was the first one to include me in their adventures. He taught me how to catch Skeeters too, just like he’s teaching Rya. But now I can catch them on my own. Zayn has always been the dare devil. He always tries everything first when we’re hesitant about doing it. He doesn’t think before he does things. Sometimes it scares us, but he’s never gotten hurt. Well, not that bad to where he has to go to the hospital.
“Ew.” Rya squeals.
“What?” I ask, walking toward her.
She lifts her fist. “I caught one.” She opens her fist, and the bug jumps out of her hand. She shakes her hand as if she’s trying to get the bugs cooties off her.
After being in the river all day, the sun has fallen, and the streetlights have turned on. When the streetlights turn on is when our parents tell us we have to get home. But we like to watch the stars come out at night, so sometimes we don’t listen.
