The moment the last bell of the day goes off, there are three emotions that spin in your head:

Joy. Check your pulse-- if you're still alive by the end of a day in ninth grade, you have every reason to be happy. Besides that, you have an full fourteen hours to recover. In that time, you can sleep, eat, and over all do whatever the heck you want.

Then there's the anxiety. The questions flood in– What if I can't finish my homework? What if I forget to do it in the first place? What if my friends start texting me? Should I respond? Will they think I'm rude if I ignore them? Will Micah ask me to the Halloween Dance? Am I prepared if he kisses me? I've always had some case of anxiety after school, no matter what it's about.

Next comes the feeling of dread– tomorrow morning you have to wake up early and half awake, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, brush your teeth, and make it to the bus before it takes off without you. All for what, to spend another lousy day sitting on my ass in a plastic chair? No, don't think so.

But today's different. Today's Friday; and we have a three day weekend.

I can't remember why, but we get Monday off of school. Honestly, I could care less why, as long as I can lounge around binge watching my shows all day.

"Hey Samantha, whatcha doing after school?" My close friend, Taylor, asks. I inwardly groan. I search my head for an excuse to have an evening alone with no interruptions.

"Um," I reply. "I actually have a date."

"Jason finally asked you out?!" Taylor gasps, smiling and eyes dazzling.

"No no, Jason didn't ask me out!"

"Then who are you going out with?" She questions.

"Uh, I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

"No, tell me now!" She persists.

"Tay, I'll tell you later!"

"Promise?"

"Yeah!" I lie.

"Fine..." she grunts, "but text me all the details tonight!"

"Bye, Tay Tay!" I wave goodbye.

"Bye, Samantha!"

I go to leave in the opposite direction, and spot my best and better friend,  Cassandra.

"Cassie!" I whisper-shout, trying not to call the attention of anybody who knows who I am.

"Oh, hey Sam!" She calls to me. I run over to her, my tied laces beginning to undo.

"I'm walking home with you today, okay?"

"Can't we just take the bus this time?" She asks.

"You did not just say that!" I laugh. She's always wanting to sit down and enjoy the ride, but I like to live life a little more fast paced, like my mom did when she was a kid.

"What's wrong with the bus!" She says as we start walking down the dirt path, away from the buses.

"What I mean," I say, picking up the pace, "is you should know me better than that!"

Suddenly I start running, faster until I'm sprinting down the sidewalk.

"Hey wait!" Cassie shouts.

I smile big and run as hard as I can, letting my curls run loose in the wind that brushes against my face. My blue and pink backpack knocks against my back with every jogging step.

In this moment, I'm not Samantha, the popular girl who could have anything she wants if she bats her eyes; right now, I'm Sam.

"Sam I thought we were walking!" Cassie pants.

"You think this is running?" I joke, breathing heavily.

"I swear if you go any faster my legs will fall off!" The red-head yells breathlessly, slowing down.

"Fine!" I groan.

I slow down and we catch our breath. I look around. We're in a neighborhood, or more specifically, as we like to call it, the Gym.

"Are we going to do the course today?" Cassie asks, still gasping.

"Duh!" I reply. "Why else would we go the long way home?"

"To take our shortcut, even though it has no meaning since we can go the shorter way home and be there quicker."

"You're just lazy!" I tease. Cassie tuts and crosses her arms.

"Am not!" She defends. "I come out here without you sometimes just to run through it!"

"That doesn't make you not lazy."

"Then what does it make me?"

"It makes you..." I begin. I think for a moment, then realize I don't have a snarky comeback. Instead, I decide to ready my running legs.

"It makes you second place!" I yell, shoving her aside and running down an alley.

"Hey, cheater!" She calls after me.

I smile at my little trick as I near to first obstacles.

A fence with chipping white paint closes off somebody's backyard. I sprint hard and jump up to grab the top of the fence, pull myself up and over, then fall to the ground, landing on my feet.

I turn around and speed towards the shed with the matching paint. Bouncing off of its wall with my foot, I leap up and grab the tree branch overhead. I grunt and I pull myself up, swinging my legs around the branch. Hanging upside down, I crawl forward until I'm above the shed. I drop down and land on its black roof.

I search for the next challenge and spot the branch hanging next to a neighboring house. Without another thought, I run and jump off the roof. Extending my arms in the air, I hit and grab the branch. I lift my legs up and down, making my body swing. I swing higher and higher, until I let go of the branch and fall on the rusty escape stairs outside the house. The metal makes a loud clanging sound from the impact, and I use my hands to steady my balance before starting up again.

I run up the stairs two or three at a time. When I'm finally at the top of them, I turn to the caged windows. I grab the bars and quickly climb them like a ladder. Carefully, I lay the palm of my hand on the shingles of the roof. Using the rough surface as a loose grip, I pull myself up onto the roof. I bring myself to my knees and slowly stand up, trying not to lose balance.

I look back to find Cassie. I can't find her at first, but then I see her scooting her way upside-down on a branch.

"You look like a sloth!" I call over to her.

"I may look like one but inside I'm a tiger!" She shouts back. "Rowr!"

"Yeah, you're right, like a cat stuck in a tree!" I shoot.

Then I run up the slanted roof and carefully step down it. I slide off the roof and land on a garage. I sit on the end of garage roof and drop down on top of a car. I leap over the windshield and land on the hood, then I fall to the ground, catching myself with a somersault. Using the energy from the roll, I push off and continue sprinting across the street.

I run in between two houses, which leave their metal garbage cans side by side, blocking the path. When I near it, I push off with the lid with my left arm and swing both legs over the cans. I run on the wall to make my body to the other side, then land and keep running until I reach the street.

My house is across the street, but hers is all the way down the street. I wait at the side of the road for Cassie to catch up.

I wait for a while. She must be really far back there.

Unless she fell and got hurt. What if she broke her leg? It wouldn't be the first time either of us got hurt on our course. We've been doing this for a long time, though. She should be fine, right? I don't know, she seemed pretty rough when she was on the tree...

As I begin to worry, I turn around; but just then, I hear a loud clang!

The trash cans tumble to the ground and Cassie steps over them, rubbing her head.

"Where were you!" I ask with concern. She sees my face and for a moment she looked like she felt bad for making me freak out; then she smiles big with all her white pearls showing.

"Right behind you," she says, catching her breath. "Whole time."

"Bullcrap!" I laugh. "And now you're going to have to pick all of this up!"

Trash was already scurrying along the ground from a breeze. I help her turn over the trash cans and catch all the garbage. When we can't find any more trash, we put the lids on the cans.

"So are you going home?" She asks, looking across the street.

"Yeah," I say. "I have a date with a new season on my TV."

"Okay, you sure you don't want to come over for a while?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay." She says. "Well see you later, Sam!"

"Later, Cass!"

We wave goodbye and I watch her run across the street and down to her house. I look to the right and watch the bus stop, waiting for it to come. I always wait so mom thinks I came on the bus instead of walk home. If I set her expectations low, then she'll be proud of me if I ever tell her about my exercise. 

In a few short minutes, the bus comes and students flow out. I walk across the street and open the front door. I walk in and shut the door behind me, greeted by the smell of warm chocolate.