I did it!

I sent Kira a message asking her to meet me at the bridge after school, and I am now sitting on that bridge, my legs dangling over the edge, waiting for her to arrive. This is not good! I'm having some serious second thoughts about Burlap's plan that sounded so workable earlier. I'm going to go up in flames today and probably burn all bridges that lead to Kira... starting with the one I'm sitting on now.

This bridge in the wooded hills near our school is a popular hang-out spot for the kids from our town. There's a brook rolling downhill underneath it, forming a small pool before flowing out again. Parts of the bridge and the area around it are nice and shady, perfect for hiding from the sun. The forest has many comfortable pockets where we can sit around drinking beer, or dating couples can get to know each other a little better. If you carry on with the path across the bridge, it winds up the hill to a huge pool and a waterfall low enough to jump from.

Resting my forearms on the low railing of the bridge, I lower my chin onto them and watch my toes as they play in the water, running into and from the small pool below me. If there were fish in this stream, they could potentially think that my toes were worms, and when they come up for a nibble, I could just grab them.

I'm totally going to suggest toe-fishing at the creek running through Scarlet Park to the guys. There are some fish there. Thinking about catching fish with my toes when I don't even catch fish using a rod, a net or anything else (I don't fish) still seems more natural than thinking about Kira and what I'm going to say to her when she arrives.

If she arrives.

I've been sitting here on the wooden bridge for about a million years now. I have splinters in my butt, and my toes are starting to freeze; if some lost fish shows up and tries to nibble on them, they'll just break off in the water and flow away. 

Is she blowing me off?

I won't be surprised if she decided not to come (she usually shows up when she says she will) because this is weird, I admit it. Kira and I don't exactly hang out together on purpose. When we do hang out, it's usually because we were in a group and got separated from them while having one of our missions where we try to sabotage each other and then forget we're in a group. Sometimes we accidentally end up at the same place at the same time and then just stick around... No, I'm not talking about my planned accidents... well... those too...

We don't send each other random text messages either, especially not in class. Actually, Kira doesn't use her phone in class at all. She's a good little girl, and there are rules against that. Kira is very good at following rules... as long as those rules make sense to her.

I actually used that fact and the one where she's sitting directly behind Little Miss Jail Warden to my advantage. I swear, if there aren't any rules, Lara will make up a few random ones and then force them on everybody. She doesn't seem to get that when I'm riding on my chair with my feet on my desk, I'm already aware of the unwritten rules against it. I just don't care.

She's big on unwritten rules, that one, and I don't even care about the written ones!

Sending Kira loads of messages and seeing her try to ignore them while Lara twitched in her seat when she heard the phone buzz and got ready to spin around and go all class monitor on Kicks was kinda entertaining. She never learns that trying to enforce her will on Kira just leads to sarcasm.

Ah, Kicks! So predictable... in some ways. I just love it when she glares at me, her lips going all pouty and her cheeks flaring red. So pretty!

I'm an ass, I know.

I chuckle at the memory of our message exchange during our last period of the day, and then I sober up with a heavy sigh. I won the battle, she's on her way here... via Egypt, she's taking so long... and I have to do what I've set out to do but am now not so sure that I'll be able to do. I'm almost hoping she doesn't show up.

I'm having stage fright.

I jump a little when I hear branches crack and rocks tumble, and when I turn my head to look towards the nearest end of the bridge, I see Bushwhacking Barbie stumbling from the woods! She is carrying her school bag on her back, has about half a tree stuck in her messed up hair, her socks have a botanical project going on, and she's carrying... a hockey stick?!

Should I be scared?

I know the girl doesn't like receiving messages from me, mostly because I usually just send her rude gifs and emojis in response to her snotty answers to normal, reasonable questions like: "Your place or mine?" I'm obviously asking about my dad's location (she knows that)! "No thanks" is not a logical answer! Surely she cannot hate the fact that I messaged her in class so much that she has to show up armed and dangerous?!

I hear myself chuckle and realise again that I do that a lot, out loud, when I'm thinking about Kira. I'm often asked what is so bloody funny when I'm not listening to whatever new gripe Jet is going on about for the day because I'm thinking about something cute the girl next door said or did.

There she is now, looking like she got dragged through the woods, warily glaring at me from the edge of the forest, her bottom lip stuck out in that sulky way it sometimes does when she's irritated with me. She is either going to knock me out with that stick and drag me home for dinner, or she's going to run away. 

Either way, she looks so hot right now!

"So, that's why you took six million years to get here! Why didn't you take the footpath? You would've been here ages ago," I tell her, giving the path a meaningful glance. I'm sounding a lot more moody than I'm actually feeling. Well, no, I do feel some strange new mood. The kind where your heart beats a little too fast, and you're finding it hard to breathe and might run away and go join your friends up at the waterfall. "I was about to leave, you know?"

I wasn't, but... yeah...

"You say that as if I'd care."

Right, she probably would've been relieved if she'd arrived to see that I'd gone. Maybe this was not such a good idea. She looks tired and thirsty and even more pissed off than yesterday when I rained on her with dirty water. Pissed off is not the right frame of mind to help my case.

"Are you going to come here and sit down, or are we going to shout at each other like this the whole time?" I ask her, feeling a bit pissed off myself now, but I'm not sure why, probably because I've once again come up with a stupid plan that isn't going to work, and I'm going to go home all alone with a few lumps on my head from a hockey stick.

"Yes," she says, but she's not moving, except for shuffling her feet a little bit, slowly changing their positions, like she's trying to pick a direction to run into.

"Come on then."

"I meant yes, I'll shout from here."

What the hell is up with her now? Do I look as grumpy as I'm feeling? Kira has never been afraid of me before. Fine, I'll go fetch her and lead her to the bridge, like a father helping his hesitant toddler. I have the patience of a saint, after all... No, I don't, but... whatever... I just sometimes have to do that when Kicks is afraid to do something like cross the stretch of lawn in front of Mr Wilkens' yard, when his rottweiler is in the front garden and jumps up and down, growling and barking, looking like he wants to eat passers-by alive. That dog is a lot friendlier when it's not behind the fence, but he could potentially swallow Kira whole; she's an itty bitty little thing.

Sighing, I get to my feet, but I've barely taken a step when I stop. The girl looks like she thinks I'm going to attack her!

Has she gone mad?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I snort, planting my hands on my hips, and then I see a faint smile tugging at her lips. That's a little bit better. When she's amused, she doesn't look scared anymore.

"You look like a drunk best man at a wedding," she tells me, and I roll my eyes, grinning at her. Trust her to say something weird like that. All I did was loosen my tie and roll up my pant legs. My shirt was already untucked. I mostly look the way I always do.

"Yeah, yeah," I shrug, "are you coming or what?"

"I'm not getting on that bridge with you."

"Why not? It's pretty sturdy," I say, bouncing up and down on it to prove my point. I think I know why she doesn't want to be on the bridge with me, but she doesn't have to know that I probably know. She just needs to come here and sit with me and hear my amazing plan... which is part Deli's and part Burlap's... with enough "me" tossed into the mix to make sure that it is a great big muck-up.

"You'll throw me in."

"Why would I do that?" I'm trying really hard not to laugh now. She knows me too well.

"I don't know! Same reason you threw me in all the other times you threw me in."

She's right; whenever we're on our way for a swim at the waterfall, I grab her and toss her into the small pool under the bridge. I cannot help myself; it just happens! She's so cute when she's spitting mad; besides, I think she secretly appreciates it because she has a hard time getting into the water when we reach the waterfall, even on really hot days. If I throw her in here, she has no trouble going for the swim.

I could throw her in when we reach the big pool at the waterfall, but that water is a lot colder than the small pool down here. The sun hits this one just right to break the cold a little. My friends and I always have a quick pre-swim down here when we're going to the waterfall further up the hill.

"We're not here for a swim; I don't need to help you get in," I try to reassure her, pointing out the logic behind my actions, but she is just narrowing her eyes, looking sceptical, but she's thinking. She might make the connections herself and realise that I'm actually a benevolent genius.

"Help me get in? That's what we're calling it now?"

"Why, what do you call it?"

"Assault."

Oh, hell! So much for logic! Laughing, I lean back against the railing, searching the tops of the trees for wisdom and patience and all kinds of other good qualities I really don't have. All I get is the sun shining in my eyes, blinding me. I turn to look at Kira again, squinting to see her after frying my retinas.

"Come on, Kicks! You know you need help getting in, or you'll be sitting on the side complaining of the heat but too scared of the first few seconds of cold to actually get in. I'm just being helpful."

"Helpful would be waiting for me to strip down to my bathers first."

"Sure, next time I'll strip you first," I tell her, and I didn't mean it in a dirty way, I swear, but now that she's frowning at me, I kind of do mean it in a dirty way. I stifle my laughter when she narrows her eyes. I don't want her to run away in a huff, not today, and the thing in her hand might actually do some damage if she decides to beat me up with it.

"Fine," I say, picking up my schoolbag and shoes. "Wanna sit on that rock?" I ask, pointing at the large boulder with the weather-smoothed, flattened top. It is high enough to have a great view of the surroundings but still low enough for even Kira to easily get on and off. I often find her sitting up there thinking strange things, probably involving bugs and rodents and other weird creepy crawlies.

"Or we can go into the trees," she suggests, and I find that really surprising. She loves going into the trees, but I'm pretty sure she usually only goes by herself to crawl around in the dirt, not for any of the reasons I go into the trees with girls I think I like. Kira definitely wouldn't want to go into the trees with me for any reason that I might think of as fun; I am, therefore, trying not to get my hopes up.

"I don't want to be seen with you," she says, and those words are like a stab to my gut.

Right, of course, that's why she wants to go into the trees with me. To hide. Am I a lepper now? Well, to be fair, if someone sees her hanging out here with me, it might be bad for her reputation, but she's forgetting that seeing her disappear into the trees with me would be even worse. People's imagination of what I get up to with girls among the trees is a lot more fun than reality. I have boundaries I don't generally cross. The life I have going on in other people's heads is a lot more interesting than the one I'm living here in the real world.

"Seriously, exactly what is it you think I'm going to do?" I grin at her, trying to disarm her.

"Be irritating."

"You even brought a weapon?!" This fact is really baffling me. I know I annoy the crap out of the girl, but I've never done anything to her that could justify the need for a weapon that could actually kill me! Well, probably not when she's the one wielding it, but it's the thought that counts.

She's not really afraid of me, is she? She's holding the thing out in front of her as if she's trying to ward off an attack by a rabid dog. Just how angry is she about a little bit of water and some floor scrubbing?

"Well, you know me, I like to be prepared," she shrugs awkwardly, clearly rethinking her need for a dangerous weapon. I might not get whacked in the head after all.

"Well, you know me, so I guess you know that I can just do this," I say, saving myself from accidental harm by disarming the girl using my hand rather than my smile this time. To be honest, I find the ease with which I take the hockey stick away from her upsetting. I don't even have to try.

"No," Kira squeaks, looking up at me with huge, startled eyes. "I didn't know that."

♂♀