Shades of Odd (3)

Chapter 3

            “How are my favorite losers?” a loud girlish voice called out. I jumped up and splashed back across the river.

            “Heather!” I yelled as we closed in on each other. She was wearing a tank top, blue jean shorts, and a very happy expression on her face. She threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. “Oh my God. What are you doing back so soon?” I asked.

            “My Drill instructor, Sergeant Barrow, was apparently shooting up speed and the whole camp got shut down for the psychological endangerment of minors.”

            “Wow. That’s messed. So like somebody saw him doing it?” Ji questioned, walking up behind us.

            “Nope. My roomy, Marsha, broke her arm in an obstacle course. Sergeant Barrow put it in a splint and told her to quit whining. Then she called her boyfriend and he snuck in and planted needles in Barrow’s office.” She laughed.

            “Well yeah it was cruel of him but I’m sure he knew what he was doing.” Ji said. Heather rolled her eyes at him.

            “Jeeze, Ji. Do you always have to find something nice to say? Boot camp is a living hell, man! You try it!” Heather threw her arms up.

            Ji chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll pass. I really missed you though, Heather. Where’s my hug?” Heather practically tackled him and hugged him closely.

            “Wow. Thanks.” He blushed as she pulled away.

            “So, what have you two been up to? Awesome summer mischief and all that childhood memory crap?” Heather said imitating my dad’s voice. My dad seemed to think his kids’ lives were like one of those sappy teen shows where you learn a lesson each episode.

            “Hardly.” I giggled. 

            “I’ve been working and God only knows what A.J’s been up to.” Ji rolled his eyes.

            “Oh, and what have you been up to, Alisa Jane?” She looked at me in a motherly way.

            “Well, I was with Mom in Greece for a book tour most of July and then the whole family went on vacation to Brazil for two weeks. It wasn’t much fun trust me.” I said trying to be convincing. Heather wasn’t buying it.

            “Dude, you were born in a rich family. Why do you act like it’s a curse? We find it freaking awesome, don’t we Ji?” She said with a demanding glance Ji’s way.

            “Yeah, sure. If I was rich I would have no problem showing it off.” Ji shrugged.

            “So… Did I get any kind of present from one of your foreign exploits, A.J.?” She smiled wide with hope.

            “Yep. It’s in my room. I’ll show you later.” I promised.

            “Yay! I can’t wait.” She squealed.

            My presents were never the normal t-shirt, coffee mug, magnet type of thing. My mom would not allow that.

            “Man, I’m burning up out here.” Ji complained.

            “Hey, as long as I’m not running obstacle courses I’m cool.” Heather smiled.

            “Ok ok. Let’s get Jianyu Shi Xu inside. Ninja’s prefer places they can hide.” I jested. Heather giggled and Ji started walking towards the clubhouse.

            “No! Stop! I wanna do it!” Heather said running after him. I followed. She removed a necklace she was wearing that had a pink key on it and opened the door. We all went inside.

            We each have one of these keys. It’s a “BFF” thing we decided to do. Originally I was going to get custom necklaces made for us all that had our initials engraved on them. Ji didn’t like that idea cause he didn’t want another reason to be made fun of.

So since we all had a key to the clubhouse I took them up and painted them three different colors; purple, blue, and pink. Then I took a sharpie and wrote B on the purple one, F on the blue, and F’s on the pink. I took the Purple, Ji took the blue, and Heather of course took the pink. Heather made a necklace from hers, I put mine on my key chain, and Ji put his on his chain wallet.

We walked into the clubhouse, which almost mirrored my loft. There was a bathroom to the left, and a string hanging from the ceiling. It was not big by any means. There was a TV and a couch on the let side of the room. To the right was a shelf with board games, candles, and books, and a small fridge with a dry erase board on it.

All 3 of us slipped our shoes off and left them by the door. Ji grabbed a coke from the fridge and offered heather one but she declined.

“Any Mountain Dew?” she grinned.

“Nope.” Ji said.

“Darnit.” She sulked.

Ji wrote “MD” on the dry-erase board.

If we leave messages for things we want on the board and stick them in the metal box outside. They miraculously appear in our little mailbox in about a week. My mom is so awesome.

I pulled the string down and a ladder fell. I went up first, and then Heather and Ji followed. Here was our “Padded Cell.” It was low and you had to squat to get around in it (Ji had to crawl because of his height.) but it was our favorite place in the world. The floor was made of some sort of mattress pad so it was like a padded room. We could lie down and just talk.

I found a spot and laid down. Heather turned on a radio we kept in the corner and fell over next to me. Indie rock spilled from the speakers into the air creating a serenity only we could fully understand.

“Ahh… home at last.” She said snuggly.

“I know. I haven’t been up here in like… 3 weeks. I’ve been working a lot.” Ji frowned.

“That’s the story of your life, Ji.” I laughed.

“Tell me about it.” He sighed lying back. We went silent for several moments.

“So… what are we gonna do guys?” Heather said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“9^th grade… High School changes people. You know that A.J. Look at Owen. How do I know you’re not going to turn all preppy and start hating me? Or you Ji! You could fall in love with some whore and turn your back on us.” She said sitting up and leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

“Oh my God, Heather. You act like High School’s gonna be just like a soap opera. This is real life!” Ji started laughing hard. “And I highly doubt any chick is gonna like me. I mean… It’s me, Heather!”

“But guys!” She whined.

I sat up and looked her in the eye.

“Heather, Nothing will change! We’re best friends. Nothing can break that bond. You’re stuck with us for life.”

“You promise?” she pouted.

“I promise.” I assured her.

“And I promise too.” Ji said.

“& I promise 3.” Heather smiled.

            That moment was unforgettable. It etched into the back our minds instantly. Like every group of friends before moving onto a different phase of life, we made that promise not knowing what was ahead of us. We were but tiny ants standing in front of a tidal wave.