ColeAge 10 - 11 years ago
“Where are we going for our open program this afternoon?” Toni dragged out the question and she spun and wove her way through the stones of our Throw, tapping each of us as she went.
Xavi, seated on the biggest rock, answered, “Wherever you want to go, Nettie,”
From my own rock across the circle, I watched him watching her. His knees were tucked to his chest and his brown eyes followed her everywhere until she stopped beside me.
She shook her head, sending her brown hair flying around her shoulders. It was longer than last summer, I thought, even as she whined, “But I always choose!”
“That’s because we like it when you choose, Birdie,” Brennon piped up from the ground.
I could see the back of his head over the rock’s edge in front of me.
Instead of picking or arguing over a rock like we all normally do, he’d let me pick this one today and decided to sit in the dirt instead.
I tried to keep my shorts as clean as possible since I only had one laundry service this month.
But Brennon had so many clothes he didn’t seem to care about getting anything dirty.
Toni stared at each of us before crossing her arms and huffing, “Well, I don’t want to decide today.”
For a second, none of us said anything. It was our unspoken rule: Toni decided, we followed. Then, she piped up again, looking right at me with what my mom used to call puppy-dog eyes, “Please, Cole,” she pouted, “You decide. Please? Since I asked nicely?”
A month ago, right after she told Brennon his dad wasn’t very nice and hurting his feelings in the process, I pulled her aside and told her she needed to work on her manners.
She had been working on it. Even though her ‘asking nicely’ probably wouldn’t have passed my dad’s standards.
At least she said please this time, so I nodded, “Okay, I’ll decide.
We haven’t gone climbing in a while, so, climbing?
” I looked around at my friends and thought Xav looked a little nervous.
He still smiled, while the other two shouted their approval.
I led us through the forest from Stones Throw back towards the camp road.
Xavi and I walked side by side quietly, each of us cracking smiles as our loudmouth friends strolled behind us making up songs.
Because Toni only had her flip-flops on, we had to detour again so she could grab her sneakers from her cabin.
The three of us weren’t allowed to go on the girls’ line, so we stood and waited on what everyone called ‘the big path’ until she came running back to us.
When she hooked her arm through mine with a cry of “Colllllley, let’s gooooooo!
” The two of us started to run. The stomps of Brennon and Xavi’s footsteps chased us as they hollered for the two of us to slow down.
Toni flashed a mischievous smile at me, and her eyes shone as she picked up the pace instead.
Together we sprinted as fast as we could toward the Adventure Park.
When we got to the climbing zone, we were both out of breath and laughing hard as we listened to our friends shout from miles away. There were already a bunch of other kids waiting, most of them older than us, and even though they were giving us weird looks, I didn’t stop my giggles.
Laughing with Toni was so easy. My house was so quiet ever since Christmas, ever since Mom.
And Dad was so much angrier than before.
It seemed like he was getting angrier every day.
I used to cry about it. When Mom first left, I cried every day, and more than once, I asked my dad when she was coming back or why she didn’t want to be with us anymore.
Every time, he told me to ‘Shut up.’ or ‘Stop being such a momma’s boy. ’
He’d called me a ‘weakling’ so many times, and I didn’t want to be a weakling, so I stopped crying, and did whatever I could to make him proud.
He always smiled when I was training or when I was on the ice, so, since then, I’d trained harder than ever.
But it was tiring, and being back here at Agonde, well, that felt so much more like how home used to be.
Especially when Xavi plopped his butt into the grass beside me.
“Not funny, Cole,” he grumbled.
“Was too!”
“One day, I’m going to be faster than you. And Toni.”
I chuckled. “Maybe,” I said, knocking my shoulder into his, “But only because I’ll be so strong my muscles will slow me down.”
Two long shadows cast from behind us, “Oh, yeah, Puck Dropper?” I hated that nickname, and Brennon knew that, so he only used it to taunt me, “Well, then why don’t you climb first? Show us how strong you are?”
“Yeah, go on, Cole!” Toni encouraged, so I got up and went to join the two staff who were already helping other kids into harnesses and helmets.
I was tempted to climb without the gear, just to show Brennon exactly how strong I was, but the staff would never let me get far.
Worse, I might get banned from climbing, and then I’d have to stand here for the next hour belaying and pulling ropes for other climbers without ever getting a turn, so it just wasn’t worth it.
The climbing wall itself was the tall thing that looked like a sidewalk turned so it marched towards the sky, only it was covered in handholds and grips of all different shapes and colours.
At the base, was a small square pit layered with sand.
Not enough to cushion the blow if you fell, but enough to feel soft under your feet.
And outside that square were these big wooden pillars, plunged into the ground with ropes that wrapped all around them.
Those were the belay posts, where the other kids would hold the safety ropes for whoever was doing the climbing.
Between those posts, a giant pile of harnesses was spread across a small shelf.
I grabbed one of the kid-sized harnesses from the big pile.
Putting them on was always confusing. There was one big band to go around your waist, and two leg loops, but trying to figure out which was which meant stepping into them one leg at a time.
I struggled to keep my balance as I tried to get the thing on.
Finally, after a few wobbles, I managed to get my left leg first, then my right, through the loops and pulled the harness up to my waist, but around my hips it stopped.
I tugged and tugged at it but couldn’t seem to get the waist strap above my belly button, where it needed to be for safety.
My friends were too busy chatting to notice, and I didn’t want them to anyway.
Just to be safe, I turned away and kept pulling.
Nothing was working, and under the hot sun, sweat started to drip down my forehead.
I was about to give up when a voice I recognized chirped, “Too fat for the kids harness, Michaels?”
It was Kyle McLaughlin. He was a year older than us, and the only reason I even knew him was because he played for the East Barrett Prowlers, our biggest rivals in the division.
They all thought they were so tough just because East Barrett has a bad reputation. And so, they acted like jerks and bullies, on and off the ice. Especially Kyle, since rumour had it his dad was some kind of mobster. At least, that’s what my dad called him.
Kyle kept taunting me, “You were pretty soft before, but looks like you’ve been getting extra soft in the off-season.”
Behind him, his friends pointed at me and laughed. I tried to ignore them, but my hands were damp and kept slipping on the material of the harness.
“Maybe they’ve got an extra-large harness for tubbies like you!” He shouted, and I knew right away that my friends heard that one, because behind me, footsteps dragged through the grass and yells fired back, “Cole?!” and “Hey!”
Toni came running up beside me, grabbing my hand to pull me back over to join our group.
Kyle had other ideas. He put his index and middle finger to his lips and whistled.
The shrill sound caught everyone’s attention, including Toni’s.
Her blue eyes looked him up and down. He just smirked “Hey, rich girl, you should try slumming it sometime,” then he winked at her. And my mind went blank for a second.
In the space between breaths, I had rushed him, swinging my fists and aiming for whatever part of him I could hit.
His stomach first. He had a couple of inches on me, but when he buckled over with the blow, my knuckles hit his ribs, and then his face in quick succession.
Kyle might have been older and taller, and his dad might be some kind of criminal, but thanks to my dad, and his relentless training, now everyone would see how strong I was.
It took a few seconds, but he recovered quickly and started throwing punches of his own.
Soon, the two of us were on our sides in the grass, kicking and wrestling.
Shouts and screams registered in my ears, but I was too focused.
I wanted to knock that stupid grin off his face.
I wanted to make sure he never winked at Toni ever again, so our fight held my full concentration.
It was only when I heard Toni shriek, “Coley! STOP!” That I turned to look for her. Just long enough for Kyle’s fist to hit my chin. My whole head rattled as he scurried backwards like a rat.
He was crying, “He’s insane,” whining like a baby to the program leader.
“No, you’re just a jerk.”
A dull voice to my left called back. I recognised it as Xavi’s even though he sounded far away.
My vision was still a bit blurred. Brennon’s blonde spikes and blue eyes came into view, and he whispered, “Don’t worry, Cole, I’ll handle this.
” He was gone a second later, and it was too hard to try and follow him.
Instead, I focused on the two sets of hands on my shoulders. Xav to my right, and Toni on the left.
“Cole, that was so stupid” Xav mumbled in my ear.
“He winked at her.”
It was all I could think to say.
“Xav is right, he’s just a jerk. You should have ignored him. I did.”
“Couldn’t.”