"The Accident" by Karen L.

     When I was about seven years old, my family and I had just moved from our small, outgrown apartment into a bigger home. I remember not being scared whatsoever. Instead, an overwhelming feeling of joy had been following me since I heard the news. Of course I was sad to leave my friends behind, but honestly, all I could think about was how the real estate agent gave me warm chocolate chip cookies during the open house tour. That’s how I knew this was going to lead to something good.
     Our house was brand new and smelt strongly of the paint which had just been applied to the walls. After we had moved everything in and got settled, my parents told me that my first day of school would be on Monday. I was extremely thrilled to be able to meet new people, yet I started to become a bit anxious. My mom reassured me that everything would be okay and that I would make friends quickly, and she was right.
     My first day at the new school was a great one. I remember all of the girls in my class rushing to me and asking dozens of questions about myself. “Where are you from?” “Why did you move here?” “Are you Filipino?” It was great. I’ve never felt more like a celebrity than I did on that day. It didn’t take long for me to get to know everyone and feel comfortable. At recess, I played tag with my new friends and at lunch, they invited me to sit with them. My goal was to become friends with everyone in my class, and for the most part, I was successful. Key words, “for the most part.”
     There was one boy in particular who made it clear that he did not want to be friends. I don’t even think he had any friends, if we’re being honest. Instead of playing with everyone else, he would stay by himself and observe the different types of bugs that he could find in the field. No one was close to him, but they all envied how smart he was for his age. I remember thinking to myself that I would befriend this boy if it was the last thing I did. Except, it wasn’t as dramatic as it sounds. I just really wanted to be friends with him.
In the weeks that passed, I tried to get to know him better, but to no avail. It seemed as if he was purposely trying to reject my friendship, which kind of made me sad. I learned that a few girls had a crush on him because he could draw houses really well, but to be honest, I liked him because he looked like Robin from Teen Titans. I was just about to give up when one day, something strange had happened. Instead of keeping to himself as usual, he was playing on the monkey bars, which was something that I resented at the time. Frantically, I left my group and rushed over to the playground. Amidst the shock of seeing him like this, I yelled at him, “DO YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME?” He ignored me. Now my feelings were hurt for real. I thought that he must not have heard me the first time, so I asked him again in a slightly more polite, but still very eager, manner. He answered, “I’ll be friends with you if you can beat me to the other side of these monkey bars.” I knew that monkey bars were not my greatest strength, but the Sagittarius in me would not let me pass up this competition. “Bet,” I replied.
     As I was climbing up the steps to reach the bar, I knew that I would regret this decision. We started the competition and he was doing laps compared to me. I blamed my parents for my lack of upper body strength. I asked him for a rematch, to which he agreed. Just as he was

about to get to the end, I reached out with my legs and tried to kick him. It landed, and he fell to the ground. The loud popping sound was an indicator that I had made a mistake.
He began to cry whilst clutching his arm. All the commotion had gathered the attention of our teacher and students began surrounding us trying to see what happened. He told them that he was playing on the slide and had somehow managed to fall off of it, and that’s when I realized I was in love with this boy. He literally could’ve had me kicked out of the school but instead, he chose to cover for me, even after I had just broken his arm. A true king.
     In the few days that he was gone, I was filled with worry. I didn’t tell anyone what happened because I was so scared of getting in trouble. I thought that maybe the injuries were so bad that he had to get a prosthetic arm, or even worse, that he would never be able to draw houses again. To my surprise, he came back with only a fractured wrist which was wrapped in a neon green cast. He told the class that he would be able to draw again in about six weeks. I was so relieved. He asked everyone in our class to sign his cast, which they did. When it was my turn to sign it, I decided to do the unthinkable.
     I finished writing my name in a blue, scented marker that smelt like cotton candy. Then, I gave him a fat kiss on the cheek. The entire class gasped, including me, as though not even I could believe what I had just done. He screamed and I had never been more embarrassed in my life. I was about to tell him that I was sorry, but then he yelled, “EWW WHY DID YOU DO THAT!!!” which made me slightly angry. I told him it was just a joke and this dude decides to tell the entire class the real reason he broke his wrist. Unbelievable. My classmates were flabbergasted and I could see my teacher in the back of the room trying not to laugh. It was terrible. After that, my parents received a phone call and I just knew that I would be in big trouble.
     In conclusion, the moral of this story is that you should never kick someone off of monkey bars, even if they’re about to beat you in a race because they might fall and get injured. Also, do not try to offer your friendship to someone who doesn’t want it, because they will tell everyone that you kicked them off monkey bars and you will receive consequences. Lastly, if you do end up causing someone to break their wrist, please just apologize and do not try to kiss them because that will only make things worse, speaking from personal experience.