Kiss and Break Up - Ella Fields Page 0,58
printed memories between my fingertips coalesced into vivid images that played out like a movie reel in my mind. Flicking through them, I paused on one from when I was nine, dressed in my school uniform, and felt something crack wide open in my chest.
The silver slide glistened in the midday sun as kid after kid shrieked, throwing themselves down the hot metal, then smacked the backs of their thighs, whining while laughing.
“Hey, clothes peg,” Louis Charles called with his hands around his mouth. “Come have a turn.”
I set my lunch bag aside, unsure but feeling excited I’d been asked. Slowly, I stepped over the crunchy sun warmed grass, then inside the play area where bark littered the ground. “Isn’t it hot?” I asked, moving closer to where he stood with his arms crossed over his pudgy chest.
He lifted his shoulders. “Eh, maybe a little.”
I gazed at his small brown eyes, the glimmer in them unsettling my stomach. “I don’t know …”
“Oh, come on,” he groaned. “Just one time won’t hurt.” He gestured to the other kids who were no longer near the slide but playing jump rope in the shade. “They did it.”
They did, and if they did it, I could too. Dash was one of my only friends, but Dash was bossy and mean. Maybe this would make me some more. And so with my lip between my teeth, I climbed up the rope ladder, my sneakers thudding onto the wooden landing.
I didn’t often play on the play equipment, due to it usually being overrun with other kids. Excitement coursed inside, sending a zinging sensation through my limbs until my lips hitched into a smile when I reached the slide. It was hot, sure, but I could be quick, just like the others were.
My hands hit the metal as I took a seat, and I could feel the heat sear through my school skirt. Excitement faded into trepidation. I looked down at Louis, who was nodding with an eager smile playing on his lips. “Go on, just go quick.”
Right. I could do that. My hands landed on the edge of the slide, and the burn ignited my skin, but it was too late. I’d already propelled myself down, and my school skirt rose, my bare thighs grazing the metal the entire time I descended. My panties crept into my butt, making my skin stick in every place.
I howled, tearing myself off it once I’d reached the dip at the end. I hadn’t even reached it; I had to crawl toward it due to the way my skin stuck instead of slid.
“Peggy Newland,” Mrs. Primrose said. “You know the slide is off-limits when the weather is this hot.”
“Sorry,” I said, my throat clogged. “I forgot.”
She nodded, flicking her eyes over me in a brief glance. “Don’t do it again.”
Laughter and snickers filled the air, and Mrs. Primrose took a bite out of her apple before moving to the other side of the playground.
“Nice pink underwear, Peggy Sue.” Louis sneered.
Bryce Humling slapped his leg. “Yeah. My grandma wears the same kind.”
A basketball came out of nowhere, slamming Louis in the side of the head and sending him to the grass. “Ow!”
Bryce turned to see where it came from and got smacked square in the forehead with a tennis ball. His hand went to his head, and he winced, bouncing back a step.
I looked over to find Dash and Jackson approaching, the latter eating a sandwich. “How do you know what type of panties your grandma wears, Bryce? You sick freak.”
Jackson laughed as did the kids who were just laughing at me a minute ago.
Dash stopped beside me as I adjusted my skirt. “You seriously fell for that idiot’s goading?”
My cheeks were crimson. “I wanted to slide.”
Dash’s granite expression softened, then he punched me in the side of the arm. “Dad’s built one into the side of the pool. We’ll try it out this weekend.”
He then pulled a handful of sour gummies from his pocket and held them out to me. I took them, smiling as I dumped them inside my mouth.
“You almost knocked me out, you psycho!” Louis rubbed his head as we headed to an empty bench beneath an old maple tree.
“Yeah? Fight me, pig nose.”
I bit my lips to keep from laughing.
Dash turned to me as we took a seat. “How’s your butt?”
“Stings a little,” I said around the mouthful of candy setting fire to my taste buds.
Dash and Jackson laughed, but it didn’t make me feel like