"JULIE LOOK OUT!"

The bus surged ahead.

Inches away from the love of my life,

and all I could do

was stand there.

She placed her hand over my hand and smiled at me. "Do you want to go Scream now?" she asked. "Sure," I replied. She smiled and bit down on her lower lip. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my jeans, then put my hand out for Julie. She took it and I helped her off the bench. "Such a gentleman," she teased. We walked down to Scream, hand in hand.

Kim, Jerry and Jack were saving our spots in line, and of course, they were all arguing. Julie looked up at me with desperate eyes. I smiled then interrupted Kim, Jerry and Jack. "Guys!" "What?" they asked in sync. "Uh, we're supposed to get on the ride on," I said slowly, as if I were talking to children. They're not exactly children, but they are pretty close.

We all handed the man our tickets and we entered the ride. Summer had begun and to celebrate we all decided to go to an amusement park. We lost Eddie in the first ten minutes to a short, redheaded girl. She had actually been, what looked like, into him. Weird, I know.

I followed Julie and we sat down on the side of the car. I buckled up then pulled the bar down in front of us. Julie tossed her shoes on the ground, then put her glasses in her purse and put them down. "Alright kids, safety rules," the man who had taken our tickets began. "When the car goes down, hold onto whatever could fall and injure somebody. No food, drinks or gum whatsoever, you could choke and die. Lastly, whatever you do, don't unbuckle!" he warned. I nodded and looked over at Julie. She took my hand and wrapped her fingers around it. I smiled and she smiled back.

We slowly rose up 200 feet then came to a sudden stop. "Here we go," Julie said. Right as she finished we fell at 82 miles per hour to the ground then stopped, again catching me off guard. Julie's hair was now pointing in all different directions and she giggled. "That was so cool," she said smiling. "We should do it ag-" I was cut off by Jerry. "NO! We're not doing again," he said sternly, then walked out of the ride. He tipped and almost fell over as he walked.

I hopped out of my seat then pulled Julie's bar up. She unbuckled and I picked her up, bridal style. I carried her to the bench where a dizzy Jerry, laughing Jack, aggravated Kim, anxious Eddie and the redhead all sat. I spun Julie around, then put her down. "This has been the best day," Julie said happily. "I second that," Eddie sighed as he starred into the girl's eyes. "The best first day of summer ever," I said as I kissed Julie's cheek. "Just got better," she announced blushing. "We should come back to-" Jack was cut off by Jerry. "NO!" he yelled. We all laughed.

They got up and we all walked down to the parking lot. "I can't believe you were scared, sorry are scared, of that rollercoaster," I teased to Jerry. "I will assure you I was not scared," Jerry argued, his voice crackling as he spoke. "Uh, yes you were," Julie laughed. I laughed with her...

Then suddenly stopped.

"JULIE LOOK OUT!" I screamed. The bus surged ahead. Inches away from the love of my life, and all I could do was stand there. The bus flew and I gasped. Where was Julie? "JULIE!" I screamed.

Suddenly, Julie and Jack popper up from the other side of the road. I ran over to them, everybody following me. Julie threw her arms around me and nestled her head into my neck. I hugged her tightly, then she pulled back and turned to Jack. She hugged him tight, very tight, too tight.

"Thank you so, so, so, so, so, so much!" she said shakily. "No problem," Jack said cockily. Julie pulled back and lightly slapped his arm. "Seriously Jack. if it wasn't for you, I would've died back there," she said passionately. "Okay, you've got me there. But I-we couldn't see you get hurt," Jack said softly yet reassuringly. She smiled then turned back to me. I put my arm around her shoulder and she slowly relaxed. "Thank you Jack," I said to Jack. "You're welcome."

We walked to the car in silence. The only noise was the sound of our feet hitting the ground. When we got to the van, everybody started getting in. Eddie's mom had dropped us off and now she was picking us up. We didn't tell her about Julie's near death experience, for Julie's sake.

As Julie climbed into the car Jack started to follow, but I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He turned around and gave me a confused expression. "What's up man?" he asked. "I just wanted to thank you again," I started. I looked over his shoulder to make sure Julie couldn't hear, then spoke again. "Julie's everything to me. I-I don't know what I would've done." Jack put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "It's okay. She's fine now," he said then turned and got in the car. I nodded and followed him into the car.

X-X-X

I couldn't fall asleep that night. Whenever I would close my eyes I would see the bus surging towards Julie. How come I just stood there? I couldn't even protect my own girlfriend if her life depended on it. Jack jumped in and risked his life for her. How come I couldn't be more like him? I wanted to be the brave hero for Julie. What if we'd been there alone, she'd probably be dead right now.

I tossed and turned for a while. I finally let my eyes control me and looked over at my clock. 3:50. Wow, had it really been the long? I sighed in frustration then turned over, yet again. I started counting back from 100. I kept counting for a while, then finally, my eyes slowly shut and I fell asleep.