Yeah, so another repost, but I like this one. What do you think, Hit or Miss?
Six year old little Cammie giggled in joy as she swung back and forth going higher and higher on the swing. The wind stung her eyes but she was too lost in the thrill to care. Jessica, her babysitter had taken her to the park and as soon as Cammie had the shiny swing set in her sights, she bolted skipping towards it gleefully. Jessica chuckled at the little girl's excitement, but was glad that she had found a way for Cammie to entertain herself. This way she would be able to talk to her boyfriend on the phone without any interruptions.
After a while Cammie got bored of the swings, but her short little legs couldn't reach the ground so she had no way of slowing down. After many attempts of trying to stop, she let out a little huff and just waited for the swing to slow down on its own. She hopped off and scanned the playground for something new and exciting to entertain her. Cammie immediately bounded towards the monkey bars, climbing up the ladder stretching her tiny little limbs out as far as she could so she could reach the bars.
After getting a firm grip on the first bar Cammie let her legs slip off the ladder that was supporting her. Instead of her legs dangling in front of her like she thought they would, her legs swung way out in front of her making her lose her grip. Cammie let out a little yelp as she fell and hit the ground with a thump.
Luckily, she had landed on her bottom, but the impact still made tears spring to her eyes. Cammie wiped her eyes sniffing trying to hold back tears not noticing the shadow that fell on her as a person stood above her.
"You stupid little girl, that's not how you do it," Cammie heard a voice above her say. Cammie looked up to see a boy standing above her. He looked to be a year or two older than Cammie, he had golden brown hair and the brightest green eyes Cammie had ever seen.
"What?" Cammie sniffed out quietly, she didn't like how he had called her stupid, but she was too embarrassed and scared to say anything about it. The boy looked annoyed but held out his hand for Cammie to grab.
Cammie was surprised, but she gratefully grabbed the hand and was hoisted up with a surprising amount of strength from the little boy. Now standing, Cammie dusted herself off and stared curiously at the boy. Why had he helped her up if he thought she was stupid?
"I said you are doing the monkey bars wrong. When you let your legs off the ladder you have to start swinging your arms so you don't come off balance when your legs swing forward," The boy explained sounding impatient.
Cammie cocked her head to side and crinkled her nose in confusion.
"I don't understand," she said in her cute little first grader voice.
The boy let out an exaggerated sigh before he started climbing the ladder positioning himself so that he was ready to swing across to the other side. "Fine, just watch me," The boy sighed out.
Letting his legs swing off, the boy swung expertly across the monkey bars all the way to the other side. Cammie watched in awe as he let go of the bars and landed gracefully on his feet.
"Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to try it?" The boy asked, tapping his foot in an impatient manner with an annoyed expression on his face. Cammie smiled eagerly, she wanted to try again and do it just like the boy had. She was about to scramble up the ladder but her smile faltered and she hesitated when she thought of falling again.
The boy noticed."What is it? Why aren't you going?" He asked looking at Cammie with a raised eyebrow.
"What if I fall again?" Cammie questioned looking uncertain as she eyed the hard cement ground.
"Then I'll catch you" The boy replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Slowly, the smile returned to her face. "Oh, thank you!" Cammie beamed at the boy, but he just looked away muttering a quiet "Whatever" so that the little girl couldn't see the small blush that was temporarily staining his cheeks.
Cammie and the boy practiced the monkey bars for the next two hours until she was swinging across to the other side without falling on her butt. After that, Cammie proceeded to follow the boy around the park like a little puppy doing whatever he told her to do with a big smile on her face. He continued to act impatient and annoyed with the girl as they played together, but when she wasn't looking he would smile down at her with a little twinkle in his eyes.
"I also know how to skip bars while doing the monkey bars," The boy bragged trying to impress the small first grader.
"Really? That's amazing!" Cammie said gazing up at the boy with wide eyes. He knew he succeeded in impressing her when she looked at him with those big eyes that were currently filled with awe and amazement. The boy smirked down at the girl pleased by her reaction.
Soon enough Jessica was calling Cammie back saying they had to go home. Cammie turned and looked up at the boy, but not soon enough to see the disappointed look pass through his eyes. Cammie stared up at him with sad wide eyes.
"I don't want to go," Cammie complained looking up at the boy for him to tell her that she could stay.
"You have to, your babysitter is calling you," he said flatly, his eyes wandering over to where Jessica was waiting for Cammie.
"Will you be back here tomorrow?" she questioned hopefully eyeing him with her big doe eyes of hers.
The boy, unable to resist the look she was giving him nodded but displayed no emotion. Cammie turned to go but then turned around again to look at the boy.
"Wait, what's your name?" she asked, she had completely forgotten to ask that question earlier.
"Zach, Zach Goode" Zach said smirking at the little girl.
"Oh, I'm Cammie. I can't wait to see you tomorrow!" Cammie beamed, excitement leaking into her voice and before Zach could do anything Cammie launched herself at him and threw her short little arms around him engulfing him in a hug. At first he tensed thinking of throwing Cammie off of him. But then he brought his arms around the small girl and hugged her back, grinning a grin that she couldn't see.
A few moments later Zach gently but firmly unattached himself from the first grader and pushed her away gently.
"You should go," he mumbled out still embarrassed and surprised by the hug.
The little girl nodded eager to do what Zach said. "Bye Bye Zach, see you tomorrow!" Cammie sang out skipping back to her babysitter. Zach smirked and shook his head amused by the little girl's endless supply of energy.
-Monkey Bars-
Cammie bounced happily in her booster seat, Jessica had promised to take her to the park again and she couldn't wait to see Zach again. As soon as she was unbuckled from her booster seat she zoomed out of the car and to the park playground.
Cammie didn't know where Zach was so she climbed to the top of the main play structure to get a better view of the whole park. Cammie bit her lip in concentration as she scanned the park for her playmate. When she finally spotted him, she grinned widely and slid down the slide skipping towards the grass field where she saw Zach and three other kids his age kicking around a soccer ball.
When Cammie got closer she slowed down but kept the big smile on her face as she called out Zach's name.
"Zach! Zach!" Cammie screamed happily when she got the boy's the attention. The other three kids looked up to see a little first grade girl coming towards them. The three other kids looked at the little girl with irritated expressions on their faces, two of them were girls, the other a boy.
"Zach I'm here!" Cammie said out of breath with that huge smile of hers on her face.
"Zach what is she doing here?" The other boy asked looking displeased that the soccer game had been interrupted.
"I'm here to play with Zach," Cammie chirped happily.
"How old are you?" questioned one of the girls raising an eyebrow at Zach. Zach said nothing and made no move to reply or even acknowledge Cammie.
"Six and one quarter" Cammie announced proudly not noticing the disgusted looks she was getting from the other children.
"I am a second grader, no way I am going to be seen hanging out with some little first grader. Beat it kid," one of the girls with black hair snapped at Cammie.
"But-" Cammie started to say something but the other girl cut her off.
"Don't you get the message little girl? Leave" The other girl said glaring at Cammie.
Cammie looked at Zach for help, but his face was stony and he remained silent. Cammie felt her face heat up in embarrassment and she quickly turned around and bolted away hiding under the slide hearing snickering behind her as she ran the other way.
Cammie didn't understand, Zach had played with her yesterday, but today he wouldn't even look at her. Did Zach think that she wasn't good enough for her to play with him and his friends? Was it because the day before she hadn't known how to do the monkey bars? Did he think she was weak?
Cammie stood up and got out from under the slide and clenched her fists determined to show Zach that she wasn't as weak as he thought she was. Cammie knew exactly what she was going to do to prove her strength. Cammie strutted to the monkey bars with a determined look in her eyes.
Yesterday, Zach had told her how he could skip bars when he swung across. If they saw Cammie skipping bars while going across on the monkey bars then there was no way they wouldn't let her play with them, but for the most part she only wanted Zach to be impressed. He was the only one she really cared about.
Cammie climbed up the ladder and gripped the first bars with nervous sweaty palms, she was scared she would fall, but the desire to impress was stronger than her fear. Cammie let her feet slip off the ladder and started swinging across.
She made it past the first four, but as she was reaching for the sixth bar skipping the fifth her other hand slipped off the other bar and Cammie felt herself falling to the ground. Cammie landed on her side and she let out a little cry of pain curling herself into a little ball. Cammie closed her eyes tight when she heard laughter coming from the grass field, but it stopped abruptly.
Cammie wanted to look up to see why the snickering had stopped, but was too embarrassed to look up. A few moments later Cammie could feel someone standing over her, she looked up expecting to see Jessica, but was surprised when she saw Zach standing above her.
"You stupid little girl, don't you remember anything I taught you yesterday? I told you to go with the swing of your legs, you have to be firm with your grip," Zach muttered staring down at her, arms crossed, an annoyed expression plastered on his face.
Cammie got to her feet shakily unsure why Zach was over here. Was he here to laugh at her? Cammie looked Zach sniffing quietly not sure what to do next.
"Are you just going to stand there sniffling or are you going to try again?" Zach asked raising an eyebrow looking impatient.
"But-" Cammie started to say looking over at the other three kids who were continuing to play soccer not even glancing in their direction.
"Don't worry about them they won't bother us" Zach cut her off shaking his head.
"Are you going to play with me today?" Cammie asked quietly her voiced laced with uncertainty.
"Isn't that what I said yesterday?" Zach said looking at her like she was stupid.
That was all it took for the huge grin of hers to return to her face lighting up the space around her. Cammie didn't understand Zach, he kept confusing her with his weird second grader ways, but she didn't care as long she had her playmate back.
