I know, I know that I said that I'd have this posted up this weekend but turns out that that didn't happen…a day later(Monday) is still pretty good though. I am so happy that I've already gotten 5 reviews, that's the most I've ever received in my lifetime of being on this site so I really appreciate it and would love if you made one, telling me what you think and what I could do better on. Enjoy!
They passed by Mrs. Walker's house, a signal that Carlos's home was only two more houses away. Carlos walked to the edge of the concrete, balancing alongside the gutter while he watched the collective rainwater rush by,
"Yep I knew I was right, always am." Carlos randomly stated, indicating that he had known the directions to his house, regardless of the fact that they had taken three wrong turns into other neighborhoods. He was distracted however, focusing on keeping his balance.
"No you're not!" James burst out, giving Carlos a light tap on the back, unable to help himself avoid the opportune moment to get Carlos back for his insult. Carlos landed in the road, half of his jacket submerged in rain water, his hands supporting the upper half of his body weight. He heaved himself into a standing position, holding the edges of his jacket out to the side, watching as a thin line of water trailed off of the ends of his coat.
"Ha-ha good one James! But this still doesn't prove that you're not like a girl!" He cracked up, both of them laughing helplessly at his expense. Not only was Carlos laughing at his own predicament but also due to the explosion of his friend's emotion that appeared once again-each time James revolted and denied that he was beautiful, or more of feminine in this case, only proved that the Latino's point was accurate more and more, especially since Carlos's laughter was causing James to get flustered and feel self-conscious, taken aback yet again for being called a girl. To take his mind off of his friend's humiliation and denial, Carlos spotted a bunch of leaves crumpled beneath an elm tree, the raindrops falling like dew between the crevices and insertions of the leaf's fabric.
"Oh whatever James, here-let's have a boat race!" He skipped over to the side of the road, crouching underneath the large tree and searching for the best constructed leaves. He came scrambling back to James's side, handing him a leaf he could use for their game.
"Alright, remember…we have to let them go at the same time, no moving or touching them and whosever boat reaches my mail box first, wins! Alright?" Carlos turned and made sure James understood the rules, to which James nodded, inching towards the gutter, eager to start the race. They both lined up, Carlos standing off the edge of the street while James bent down across the edge of the cement walkway, holding his leaf boat by the stem, waiting for Carlos's orders. Carlos did the same, placing his reddish-brown hued leaf into the stream next to the green tinted leaf that belonged to James.
"1,2, on your marks, get set…go!" He called, both of them releasing their prized boats at the same time. They each leapt up, jogging next to the stream, calling encouragements to their makeshift boats as they were whisked away on the surface of the sputtering gutter. The little leaves, heaved and twisted, spiraling as they were tumbled about by the fast current, pulling them past bits of garbage and clumps of mud and various other debris laying along the channel. The ditch water increased sped as the slope arched downhill at a slight angle, turning the long green leaf in a horizontal position while the stubbier frond shot down the straight away, avoiding stones resting to the left and right of the gutter. James cried out,
"Oh no, mine's gonna hit the rocks!" He lurched forward, wishing to save his tiny leaf boat that was caught betwixt the stone valley. Carlos tapped James's outstretched fingers lightly as he snickered, running pas the boy to catch up to his boat who had taken the lead. James crouched in defeat next to his damaged ship, imploring it to budge but to no avail.
"Hahah I win, I win!" Carlos yelled, dancing in a circle, holding his twig aloft. James scowled, plucking his leaf from the stream and marching over to the dark-haired boy's side,
"Of coure you won, you got the better leaf!"
"Nuh uh, I gave you that one because I thought that it would go faster, and it was winning before it got flipped sideways." To that, James fell silent, admitting defeat although it pained him. The two walked casually in silence, the rain beating heavier upon their backs and heads, dampening their hair and leaving wet trails along their cheeks and foreheads. Suddenly a crafty glint lit a set of hazel eyes as James bounded in front of Carlos, griping his hands with his as he bounced up and down excitedly,
"Ok so you beat me…," He playfully caught the ends of Carlos's blue scarf, wrapping it around Carlos's head while he spoke, blocking his olive-skinned friend's vision with the wet fabric, "But I bet you can't beat me to your house!" At that, he took off in a sprint, a cascade of chuckles following behind him.
"W-what?" Carlos asked, confused for a second, clawing the piece of cloth away from his face, before he lurched into motion; his tiny feet pounding against the wet pavement after the tall figure. "Hey wait, come back here James! That's not fair!" James just laughed harder, turning around to jog backwards, watching his friend's pathetic attempt to catch up,
"Hurry up slow poke or I'm gonna win!" The shorter length of Carlos's stride did nothing to help the boy increase his speed. James marched in place, prepared to dart off the second Carlos arrived. He noticed that the tinier boy was still a few yards away and so he chanced a glace to the left, measuring the distance to the Garcia's abode.
"Hmm about 3 kilometers," James thought to himself, guessing at the distance, pulling in the math term that they had learned in class that morning, not at all aware that a kilometer actually equals one thousand meters. Thus in total, James had proposed that the house which only lay about fifteen feet away was roughly 3 miles away. So much for him studying hard for his upcoming math test next Friday.
A whoosh of color, tufts of black hair submerged beneath a navy blue curtain, sailed by. James eyes opened in shock, completely not expecting Carlos to catch up as fast as he did. Both of their faces broke into huge grins, eager to complete their race and find out who would turn out the victor.
So what did you think? Yeah I know it was short, sorry about that. I forgot to mention in the last chapter…I do not know where the boy's home town in Minnesota is supposed to be but I took the name "Hitteral" from 's story "Everyone of Us on A Mission" on fanfiction so I hope she does not mind and also check out her work, it's pretty cute as well. I like what they are doing in this chapter, it reminds me of what I did when I was little, I based it off of a family memory as well as how I met my best friend(the bit about Carlos and James in the playground, but that was from the previous chapter). I imagined this scene being way different and I feel as though I am writing them as if they weren't in third grade, but I'm doing the best I can so hopefully it's not annoying or anything. Once we get to their house, then the really adorable stuff begins so stay tuned! I can't wait to hear from you all! Anyways, we are nearing the house, what will happen next-who will win the race?