"Come on, give me one good reason not to jump in the lake." Eight year-old Janna teased her her nervous friend, watching Marco Diaz look from the edge of the hill at the cool lake below them. The poor boy was shivering in his adorable swim trunks, the confident Street Fighter character on the side belaying the fact that he didn't want to be so high up from the water. "Don't tell me you're too scared to jump in, Diaz!"
Young Marco looked over the edge, looking down at the invitingly cool water that teased him. The temperature for the month had been in the record highs, which was why his parents had brought him out to the local lake to cool off and have fun. Unfortunately, they had also made sure to bring little Janna with them as well, being family friends with her father too busy with work to take her himself.
Swallowing the hard lump in his throat, he looked back to his companion and slowly shuffled towards the path downwards. "Janna, I don't think we should be doing this… only the big kids get to come up here. Maybe we should just go back and play in the shallow end."
"C'mon Marco, we're totally big kids, too!" Janna whined, hands coming to her hips and pouting. "We totally can do this, it's not that big of a fall!" She tried to keep herself from shivering, moving close to her friend and pushing him closer towards the edge in her place. "Um, but maybe you should go first… just to make sure that it's safe."
"What!?" Marco immediately backed up, pushing against his friend and unable to make any headway as she kept her feet planted firmly against his desperate attempts at escape. "N-no Janna, I don't wanna do it! You're the one that dragged me out here, why don't you go first!?"
"But Marco, don't you wanna be cool?"
"NO! I wanna go back down!"
Janna crossed her arms and huffed, closing her eyes in thought for a moment before pumping her fist in exclamation. "Why don't we do this together then?" Her young friend stared back with a firm look of doubt and disbelief. "I'm serious! On the count of three, we'll both jump together. It'll be fun!"
"Isn't that unsafe? Maybe we-"
"Don't be such a baby, Marco! It'll be perfectly safe!" She took his hand in her own, ignorant of the way his cheeks flushed as she let the boy to the edge and stood by his side. "On the count of three, we'll both jump in together!" Janna began to bob back-and-forth, as if making to jump off and into the water. "C'mon Marco, don't you trust me?"
The pre-teen looked from his feet to his friend and then back towards the exit down the hill. It was obvious how he wanted to run away and go back to the safety of his parents and the shallow water of the lake… but he couldn't just leave his friend where she was. Marco knew that she would still take the risk of jumping on her own and despite his fears, there was no way that he could just leave her alone…
"Sure… alright Janna. On the count of three…"
Both kids began to ready themselves, making outlandish motions in preparations to jump. Marco didn't notice how his 'best friend' was slowly inching backwards, positioning herself behind him as he got ready to make his leap into the water below.
"One…" Janna bit her lip, almost drawing blood as the infectious thought continued to claim her. He was going to be mad at her, so-so mad, but she knew that he would forgive her for it later…
"Two…" Her hands were barely an inch away from his backside, the phantom sensation of his skin on her own flesh causing her body heat to flare and her vision to blur slightly. There was no need to worry, he would always forgive her for it… they were inseparable, no matter what she did to him.
"Thr-!" The forward momentum came as an absolute shock, Marco's hands flailing wildly as Janna sent him off the edge and into a short freefall into the calm waters below them. "EEEE!"
She watched as her friend went into the water with a terrible splash, cringing slightly as she watched his backside hit the water first. "He's fine, right? Right?" Janna bit her lip as she debated to herself slightly, sighing in relief as Marco's head eventually came back up and paying no mind to the way he was yelling at her from the water's embrace. "Yep, he's fine. Look out below!"