Mary runs, her hands pumping to keep her momentum going. The ground rumbles, a horde of relentless peers behind her. She reaches out, her breath becoming ragged. Her hand crashes into a metal wall, hitting a bumper. The wall gives way, she leaps out, escaping the prison. Sunlight welcomes her, relief flooding her face. She lands on the concrete steps, the rest of the wave of students spilling out of the double door behind her. She raises her fists high into the sky, shouting with every square inch of air in her lungs
"Summer vacation!"
The crowd of students all raise their fists, following Mary's movements in excitement.
"Yeah!"
Everyone erupts into laughter and cheers, groups forming as friends begin to chat about their summer plans. Their school yard is the one of the only plots of grass in the city, everywhere else is just a concrete jungle. Even from here, skyscrapers line every horizon, car horns and police sirens drown out any sort of chatter amongst any residents of Vertigo City. Teachers soon appear from the school doors, shooing everyone away, to carry their conversations somewhere else. Mary tightens her backpack straps, before aiming her path toward home.
Someone pounces on her, the newcomer wrenches Mary's neck into a headlock, smiling all the same. Anne messes with Mary's hair, her own hair is a slight shade of green.
"Hey buddy! Why are you leaving so early?"
Mary makes a quick motion, yanking herself out of the bind.
"Just making my way home, before I was assaulted."
Anne looks Mary over, tapping her shoulder.
"Well, I have a surprise, would you like to hear it?"
Mary turns to leave.
"Unless its a billion dollars, its probably nothing I care about."
Crowds of students pass by, Anne fishes for something in her pocket. Mary has been friends with her since preschool, it feels like she's never changed. Whenever she has a surprise for Mary, its usually between something gross, or just uninteresting. Mary feels a twang of guilt for turning Anne down, but she wants this summer to be a good one, and she doesn't want it ruined by a lizard or something.
"It can be, potentially."
Mary stutters, spinning around, her face blank of expression.
"Wait, seriously? I was just kidding."
Anne brings a paper out of her pocket, unfolding it.
"I know you are, but I'm not lying."
Anne olds the paper up, facing it toward Mary.
"Look!"
Anne sounds pretty excited, which could be a good or bad thing. Mary reads it over, her words she says to herself rise with disbelief as she reads.
"Are you serious?"
Mary is genuinely intrigued, Anne gives her a thumbs up.
"Yeah, I finally got permission for us to check out that cave we found as kids!"
Mary's surprise runs its course, she squints at Anne, giving off a skeptical look.
"Huh, are you sure you aren't making this up?"
Anne only stuffs the paper back into her pocket, keeping that smile up.
"Of course not! Now I know I've cried wolf before..."
Mary rolls her eyes, its been more than a few swipes her hands around in front of her, as if shes trying to clear away any past mistakes.
"But I promise, its for real this time!"
Mary sighs, looking around at the students passing by.
"Fine, we'll meet up at the entrance at 9 tonight."
Anne makes a motion as if to celebrate, but Mary cuts her off, getting close.
"But so help me, if a team of police go and arrest us again, I will literally combust."
Anne holds up her hands in innocence.
"You, have my word."
Mary turns, walking away. Anne stands there for a bit before leaving for her home. With her back turned, Mary makes a little jump of glee, even though she shouldn't get her hopes up. She takes her backpack off, fishing for a rather small ball. She pulls it out, pressing a button in the center. The ball enlarges, fitting neatly in her palm. Its a strange ball, beside the increasing and decreasing in size, its made of two halves. The top half is a bright red, while the bottom is white. Their is a silver lining between the two, with a button in the middle. Pressing it makes the ball click open, the inside is full of inlaid wires and strange mirrors. Mary has never seen anything quite like it, its unique. Her and Anne found it in a cave up in the mountains, but the place is government property, Mary's mother had to get her out of customs a lot because of it. She doesn't know how Anne got a warrant, but Mary has been dying to go back in there, and uncover where this ball came from.
"Finally." She says to herself, wiping the ball clean.
"Ill find out where you came from."
She stashes the ball away, its shrinks back to the size of a marble as it drops into her pack. She slings the backpack over her shoulder, before making her way home in an excited fashion, ready to have a momentous occasion to kick off her summer break.