“No!” I cried.

“Oh, come on,” Isaac pressed, wrapping his arms around my stomach.

“No,” I repeated, pushing him back away from me.

Quickly, he recovered, putting his arms around me again. “You’re not being fair,” he grumbled. “Come on.”

“Stop,” I insisted, once again shoving him backward.

Isaac leaned back against the bunk bed. “You’re a brat.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and then turned to the Lego castle before me. With a smile, I placed a small flag atop the highest point. “Ta-da!” I turned to him. “Pretty good, huh?”

He gave a small shrug. “Well . . .” he began slowly, a smile creeping across his face.

I pegged a Lego at his stomach. “And you call me a brat,” I scoffed.

Isaac looked at me, his smile slowly fading. He looked right into my eyes. The gaze made me a little uncomfortable, but I found I couldn’t look away. I shifted, my eyes staying locked on his.

“Ike,” I managed to say. “Why are you staring at me?”

Instead of answering he beckoned to me with is pointer finger and said, “Come here.”

Barely realizing it, I scooted closer. Isaac narrowed his eyes. He kept looking at me as if entranced for a few moments before blinking and letting out a small smile. “Your eyes look really cool right now,” he said softly.

Softly, I smacked him in the shoulder. “All that for, ‘Your eyes look really cool’?” I demanded incredulously.

“No, really,” he insisted. “They’re, like, almost the color of your hair. It’s really cool.” He smiled again. “Golden eyes.”

“I’m happy.”

Isaac’s eyebrows pulled together. “Is that some kind of sarcastic remark?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “No. It’s just that when I’m really happy, my eyes tend to go golden. I don’t know why. It’s just always been like that.”

He nodded slightly. After a moment, he asked, “So, you’re happy?”

I smiled. “Very.”

“Thirty one! Thirty two! Thirty three! Thirty four!” Zac yelled.

Funny, I thought, amused, watching from my perch on a low branch of a tree in the Hanson’s back yard. I thought I was too old for hide-and-seek.

However, it turned out I wasn’t. Neither was Isaac - or Evie for that matter. Lynnie, Zac, Jessie, Avie, and Mackie had conned us into playing about two hours earlier, and now I was glad they had. The game was filled with such - childlike joy - that I couldn’t help but feel it. Sure, it sounded like a sappy Hallmark card, but it really was the feeling I got.

And now that the sun was hidden far behind the trees and the yard was getting dark, the game seemed to become a little more interesting. More - adult, almost. Sure, Evie, Lynn, and I had often gathered neighborhood children and played hide-and-seek in the dark; but somehow, being in a large back yard, surrounded by massive trees and the far-off sound of water running over rocks made the game more . . . just more. I couldn’t describe it.

“Sixty!” Zac screamed, uncovering his eyes and peering around in the dusky remnants of the sunlight. For a moment, he stayed stationery. After that, he pulled his hands up and made a gun out of them, pointer fingers resting on his chin. He slunk around the trunk of the tree he had been counting at as if he were a character in “Mission: Impossible”. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

Unsuccessfully, Zac attempted to find his hidden game-mates. He sneaked around seemingly aimlessly until I lost sight of him.

I searched the ground for any sight of him. There was a slight movement by a tree about twenty feet away, but it was so shadowy that I couldn’t see . . .

Someone grabbed my foot.

I screamed, and, having been pulled slightly off balance, fell to the ground.

“Be quiet!” Isaac demanded, offering me his hand.

“You jerk!” I cried, grabbing his hand and pulling myself to my feet. “You scared the living daylights outta me! God, Isaac, are you crazy?” I demanded.

He fought back a smile. “I was just going to tell you that if you’re gonna hide in a tree, you should climb up a little higher -”

“I heard that!” Zac yelled, emerging from the darkness.

“See what you did?” I asked in a whisper. Ike just grinned. “You’re such a brat!” I grumbled, peering out into the yard in an attempt to see Zac. I didn’t. “Where’d he go?”

“Boo!” said Zac’s voice from behind me.

Isaac pushed me forward. “Go!” he yelled, laughing.

The two of us ran for the tree Zac had been counting at. The safe zone. Isaac ran ahead of me. I could hear Zac gaining speed. He was close, I could tell. I was so close to the tree . . . Just a few more feet . . .

I crashed into the tree’s trunk, hands and arms cushioning most of the impact.

“Man!” Zac yelled, stopping a few feet behind me. With a groan, he pivoted on his heel and began searching for other players.

I turned to Isaac.

“What?” he asked innocently in response to my death glare. “He didn’t tag you, did he?” he defended.

I pressed my lips together in an attempt not to smile. When it failed, I reached up and ruffled Ike hair. “Told you you’re cute,” I whispered.