The sun threw long shadows over the short, dirt green path as Chase Pickens and his friends slowly trudged 
toward a large tree in the distance. Chase brushed his sandy blonde hair out of his eyes with the index finger of his
left hand. He stopped walking, and Marcus Greene who was trodding behind him with his head down, bumped into
him. The slight bump caught Chase by surprise and they both went sprawling to the ground. Carrie Sunthruther
flopped down beside them both and hit Marcus with her knee. He didn't seem to notice. Carrie  tugged at Marcus's
green shirt and finally freed a very uncomfortable Chase out from under him. She let her back pack fall off of her
shoulders, opened it, and pulled a large, plastic water bottle out. She unscrewed the cap and took a few gulps of the
ice cold water. As she was drinking she could see Marcus looking at her with pleading eyes. She looked over at him
and he turned his 'puppy dog eyes' on her. She passed the water over to him.
	"Just don't drink it all," She said and lay on the worn down grass.
	"Yeah," Chase said as he sat up. "You already drank all of yours and mine." He smacked Marcus on the
back just as he was swallowing.  Water came spewing from Marcus's mouth all over the ground. Soon, everything
fell silent as the three of them lay on the ground, looking up at the clouds. They all liked these quiet moments,
though none of them would ever say it. They all liked them, probably just because of the fact that there were so few
of them. 
	They lay there like that for a few minutes, just resting.. Marcus found himself on the edge of sleeping.
Then, Carrie sat up. The sudden movement scared Marcus. Carrie's brown hair fell out of her pony tail and in front
of her face, with a deep breath she blew most of it away. She looked around with an expression of puzzlement.
"Where's Mandy?" She stood up, Chase and Marcus followed her lead. They all looked around for Amanda. 
	"I don't know," Chase replied. He started walking down the path. "I'll be back in five minutes, you guys
stay here." He walked down the path. After a few seconds he began jogging. 
	"Just you and me now, baby," Marcus said winking at Carrie. He ran his hand through his short brown hair.
"How's about you and me go someplace a bit more private." A smile spread on his face as he tried not to laugh.
	"Oh Gawd," Carrie said as she rolled her eyes. "maybe I should have seen if Chase would have taken me
with him.
	Marcus started singing Let's Get It On in his deepest Barry Manilow voice. Carrie had no choice other than
to smile. Sometimes Marcus's childish behavior could be cute. When Carrie smiled it always showed her
multi-colored braces that normally hide underneath. Marcus starting laughing when he saw her smile. "Mwa ha ha. I
saw them! I saw your braces! Boy, are they ugly!" She knew he was only kidding, but her cheeks still started to get
red nonetheless.
	"Shut up or you don't get any more water,"She threatened as she put the bottle into her backpack.
	"Yes Ma'am. I apologize. Please forgive me. I'll never do it again." As he said this he spoke in a British
accent and fell onto his knees with his hands clasped out in front of him. He lunged forward and grabbed her shoe.
He started kissing the toe of it, but then he sat up and spat the dirt out of his mouth. "Your shoes are a wee bit dirty
there," he said. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his knees.
	Down the path they heard Chase yell "Found her!" A few seconds later they could see him too. Behind
him, they could see Amanda trailing behind Chase like a stray puppy. Amanda fit Marcus's perfect description of a
girl; Long, blonde hair, sparkling brown eyes, an extremely cute nose, and shimmering teeth.
	"Sorry," Amanda said as she and Chase finally reached the other two. She sat down beside Carrie on the
grass. "I stopped to tie my shoe for just a second, then I saw a rabbit. I didn't want to scare it off, so I stood there
and watched it nibble on some grass. then Chase came along and scared it off." Marcus stifled a laugh.
	"You guys ready to go?" Chase asked everyone. "I don't think that it can take that much longer. We should
definitely be there before dark.'
	Marcus grabbed his pack off the ground. "Can you tell me why I couldn't bring my bike again?" He started
walking in the direction of the huge tree that wasn't so far off in the distance as it looked.
	"Because, if you brought your bike it wouldn't be fair to the rest of us. Right Chase?" Amanda looked at
Chase like a student would their favorite teacher. 
	"Well, that and the fact that he'd probably fall flat on his face every five minutes because of the pack on his
bike. Now, if there's nothing further, let's get going." Chase started down the path, the others just kind of fell in line
behind him. They looked like a group of young soldiers at the tail end of a twelve mile hike.
	"This guy's a bloody slave driver," Marcus exclaimed. his legs were tired already, and somewhere on his
left foot it felt like he was bleeding. He though that he could feel the blood wetting his sock a little bit.
	"Stop your whining," Carrie said. She pushed his pack and he went sprawling forward. he fell onto
Amanda who just laughed at his clumsiness. She helped steady him and they continued walking. But Marcus's heart
was a bit lighter, and perhaps beating a bit faster too. All because, for one brief second, he had his arms wrapped
around the girl that he dreamed of.