Swear to the Sun

Just a demo. I'm new to the site and I want to see if this really works, and I want to see if you all like it or not. This isn't my normal genre of writing, but once again, it's just a practice story.

Swear to the Sun

I’ve tried, and I’ve failed so many times. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Every time I try end up losing. But by just a little bit. I have just a little bit more to go, I know it.
Serene park is as quiet as ever as I walk to school. The fresh, crisp smell of dew-covered leaves. The calming sound of blue birds singing is music to, anyone’s ears, really. But I appreciate the sound more than anyone, I love days like this, so cool and peaceful. The only thing that would make me enjoy it more is if I were in a better mood.
I look down at my wrist at my watch and check the time. Only 7:13, I have time to stop and rest I suppose. I stop at a park bench and sit with my head tilted back, taking in the morning April sun.
Not ten minutes later, I hear someone sit on the other side of the bench next to me. It was a pretty red-haired girl whom i didn’t recognize. She’s also looking down at a map, her eyes flickering around it. “U-um, excuse me,” she looked up and asked me suddenly, “Do you know where the high school is from here?” She smiles awkwardly.
“Uh, yeah,” I replied, “It’s just at the end of the park down the road here,” I point down the park trail.
“Ah, that’s what I thought.” The girl continues to look down at her map, then folds it up and puts it in her pocket a moment later. She then thanks me and stands up and walks in the direction I pointed. But she stops suddenly and turns to me, “Are you going to the school too?” she asked me. I reply in the affirmative. “Oh. Well are you going to go?” she asked now.
“Yeah, in a minute. I’ve got plenty of time. School doesn’t start till seven thirty.” I tilt my head back again and look up at the trees.
“Oh okay,” the girl starts wringing her hands together. “Is there something wrong?” she asks with sudden concern.
How could she tell? I tell her “I’m okay,” but she doesn’t believe me. I keep insisting that I’m okay, but all she says to that is, “You know, about eighty percent of the time, people are lying when they say ‘I’m okay.’”
Well… I can’t deny that she’s right. I tell her that, yes, something is wrong but it’s not a big deal. Now she insists on me telling her about it, saying it might help me feel better, or that she could possibly help. I chuckle and give in to her logic. I explain how I’ve entered this writing contest for amateur authors but I can’t seem to win it ever.
"Hm... yeah. Yeah I, I have no idea what to do either. I'm not much of a writer," she told me with a wry smile and a shrug.
"Ah, it's okay. Thanks for listening I guess," is all I could say.
"I hope you do win eventually though. I know you will." She girl introduces herself as Rachel.
"I'm Miles. And, thanks. I swear to the sun I'll win someday," I smile confidently to myself.
"Why swear to the sun?" Rachel asked, walking towards me.
"Well, the sun never really dies. It never quits shining no matter what. When it goes away, it always comes back just as bright as the last day it shone," I explained. Rachel smiles warmly. She agreed with what I said completely, and gives me more words of encouragement. I thank her for them, and get up to walk to school finally. She walks next to me on the path to our goal with her map tucked in her pocket.

Author's Note

As mentioned in the description, this is just a test story. I'm still getting used to using the site and I want to figure out how it works. I'm using this story I wrote a while ago as my guinea pig. Go ahead and review however you want, criticize even, I'd almost encourage you to say something bad just so I know what to correct for next time (garmmar and spelling mistakes included). So I thank you for reading and I hope this works out for all of us.