Chapter 1

A Chapter by yeehaw

Every school has its quirks. Maybe it’s a scavenger hunt during senior year or a senior vs. junior water gun fight. My school administrators are apparently on crack, and I’ll tell you why. We have The Bike Game. What is The Bike Game? It is when all, yes, all, of the high school boys try to get each other “out”. It is achieved in one way and one way only. The person must be tapped (read, smacked) on the head three times in a row, and when they are out, they have to tie a red bandana around their heads. If they are found to be lying, they are immediately ejected from the game. The game is played twice a year, in the fall, and the spring, so stakes are high. The rules are as follows.

You may only be tagged or tag others in the hallways or outside of school. (excluding homes of course)
The winner is the last person standing
Boys ONLY

Nobody knows why it’s called the bike game when it clearly does not involve bikes, but the name stuck.

Now that we have all that out of the way, I’ll tell you how I ended up winning, and then in the Emergency room sophomore year.

“At the sound of the next bell, the Bike Game will commence…” I sigh and look around my first-period class full of all boys. I know they make the roster by taking all the all-boy classes and putting them together, so I hope my name isn’t on there.

“You ready Anaya?” Joey punches me gleefully in my arm, and I raise my eyebrows.

“Ready to watch all the boys act like idiots for the next two weeks? Sure.”

“C’mon, babe, you have to be at least a little excited.” I sigh and do jazz hands.

“Yay. Better?” He laughs and kisses me on the forehead.

“Perfect.”

“Be careful, ok?”

“Babe, I know.” With this, he faces away from me and starts “planning” with all his other buddies.

The bell rings and I sit in my seat as all the boys run out of the classroom and head to the stairwells, where the unfortunate females will be stuck until this section of head-smacking can end. After four minutes, when the next bell rings, I thank the teacher and join the other girls as we make way to our next class. I walk slowly because the teachers will wait for everybody, and I almost trip over a small, shaking seventh-grader.

“Is it over?” I laugh but he silences me with a glare.

“Yeah dude”

“Oh thank god. I got run over in the stairwell earlier.” I tilt my head, confused, and he quickly explains.

“I was using the bathroom and the bell rang and all of a sudden there were a lot of boys and I got run over and-”

“Relax. Just go to class. The teachers should know to hold you guys until after the next bell rings”

“Alright. Thank you…”

“Anaya”

“Anaya” With this, he runs to his class, and I shake my head before changing course and heading to the main office.

“Add one to the run over tally”. In the office, there are two tally charts going. One for all the people who get run over, and another for all the people who go to the nurse, Nurse Sam for headaches. The receptionist adds a fourth tally to list and shakes her head.

“I have a bad feeling about this year.”

“Mmhh” I agree without knowing what I’m agreeing with and walk quickly to class since I’m already 10 minutes late.

“Miss Anaya, where were you?” Mr. Bochiodhwio, (yes, that’s his real name) taps his foot and I shrug.

“I had to add another tally.” He sighs and waves his hand, already done with me and this game, and I walk down the rows until I find my seat.

“How many?” My best friend Charlie turns around in her seat, her long black hair hitting me in the face.

“Four! Already!”

“Jesus!” Muttering, she turns back around, but not before sending a quick text to her twin brother, telling him to be careful I assume.