The Pentagon Relationship

The wind was blowing her dark hair around her. It was the first day of spring, and Adeline couldn’t wait to get out on the swings. She had been stuck inside for 3 hours learning inside the small rectangular room reserved for Mrs. Fillip’s grade 3 students. She had just finished writing down her 6 times tables up to 13, when the bell rang for recess to begin. She hurried outside, almost bumping into Jerry, the smallest boy in her class.

And there the 2 blue swings were, blowing in the wind welcoming her to them. She rushed forward towards them; determined -like no other grade 3 girl could be- to get to the swings before some other student claimed them. She sat on the blue rubber, and began to pump her legs and arms, gradually climbing higher and higher. She wasn’t a very good swinger, but her brother told her that if she practiced enough she would be able to get it. The trouble was to get her arms going at the same time as her legs. That is when she saw him coming.

Theo ran over to her, a big goofy smile on his slightly chubby face. One arm was trying to get his jacket on, and he stumbled a bit. Adeline’s face scrunched up in anger, as he approached, but this did not phase him. Adeline forgot about her swinging patterns, and she noticed she has stopped going higher. This just made her more annoyed.

"Hi Adeline. You got out here quick! I had to run to my coat, and I still didn’t catch up," he spoke out, and laughed slightly. Adeline still didn’t look pleased to see him.

"I didn’t bother with my coat. I wanted to swing," she said icily, and began to try and get her rhythm back into pumping. Theo watched her for a bit, and soon noticed that she wasn’t very good.

"My dad used to push me to get me started, you want me to push you, Adeline?" and before she could say anything, Theo quickly scampered behind her and started to push her. She quickly got higher, and was astonished at how strong Theo was. But that only lasted a minute, before she quickly turned sour again.

"Theo, you can stop now. I’m high enough," she said and quickly resumed back to ignoring him. Theo just smiled at her, his big goofy grin, and took the swing next to her. He quickly caught up to her height, astonishing Adeline.

"How’d you get up so high so fast?" she asked in amazement.

"Practice. I love to swing," he said and smiled at her. This time Adeline smiled back.

"I like to swing too, only I’m not very good at it. My brother Ryan says if I practice enough, I’ll get good, but so far it isn’t working," she said in a defeated voice. "I just can’t get my arms and legs going together."

"Well, you’re smart, so you’ll get it," said Theo, and he smiled one of Adeline’s favorite smiles.

Suddenly Theo’s voice got deeper and his face contorted to a face of anger.

"Miss Courtier, would you mind not falling asleep in my class. Maybe you should get a bedtime schedule from your parents. Maybe then it will stop you from sleeping in my classroom!" said Mr. Garner crossly. He was standing over her desk, and everyone had slight smiles on their faces, including three of her friends around her.

"Sorry Mr. Garner. It won’t happen again."

"See to it that it doesn’t! Now, Bethany, would you care to sum up what the answer to question 7 is, again? For Miss Courtier’s sake."

Adeline could see Lorain looking at her, trying to get her attention, but she pretended she didn’t notice. She was already in enough trouble as it was that she didn’t want to get caught talking during class. Mr. Garner was always catching people talking in his class, and he already caught her twice that year.

She tried to pay attention, but the dream kept coming back into her mind. The way his black hair swept carefully in the wind, and his blue wind breaker he always wore, all of his features had been recreated perfectly. It scared her she still remembered all of these little details so perfectly. She knew she shouldn’t, it wasn’t healthy for her, but she couldn’t help what her mind chose to remember. It was only then that she noticed half the class was gone, and Ethan was waiting by her side, like always.