Another vocab assignment for school. Just updated a bit late.

Palms that instigated loose balls only let seconds go by before leather met palms once again. With sure-footed agility, swiping hands, and cautious eyes, members from both of the two sides scooped up their own ball before the other could grab hold of it. Relations between the two four square groups had always been somewhat humane, although not exactly amiable. The two mixed up cliques grew more and more pungent with one another, kicking each other’s four square balls away from their hands, running away with it, hitting people, or bouncing the ball through the other group’s squares. Balls were stolen from lockers while affiliations were embittered with sneers and glares.

On this day, the four square courts, the sound of laughter and banter noticeably heard among the two groups failed to overwhelm the awkward paranoia that filled the air. Hands groped for balls that belonged to their crowd as soon as it rolled away in a meandering path. At times, balls were kicked from both sides, but not enough to incite rage that had come days before.

For me, it was more than just a sort of opposition towards the other group that made me avert my glance and attention from their game. I knew that the antagonism between our group and theirs began when Steven, a boy who used to play four square with us, was jeered at much too cruelly than he deserved. He and two others left our group and joined the others after this day, even though I defended him and tried to bring him back to our four square game.

He happened to be a very close friend of mine. Maybe, even more.

So here I was, here I am, torn between two groups. One where the friends I have are although cordial, could obviously care less whether or not I was there. The other was one with a best friend who slowly began to drift farther and farther away from me, as many often do, for no apparent reason.

Although I was usually pugnacious in nature, I felt a sort of reluctance in fighting in such wars against them. Perhaps Steven was the sole reason I stopped them from fighting. That I admonished them to give their ball back rather than kick it into the large valley we called, “the bowl,” that lay in front of the school. But today, I had had enough.

Someone from our group, Mark, chased down a ball that rolled into the court of the other group. Two from the other, Leo and Brett, also scurried for the ball and when they failed, tackled Mark as he held onto it. With an uproar of “ohhs” from a table of juniors and sophomores, both of our groups, including me, who was nearby the assault, crowded around Mark, Leo, and Brett as they wrestled to the ground. I extended my arms, calling for the ball, hoping that they would give up when they saw that it was against an unwritten code to tackle a girl. Mark wrested himself from the hands of Leo and Brett, being lean and quick, and began to run: down the steps across the street, beside the fence. Leo ran after him and Brett attempted to cut him off.

Mark ran in erratic movements to keep the two boys off his track. The rest of us from my group and probably from the other as well, knew that Mark was a track maniac and there was no way that Leo and Brett ever had a chance. As Brett closed in on him, I stepped out to provide him auxiliary relief. I called for the ball and Mark chucked it over Brett’s head and into the bushes a little up ahead. I raced against the members of our rival clique and scooped it up.

It wasn’t over yet: Brett picked up Mark’s arms and Leo, his legs, and they tossed him on top of the prickly hedge. “Don’t mess with my friend!” Gerald, another kid from our clique ran at Brett, pushing him down.

Elisha and I approached Leo in our own fury as she slapped it across his face with her water bottle, and I grabbed him and kicked him where it really counts. Gaining plaudits and high fives from our friends, we walked with our heads high back to the four square courts.

And with one swipe, I knocked the ball out of Steven’s hands and chucked it into the bowl. After all, all is fair in love and war, right?