Fiction+story-+Sage+K.

The 4th of July Sage K.

Theresa was going to the 4th of July party. She could hardly wait! She was practically jumping out of her skin. Little did she know that this would be the day that she paid the price for being out smarted. It all started one hot July day when Theresa and her family arrived at Chris’ house. It was an outdoors party and it was during the night. The fireworks really showed up great. It was beautiful. But there were a ton of adults. And, Theresa, only being in third grade didn’t really know how to take it all in. “Um, mom,” she said nervously. “Yes dear?” her mother replied. “Are you sure that we are at the right party? I don’t see any kids. I fell like one small goldfish in an ocean full of sharks.” “Well then look over there sweaty,” said her mother with a grin. Apparently there was something that her mother was happy about. Theresa slowly turned her head at the right angle so that she could see what her mother was pointing at. There were kids! They looked younger than her. But still, they were kids. Her mother told her to go watch after the kids while the adults were setting off fireworks. Before her mother could say another word, Theresa was over with the kids. Theresa thought that this would be fun and easy, because, well, there were only several of them. And she was right, for the most part. Everything was going great until one of the adults came over and gave the kids some mini firework poppers. Theresa didn’t really like them (she had a history) but she didn’t really mind the kids playing with them. While Theresa was walking around trying to keep an eye on all of the kids, she overheard two of them talking. “I challenge you to a popping war!” one of them said with a huge, evil grin. “You know that I would win,” the other replied. Theresa panicked and zoned out of the real world just in time to miss them say to each other that it wasn’t a good idea. Before she had time to think she saw one of them about to pull the string. Theresa didn’t know what to do so she jumped right in front of it. BOOM! It was the most deafening sound Theresa had ever heard. Not to mention the pain that she was in. Half of the party went silent while the others whispered to each other saying “Why would she do something like that?” and “ Is she crazy?” Theresa had never felt so immature in her young life. What had she done? Why did she do it? Before she could speak her mother ran over to her “What happened? Are you hurt? Can you breath? Are you bleeding?” “ I’m fine mom, but I don’t really know what happened,” she said. Theresa looked at the little girl and mouthed, what happened? The little girl shrugged. Obviously she was confused too. Then a kid came up and quietly told her what happened. He was a little older than some of the other kids and he had been with her the whole time. Then, Theresa thought for a second. She thought about what had happened. She felt so stupid. She told herself that this would never happen again. But was she telling herself the truth. She knew that the first that this had happened, she was crying because she was very young. But now it was a different feeling, a feeling of immaturity. It was a little nerve raking being the center of attention. But after a couple of minutes, everyone got back to their own lives. She didn’t know what to do after her mother left. Should she continued on like it never happened, or should she just stand there and do nothing. She didn’t like being outsmarted, but she wasn’t just going to stand there and not have fun at the party. So she finally made her decision and started having fun again. But, don’t get me wrong. She has never gotten near a mini firework popper again.