Young Writers Society

Hey everyone, I realized that my last Train Wreck chapter was a mess so I rewrote it in the main characters point of view and with a lot more detail, but I am new to the YWS, so please be nice. As you might have realized I suck at grammar and need help. However let me know if you like this one better than the old one.

It was my fifteenth birthday. I stood in the middle of our driveway. A present at least three feet tall, wrapped in blue wrapping paper with tiny white stars all over, lay right in front of me. It had an awkward shape to it. I couldn’t have possibly guessed what it was just by looking at it. Both of my parents and my three sisters stood around me, anxiously waiting for me to open it. After starring at it for a few more seconds, wondering what it could be, I lunged forward. I vigorously tore off all the layers of wrapping paper before I revealed my prize. My green eyes opened wide and I felt my jaw drop as I stared at my shiny new moped. I could hardly believe it! I hadn’t even asked for a moped, but there it was standing beautifully in front of me. I kneeled down and ran my hand against its sparkling blue coat.

“Here, why don’t you take it for a test drive,” dad asked, tossing me the keys.

“Oh, but don’t forget your helmet,” mom quickly added, handing me a green skater helmet.

Of course, there had to be some substitution for me getting some dangerous vehicle. At least in my mom's eyes anyways, but I took the helmet and shoved it on my head without a complaint. I nearly jumped on my moped with excitement. It wasn’t like I hadn’t driven anything before. I'de driven Delany’s wave rider many times and Bailey’s moped at least twice. Otherwise, I wouldn’t trust myself riding this thing alone. I was a natural born klutz or at least a magnet to any serious incidents. I had lost track of how many times I've been in the hospital for my carelessness mistakes. I started the engine and rode off before any of my family or I could say another word. I could have driven almost anywhere. I lived in one of the smallest towns in the coast of Florida, but I decided to drive two blocks down over to ,my best friend, Sam’s house. I parked my moped in his driveway and ran inside without even bothering to knock.

“Sam, you’re never going to-“ I started to say as I ran into Sam’s living room, but I stopped short when I saw Sam and all the rest of my friends standing all bunched together underneath a banner that read, “Happy Birthday Alex!” I had expected a small party two days later, but this was way better! Most of my friends from school was there, balloons and streamers of all different colors hung from the ceiling, Sam’s triple decked stereo was set up, and on a long gray table, was a three layer deluxe chocolate cake, surrounded by bowls of candy, popcorn, chips, and pop.

“Surprise,” everyone shouted.

“Happy birthday, Ali,” Sam called as he walked towards me.

My original name was Alexandra, but usually people only called me that when they were mad or irritated with me. Any other time everyone called me Alex. Except for Sam. Sam had given me the nickname Ali two or three years after we first met. Occasionally, people would call me Ali when they wanted something from me or they were just trying to be sweet, but I never bought it. Sam tossed me a box wrapped in polka dotted wrapping paper and a red ribbon on top. I smiled up at him then tore the wrapping paper off to reveal a toaster box. The picture of the toaster on the box was exactly like Sam’s toaster. I knew this was some cheesy scheme Sam had made just to irritate me. “Your giving me your toaster,” I asked Sam.

“Look inside the box,” Sam said as if I should already know.

I opened the box and dug through the colorful tissue paper to find a pink i-phone. “Oh, my god, Sammy you bought me an i-phone,” I asked staring at my new cell phone. This was the phone I always wanted. For as long as I could remember, I had been stuck with my boring, old razor.

“Well…. Yeah,” Sam shrugged, smiling the same smile he wore every day.

“Oh, thanks a million,” I cried rushing over to him and wrapping my arms around his neck, the i-phone still clutched in my hand. I went over to a group of my closest girl friends and we started bouncing up and down, screaming to share my excitement. Sam put on my favorite music and we all started dancing. The party lasted longer than anyone expected. We spent most of the time dancing, playing the wii, playing ridiculous games that was usually played by younger children, or just simply hanging out. When it was time for everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” and for me to blow out the candles, Sam put all fifteen candles far away from each other, so that I couldn’t blow them all out at once and so, my wish didn’t count, but what more could I wish for? Except for maybe that Sam and me would move to Hollywood. However, that was pure fantasy. Right before anyone left, I opened their gifts. Most of my girl friends bought me some kind of really cute clothing. Many of my other friends either gave me, movies, wii games, or CDs. Altogether the only presant I received that I allready had was an Avril Lavigne CD “Under My Skin” from Joey. However I thanked Joey anyways like I did for all the rest of my gifts. Soon everyone had to leave only because their parents had restricted them to stay no later than eleven. Once everyone was gone, I stayed to help Sam clean the house. The music remained at high volume as I vacuumed and Sam picked up all the trash. Once I finished vacuuming throughout the entire downstairs, I plopped down on Sam’s black leather couch, exhausted. Sam finished five minutes later and sat down next to me.

“So, its 11:49pm, it’s still your birthday for another eleven minutes. What do you want to do,” Sam asked.

I leaned back on the couch and thought for few minutes. I was just about to ask Sam if he wanted to watch my new movie “Get smart”, when I remembered my moped still outside in Sam’s dive way. "I jumped to my feet. I almost forgot to show you my birthday presant my family bought me.” I told Sam, my heart racing with excitement.

“What is it,” Sam asked.

“Come on and I’ll show you,” I said, getting more impatient by the minute. I dragged Sam outside and over to my moped. It still stood there, sparkling in the moonlight.

“Wow,” Sam exclaimed, scratching his head.

I placed my helmet on my head, without snapping it and sat down on the front of my moped. Sam stood in the drive way two feet away from me, starring at me like I was going to just take off at any moment. I waited for a few minutes to see what Sam would do, but Sam just stood there. Finally I spoke up. “Come on there’s room for two.” I said patting the empty part of the seat behind me. Sam slowly walked over to my moped and sat down behind me. I knew Sam was being a wuss about riding it, especially with me driving, so I decided to give him the ride of his life. “You might want to hang on,” I told Sam, right before I took off. I felt Sam clutching my waist as I drove full speed. The neighborhood seemed alone and abandoned. The hard, warm wind blew against my skin. My long brown hair blew in every direction. I decided to stay within the housing addition. My mom was going to kill me for being out so late as it is. So, I drove over to the pond where Sam and I hung out when the beach was closed and there really wasn’t anything else to do. I parked my moped at the side of the road. I walked over to the edge of the pond and picked up a few flat rocks. Our pond wasn’t that big. Actually, compared to the other ponds our pond was tiny. However, nobody really minded if we swam in it when the beach was closed. We were probably the only ones crazy enough to swim in the stinky, old pond anyways. I walked out to the end of the deck and flung one of my rocks into the water. I watched it as it skipped once a crossed the water. I never was good at anything that involved hand-eye coordination. Sam slowly walked over to me and flung one of his rocks out into the water. “One, two, three, four, five,” I counted out loud. “You show off,” I called. It was true Sam had always been a show off just because he was taller and muscular for his age and so he felt that it was his job to show off. I gave Sam a small shove expecting him to just stumble a little. However, Sam fell right into the water. I moved out of the way as water splashed on the side of the deck. When Sam’s head popped out of the water, his face was hysterical. I couldn’t help myself, but start cracking up laughing.

“Alexandra,” Sam shouted, angrily.

I held out my hand to him, still laughing. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t speak. Sam grabbed my hand, but instead of letting me help him out of the water, Sam pulled me right into the stinky, old pond. It wasn’t that hard. Sam was ten times stronger than me and I wasn’t expecting it. Like other ponds, this one was deep. My whole body went under water. I found that the water wasn’t as cold like you would expect on a cool summers night. It was actually pretty warm. My head burst out of from underneath the water. I glared at Sam as he began laughing hysterically as I had only a few moments ago.

“You moron,” I shouted “You did that on purpose!”

Sam was still laughing as I splashed him vigorously and of course he splashed me back. However, I had a secret weapon. I dove under water and snuck up behind him. I was an excellent swimmer, way better than Sam anyways. I shoved his entire head underwater and quickly swam back to shore. I glanced over my shoulder to see Sam shake his thick brown hair dry and swim after me. I swam even faster and reached the shore before Sam was even half way there. I laid down on the soft, green grass and gazed up at the million of tiny stars, lighting up the black sky. Sam rushed over to me, gasping for air. He lay right beside me and gave me an unusual smile. I gazed up at the stars for a while then back at Sam. He was now grinning at me. “Thanks for the party and my-“ I stopped short. My face turned white. I quickly sat up and slapped all four of my pockets on my jean shorts, but they were all empty. Sam seemed to read my mind.

“Your cell phone is at my house on the counter,” Sam reassured me.

I felt my heart go back to its normal speed and lay back down. I turned over on my side to face Sam. “Truth or dare,” I asked him. We hadn’t played this game in forever.

“Truth,” Sam replied.

I sat up and thought for a minute. I knew most of Sam’s darkest secrets as he did mine. So there really wasn’t any point of playing. “What was the worst thing you’ve ever done,” I asked Sam ,finally.

“I already told you. That one time, when I decked a kid back in sixth grade and I told him if he didn’t blame it on someone else, I would deck him again, so he blamed it on some older kid who got expelled,” Sam replied.

Oh yeah, I remembered that day alright. Sam told me about it as soon as the kid was expelled. I told him he should fess up, but he refused and we got into this huge fight that lasted almost a week. “Ok fine, your turn,” I sighed, wishing I hadn’t brought this game up.

“Truth or dare,” Sam asked.

I sighed once more. “Truth,” I replied. I rested my head against my left hand as I watched Sam think. Suddenly, his face turned slightly pink and he starred deeply into my eyes. I could tell he had thought of something. He just didn’t want to say it. “What,” I asked Sam eagerly.

Sam licked his chapped lips and took a deep breath. “Ali, do you love me,” Sam asked, his brown eyes wide as he waited for my reply. I first gazed into his beautiful brown eyes then down to the tiny pieces of grass I was now tearing up. I felt my heart pumping faster and my face get redder. My hands trembled as I tore up more blades of grass. I did love Sam. I had loved him ever since the day we met which was almost eleven years ago, but the words seemed stuck in the back of my throat. Finally, I was able to force something out. “yes,” I replied so fast, that Sam couldn't have barely understood. I gazed back up into Sam’s eyes. A smile I knew so well spread across his face. Suddenly, all of the nervous feelings blew right out of me and I felt happier than I had all day. I felt the urge to jump into his arms and kiss him until we were out of breath, but I had to control myself. I wasn’t sure how Sam would feel. All that had really happened was one simple question had been answered with one simple answer, but to me it was if all my dreams were starting to come true. This was a lifetime opportunity and if I didn’t make my move now, who knows what might not happen. When all of a sudden, I had an idea. “Truth or dare,” I asked Sam.

“Dare,” Sam replied, a mischievous grin on his face.

Yes! He picked dare! Of course, Sam was always up for a challenge. However, Sam had no idea how worthwhile this challenge would be. I sat down on my knees and leaned closer to him. “Kiss me,” I whispered.

“What,” Sam asked.

He seemed more shocked than I expected, but I continued to press on. “Kiss me.” I repeated, this time out loud. Sam didn’t say anything. He slowly leaned closer to me. My heart started pounding faster by the minute. Our noses slightly touched and I could feel Sam’s warm breath against my face. This suspense was killing me, so I leaned in closer until our lips were attached. Suddenly, my mind went blank and I lost all train of thought. The only thing that mattered was every second of that moment. I pressed my chest against Sam’s and slid my fingers through his thick brown hair. I didn’t want to ever be any farther away from Sam than this, but something in my muscles told me to break loose. Once we were sitting a foot away from each other again, I placed my hand on my forehead trying to recover from that amazing first kiss. When I recollected all of my thoughts, the awkward silence between Sam and I, tortured me. “I have to go home,” I told him. This was true. The longer I stayed out past my limits, the longer my mother was going to yell at me if she ever found out. Sam only nodded, rose to his feet, and helped me to mine. I drove my moped back to Sam’s house with once again Sam behind me, clutching to my waist, but this time a bit slower. We hardly talked as I gathered all of my presants that lay on his dining room table and stuffed them into a green and orange back pack that Sam lent me. As I rode home, I tried to ignore the antagonizing thoughts, telling me to stay with Sam.