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The school bell had not finished ringing when Forrest shot out of his classroom with his sights set on the two sixth-graders hangout spots. The first location proved to be disappointing however, his tenacity was rewarded when he spotted Jaime at his second hangout and he surreptitiously snaked his way through the bushes until his prey’s back was to him. He gritted his teeth with seething anger as he listened to Jaime regaling his friends of how he and Ronald cleverly recruited him into luring his friend Santiago to an isolated area of the school, then assaulting and robbing him with his unwitting assistance.

Out for blood, Forrest quietly emerged from the bushes and tiptoed behind his foe. Jamie became confused to see his friends suddenly scatter in all directions and he looked over his shoulder to see what had alarmed them. A sudden jolt of panic shot through his body at the sight of the fourth-grader glaring at him with clenched fists. Although Jaime was two grades his senior, the fourth-grader was larger in size and stature than most kids his age he was not interested in testing Forrest’s resolve.

Jaime jumped to his feet with extended hands as he backed away, “Yo, Forrest, take it easy man, it was all a misunderstanding!” He pleaded.

“You mother fuckers’ tricked me . . . now you’re gonna pay!” The fourth-grader growled back; not interested in entertaining any empty explanations.

“Dam dude, what happened to your lip?” Asked Jamie as he cringed.

His question agitated Forrest further, “What happened to my lip? the same thing that’s gonna happen to your lip, mother fucker!” Forrest roared back and then lunged at Jaime, which he was just able to twist away from and then began running for his life with the fourth-grader in hot pursuit.

As Jaime zigzagged all over the school grounds in a desperate attempt to shake off his relentless pursuer and the vile obscenities hurled at him, he realized his only refuge was to reach the principal’s office and quickly changed course. Realizing Jamie’s plan, Forrest was determined not to allow his foe to reach his haven and came up with a plan of his own. When the chase crossed a large swath of grass in the school’s courtyard, with the principal’s office on the far side, Forrest put his plan into action; he closed the gap between them, then pounced on Jaimie’s back, causing to both crash onto the grass. He then mounted him then wrapped his fingers around his throat.

Jaime looked up in horror as the two struggled for the return of their breaths and gasped, “I’m sorry man; please don’t hurt me!”

Forrest glared down at his foe with seething rage, and gasped back, “I don’t know why you and Ronald tricked me into helping you rob Santiago, but both you fucked up!”

“It was all in fun, I swear! me and Ronald both got in a lot of trouble too, we both got swats and detention.” Jaime choked back as he was trying desperately to loosen the grip around his neck.

“I don’t give a fuck how much trouble you got into, I got it twice as bad on the count of you two assholes . . . now you’re gonna pay for what happened to me and when I catch Ronald, his ass is grass too!”

“Dude, I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me, I’m begging you!”

“Fuck you!” Forrest roared back and then cocked his fist far back, ready to mercilessly rain down blows onto his helpless foe.

“Hello . . .”

The soft resonance of a little girl’s voice suddenly broke the thick tension in the air and Forrest froze his fist in mid-strike and looked over his shoulder. Eclipsing the sun, stood a young girl with emerald green eyes, milky white skin, and sandy brown hair, glistening through the sunlight. Forrest jumped to his feet and Jaime fled for dear life.

“I’m new to Lakeside, would you mind showing me around?” She asked with a sparkling smile. Forrest could only stare at her, dumbfounded, unable to move or speak.  

“Are you ok? . . . hello!” The young girl called with a wave of her hand in front of Forrest’s face. Her deep green eyes and sandy brown hair, glittering like gold in the wind left him stunned and frozen in place.

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, I’ll just go . . .” She said with lament, then turned to walk away.

“Oh, no . . . don’t go, I’m ok . . .” He choked out; forcing himself to snap out if his trance; fore he was not about to lose the opportunity to talk to the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his young life.

“Oh, there you are; I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk to me or not.” She replied with a relieved smile.

“Sorry, I was just . . . um . . . wasn’t sure if you were talking to me.”

“Yea, I could understand that, it looked like you were, ah, kinda busy . . . getting ready to punch that kid!” Forrest looked away with lament; it wasn’t the impression he would have liked to have given the beautiful stranger.

“I’m just kidding ya!” She interrupted with a hardy smile and playful poke to his belly. Forrest returned an awkward giggle and breathed a sigh of relief.

“My name is Yvette McIntosh, what’s your name?”

In his enamor, it took him a few seconds to remember his own name, “Oh, um, Forrest . . .”

“What’s your last name, Forrest?”

“Um, Green, Forrest Green.” He stammered.

“It’s very nice to meet you Forrest Green, what grade are you in?”

“I’m Ah . . . in fourth grade, what about you?”

“I’m in the fourth grade too! I start school tomorrow; my teacher is Mrs. Lloyd, who’s your teacher?”

“Mr. Fredrick.” He pouted. Yvette could see his profound disappointment. “Cheer up! I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other a lot around a lot around school; especially since you’re my first friend to Lakeside. My parents are in the office registering me, so they’re gonna be in their awhile.”

An awkward silence tensed the air, and Forrest scrabbled to scrape two words together.

“So, will you show me around the school?” She asked once again.

Forrest intense blue eyes sparkled with delight and quickly agreed. He had no idea why the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, wanted him to show her around his school, nor did he care.

“Where do you wanna start?” He asked, excitedly.

“Well, show me where my new classroom is and then you can show me around from there, how’s that?”

“Ok, follow me.” He replied with a wave of his hand.