This story provides a sense of hope through an imaginative story which has been inspired by some true life events. An adolescent is able to find the courage to be his own individual and deal with many problems and situations that most youth of today face on a daily basis.

The Water at the Bottom

By F. J. Peppers

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 F. J. Peppers
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-2162-4

Chapter One

The Water at the Bottom by F. J. Peppers

It's the first weekend of summer vacation and I have to go to a meeting for bible camp. This was not how I planned to spend my summer before high school. My parents think that camp will help build better character for me. In my head, I can hear the arguments starting all over. My mom always started, "You know we love you right?" Next she'd add "Your father and I need to talk to you." I always told them "I know already!" or "I didn't do it!" I liked to pull pranks and have fun. I mean what else was there for a 13 yr old to do? As my mom drove me to the church, I gazed out the window and thought about the past year.

This past year was my last in junior high and I was going to have fun whether my parents wanted me to or not. I had met a couple of new kids last summer near the park. Bryan had long red hair and a few freckles. He was kind of stocky but not fat and he was a very fast runner. Rod was tall and slender but had some muscles. He had a light coco complexion with brownish hair since he was a biracial kid. Rod thought of himself as a lady's man. He always was checking his hair which he wore in mini dreadlocks. I'm just a little shorter than Rod with average build. I liked to wear my hair short. My mom always told me I had beautiful piercing brown eyes to go with my dark sandy brown hair. I felt the three of us would always be popular with the ladies.

Bryan was my inspiration for a lot of pranks. Once at the park, we saw a lady chasing her 3 yr old son. As she was trying to get him to return to the playground area, Bryan tripped him as he ran by and the kid fell face first into a pile of dog poop. The lady yelled at Bryan asking him why he would do something like that. He just smiled at her and said, "Sorry for helping, it looked like you were having trouble catching him." The lady just huffed off mumbling something about finding our parents. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of that lady's face when Bryan tripped her kid. We never really meant any harm to anyone. We just found different ways to have fun. Every Saturday, we would play on the railroad bridge and sometimes we would have to run down the hill because a freight train would pass by. At other times, we would throw old batteries or rocks at the windows of a few abandoned buildings. Bryan was really good at hitting the street lights. "Crash! Crackle! Phoosh!" These were the sounds from the shattering glass echoing in the air.

My mom didn't like me hanging out with Bryan and Rod because they sometimes swore and smoked pot. "You can't pick my friends! It's not like their drinking or doing hard core drugs like meth!" I shouted at my mom. "Why do you want to always control me?!" I mumbled as I slammed my bedroom door. The guys didn't smoke cigarettes because they knew it was bad for their health. Bryan said that smoking a little pot now and then never really hurt anyone and it had to be ok since his grandfather got his from the doctor. He said he would never use Spicejuana-100 or synthetic cannabis because a kid once accidently died after smoking some while taking a bath in Everclear. I guess he wanted to get high and drunk at the same time. Bryan would sneak some medjuana now and then. I only tried it once. It made me act too weird. I got so hungry that I ate out of the trash at school. I didn't really remember doing that until Rod showed me on his phone.

Here I now sat in my room trying to figure out how I could get my parents to let me be a kid and have fun. I heard my mom go downstairs. "Lord, give me the patience to deal with this child." My mom would say. "David, can you come help set the dinner table?" mom asked as she stood at the bottom of the steps. "I can't because Bryan and Rod are coming over later." I barked. Just as I finished talking, the doorbell rang. It was the guys.

"Later Mama Gator." I said as I slid down the rail. "What are you boys going to be doing?" mom asked. "n.o.y.b., mom, n.o.y.b." I told her. That of course stood for `None Of Your Business'. I never would tell her what that meant. Bryan always talked to his mom like that. She would just say a few swear words and go back to watching TV or drinking her vodka and cranberry juice. As the front door shut, I could hear my mom shouting, "You boys stay out of trouble and be home before the street lights come on!" I just kept going and didn't say anything. "Hey, so what types of fun things can we do to the fresh meat this year?" Rod wondered. "I think that we should get some new shoes" Bryan stated. "My parents aren't going to buy me any extra shoes" I told them. "I didn't say buy them" Bryan said as he smiled. "I can't be stealing stuff because I'm already on probation." Rod added. "We'll get them from the freshmen." Bryan explained. "That's still stealing!" Rod told him. Bryan looked us both in the eyes and said, "Not if they give them to us." I asked him "How will we get them to give us their new shoes without stealing them?" Bryan told me "That's for you to figure out since you're the `A' student." An idea popped into my head and I explained it to them as we walked to the park. Bryan could get really good grades if he wanted but he believed you should have fun when you are young and worry about learning stuff when you get old.

The next week my cousins Ashley, Lucas and Easton came to visit. Ashley and Easton were twins who were my age. Lucas was 2 years older than Rod and I. He was muscular and strong and had gone to state in wrestling and karate. He was about 3-4 inches taller than any of us. I convinced Lucas to help me pull a practical joke on some freshmen before school. The next morning a couple of freshmen boys, Tyler and Bo, were walking near the school. Lucas ran past them but stopped when Bryan and Rod jumped out from behind a bush. I ran up behind Lucas and put him in a choke hold. Tyler and Bo stopped but didn't say anything. I let Lucas go. "You didn't answer our question, did you?" I asked Lucas. "My friend asked if he could try on your shoes because he wants a pair like that!" Rod yelled. "I'm not giving you my shoes; I gotta go so I won't be late for school." Lucas pleaded. "Well, there's a fee for walking on our streets and all new students have to pay." Bryan told him.

Bryan looked at Tyler and said, "I really like those shoes." Tyler responded, "I, I, I'm n-n-not giving you my shoes or m-m-money either." "Oh, really, Skippy?!" said Bryan as he grabbed Tyler's backpack. "Ok, that's enough joking around!" Lucas demanded. Just as he said that, I punched Lucas so hard in the gut that he fell to his knees. "Who said anything about money?" I told Tyler. "You pay one way or another, but everybody pays eventually!" Bryan added. While Lucas was lying on the ground, I took off his new tennis shoes and tossed them to Rod. I looked at Tyler and Bo and could see sweat on their foreheads and fear in their eyes. Bryan walked over to Lucas and helped him up. `Smack' was the sound heard as Bryan punched Lucas in the nose causing it to bleed. "And if you tell anybody about this, you will get the same thing everyday!" Bryan shouted as he looked at Bo and Tyler. Rod looked at Tyler and Bo and said "Hey, David, do you need to try on some shoes?" They both quickly kicked off their shoes and took off running.

"What's up with you guys?" Lucas asked as he wiped blood from his nose. "Why'd you hit me like that?" Lucas asked me. "We had to make it look good, right? Didn't you see their faces? They looked like they had seen ghosts." I...