Today was none other than a Friday. The sky so clear and the sun so bright and I had to spend the day locked up in school. A prison like establishment. The wind was blowing a gentle breeze making the branches of the willow sway with freedom. I, too, could almost taste the freedom myself. Just imagine, in only a matter of hours, students will wander all over our small town of Brooksberry; trying to find the nearest candy store to spend their end of the week allowances on their favorite types of candy. My parents don’t believe that letting kids have sugar is a good idea; that’s why I am forbidden. But, until school was over, we would all have to stick it out just like any other day of the week. I would have to sit in a stiff blue chair watching the teacher babble on about something that is supposed to help us all in our future lives.

My name is Mason Copperfield. I am thirteen and I have brown hair and blue eyes like my mom. My parents split up three years back and I have been living with my mom, but I see my dad on the weekends. In my opinion, the reason that they divorced was because of the death of my older brother Tommy. What happened was that he was driving his truck from soccer practice one afternoon, but he didn’t see the tractor trailer on his left as he pulled out. The massive sized truck hit the driver’s side, squishing Tommy’s truck like it was nothing but a piece of paper being crumpled to be thrown out. The ambulance was there in fifteen minutes flat, but by the time that they got there they were already too late. Tommy’s car was totaled and he was gone. I was at a friend’s house when I got the horrific call. Tommy wasn’t just my brother, he was my best friend. Someone that I knew that I could go to if I needed help. Tommy looked like my dad too much and my mom couldn’t bear to see Tommy’s reflection anymore so she and my father talked and they both decided that they should divorce each other. Of course they send cards to each other for holidays, birthdays, and their anniversary; but they send them through me.

Mrs. Shiner was my math teacher, and she was a very complicated woman. “Mason. I told you to finish your math homework last night, not during class.” she lectured. I heard giggles but I couldn’t tell who it was. “I’m sorry Mrs. Shiner.” I started, “I meant to do it last night but my mom needed help with sorting out the groceries. Then she asked me to vacuum, and then she asked me to dust. I couldn’t do my homework for any of the other of my classes either.”





“Well, Mason, I’ve heard a lot of excuses before and that one was by far the least convincing. Detention for you today Mr. Copperfield.” she accused. That day was a very lonely day in detention. I was the only one there besides Denny Abbercott, who got detention everyday for something new. I thought to myself about how no one understood me like Tommy did. “Hey, what are you in for?” Denny whispered to me. “I forgot to do my homework and then I lied about it.”I whispered back. ““Not so much on the bad side, but you’ll get there someday.” He alleged. Not in this lifetime, I thought to myself. “Uh, Mason, is it? Well I think you got what it takes to be a pal of mine, what do you think?” he exerted. “What did you say you were in here for again?” I questioned. “I chewed gum during gym.” he answered. “Sure why not. Let’s be friends.” I agreed. That was the one time that Mrs. Shiner actually did me a favor. She led me to Denny.

Denny was a lot of fun when you got to know him. He really wasn’t that bad. The first day I told mom about him, she was very nervous. As if she knew something about him that I didn’t. “Where did you meet this boy again, Mason?” she asked. “I already told you. Detention. He was chewing gum in gym, and Mr. Hurth caught him. Everyone tries to sneak gum during gym so that they don’t waste the flavor of a really good piece of gum.” I responded for the third time. I knew that mom wasn’t used to me talking about my friends or my social life with her so maybe that was why she was acting so strange. I decided to leave it at that. “Mom, I was actually planning to go over Denny’s today.” I told her. “Not until I meet his parents. I’ll drop you off then I could meet his parents.” she compromised. “Fine then. Give me five minutes then I’ll be ready ok?” I reasoned. Soon enough, we were off. As I read the directions to my mom, we started to pull into a large house; it was so big that it stuck out from all of the other houses. I saw Denny pop out of the door and he ran to the car. “I’ll help you carry your stuff.” he told me. Mom emerged from the car awkwardly and reached out to shake Denny’s hand. “Pleased to finally meet you, Denny. I hope that you and Mason have a good time. “Nice to meet you too Mrs. Copperfield, and I am sure that we’ll have a great time.” Denny politely answered. We all walked up to the door and my mom met his parents and she seemed pleased. I was relieved that my mom liked his parents because when she didn’t like something, it had to go. “Bye Mason. I will pick you up at four thirty, okay?” she asked. “Seems fine to me. Bye mom.” I ended the conversation at that.

Denny’s house was huge. After he gave me a tour, we started to play video games. After that his mom made us ham sandwiches for lunch. Then, we just started talking about school. “Who is your favorite and least favorite teacher?” Denny prompted. “My favorite would be my science teacher, Ms. Harvan. I like her because since she is younger she makes class fun. I already like science but she seals the deal. My least favorite would be my math teacher, Mrs. Shiner. I don’t like her because she finds every way to blame something on me. She doesn’t like me either. It’s like I have to work three times as hard as the other kids just to get B’s or C’s.”I answered his question while I thought about it. I quoted my mind. “My favorite would be Mr. Minx, my social studies teacher because he makes a lot of easy tests and quizzes. They aren’t that hard. My least favorite would be Mrs. Kirop, my literacy teacher because she talks so slow and it feels like I will fall asleep in her class. One time I did and I got detention for it; she was so mad, it was the most animation that I saw out of her all year. Four thirty came too soon and my mom was there to pick me up. “Did you have fun?” she asked. “Yeah, I did” I responded.

It finally was Saturday. No teachers, no homework, and nothing to do today. I called Denny to see if he wanted to hang out but his line was busy so I hung up. I went to watch some TV and a commercial was on about a car dealership which made me immediately think of Tommy. But then it hit me. Today I had to go to my dad’s. I peered over at the clock and it was eleven thirty, I had a half hour. I guess I would have to see Denny some other time. The clock rang twelve when Denny called me. “Do you want to hang out today? It’s Saturday so we have no homework to cloud us.” he said. “I can’t I have to go to my dad’s today sorry. Maybe tomorrow.” I did want to go to Denny’s again, but I didn’t want to deprive my dad’s only chance to see me today. My dad was an old fashioned man, so it surprised me when he asked,“ Do you want to see a movie today?” he asked me. I was daydreaming about Denny’s house. My dad asked a second time and I actually caught everything that he said and I answered yes. There was a movie that I did want to see. We bought our tickets and popcorn and snatched the good seats at the top so we wouldn’t have to look straight up like some people did. It was about these two best friends that play a board game and the dangers from the cards were actually happening and the farther into the game they got, the more dangerous the readings were. It was action packed and funny at times, but other parts were sad. After the movie, we went back to my dad’s and ate burgers. I sleep in the guest room since his house isn’t really that big. I fell asleep quickly despite my touch of home sickness. I had a dream that night that I snuck out and went to Denny’s house and we played paintball using the targets in the back yard. I woke up gasping for air, thinking that I was obsessed with the whole Denny thing so I thought about something else before I struggled to fall asleep. As I closed my eyes, I saw a picture of Tommy and I cried myself to sleep. I woke to the sweet smell of freshly made pancakes and syrup, my favorite. My dad knew that I loved pancakes and he made it whenever I slept over his house. In my opinion, he made the best pancakes in the world. Better than any diner or even my mom’s. Afterwards, he dropped me off at mom’s and I had a great time even though it wasn’t that long.
“Did you have a good time?” she asked nosily. “Yeah, it was great.” I replied without hesitation. Mom seemed to feel a little bit sad after I said that. “Denny left you a message on the answering system.” she told me. I ran over to the answering machine and pressed play back. It said” First message: Hey Mason, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the skate park tomorrow, after school. If you do then cool, or if you don’t then that’s okay too. But call me back, okay? Bye, Denny.” I felt bad that I missed his call so I started dialing the phone right away. Denny answered on the second ring, “Hello!?” he asked breathlessly. “Hi Denny, sorry I missed your call. I was at my dad’s. But, sure I’ll go to the skate park, but can I come after my homework then meet you there so we won’t have to leave early?” I questioned. “Sure thing. See you tomorrow.”




[The Next Day]

It seemed like school took forever. RING!!! Finally school was over. It was a good thing that I didn’t have a lot of homework today. The bus seemed as slow as a slug, while I needed it to be as fast as a race car. When I got home I raced up the stairs and through the back door. I ripped out my homework and speedily zipped through each problem. My mom walked in surprised, “What’s the rush?” I quickly replied, “Denny invited me to go to the skate park with him today after school. I need to finish my homework quickly so he won’t be waiting long.” She didn’t seem surprised, “Well okay. Don’t stay out late and be careful on your way there.” With my homework done and my skateboard out of the garage, I was ready to go. When I got there, I tried to find him in the park. I spotted him on the half pipe doing all sorts of tricks until I saw one that really stood out to me. I ran up to him. “How did you do that one trick?! It was amazing! Will you teach me?”I pleaded. “What I did was a finger flip turning into a pressure flip, and sure I’ll teach you but it’s really hard. He showed me how to do the pressure flip first because it was easiest. I got it down right away. He seemed impressed by my skills. Then he showed me a perfect finger flip. As the board was turning my feet landed the wrong way and then everything went black. Was I dead, how could I be so careless? “Mason! Mason, can you hear me?” a panicked voice asked. I couldn’t answer it; I was too dazed and confused to act in response. Pretty soon I heard a siren and it was close. Someone picked me up, put me on a stretcher and carried me towards the noise. I wanted to yell, to scream for someone to turn off the blaring siren but I couldn’t. There were many cold hands assessing my injuries but I wasn’t sure where they were coming from. Then I heard, “Mason, where is he!” Mom. She was here in the hospital with me and I couldn’t tell her that I was okay. I felt a sharp pinch at the top of my arm and I tried to get away from it but I still couldn’t move. A few minutes later I felt drowsy and pretty soon I couldn’t hear anymore. A while later, my eyes fluttered open to the sight of my mothers’ tear struck face. She hurried to my side and pressed the button for the nurse to come in and check on me. She kissed my forehead. “You got a severe concussion doing whatever you could have been doing at that park, honey.” The nurse walked in and used her flash light to look into my pupils. I squinted at the bright light, and the nurse smiled. “You gave us all quite a scare there, Mason. You are very lucky that you don’t have any more damage than maybe a scar or two. I looked behind her at a figure in the doorway. It was Denny. He walked over to me slowly with a nervous expression on his face. “How are you feeling? I slept in here with you by the way.” he added sheepishly. My face lit up with a smile and I replied,” I’m feeling a lot better, thanks man.” I tried to sit up but the nurse softly pushed my shoulders down. I looked up at her and she shook her head no. “Mason, I just want to let you know that I will stand by your side no matter because we’re friends and that’s what friends are for.” Denny told me. My mom stood up and said that she needed to talk to the nurse. “You know Mason; I’ve really never had a real friend like you before. A lot of people have been scared to talk to me because of how many times I’m in detention, but you did.” Denny seemed sincere. I smiled even bigger because I finally, after all of these years, found someone who I could go to if I need help; someone who would really understand. I finally found a true friend.