Page 3 of As They Are
I was going to give up after the third one, but then a girl with brown hair answered. She was shorter than me, coming up to my collarbone like most kids my age did.
“Uh, hi. Do you have any hammers or nails?”
“Me? I don’t.” She shook her head. “But I think my papa gave us some to use a while ago. They’re in the garage. Why do you need them?”
“The playground is busted and I need to fix it.”
She perked up. “Finally someone’s taking it seriously! I’ve been saying that it needs work, but the HOA always tells my mom it’s fine.”
I had a feeling she wouldn’t be very thrilled if she knewIbroke it. “So, can I borrow the stuff to fix it?”
She nodded and led me to the garage. She grabbed nails, a hammer, and a saw.
“I don’t know if you’ll need this,” she said as she handed it to me. “But the wood is so old, I figured it would help.”
The girl was right. Even if I used new nails, the wood was gray with age and sagging.
“Do you know anyone who has the wood for it?”
She nodded, rocking onto the balls of her feet. “My neighbor two doors down does woodworking for fun! Come with me.”
She ran out the front door. I followed her, but she was already halfway across the street. She wasfast.
“Wait!” I called out after her. “I can do it by myself!”
“You said you had to fix it!” she answered. “And I wanna help!”
“But we don’t even know each other!”
She stopped, lips pursed as she considered it. “You’re right.” She jogged back over to me. “I’m Mollie. What’s your name?”
“Wren.”
“Cool. Now we know each other.”
I jerked back. Was it that simple?
To Mollie it was. She was back on her mission of going to the neighbor’s house.
If anyone questioned why a fourteen-year-old girl needed wood and a saw, they didn’t say anything. I had a feeling it was because they didn’t think I was young at all.
Soon, we were back at the playground, everything spread out on the ground.
I followed what Dad did when he worked on things. I measured the wood twice, cut it slowly, and then nailed it in place. Mollie watched it all with wide, hazel eyes and kept asking if she could help. I wasn’t sure what to do with the attention.
With each swing of the hammer, I felt better. Mollie cheered me on, even when the first nail bent at a bad angle.
I finished as the sun set. I wiped sweat from my brow and let out a sigh of relief as I saw new wood mixed with the old.
“You aresocool,” Mollie said. “I wanna be like you when I go to high school in a few weeks.”
“You’re about to be a freshman?” I asked. “Me too.”
Mollie’s jaw dropped and she gasped. “No way! Where are you going?”
Mom had told Dad to enroll me in a school near her. Not so she could watch me, but just so I could go to a school that was better than any of the ones in the outer city. She said that she was terrified I would ruin my life if I got a second-rate education.
I hadn’t been excited about it until I said the name to Mollie. Her entire face lit up. “We’ll be at the same school! Yes!”
