When We Ran Away
Standing on top of the playground, we watched the taxi slowly drive by everyday at 11:11. Lunch ended at 11:10 and I was always eager to get out of the stinky lunch room and to run outside afterwards, and to be the first person on the playground. Today I eat my peanut butter sandwich quickly and burst out of the door to be the first outside. The leaves are just starting to turn colors and the wind was starting to become crisp.
I ran as fast as I possibly could and climbed up the slides to the top of the blue structure. I leaned on the sides of the playground and looked out over the school. Out of breath, I saw a lonely, strange, taxi creeping along the road. My eyes widened, as a big pack of girls wearing pink ran over.
One of my best friends, Sasha Rich, with her out of control curly blonde hair, clomped up the stairs in her big boots and baggy pants, and eventually saw the same thing I did. I smiled thinking of where we could go in that taxi. I had never thought about leaving school before but now it seemed like a fun idea. When I asked where she wanted to go, she turned her head in confusion to look at me and her blonde hair blew in her face. Then we smiled, realizing how cool that would really be.
Throughout the next week we seemed to be glued at our sides, constantly planning our escape. In the hallways, between subjects, and even when we probably should have been doing our work, we planned. About a week later, we had the plan complete, down to the shoes we were going to wear.
The day of our escape seemed to drag on. The lightweight black clothes and tennis shoes were starting to become worth it as we got more and more excited. When the lunch supervisor stood up in the smelly lunch room, we knew it was time to take action. Throwing our lunchboxes in the lunch bins divided by class, we ran to the doors, ready to be let outside. I was jumping around in excitement.
As the doors opened and the chilly breeze started to hit our faces, I ran. I ran as fast as I could possibly go, constantly looking back to see that Sasha hadn’t fallen behind. I passed the basketball courts and playgrounds. I passed the swings and the soccer fields. As the corner of the school got closer and  closer my heart started to race.
Even though we had been planning for days, and I thought we had planned through all of the tweaks and problems that could occur, I just now started to think about the consequences.
I started to slow down my run into a walk, and Sasha zoomed past me. She turned back and encouraged me to keep going. All I would think about was the consequences. Would I go to jail? Would my parents get in trouble?
Just at that moment of slowing down, Mrs. Haddas, one of the fifth grade teachers started to walk out of the glass doors. Her short hair, stylish clothes and big smile made her one of the teachers kids begged to have when going into fifth grade. She looked at us with confusion and never asked any questions, never yelled, never said she was disappointed in our decisions, but just to get back to the playground. I had never known Mrs. Haddas but after that I had a big amount of respect for someone I had never even talked to before. Even though I knew I was being dumb, she knew we were just being silly fourth graders, and my peers knew we would eventually be caught, I knew at that moment that not every little mistake has to be reprimanded, and not every little mistake has to be brought to the principal’s office. Even without any of those things, I still learned my lesson, and knew that in the future I should think about the consequences before I act on what I think I know.