Tomorrow marks the end of my childhood, the end of a stress-free life. From here on out, each grade matters; every homework assignment will play a determining role towards my future. Tomorrow is graduation: the official promotion from middle school to high school. As a form of celebration, the 8th grade class is on a day-long field trip to every kid’s favorite destination: Six Flags Great America. Sixth graders no doubt look forward to this day. Eighth graders, especially, anticipate this day, with much enthusiasm, from the very first day of school, and I was no exception.

*Eleni calling…*

Above me loomed an immense, gravity defying, orange structure, commonly known as Raging Bull. Raging Bull, complete with high speeds and a great amount of screaming, was my all-time favorite ride. I took a glance at the people surrounding me; we were packed in like sardines, all of us with the same goal of riding this roller coaster. The blazing heat radiating from the sun was not helping the current situation, but it didn’t faze me. I was willing to wait as long as it, no matter how hot it was, took to ride this roller coaster. The current wait time was one hour. I figured I had time to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Katherine, it’s Emily! I’m with Eleni at Old Orchard right now. We have a situation.”

*  *  *  *

Eleni and I were not fortunate enough to go on this trip to Six Flags. Coincidentally, both our parents said no. On top of that, they forced us to go to school that day; we were two of the only three eighth graders who were in the building.

It was quite an exhilarating day; we did so much. We spent almost the entire day in the conference room, right next to the principal’s office, sitting in chairs with our feet propped up on the table. We spent the day staring at the walls. The only “exciting” part of our day was when we had to retrace our steps. I had a lego case for my iPod and on that case were little lego pieces that would come off. At some point, one of those pieces came off, and I had to find it. Like I said, quite the exhilarating day we had.

We had something to look forward to, once our day at school came to an end: a promise, made by my mom, to take us to Old Orchard as soon as we got home from school. My ideal intention for the day would have been to miss school and spend the day walking and shopping at Old Orchard Mall. My mother, along with Eleni’s mother, both had different plans; we were to go to school and would later be treated to a trip to the mall. While we didn’t entertain this idea of a pointless day at school, we both figured bargaining would do us no good.

Old Orchard, my favorite mall, was a place of opportunity and that opportunity, as seen through the eyes of two eighth grade girls, was a chance to see cute boys. Sure enough, while waiting in line for a fitting room at Hollister, a group of four boys walks by. I turned to Eleni and stated the obvious.

“Dude, did you see those guys? They were so attractive!”

“Yes, I know! They were so cute!” she responded.

“I have an idea…” I told her my plan. I was determined to get a picture with these guys. To do so, I needed a justifiable reason. I couldn’t simply walk up to these guys, out of the blue, and ask for a picture; they would think I’m insane. Good thing I had a friend who was truly gifted at coming up with excuses. Whenever I found myself in a situation similarly to the one I currently got myself into, I always turned to her for advice. I knew she was at Six Flags, but I decided I would give her a call anyways.

“Katherine, it’s Emily! I’m with Eleni at Old Orchard right now. We have a situation.” I explained the situation we were in.

“Oh my gosh, Emily, you’re hilarious. This is so typical of you,” she laughed out loud, knowing that this was anything but unusual, coming from me. “Here’s a good excuse: tell them you have a project you need to complete for summer school and to do that, you have to find a group of guys with brunette hair and take a picture with them.”

“You think they’re going to believe that? It seems a little far-fetched.” I was slightly dubious. How could they believe such an excuse?

“I don’t see why not. Go find them and see what they say. What’s the worst that can happen? I highly doubt you’ll ever see them again.”

“You’re right. I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks, Katherine!” This was crazy, but I didn’t seem to care. I knew it would make a great story.

“No problem! I want to be the first to see this picture.”

“For sure!” I hung up the phone. I turned to Eleni and revealed the plan and after complying with my request, we set out, determined to find this group of strangers.

*  *  *  *
As I examine this picture of my younger, braver self standing next to four random boys, I reminisce about this day, remembering every detail, including those arbitrary and insignificant. The plan was executed to perfection. As we walked around the mall, about to give up, we ran into the guys at a balloon stand, situated in the middle of the mall. Now, I reckoned, was my chance to get my picture; there was no backing out now. I walked up to the guys and told them about my summer school project and its requirements.

“So,” I asked them. “can I get a picture?” They agreed without any need of convincing. I smiled and looked at Eleni.

“Eleni, get in the picture!” I exclaimed.

“Nah, I’ll be the photographer,” she replied, and I handed her my iPod.  In other words, she chickened out. “Smile!”

We grinned at the camera and after the picture was taken, I thanked the boys, and we parted, going our separate ways.

“Wow, Len, way to get into the picture,” I said, teasingly.

“Oh well, too late now,” she smiled and gave me my iPod. “Go look at the pictures; I didn’t get a chance to see them.”

I found the pictures and examined them. There were at least ten pictures, some blurry, some not, but there was one common feature among all of them; I was half cropped out in every picture. I laughed and turned to Eleni, awaiting an explanation.

“I was laughing so hard while taking the pictures,” she explained. “I couldn’t keep my hand still.” I didn’t mind. I was satisfied with the picture.

We both laughed, proud of our accomplishments and began heading to Nordstrom, where my mom was waiting. While the day started out roughly, it turned out to be a day I will never forget. Stories about this day will be told for years to come, no matter how embarrassing this specific occurrence might have been.