Gabby and I talked for hours about our costumes and the amazing adventure this could turn out to be. I told her she could borrow some of my clothes if she needed and she said the same. As I fell asleep I only thought of tomorrow and me spending it in Seattle all by myself. I was scared, I hated being alone. I always got afraid something terrible would happen to me. But I tried to think on the bright side which was that we were all driving together in my car since I was the only one with a car or a license (LONG STORY) and we would all be downtown, just not together. When I woke the next day I rushed because it was already obvious I was going to be late for the meeting at Gabby’s house at eleven this morning. Gabby had left early this morning she lived just down the road. So I got up and I ran to my closet to get my pink poofy tutu, I would generally never where this in public unless it was Halloween or something but in the spirit of the adventure I slipped it on over some orange leggings. I then zipped up my pink doc Martins. Now for the top what to wear for the top? I grabbed a black tank top with a huge pink bedazzled heart on it and then put a pink zip up over it. Yep, this was definitely my alter ego, now to go see how my friends turned out. I ran out of my room and found my mom in the living room. “Hey Mom!” I said. “Hey Hun” she said. “I’ll be gone all day with the gang I will be back by eleven. I love you.” “Okay, love you too. Where are you going?” She asked curiously. “Oh you know, going to downtown Seattle, just a little adventure. Bye!” I darted for the door before she could argue I wasn’t going back on the plan now; that much was for sure.

I did the speed limit the whole way to Gabby’s house which took me some serious discipline because I knew I was late already. But getting pulled over would just ruin this day and I really want this day to be good. Finally I pulled in to Gabby’s drive way to find them all waiting for me on the front porch dressed for the adventure. Gabby was wearing sweat pants; gray of course, gray t shirt, plain gray Nike's and an over sized gray sweater, yep that was different. She also had no makeup on which was seriously out of character but she was still extremely pretty. The boys were both dressed up as “geeks”. Khaki pants, button up’s and sweater vests, with fake glasses on. It was a definite site to see they looked nothing like themselves. Machaella was wearing a dress, high heels, and a little bit of makeup which was very different from her usual baggy boyish jeans, t-shirt and converse look. However, she still pulled it off. From what I could tell they were all ready to go and had been for a while, after taking in their appearance I rushed forward. “I’m so sorry guys, I had to like run from my mom this morning and I woke up late. On the bright side you guys look seriously unlike your selves. How do I look?” I said with the most charming smile I could pull off. “You look great!” Gabby and Machaella exclaimed after a few seconds. “Like you said, totally unlike yourself, can we go now?”Dalton asked. “Yeah, I wanna get this thing going” Hobbie said. “Okay,” I said. “Gabby, front seat; Machaella middle seat in the front, boys you get the back to yourselves. Let’s go.” I said. No one dared argue the seating arrangement they all knew how I got about being the boss of my own car. We piled in and I started up the car “before we get too far, everyone has some money for food and emergencies and stuff right?” I said “Right” they all said. “Everyone has a cell phone, fully charged?” I said. “Yes,” they all practically screamed. “Come on Dinah, you’re not our Mom, let’s just go!”Dalton said. “Okay one last thing, Gabby is on music, if she play’s it and you don’t like it get over it! Now let’s go!” I said. Gabby cranked the music, we all rolled down the windows even though it was pretty chilly outside, and sang off key to our favorite songs as we sped away searching for Seattle and adventure.

We made it to downtown Seattle by 1:30ish, which in my opinion was great time, my companions did not feel the same way. They complained the whole ride. “I hate this song” they said a thousand times each. They continued on to complain about the seating arrangement, and also how uncomfortable they all were. I could not express how much I did not care. They made the ride miserable; I was so relieved to be in Seattle and out of the car. I shut of the engine, and then made sure each door was locked and each window rolled up. We all grabbed a bag, so we could carry our phones, money, sweaters, and normal clothes with us. “I guess this is where we split up” I said. “Yep,” they all agreed. And we all set off in separate directions. I had no idea what my adventure would be like, but I was excited for it. Scared, but not scared. I knew one thing for sure though; I was ready to get started.

The next day we all gathered to share our stories, tell our tales as we had planned. Everyone had arrived on time, except me of course but that was normal. Late for me was on time, that was just how it worked. “Okay guys, who would like to go first?” I asked, meeting each pair of eyes. “Me!” Gabby exclaimed. I looked around to see if anyone had an argument, but no one seemed to so I just nodded and said “okay, tell us your tale.” So she did. “First off, I want you all to know it was hard for me to pull off this character, how do people stay quiet for so long? It makes no sense to me. My story involves me not speaking much, but instead observing. And although this may sound creepy, I followed this couple around all day. And they have a pretty awesome tale. They are newlyweds, I noticed this when they first walked into the little cafe I was sitting in. Enjoying a cup of coffee, but something about these two just gave me this kind of off feeling so I observed them while they ate their lunch. It was obvious to me and everyone else in the cafe that they were arguing, the wife kept shaking her head each time the husband tried to get a single word out. They didn’t scream or yell, but you could tell by their body language they were in a serious argument, I had no idea why you would go into a cafe while you were arguing since it made everyone else a little uncomfortable but they caught my eye, so after their silent meal, I decided to follow them out. You would be amazed how unnoticeable you are when you are in all gray, as if you are a part of the sidewalk, I didn’t even have to stay far behind. They never looked at me. Not once. They seemed to be running errands, silently I might add. Still not a single word, which to me seemed odd, but what do I know? When they arrived at the laundry mat about an hour later I had just about had enough with them, almost left but they finally began to talk. In a whisper the argument finally broke out, ‘what were you thinking!?!’ the wife finally said as quietly as she could but filled with anger. ‘What do you mean, I have been trying to talk with you all day about it and now at the laundry mat you want to start talking, Wow?!’ the husband replied quietly but just as angry as the wife now. ‘You know what? We are over, I cannot believe you cheated on me, we got married 3 months ago and already I am not good enough for you? Why bother dragging it out, I can barely look at you let alone be married to you!’ the wife exclaimed. ‘Fine, whatever, you’re right! It is over. I don’t want to be with you either.’ The husband said, no longer hushed. “Good” the wife said. And they left the laundry mat and walked straight to their lawyer’s office to get the paper work to file for a divorce. The lawyer tried to stay calm, but it was obvious he was confused and wanted to know what was happening so he said to them ‘go home, think about it. I will have the paper work ready if you still need it by the end of this week.’ ‘Fine’ they each said obviously unhappy but not in the mood to argue about it. And they began to walk home. On the way I stopped them, and said one thing: ‘Forgive.’ They looked at me with anger but it faded the wife looked at the husband just then and realized he was looking at her. ‘I didn’t cheat on you, what you saw that day was only part of the situation, that women kissed me and all you saw was the kiss not the shove she received nor the fact that I fired her right then and there.’ The husband said calmly. ‘I’m so sorry’ the wife exclaimed. ‘I was an idiot I should have let you explain I didn’t mean a single word of what I said I was just angry. Please forgive me.’ She said. ‘I forgive you, every time. A thousand times over,’ and he sealed it with a kiss. I walked away knowing my work there was done.” Gabby said. “Wow” everyone said dragging the word out. “What a great story!” I said. “Thanks” Gabby said. “Okay boys, we have voted and you are disqualified since we noticed you were together during your adventure, and playing video games the whole time. Yeah, that’s right Machaella noticed you two while she was walking by the arcade on her adventure which she had by herself!” I said. I was mad that they had broken the rules, but not angry, and I already expected as much from them. They just laughed and high fived. Typical, I thought to myself so typical. “Okay Mac, want to tell your story now?” I asked. “I really have no story, I met a boy and spent the whole day talking to him, and I feel a little weird talking about that since it is not official yet but I totally think he is going to call me and I just don’t want to jinx it. You know?” She said. “Not you to! Darn it. I guess it is between me and Gabby then, this should be interesting.” I said.

“Yeah, it really should be.” Gabby said.

I could see the fire in her eyes, and sense her competitive edge coming out. She eyed me, not in a rude way, just in the way that kind of said ‘I will destroy you’. I could feel the competitive beast coming out in the both of us, I was ready to tell my story, and win. I could not and would not loose, I would dominate this competition. Even if the prize was only pizza and soda, loosing was not an option and with this I launched into my story.

“So, the beginning of my day started out uneventful but when the sun began to fade so did my boredom. I decided if nothing exciting came to me, I would go out and find it. So I began to roam, aimlessly might I add. I refused to look at street names, I didn’t want to know where I was going, I didn’t want to plan ahead, I just wanted to run into some amazing adventure as I explored Seattle and with a little luck I did. As I was strolling down the street completely minding my own business, and trying to remain naïve about where I was I heard a crashing noise come from an alleyway a block up the road. I followed the noise, maybe not a good idea but I was curious so I acted on my instincts. As I picked up the pace and got closer to where the crashing noise had come from I began to hear voices, several of them. Some high, some low, some male, some female, some had accents, and some were loud, while others were quiet. It was obvious to me that there were many people, and I began to feel intimidated. What if I got jumped or something? They obviously outnumbered me, I knew this before I even saw the group, I arrived at the alleyway and peeked around the corner to see a group of teenagers, all around our age, some a little younger and others a little older. I tried to be stealth, to just observe but me and my clumsy ways ended up kicking a garbage can, and knocking it over. They all heard how could they not? And they began to approach me, angry expressions on their faces, I was scared to death. I thought to myself this is it, they are going to jump me, possibly kill me, and I will absolutely undoubtedly be in the hospital for weeks. But they just kind of stopped two or three feet from me and looked at me. Some seemed angry; others bored, and still others curious. ‘Hi’ I finally managed to croak out. ‘Hi,’ the one who seemed to be the leader; a tall boy around seventeen or eighteen with dark clothes, dark hair, and bronzed skin said. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt or anything I uhm… I just heard a noise and was sort of curious.’ I said still nervous but trying to fake confidence. It was obvious the boy saw right through me. ‘Chill out, we ain’t gonna kill you or anything, just we ain’t trying to have anybody snooping around while we are putting our art up.’ He said. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Not trying to snoop, just looking for a little adventure.’ I said, feeling reassured by the boys statement. ‘It’s obvious you ain’t from around here, or a snitch. At least you better not be. Wanna come and check out the piece?’ He asked. ‘Sure’ I replied. I was not sure at all but what did I have to lose? I followed them into the alley; they all walked toward the middle, stopped suddenly and looked up. They were obviously in awe and I could tell why when I followed their gazes. Painted onto the wall, probably still wet was a baby with the wings and face of an angle, lying on a cloud, glowing in the bright sunlight. It was a true piece of art, unlike anything my eyes had ever seen before. My jaw dropped and I could feel the others gazing at me, happy at my response I was sure. ‘Who did this?’ I finally managed to choke out after about a minute. ‘All the others took a step back and left their leader standing there before me. ‘Your work is amazing!’ I exclaimed. ‘Thank you.’ He said with a warm smile. ‘I mean, you are gonna go professional or something; tell somebody other than me and them you painted this right?’ I asked. ‘Wrong.’ He replied. ‘Although you love my work, and so do all my friends here, many people see this as a crime and me as a criminal. I will not be going professional, but I will continue painting.’ He said.

We all sat around and talked for hours, they had the most amazing stories to tell. They also showed me pictures of some of their other pieces. I was amazed by them, and their talent. I was so sad that they were reduced to street art with no name identifying it as theirs. But they seemed to like it that way, anonymous they said. It kept the mystery going in their point of view, so I didn’t bother arguing. They were such amazing people I could hardly bear to leave so soon but I had to, so I did. Their leader, seventeen year old Sage, walked me to the block the car was parked on. Before we went our separate ways, we exchanged numbers, and a kiss, and then he disappeared into the fog and darkness. Their stories had changed my outlook on graffiti, street art, and artists forever more, that much was for sure.” I said, and gave them a few minutes to let the story sink in. When it finally did sink in; they all told me how great it was and then we voted. Gabby and Mac voted for me. Dalton and Hobbie voted for Gabby, so it was all left up to me. I took my time thinking it over, and then finally I decided to vote for Gabby. “I vote for you” I said to Gabby. “Are you serious? You are such a good friend, I am so sharing my pizza and soda with you, we both deserve it. Now dish on the big kiss!” She said with excitement. All in all the competition was great, I know I had a great adventure, and so did a few of my friends. It was time well spent, and memories worth remembering.