Run. That was my first thought when I saw them. I started walking, jogging, running, sprinting, trying to go as fast as my little legs could carry me, my sneakers slapping against the ground. Hoping, praying that they wouldn't follow me. But they started chasing me getting faster each step that they took, determined to catch me, to complete what they wanted. They had a determination like I had seen from no other animal ever before. They relentlessly chased me, kept me moving my little legs as fast as I could. Then faster, and faster, and faster. I wasn't going to stop running until I got home I told myself, just keep running. A little bit ahead I saw a forest with lots of trees and I knew that they would lead to my neighborhood, but I wasn't going to make it before they caught me. I started panicking my feet were sore and I was running out of energy very quickly. As I started to cross the street I saw a car, a black van, coming towards me so I started to run faster but I stumbled and fell, scraping my knee, on the road and I thought I was dead. As I was bracing for the car’s tires to run into my side and crush me like roadkill. I closed my eyes. At least they couldn’t catch me now. Then the car swerved around, unintentionally positioning itself like a barrier of metal between me and them. I got up and finished crossing the street. My knee was bleeding pretty badly, my calves hurt, and I just wanted to collapse onto my bed and sleep. I somehow limped through the forest and safely got to my house. “Ben, where have you been?” asked my mom. “I missed the bus so I had to walk home,” I answered.  “I’m going up to my room to do my homework,” “Ok,” my mom said as I ran up the stairs to my room. I felt her staring at the back of my shirt, probably wondering why my knee was oozing blood. Maybe five minutes later, I fell asleep.

9th grade is so boring, I thought to myself when I woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed, and finding that somebody, probably my mom, had taken care of my wounds. I got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. As I was walking down the stairs a delicious smell overwhelmed me making me even more hungry. I guessed that my mom made me pancakes for me for breakfast but I didn't know why because she only made them on the weekends and today it was Wednesday. I went into the kitchen and my mom wasn't in there so I decided to just start eating the pancakes that were on the table. I put syrup on my pancakes making them look even more golden. I ate four pancakes then went to the bus stop. A couple minutes later the bus, it's paint peeling, it's  brakes creaking, slowly pulled up to the bus stop. When the doors opened I saw my bus driver, Peggy, smiling at me as I got on. There I found my friends Zack and Mitchell, but everyone calls him Mitch, talking so I sat in the seat across from them not wanting to interrupt their conversation. They are twins and the only way I could tell them apart was their hair styles. Zack liked short hair, a buzz cut most of the time, and Mitch liked long wavy hair. I sat there unnoticed by them until a couple minutes later Zack who was sitting next to the window noticed me and gestured to me likely telling Mitch that I was there. “Hey,” Mitch said to me. I nodded back. “Why weren't you on the bus coming home yesterday?” Zack asked. “I missed it so I had to walk home, but I didn't walk the whole time,” I said. “I was chased by a pack of coyotes”. “Really?” Zack asked “I didn't even know they lived around here,” “Yeah,” I answered. A few minutes later the bus pulled up to the school. We got off the bus and went to our classes sadly all of us were in different homerooms. As I was walking to class people all around me were laughing and pointing at me. I got to my locker and put my backpack inside and took my stuff to class. When I was walking to class someone pushed me over and my stuff went everywhere and there was a group of people standing around me laughing. After looking at all the people around me I picked up my stuff and ran to class. I sat down and I realized that I forgot to check my chair before sitting down and one of the other kids had replaced my chair with a broken chair for the third day in a row. The chair had been broken because somebody sat on it and one of the legs broke off. The kid that put the chair in my spot had set the broken leg in a place where it looked like it wasn't broken so when I sat down the leg fell off and down I went. Everybody laughed when I fell. I stood up and got my actual chair back making sure it wasn't broken then sitting down. Mr. Albert, the teacher for that class walked over to my desk. “You okay Ben?” He asked. “Yes,” I answered. Mr. Albert walked back to his desk and sat down.

We went to our First class which for me was math class with Mr. Spencer I sat down and surprisingly nothing bad happened but I guess I got a little too confident because when I put my stuff on my desk the desk fell over and my stuff went everywhere. Mr. Spencer walked over and fixed my desk as I picked up my stuff. All I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep.

The next class I went to was science. Science is my favorite class, mostly because Mitch and Zack were both in my science class and we all sat at the same table. “Hey Ben,” Zack said to me as he got to class. “Hey Zack,” I said back. “How has your day been?” he asked me. “It's a normal day so far,” I told him. “My chair in homeroom was broken and my desk in math class,” “Oh,” said Zack. “Hey guys,” Mitch said startling us. “Hi Mitch,” I said. “Don't scare us like that man,” Zack said.

After that class was over we parted ways to go to our next classes which mine was language arts then gym. Of course in both of those classes something bad happened to me. In language arts I got tripped when I walked into the class and in gym I got hit in the face with a dodgeball and my glasses broke and in the last class of the day, history, somebody spilled water on me and everyone started saying that I peed in my pants.

When school was over I didn't miss the bus so I would get home on time. “How was history,” Mitch asked. “Well somebody spilled water on me and everybody started saying that I peed in my pants,” I told them. “What happened to your glasses?” Mitch asked. “Yeah where are they,” Zack asked. “In gym I got hit in the face with a dodgeball and they broke,” I told them as I pulled them out of my pocket “Will you guys be able to play?” I asked them as the bus pulled up to my stop. “Yeah,” Mitch said. “Ok see you then”, I said as I got off the bus. When I walked into my house I heard my mom's voice. “Hi Ben how was your day,” she asked me. “Good,” I answered. Even though I didn't have a good day I told her it was good so she wouldn't worry. “I'm going outside to play,” I told her. “With Mitch and Zach?” she asked. “Yeah,” I answered. “Ok be home by 10,” she told me. I rode my bike over to their house and they were outside playing basketball in their driveway with their little brother who is in 6th grade. “Hi Ben,” their little brother said to me. His name is Logan. He was about as tall as I am with blue eyes and he is pretty fast, a lot faster than me. “Hi Logan,” I said back to him. “Do you guys want to play basketball?” I asked them. “Sure,” said Mitch. “Can I be on Ben’s team?” Logan asked. “Sure,” I said. Logan and I got the ball first. Logan passed the ball to me I shot the ball over Mitch and the ball hit off the rim and went straight to Zack. Zack passed the ball to Mitch who was open behind the 3 point line. Mitch lined up the shot and shot the ball and he swished the 3 point shot. “Nice shot Mitch,” said Zack. The score was 3-0 Zack and Mitch were winning. Now it was our ball I got it first. I passed the ball to Logan and he ran in and made a layup for 2 points.The score was 3-2. Mitch started with the ball. He passed it to Zack. Then Logan stole the ball from Zack and passed it to me. I was behind the three point line. I looked up at the hoop. “Shoot it Ben,” Logan said to me. I jumped, shot the ball and swish the ball went in. “YES,” I yelled. “Nice shot,” they said congratulating me. Then the score was 5-3. We played for a few more minutes and then my bad luck kicked in and it started pouring down rain. Logan, Mitch, and Zack went inside and I got on my bike and quickly rode home. When I got home I went up to my bed and went to sleep. But I knew that wouldn't help with my bad luck.