Brash and Reckless

"Take that, evil fiend!" John cried out, thrusting his foam sword at me.

I ducked in a nick of time, the sword barely grazing the skin on my neck.

"I got you exactly where I want you!" He grinned deviously, "Wounded and in my castle! You shall not last much longer!"

I cautiously lifted my sword, jerking it to the left, causing it to whack against the calf of his leg.

"Oh no! He's got me!" He groaned, crumpling to the ground, "I shall face a painful, valiant death!"

"No!" I shrieked, falling to his side, "You can't die!"

"Fisher!" he whined, smacking the ground with his palm, "You have to play along!"

"Sorry..." I trailed off, rubbing the back of my neck, "Can we start over?"

"Sure!" He nodded, clearly pleased about not dying, "Try and catch me if you can!"

I frowned and gripped the handle of my purple sword, covering my eyes with my free hand as I began waving it around.

"Hey- ow! Watch it!" John hollered, "Fisher! You have to keep your eyes open!"

"I don't like this game." I admitted sheepishly, "Can we play something else?"

He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest before sighing, "What do you wanna play?"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully before shrugging, "Anything besides this."

"Wanna go see if Halvo's home?" He questioned, dropping his sword, "He went to the aquarium today!"

I frowned, dropping my gaze to the ground, "I- Uh, I think I-I'll go home..."

"What?!" He quickly shook his head, "No! You can't! Plus, your moms gone shopping with mine!"

"Then I'll just go watch cartoons with Ross." I said stubbornly

"Why are you being a butt wipe?" He pouted, stomping his feet

"Because you always make me feel left out when we're with Halvo!" I exclaimed, wiping my eyes, "I'm going to play with Ross!"

"Fisher!" He called after me, locking his arms around my waist, "Pleaseee? I promise, you're my best friend!"

I lifted my eyes, locking with his brown orbs, "You mean it?"

He nodded, outstretching his pinkie towards me, "I wouldn't say it if I didn't!"

I grinned, not wasting a second to intertwine our fingers. "You have to promise to not ignore me!"

"You can't blame me if I do." He shrugged, "Halvo's a selfish attention seeker."

"What does selfish mean?" I tilted my head to the side

"People who... Uh." He scratched his head, "They only care for themselves."

"But Halvo lets me use his favorite cup!" I bite my lip, "Are you sure he's selfish?"

"Of course I'm sure!" He pushed his sleeves up, "Why else would he always want me to himself?"

"I guess you're right..."

He tugged at my shirt, motioning for me to follow after him. "First we have to ask my Dad. Then we'll see if Halvo's home."

"Can Ross come too?" I inquired hesitantly, "He's-"

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, "Ross's a baby!"

"He's not much younger than me!" I defended, a frown forming at my lips, "And don't call him a baby!"

"Or what?" He narrowed his eyes

"I won't be your friend anymore!"

"Ross is a baby." He spoke slowly, sticking out his tongue

"Don't talk to me anymore!" I exclaimed, shoving past him

"Don't shove me!" He yelped, pushing me to the side, "Go play with your little baby!"

I whimpered as I fell to the ground, my knees roughly colliding with the stairs. Tears beginning to form in my eyes. Small sobs began wracking my chest as blood began oozing out.

"Fisher!" He rushed to my side, his hands gripping my shoulder

The tears continued to rush down my cheeks, the pain beginning to spread out.

My vision blurred, the image of John's lanky frame falling to his knees beside me.

"Fisher!" He exclaimed, "I'm so, so, so sorry! Please don't hate me! I'm sorry! We can stay here and play! I swear, I'll never make fun of Ross again!"

"It stings." I blubbered, tears muffling my voice

"Let's go inside and get you some bandaids!" He nodded eagerly, managing to help me to my feet

I glanced down at my arm, my eyes widening in horror at the sight of blood trailing down.

"It's bleeding, alot." I gulped

"That's fine." He tried to shrug it off, a frantic glint still in his eyes, "We can just ask my-"

"Ask who?" I inquired, my tone growing weary

"We can't ask my dad!" He gasped, "He'll want to know what happened and then he'll tell your mom and she'll never let you come over anymore!"

"But it's bleeding!" I cried

"What do I do?!" He ran a hand through his hair, a pout beginning to form around his lips

"You tell me!" I rubbed my eyes, "You shouldn't have pushed me!"

"You pushed me first!" He argued, "And I said I was sorry!"

"Well." I stomped my foot, wincing, "This is all your fault!"

He huffed, not wasting a second to yank off his t-shirt, "Here! Tie this around your arm."

My eyes widened, this time not in horror, but in disbelief. My jaw went slack for a split second, my cheeks flushing as I swallowed.

Before he could catch me gaping, I dropped my gaze and hastily took the shirt. I slowly wrapped it around my arm, desperately trying to tie it.

After many feeble attempts, John seemed to grow frustrated with my unsuccessful work.

"Here." He muttered, swatting my hands away, "Let me do it."

He stepped back, a triumph smile embedded into his features as he scanned his handy work.

"There!" He grinned, rubbing his hands together, "Now we-"

He cut himself off with a grimace, a look of annoyance flashing into his features. "Ew! I need to wash my hands!"

"Why?" I cocked my hand to the side in confusion

"I got your blood on them!" He shoved his hands in my face, "C'mon, I need to wash 'em."

I trailed after him, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Where is he gonna wash them? Shouldn't he-

"Crap." He grumbled, "I can't- oh- I got it!"

My eyes widened as realization seemed to hit me. Is he really going to use the water hose?

"Don't you need to wash your hands?" He questioned, outstretching it towards me.

I shrugged, "I don't really-"

"Oh! I wonder what this does!" He bent down, his hand grasping a small lever stuck in the ground.

He grunted in frustration, quickly jerking his hands to the left, the knob quickly beginning to spin.

"I got it!" He exclaimed, lunging to his feet, "I wonder what it does. Do you think-"

We both froze, sharing a similiar expression as droplets of water began landing on us.

"Uh oh." He muttered under his breath, scratching his head, "I think that was the-"

"Sprinklers!" I shrieked, flaring my arms as they all started spraying at a rapid pace

"C'mon, Fisher!" He yanked on my shirt, "Let's go run through them!"

"We're gonna get in trouble!" I reasoned, crossing my arms

"The more the reason to play in them while we can!" He grinned

That's how the evening ended. John and me running through the sprinklers, the sun fading into the night sky.