To my friends and teacher. Thank you for inspiring me to write this.

TWANG!!! My scrawny body bounced on my trampoline and did a flip. Confidence surged through me at this amazing feat. I swept his hair back and took a look around of his surroundings. As usual, Dylan and I were out in the backyard jumping on my super-bouncy-heckamanly trampoline and we were trying to do the highest jump or the highest jump on to the trampoline. Dylan was boasting about his test scores and laughing at the fact that i got a C-. But I growled at him and that pretty much stopped his gloating. He flexed his arms and jumped and did some kind of a pose in the air that resembled Shaun White. He was good, annoyingly good. But, the breeze was rolling lazily and the pine trees were whispering amongst themselves and the sun was hugging the horizon and was sinking like a ship out at sea and this kind of weather could turn any grouch into a glowing ball of sunshine. I let out a sigh of peace and bounced on the trampoline.

Peacefulness like this was rare, I thought. If only everyday was like this. But the thought was broken when Dylan beat my record for the highest jump. Now Dylan was winning in both of the events (jump height: 6.3 feet, Jump from height: 12 feet). And I had just (unsuccessfully) tried to beat the highest jump and I managed 5.11 feet. Not enough. So I decided to hand that event to Dylan. “What’s the matter?” Dylan asked “It’s not that hard you know, especially with your weight you should be soaring out to space,” Dylan continued. “Shut up,” I retorted. I snorted and attempt again only to find my head not even close to the record. He’s right though, I am the skinniest kid in elementary school, I weigh only 32 pounds, and I have never won anything. You may think it’s good to be that light and skinny. Trust me, it’s not. All the bully’s at school only need to breathe on me and I’ll be flying through the hallway like Mr. Incredibles boss (by the way, great movie). But I was determined to find a way to win the competition. How could I? I could attempt to climb up the trampoline to one of the poles on the top. But if I fell that would be reckless and dangerous. And I could fall and break my neck. Hm, I was stumped and it looked like I lost the game. I looked around at my surroundings for help. Then, as I glimpsed the house, an idea bloomed in my head. “Watch this!” I said, and made a speedy dash towards the house.

As I strode up the stairs, images flashed before my eyes. All not the most pleasing and encouraging. I saw myself on the ground after one punch from Conan, the schools bully. Then another image flashed, it was me attempting to beat Dylan in a sprint competition, I almost won, almost. Like I said before, I could never beat anyone, even Dylan, in a competition. The only time I have ever one was when playing chess and video games. But there’s no physical prowess in that. I wanted something more than that. I wanted to be like my dad. As my mother told me, he was a winner and never lost. But she never could say more than that without letting a sob escape her. “One day, you’ll understand,” she said, sobbing. Anyways, back to this. If I were a flying squirrel, this would be a piece of cake and I would walk out with victory painted all over my furry body. But this is not a fairy tale. I have to do this by myself. But doubt started crawling into my brain like a klingon. (Sorry, I've watched too much Star Trek). What if I couldn't still beat him, I thought. What if this is a wild goose chase? What if Dylan's dad owns a helicopter and he could skydive down? No, I have to do this. No guts, no glory as my uncle used to say. Here we go. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the safest idea ever but everybody knows how competitive I am even though I know I don’t have a hope in the world. I arrived in the attic and I crawled out of the window onto the roof. My house was five stories tall, yeah I know, my mom owns a company so no wonder the

house is big. I cautiously made my way to the ledge at the edge and peered down at the trampoline far below. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, I thought. But then, I didn’t want Dylan to think of me as a chicken and I had a reputation to uphold. I felt like those stuntmen ready to jump off the cliff with pizzazz and a flip to add. Dylan was standing next to the trampoline with his jaw brushing against the soft recently-mowed grass. “HE’S GOING TO JUMP!!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs and seconds later my mother came out with her jaw dropping to greet Dylan’s. “CONNOR, GET DOWN HERE!!!!” she hollered in the same frequency as Dylan’s. Too late. I was already in free-fall waiting for the collision to happen and for my success to be announced to the world.

Now, before I tell you this, I want you to know that I was just a kid and had big ambitions and that this seemed like a fantastic idea at the moment. But of course, you guys think this is a terrible idea and I was a psychopath. Wind screamed in my ears trying to intimidate me. But as if on cue, a wave of peace and confidence washed over me like a wave on the beach as the tide came in. I was invincible to the winds scream and barreled my way towards the trampoline and away from the uncomfortable intimidating pine needles of the pine tree. Safe, I thought. I did a flip just for the heck of it and let out a mad laugh. I felt like I was flying. As I connected with the elastic my face kept on digging into the elastic until my face hit the ground brutally. I heard a crack and I was blown skyward. All of Isaac Newton’s theories were blown to smithereens as I careened into the air and exceeded the height of the roof and I could see the house across from the street. A wave of peace washed over me like a wave on the beach at sunset. Then reality came and hit me in the face. Then I landed on the trampoline again and again and attempted to stand up like an Olympian. But adding crazy jumping off a house and then getting up on a trampoline is not the best recipe for standing. I decided to try one more time but I wasn’t even on my knees when I collapsed. Then I gave up and the last thing I saw was my mother running towards me. She did not look proud or happy. Now, it’s never quite comfortable lying on a sheet-less hospital bed with bandages covering your whole torso. And my head was wrapped with this sticky stuff. I think it was tape but I was not willing to check if it was. Actually, I couldn't check even if i tried, my arm was suspended in the air by this gauze and my other arm was hanging limply off the table and i couldn’t feel it. I looked up to see if I had any visitors, but no one was there. The nurse came in. “Oh, you’re awake,” she said. “Is there anything you need?” I shook my head painfully and she walked out of the room. This wasn’t so bad, I thought. The beds uncomfortable, my arms itchy, and I smell vulgar but that's no big deal, right? No? Well, you’re crazy. This is the life. Okay, maybe I should stop being optimistic. Anyways, back to topic. Man, I can’t believe I got myself into this mess, I thought. If only I could go back in time and tell myself to not jump and just lie low and let Dylan win. But then I thought about the crazy, stupid, amazingly awesome thing I did and remembered the shock on my mother’s face as if she were having a heart attack. I also felt the cool, autumn air rush past me, the sun shining its last rays to the world before retreating towards the horizon, and the phenomenal sensation I felt as if I was flying and it was absolutely, just, awesome, then I thought about the shock and worry that hung on my mother’s face as I landed and looked at her. I then turned on the TV and looked at the news channel to see if I won the Guinness World Records. But sadly, there was no reports of anything like that, just some boring judge giving a boring lecture to a boring criminal who committed a boring crime. “Nobody wants to see that,” I murmured and then turned the TV off. I can’t believe the stuff they put on TV these days. It used to be exciting watching the news with judges interrogating dangerous criminals with their super dangerous crimes of terrorism or murder or

some amazing TV shows like Firefly and lost. But now, it’s just random crimes with random people and you begin to lose the plot. I used to love the cartoons as a child but now they seem boring and unoriginal. Now, the only show I watch on Cartoon Network is Tom and Jerry but I know I'm supposed to watch the drama shows on CBS because I'm older, but who doesn’t like Tom and Jerry? Back to topic, my mother came in and sat down. She asked if I was feeling all right and if there was anything she could do to make me feel more comfortable. Then awkward silence broke between us and then I broke the silence. “Can I do that again?”I asked, she just burst into tears for 10 minutes and left mentioning that she loved me and that she would see me tomorrow. And all of a sudden I felt very sad. I just made my mother cried and the last time she cried was when dad left her, but that’s a different story for a different time.

I decided to turn the TV back on and to my satisfaction and luck, I watched Tom unsuccessfully catch Jerry. But I know what it’s like for someone to narrate two hours of television and for your sake, ill skip the TV watching. But, two grueling hours later Dylan came to the hospital and he looked...jealous. it was as if I won the lottery and he got a quarter. He took a seat next to me and stared at his shoes. He then risked a glance at me and as soon as his eyes met mine, he looked back at his shoes. To me, his hand-me-down shoes were not that pretty to look at. He was asking me if I was okay and asked if he could stay come tomorrow. “Of course,” I replied. I then asked him how long I was out. Turns out, I was gone for a week and tomorrow I would be turned loose. He then brightened up and we talked about how homework was a pain and how teachers never understood kids. I inquired to him how Mr. Forker was doing. He laughed and said that he was still his usual old self yet still a flirt to the girls. We laughed and we shared a few good jokes. We then talked for what seemed like hours, which is actually pretty great if you’re talking to your best friend and getting all the latest business. Or biz if you’re like one of the cool kids. But then the nurse told Dylan he had 15 minutes. We had nothing left to talk about, so silence hung between us like a dense fog, eerie and silent. Both of us waited for the other to talk. But five minutes later, Dylan dropped the flowers on the table walking out with a goodbye and such. “Well that went well,” I muttered.

The next day, I was lying on the bed waiting for the nurse to give me the happy-ending news. As she strode in, I could see that something was wrong. Her once-happy, skip in her step was out on vacation.

“Am I ready to go?” I asked with sweat building on my palms.“Well,” she said. “We...we can’t seem to find your mother. She won’t answer the phone.”