Excerpt from Chapter 15

Once outside, I was headed like usual towards the blacktop to watch the jumpers when I felt a tug at my arm. My eyes quickly followed a honey-toned hand, leading to a pink sweater-sleeve, moving along up to the billowy hair and warm smile that belonged to no one else but Jasmine.

“Wanna play tag with us?” she said. Was she kidding? “You bet!”

How super-fantastic of Jasmine to ask me to play tag. A dream-team of friendly kids I knew clustered about. I went from serious-jump rope-concentration mode to primed-for-fun mode in about three seconds flat. Interlacing my fingers, I pinched my chin with my fingertips. Doing that felt more acceptable than performing the little pirouette that I almost did instead.

“Who’s It?’ I asked.

…

Jasmine and a smattering of kids were all on the run, zig-zagging this way and that. We all steered clear of Jordan.

Feeling flush, carefree and wild, I darted to the left, zigging around a cluster of girls playing hand-clapping games, zagging under the slide feeling thankful I was small enough not to bump my head. At one point, Jordan ran me right towards the jump rope section of the blacktop. As I dodged away to escape his reach, the only way out was to my left, which placed me smack in the heart of jump rope land. Was the the definition of misfortune or what?