The Spark of Rebellion

The Dance

The next morning Leif got out of bed with a skip, then stopped himself, he probably shouldn't seem too happy that he went over to Section River. His parents were sure to ask him where he'd gotten his happy mood.

He hurriedly ate his toast and frittata.

"What's the rush?" asked Keighan.

"Nothing," he said with a full mouth, "just gonna meet a friend today."

"Who?" asked Emberly.

"Robbyn," he said.

The lie had slipped out so easily that time.

"Oh, you've told us about her haven't you?" asked Emberly.

"Yeah," he said feeling his cheeks starting to burn.

"I hope we can meet her sometime," said Keighan.

"Yeah, maybe you can," he said. "But maybe not today, she lives all the way across town."

"Oh, where are you two meeting then?" she asked.

"Oh, somewhere in the middle, it's always different," he said as he finished his food.

He hopped up from the table and grabbed his fedora and a blue hoodie. He kissed his mom on the cheek and gave his dad a fist bump.

"See yuh," he called as he went out the door, grabbing his skateboard as he went.

He skated down to the fence that was only a couple of blocks away, (not across town). He waited there for a few moments until he heard her soft footsteps.

"Hi," she said mildly.

"Masks on?" he said putting on his own.

"Mask on," she said affirmatively.

They turned to look at one another. She was carrying her art supplies and he carried... well, his skateboard. They both sat down in front of one another.

"What color?" she asked him.

"Hmm?"

"What color do you think my mask should be?"

"Oh, well, what about a kind of red color, with some silver streaks," he said.

"I like that," she said. "And I think you should have blue with black."

"Yeah, that sounds cool," he said.

She handed him her silver and red paint. He reached through the wire fence and touched her mask with the paint with the brush. She did the same to his.

He accidentally got some paint on her face.

"Sorry," he said trying to wipe it off.

"That's okay," she said as she touched his nose with her paintbrush.

He lurched backward trying to avoid the blast of color on his face. She laughed and moved forward trying to reach his face.

"Don't you dare, don't you dare," he said leaning so far back that his back was almost touching the ground.

She laughed more. Then he suddenly sat up and swiped at her face with his paintbrush. The paint traveled across her eyelid and over the brim of her nose.

"Woe," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"That looks really cool," he said.

"What the paint?"

"Yeah. I think it'd be cool if we painted our faces then put the mask over it."