• I wrote down what I was going to say, edited it, and I looked at it. It was like this:

    Hey, Kenji! I think I know why you told Ryan. You like me don’t you?

    Oh man! I hope that’s good!

    **********

    The next day, I practiced my script once again, and then I called Kenji on his cell phone.
    Ring! Ring! . . . Ring! Ring! . . .
    “Yeah, hello?” answered Kenji.
    “Hey! I need to talk to you. Where are you?”
    “I’m hanging out with Richie in front of his house. We’re playing- hey, dude, move! BEEP!”
    “Hello, Kenji? Kenji, what happened? Hey Kenji!” I became seriously nervous. A couple of minutes later, he called me back, but it wasn’t his voice. It was Richie’s.
    “Hey, Reina, we have a problem! Go to the hospital, and we’ll meet up there.”
    “Wait, what,” I replied, astonished, “Go to the hospital!? What happened? Hello?”
    I was too late. He hung up. I asked my mom to drive me to the hospital, but she asked me why. I told her because I thought Kenji was injured. She was as shocked and nervous as I was, so she drove me right away.
    “Oh, no! Oh, no! Lord, please make sure he’s okay! Please,” I thought while running down the hall of the hospital which seemed endless to me.
    At the end, I saw Richie sitting on the waiting chair in front of the emergency room. He was with Kenji’s mother who was crying along with him. Richie’s mother was alongside, trying to comfort them. For the first time, I saw Richie crying.
    “It was all my fault! He told me that it was dangerous to play in front of my house because of the passing cars, but no! Of course I didn’t listen!”
    He continued to cry, but I hugged him. “It’s okay.”
    “No, it’s not! Thanks to me he might die!”
    “What happened, anyway?” That was my question that I wanted to be answered now.
    “He was talking on the phone with you, and I wasn’t looking behind me. You know how my street is a one-way street?”
    I nodded my head. “Go on.”
    “Well, I didn’t know it, but a car was driving at full speed towards me with no sign of stopping. Kenji told me to move, but I just turned around wondering why. Then, Kenji pushed me, and he became injured. . .”
    “Oh . . . ,” I sniffed a bit, “I hope he’s okay!” I started to cry, miserably. My mom came over and comforted me. I don’t like Kenji as a boyfriend, but he’s still my best friend.
    The doctor came out of the emergency room. He looked stern and very pale. The doctor wore a glum expression, so I thought that Kenji might’ve . . . died.
    “You two should be very joyful. He survived. The bad part, on the other hand, is that your friend has a broken arm and a broken wrist, but overall he’s perfectly fine.”
    Richie and I quickly looked at each other, shocked. “Kenji’s alive!” We both yelled happily, but we quickly stopped because the doctor shushed us. Once Kenji was placed onto his bed, the doctor told all five of us that we are allowed to enter. We did as told, and entered.
    “Kenji! Oh my God, I’m so-no- extremely happy you’re alive!” I hugged him, and he laughed.
    “You’re extremely happy, huh?”
    “Yeah,” I replied, still hugging him tightly, “I’m extremely happy.”
    “Hey, Mrs. Taka, Mrs. Rouges, Mom, and Richie do you think you can go out of the room for a moment? I need to tell Reina something.”
    I stopped hugging him, and Mom and everyone went out.
    “I was wondering . . . do you really like Ryan?”
    I thought of how to respond before I answered.