Shot through the heart and you’re to blame. Darling, you give love a bad name. I reached over and slapped the small red shutdown button on my old faded black radio alarm clock. It was the first day of summer for me and the boys. We finally finished the eighth grade, and surprisingly we all passed. I know it’s only the first day, but for us today was the biggest day of the summer, our parents are finally letting us go camping in the Waverly forest, about 2 miles north of Nolan's house. I picked up the phone and called up Jose. Jose was short; fair skinned, black hair, and had glasses that didn’t seem to do much for him. No one in our school really liked Jose, but everyone was secretly jealous of Jose becaus he was the only one in the 8th grade to have a full grown mustache.

“You up!?” I asked.

He replied, “Yes, I’ll be at Nolan’s house in an hour!”

Nolan was a type of kid that didn’t say much, he had blonde hair; he was the only kid my parents let me hang around with. People would say he was the smartest of us all, but that’s only in the books, he’s a true blonde. He probably wouldn’t look both ways before crossing the street if we didn’t remind him 3 times before hand.

It took me a while to bike to Nolan’s. I had to stop at Gary’s, the local grocery store to pick up pops and some mallows. I didn’t have enough money to buy both items, so I had to steal the mallows. It’s not like I’m a bad kid; it’s just I don't have very much money. If I didn’t bring the mallows, I would just be called the poor kid over and over again. With only my luck he would see me walking out with the mallows scrunched up my shirt making it look like I have breast. I swiftly ran out the store as fast as could. Old man Gary was swinging at me with his old broom that should have been a head of a scarecrow.

“I know who your father is, you no good hoodlum!” he shouted.

I couldn’t help but to laugh; this 70 some year old man that walked like he had a question mark as a spine swinging at me with a broom like he’s Babe Ruth. I hopped on my bike, and bolted away peddling as fast as I could. I looked back and saw that the old coon was running after me. I turned my head and kept on pedaling away.

Once I finally got to Nolan’s we scavenged for some sleeping bags, matches, canteens, and extra pairs of socks. Jose’s older brother Kevin, known as EyeBall, told us that theres leaches that live in the mud that squeeze through your shoes and can get under your toenails if you don't wear two pairs of socks. I wore two pairs of old tube socks just to make sure. I told the boys I wasn't scared, but deep down I was frightened.

It was time we finally set out on our two mile bike ride to the forest. It was kind of hard for me because Nolan didn't know how to bike so he rode on my handlebars. It felt like he weighed more than a circus elephant. While we were heading to the forest, Jose made a remark saying, “Hey Jimmer we should of took your brothers old Ford!” Him saying that hit me really hard. About a year ago my brother Oscar died in a car accident with his girlfriend Jane. He was the only person in my life that fully understood me. We were nothing alike, he was the star athlete and everyone looked up to him. I like to write stories and everyone knows me as Oscar’s little brother.

By the time we got there it was almost sunset. We started setting up camp next to a large oak tree. Nolan was attempting to put up the small baby blue three person tent. We had to scrape some walnuts and leaves out of the way, so we could put it up on the flattest ground possible. After we get everything set up including the fire pit, so we set out and started exploring the forest.

First we walked to the the riverside and started skipping rocks, I had the record of 14 skips in one throw! After that we walked further down the river and tried fishing. We couldn’t catch anything but the Yellow bank river has always been known for good fishing. We fished for about an hour and didn’t get a nibble or anything, so we all agreed we would cast one last time. So thats what we did, I wanted to be the one to catch something, but with my luck that didn’t happen. I was just about to put my hook on a loop and call it quits until I heard this loud roar from Nolan.

“Hey guys, I think this is a big one!,” he shouted.

“I’m coming, don’t lose it you dummy!,” I yelled back.

This thing was HUGE! I haven’t seen anything ever like this in my life. This fish had to weigh almost a hundred pounds or more. On the other hand it was very beautiful. It was three very vibrant colors that all faded into each other. Starting from the back a was a very deep purple, that faded into a stunning yellow color that looked like a sunflower, and the head of the fish was a beautiful red, that was as shiny as one of Charlie Sheen’s cars.

The way it jumped out of the water was almost sad to see. It was struggling so much to not get caught. The fish was doing everything in its might to not get caught and Nolan was doing everything he could to not let it get away. Nolan has had this fish on for about twenty minutes now, and he is just a huffing and puffing, I would of thought he just got done with a marathon. Finally Nolan had the fish tired out and almost to shore, the fish gave it one last attempt to get away. The line must have went to its max flexibility, because I don’t how it didn’t break. Nolan finally got the fish to shore, so jose jumped in the water and gave the fish a huge bear hug and through it on the ground.
“Is that not the coolest thing you have ever seen?,” Jose exclaimed.

“Should we take it to the campfire and put it on the fire?,” Nolan asked.

I quickly replied,” That has to be one of the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say kid!”

Jose then had a good plan of going into the forest and making some sort of thing out of wood and leaves so we can carry the fish back to our tent. So we set out back into the woods to find some wood and some bigger leaves. We used one of my shoe laces to tie all of the stuff together and keep it in place.

“No ones going to believe us that we actually caught this monster!” I yelled out to the boys.

Then Nolan replied by saying, We’re going to go down in history!”

We hurried up and rushed to the shore to find our trophy. I couldn’t see it anywhere, I thought to myself did we come back to the right spot? Then all of a sudden I hear Jose shouting at us, “You’re never going to believe this!” Nolan and I rush over to where Jose is standing, we look across the river and we see the most amazing thing we have ever seen our lives poking its head out of the water with one fin out, it was like he was mocking us with a wave. My heart just dropped, I knew no one would believe us. I never really told anyone the whole story, I’ve been around Nolan and Jose when they tried telling people the story. 25 years later, still no one has ever believed us. The most important thing is that I knew it happened and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Those are the moments that will never be forgotten, the days and nights spent with your friends.

The End.