“What happened to your face?” her Aunt Carol asked.

“It’s nothing. I just bumped into something,” Lisa nonchalantly answered.

Her bluish-black left cheek was due to Ritch’s punch when she pissed him off while they were swimming. She really had a hard time pleasing her arrogant, bratty, and powerful cousin. Owning a bike is power. Being the last male child of her aunt is power raised to two.

Lisa adores Ritch’s bicycle and her family lives at his mother’s home. Though her granny owns the house legally, her aunt maintains it so she decides on who is to keep and who is to evict.

“Gotcha! Ritch shrieked at his victory.

If I could only outrun this bastard, Lisa thought while panting. They were playing “Stealing Base”. And she was so disappointed to be caught. “If only Marlon played, he would have outrun him,” she talked again to herself. “Would Ramil save me? I doubt if he could beat my cousin’s stamina,” she continued.

Though Lisa sucks at running like a horse, she could skate like any males in town. She takes pride of her moss skating skills. She has cleverly avoided banging her head on the underground floor of the bridge where she and her playmates slide and skate all weekend afternoons. She wished there were double Saturdays and Sundays a week to quickly improve her agility.

The moss skating ground became Lisa’s favorite spot in town. Not until a day when she followed Marlon on his way  to the bridge‘s mossy playground.

“Why are you bringing a mat? We don’t use that for skating.”
“I didn’t say we’re skating,” he snorted. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you washing that mat?” Lisa tried to snatch the mat but her cousin stopped her.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”

“But, why?”