Deana+Maffucci

__ One middle school year done, 2 more to go __ Ringgggggg! It was finally over. Those days of being a sixth grader was over, and we had something better to look forward to, seventh grade. Sad sighs and crying eyes went throughout the hallway. AS fast as I could I rushed out of those bright blue doors before the crowd came. I will no longer be seeing till the next year. Hugging, tears falling, and happy faces all were around the middle school. Thoughts ran through my mind. // Next year am I still going to be friends with the same people? Am I going to hang out with my friends? Hopefully, but I don’t know. // “Alfred! I’m going to miss you!” I shouted running over to give him a hug. “Even though you’re going to high school next year and we won’t see each, you still better text me!” “I will not forget you. Don’t worry,” Alfred sighed. My Mom decided that she would pick me and Erin up from school and go to Washington Elementary to see my old teachers. “So how was school?” Mom asked. “Good,” Erin and I both responded. As we pulled up to the school, it was 3:30 and my old best friend was there waiting for us. “VICTORIAAA!” I shouted “Deana I missed you,” she responded as we ran up to give each other hugs. We walked into the building a turned right to see the sign that said office. “HIII! How are you?” the secretaries said while giving me hugs. “I’m good. How are you?” “Good. Who are you here to see?” “Mrs.Cerchio.” “Ok, you may go down.” It was strange not going to a school that you haven’t been in so long. Passing through the hallway, where each door of the classrooms were different colors. The tiles on the floor were rainbow. I Remembered the times when I use to only walk on the red ones, and had a competition with myself. As I made a turn at the end of the hallway, I saw all the little kids running around at latchkey in the gym. Finally, we walked into my fifth grade teacher’s class, Mrs. Cerchio’s class. “Knock knock,” I kept repeating. “Hi. I missed you so much! How’s middle school?” She asked. “Good I guess, how’s teaching 3rd grade instead of 5th?” “Eh it’s different and hard to get use to. So how have you been?” “Good. How’s baby G?” “She’s doing good. We need to plan a date for us all to go out to eat or hangout for the day, maybe one day in the summer.” “That’s a great idea!” my mom said. Victoria, Erin, and I were just talking out in the hallway while my mom was talking to Mrs. Cerchio. “Bye, I’ll try to visit more often.” I said. “Bye and yes please visit me more.” she said laughing away. We got in the car and said our goodbyes to other teachers we passed in the hallway. Not being able to see my friends that I grew up in school with is difficult but making new friends is showing the strength I have to move on.

__ Six flags! Here we come __ “Deana! Wake up,” Shouted Erin. “I’m up, I’m up don’t worry.” “We’re leaving in a half and hour.” “Ok.” I said while getting up heading up the stairs. Slowly I got on my clothes. I had on gray shirt, with a bird in the middle that said Hollister. Erin was practically wearing the same thing in blue instead of gray. “Erin, and Deana we’re leaving,” Erin’s dad stated. “Ok we’ll be right there.” We rushed down the stairs, and went right out into her dad’s gold Toyota. The car smelt of cinnamon. “Dad, it smells like cinnamon.” “No duh I have cinnamon mints.” “Oh I didn’t know.” After a long hour, we were finally there. We reached the billboard saying “Welcome to Six flags”. We rushed out of the car doors and rushed through the park. When you go to Six flags you see some interesting people. I’ve only been to Six flags twice before this time, and from what I know about it, its crazy fun. We went through the gates and handed them our passes. “Let’s go on Batman!” I screamed. “OK” Erin laughed and said. We ran to the ride and got in line. Luckily because it was only June 18 it wasn’t crowded at all. We got in line and there was no one there so we got on the ride right away. Bat man would have to be my favorite ride, until this day. My favorite ride would have to be either Nitro, or superman. This was the first day I have ever been on Super man. Anxious and nervous at the same time I found myself buckling my seat. I fastened my seatbelt as tight as possible. The person on the microphone stated that we are about to go off. 5...4...3...2...1... see you when you get back. At this point I was even more scared. Right as we got started the seats tilted into a laying position. The ride was smooth. When we went upside down it felt as if we were flying. Erin and I both pretended to be superman in the picture. I like the ride so much that I even went on 5 times in a row. Erin and I had an adventure and enjoyed every second of it. We were extremely exhausted by the night. It was the best day I have ever had at six flags, and will never be forgotten, in all the years I will have. From this day I have learned that I shouldn’t be afraid to try something new, because the things that are new to you are usually the best things that happen to you.

__MANHUNT!__ “1…2…3...MANHUNT!” those very words came out almost every night, with the same group of kids. Mostly all the teenagers played manhunt at night time at the beach of Monterey. Right after I ate dinner I asked my mom “Can I go to the bay?” and her answer was always “sure.” I would go outside and walk to my neighbors, Brenna, Bridget, and Kelsey and sit with them on the porch until their parents allowed them to come. “Mom were going to the bay and were taking the bikes up” Brenna said. “Ok. Just be careful.” We each decided on the bike we were going to ride. When we decided on the bike we jumped up on to the seat and started to ride to our friends house. Zach, Sarah, and Emily all tagged along with us. “Are we just going to chill here for awhile or we going to ride to the beach or the store?” I asked. “We should go on a bike ride to the huge bay in Lavallette,” Brenna stated. “Ok. I just have to tell my mom,” I said. I dialed my mom’s number. “Mom we’re going to the bay in Lavallette and going to ride around there and maybe go to the gazebo.” “Ok. Just be careful and tell me when you’re back to our bay.” “Ok” I said hanging up the phone. When we all started riding there, we saw that the bay was crowded, so we headed back. By the time we got back it was 7:30. When we got back to the bay there was groups of little kids, so we all decided to play tag with them. When it started to get dark the kids left one by one. The night time was our time. When everyone came, we picked teams. My team consisted of Tom, Brenna, Emily, Kelsey, Jake, Adam and Luke. “What are the boundaries?” Luke asked. “We can’t cross the highway,” someone answered. “Ok ready were counting first,” Tom said. “Ok,” The other team said. We gave them 2 minutes. “Tom come with me to come find them,” I shouted. “Ok” He answered. We ran to the dock in someone’s backyard and found two people lying on this person porch. Tom went one way and I went the other. “123 MANHUNT!” I shouted while tagging this other Adam. The game went on forever. The team I was on usually won because our team had the older kids. We would all go home around 11:30 to 12:00 and the next day we would do the same thing. People of all ages played, and now I always have something to look forward to at night.


 * __AUTHOR’S NOTE __**
 * What inspired me for this memoir is being able to go down the shore every summer and to my beach house. The summer time is practically my life and I enjoy every second of it. From the rainy days, to the extremely hot and gorgeous day when the sun never goes in no matter what we make it fun. MY friends down there are amazing to me and I can honestly say they are my best friends before anyone else. I wrote this for my readers so that they can enjoy the summer just like I do. Summer is my life. If I could I would live there all year round, and my wish is to have a house somewhere warm where I can go to the beach every day. **