Sarah Back-Flips Out

On a nice day at school, Micah and Wesley practice their backflips during recess until Sarah arrives and asks, “Hi, guys! What are you doing?”

“Hey, Sarah! We’re practicing our backflips.” answered Micah.

“Cool! I want to try!” responds Sarah while preparing to jump.

“Sarah! Wait!” replies Wesley while holding out his hands. Sarah jumps up and attempts to flip backwards, but falls to the ground and hurts herself. Sarah gets up and tries numerous times to no avail, hurting herself more. Sarah makes one more attempt with Micah stopping her and saying, “Whoa, Sarah! That’s enough.”

“You’ll just hurt yourself even more.” said Wesley.

“Ah, who am I kidding? I can’t do backflips.” said Sarah.

“I’m sure with a little practice, you’ll be doing them in no time.” responded Micah.

“I’m eager to learn.” replied Sarah.

“Well, for starters, use something like monkey bars to help you get the momentum down. And please, find something soft to land on.” said Micah. The whistle suddenly blows, ending recess with Micah, his friends, and the rest of the students lining up, preparing to go back to class. At the end of the school day, Micah walks out of the building with Wesley and Sarah with Sarah saying, “As soon as I get home, I’m going to start practicing my backflips.”

“Remember what I told you, Sarah.” responded Micah.

“I know. Practice on some bars and find something soft to land on. My dad’s got some exercise bars and a gymnastics mat at home.” replied Sarah.

“Perfect! Safety first!” said Wesley.

“See you guys later!” says Micah while waving goodbye to his friends as they all go their separate ways. Micah walks home with his brothers while Wesley and Sarah enter their parents’ vehicles. Micah and his brothers arrive home with Micah doing his homework and going into his laboratory afterwards while Sarah does her homework and practices her backflips later on. The next day at recess, Micah and Wesley play together on the playground equipment and watch as Sarah continues to try backflips to no avail. Sarah arrives home later on and continues practicing backflips with her father’s exercise bars and gymnastics mat, trying again the following day at recess without any luck. After seeing Sarah fall to the ground, Micah and Wesley rush to her aid with Wesley helping her up while Sarah says, “It’s no use. I’m just not cut out to do backflips.”

“Give it time, Sarah. Some people are just slow learners. That’s all.” responded Micah. Not far from Micah and his friends, a kid throws a fastball at another kid while saying, “Think fast!” The catcher fails to catch the ball as it heads right towards Micah and his friends with Micah drawing his attention to it and pointing it out while exclaiming, “Whoa! Heads up!” Micah and Wesley jump out of the ball’s path as it heads towards Sarah, who miraculously dodges it with a backflip. Micah and Wesley clap for Sarah with Micah saying, “Bravo, Sarah!”

“And what perfect form!” said Wesley.

“Wow! How did that happen?” asked Sarah.

“He who lives high above the Earth gave you that gift during your hour of need.” answered Micah.

“Yeah! You just knew what to do when the time came!” said Wesley.

“Huh. I never thought of it that way. Let’s see if I can do it again.” responds Sarah while preparing to jump. Sarah jumps and falls to the ground with Micah picking up the ball while saying, “Careful, Sarah. I’m afraid your hour of need is over.” The kid who threw the ball approaches Micah, who hands him his ball back while saying, “Here you go.”

“Thanks!” responded the kid. The kid runs back to his friend and continues tossing it back and forth to one another with Micah saying, “You know…I might have a little tactic for you.” Micah finds a stick laying around and picks it up, throwing it at Sarah as hard as he could with Sarah dodging it with another backflip.

“I did it again!” said Sarah excitedly. The whistle suddenly blows, ending recess with Micah saying, “To be continued.” Micah and his friends line up with the rest of the students, heading back to class and finishing up the school day. The next day (on a Saturday), Sarah arrives in Micah’s laboratory as he conducts scientific experiments, tapping his shoulder with Micah turning around and saying, “Oh! Hi, Sarah!”

“Hey. Could you help me with my backflips, please?” asked Sarah.

“Sure! Right this way!” answers Micah while leading Sarah to a small arena. Micah rolls a robot into the arena while saying, “This robot will throw foam balls at you. Try to dodge as many as you can with your backflips.”

“Is there any way I can increase the difficulty level of that thing?” asked Sarah.

“Yeah! Right here!” answers Micah while showing the robot’s difficulty setting. Micah then shows Sarah a scoreboard while saying, “See this scoreboard? This will keep track of how many balls you dodge. However, it will only count backflips. It will not count rolls, frontflips, etc.”

“Perfect!” responded Sarah.

“Let me know when you’ve had enough.” says Micah while walking off and returning to his experiments. Sarah begins practicing with the robot, increasing its difficulty level every 25 successful backflip dodges while Micah continues his laboratory work. Sarah later gets tired and collapses to the floor, catching her breath while the robot pelts her with balls.

“Micah, will you stop this thing, please?” asked Sarah. Micah draws his attention to Sarah and answers, “Oh! sure!” Micah runs up to the robot and switches it off, looking at the scoreboard while saying, “Alright, let’s see how you did.” Micah sees the score “100” displayed on the scoreboard and asks, “Holy lugnuts! You’ve really outdone yourself! Do you feel any different?”

“I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. Actually, I feel so confident…I’m going to do a backflip for real right now!” responds Sarah while getting up. Micah sits her down on a chair while replying, “No. Get some rest. You can do that later.”

“Ok, if you say so.” says Sarah while falling asleep. A little while later, Sarah wakes up and warps to the school playground while Micah continues doing work in his laboratory. Sarah positions herself while nervously saying, “Well…here goes nothing.” Sarah performs a perfect backflip and subsequently says, “I did it! I really did it! Wait until I show Micah!” Sarah runs back to Micah’s house, entering his laboratory while excitedly saying, “Micah, come with me! I’ve got something to show you!” Micah pauses his work and follows Sarah to the frontyard of his house with Sarah subsequently positioning herself and excitedly saying, “Watch this!” Sarah does another perfect backflip with Micah’s jaw dropping and excitedly saying, “Amazing!”

“Thanks! And I owe it all to you!” responds Sarah. Sarah does more backflips until Micah stops her and says, “Don’t overdo it, Sarah, before you hurt yourself or anyone around you.”

“Oh! Right! Sorry! Got a little carried away.” responded Sarah. Two days later, Wesley approaches Micah and Sarah at school during recess with Sarah excitedly saying, “Hey, Wesley! Check this out!” Sarah once again performs a perfect backflip with Wesley excitedly responding, “Wow, Sarah! I’m impressed!”

“It’s all thanks to Micah for helping me out on Saturday.” says Sarah while putting her arm around Micah.

“Oh, yeah? What did you guys do?” asked Wesley.

“I let her train with one of my robots.” answered Micah.

“Robots?” asked Wesley.

“This particular one threw balls at her…foam balls.” responded Micah.

“Oh, and you just dodged them with backflips, right?” asked Wesley.

“Exactamundo!” answered Sarah.

“Did any of you keep track of how many balls were dodged with backflips?” asked Wesley.

“Oh yeah. I had a scoreboard set up that only counted backflips. Feast your eyes on this!” answers Micah while showing Wesley a picture of Sarah’s score on his Micah Phone. Wesley looks at Micah’s photo with big eyes and says, “100 backflips?! Sarah, that’s incredible!”

“Thanks! I’m so happy, now that I can do backflips like you two!” responds Sarah while a bully walks up from behind Micah and his friends from behind.

“Just remember, Sarah. Use this new skill responsibly. Do not use it to show off or anything like that. Also, you don’t need to be like Micah and I to be happy. Happiness comes from within.” replied Wesley.

“I’m sorry. I just feel so left out sometimes.” said Sarah.

“That’s ok. Wesley and I feel the same way every now and then. But, He who lives high above the Earth made us all different for a reason. Try to remember that.” responded Micah.

“Good to know!” replied Sarah. The bully suddenly taps Micah’s shoulder with Micah turning around and getting snatched along with Wesley. The bully holds Micah and Wesley in place with Micah angrily saying, “Let us go, now!”

“You guys are such nerds! Ha ha ha ha!” laughed the bully. A friend of the bully suddenly approaches Sarah from behind and grabs her, holding her in place with the first bully saying, “Nice work, dude!”

“What should we do to them?” asked the bully’s friend.

“Let’s hang them on the flagpole out front…by their undies!” answers the bully while dragging Micah and Wesley away.

“Ok!” responds the bully’s friend while catching up to the bully.

“Not today, you jerks!” replies Sarah angrily while biting the hand of the bully’s friend. The bully’s friend releases his grip and holds his hand, jumping up and down while painfully shouting, “Ow! That little snot bit me!”

“Well, don’t just stand there! Grab her again!” responded the bully angrily. Sarah takes off running while the bully’s friend chases after her with Wesley saying, “Go, Sarah!” At one point, Sarah stands her ground while the bully’s friend inches closer to her, stealing a little kid’s ball along the way with the little kid crying. The bully’s friend throws the ball at Sarah as hard as he could with Sarah doing a backflip and catching it in the air, throwing it at the face of the bully’s friend, knocking him unconscious. Sarah approaches the bully’s friend as he lies on the ground and picks up the ball with the little kid running up to her.

“Sorry, little buddy. Here’s your ball back.” says Sarah while smiling and handing the kid his ball.

“Thank you, little girl! You’re so nice!” responded the kid.

“Hey, no problem! You go have fun now!” replied Sarah. The kid takes his ball and runs off while Sarah drags the bully’s friend up to the bully.

“What did you do to him?!” asked the bully angrily.

“None of your business! This is going to be you if you don’t let my friends go!” answered Sarah angrily.

“Yeah, right!” responded the bully. Sarah looks at the lunch aids on recess duty and says, “Actually, I got a better idea!” Sarah runs up to one of the aids and tells her what’s been going on with the aid angrily approaching the bully. The aid points at the school building, telling the bully to go to the principal’s office with the bully angrily saying, “Yes, ma’am!” The bully heads to the principal’s office with the aid stopping him, pointing at Micah and Wesley to tell him to release them.

“Yes, ma’am…again!” says the bully angrily while releasing Micah and Wesley and heading off to the principal’s office. The aid taps on the bully’s friend as he gains consciousness, subsequently pointing to the school building to tell him to go to the principal’s office.

“Aw, come on! What did I do?!” asked the bully’s friend angrily.

“Don’t argue with me, young man! Just go!” responded the aid.

“Fine! (Snot!)” whispers the bully’s friend angrily while stomping off to the principal’s office. The aid grabs the ear of the bully’s friend and responds, “I heard that! Perhaps I need to take you in myself!” The aid drags the bully’s friend off to the other aid by the ear with the bully’s friend saying, “Ow! You’re hurting me! Let go!”

“Keep an eye on things, if you would. I’ve got a disobedient child to take care of.” says the aid while showing the bully’s friend to the other aid. The other aid nods while the aid holding the bully’s friend drags him off to the principal’s office.

“Wow, Sarah! Thanks for saving us!” said Micah excitedly.

“Yeah! How’d you pull that off?” asked Wesley excitedly.

“Easy. When somebody’s in trouble, tell the nearest adult! They can handle it.” answered Sarah. Sarah jumps forward to try and do a frontflip, but falls to the ground and hurts herself. She tries some more to no avail, getting up and saying, “Now I can’t do frontflips!”

 

The End