Page 217 by Likhitha

… humidity made my hair stick to my shoulders as we walked to the Orcas show. The sound of the rollercoasters blazing past made me eager for the Orca show to end; after all seeing the whales was the adults’ idea. 

As we entered the auditorium, the floors were already soaked with water. We made our way up the slippery stairs looking for seats that were not already water-soaked. We found them in the middle row, which was close enough to the action yet still far enough from the surge of water spewed by the whales. 

Siri and I settled into our seats. As the instructor ushered in the Orcas the crowd erupted in applause. Siri sat wiggling her silver tooth in excitement – the same silver tooth I had. 

The lustrous tooth was a sort of bond that we shared, a silly conspiracy solidifying our friendship. In the middle of the show my friend exclaimed, “I LOST MY TOOTH!”

She opened her hand and showed me the origin of our friendship.

I was somber when I saw the tooth in her hand. This moment felt like a hollistering cry of our friendship dying. So I was compelled to yank out my silver tooth too. As I lodged my whole hand to pull out my tooth I turned around to show my mom. I was grinning with a mouth full of blood and a silver tooth in my hand. My friend made an expression that was mixed with shock and something else I couldn’t identify.

We wandered off to the bathroom with our teeth in our hands. Siri asked me why I went out of my way to pull out my tooth, and I explained  the thought process behind my rash decision. I told her that the silver tooth was something that reminded me of how close we were and her losing her tooth made me feel like we were losing our friendship, so that is why I decided to rip out my tooth. She then explained how the tooth wasn’t holding our friendship like the Orcas.

 We have a deeper…