“Woah, dude, look at this!” says Michael to his friends. They’re all from east Maine, and in seventh grade. He hands the paper to Wil, who shows it to James, who shows it to John. All of their faces light up.
“That’s sick! We have to find it!” James says. A bold font on the paper read, “Gold hidden somewhere in Maine, worth 4 million dollars.”
“We probably won’t even find it,’’ Wil says hesitantly while getting on his bike.
“Don’t be lame, Wil,” Michael says.
“So, meet up tomorrow at nine at my place?” asks James.
“Ok, deal,” they all reply.
“Remember, we can’t tell ANYONE about this. Not even our parents.” Michael says sternly.
Everybody looks a little worried, but Michael is the most determined person.
Nine o’clock the next morning
“Where’s Wil? We said to meet up at your house at nine,” James says.
“He’s always late,” John replies.
They hear his footsteps from a distance and turn to look.
“What took you so long?!” Michael yells at Wil.
“Sorry, my mom was making her chocolate chip pancakes. I couldn’t just leave those.”
Everyone rolls their eyes and glares at him.
“Ok let’s go,” Michael says to break the tension. “We have to go west to the woods.”
Five Hours Later
They’re in a foresty place. The grass is green, and the air is cold and sharp. They’ve been walking for five hours.
“You guys? I’m hungry,” Wil says.
“How are you already hungry after those pancakes?” John says.
All four kids are sitting by the fire that they made. It looks pretty cool and professional because John used to be a boy scout.
“These sandwiches are pretty good for being 2 days old,” Michael says.
“Yeah, my dad does make pretty good sandwiches,” John agrees.
“You guys want to tell scary stories?” Wil asks.
“No, dude, they’re lame,” Michael says.
The night is pretty silent. There’s only the sound of crickets chirping. All of the boys are sleeping on a soft bundle of leaves.
“Good night, you guys,” James says.
“‘Night,” they all reply.
The Next Morning
“Are you guys awake?” Wil says as the sun beams in his eyes.
“Now I am,” Michael says in a sleepy voice.
“I didn’t sleep at all; it was so cold last night,” John adds. Everyone has woken up except for James; he always sleeps late.
“Someone’s gotta wake James up,” Michael says. Everyone is staring at James sleeping heavily and peacefully.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Wil replies. He goes over to James and pushes him back and forth. After 30 seconds of it, James wakes up. His eyes open slowly.
“What’s so important that you guys have to wake me up?” James says as he rolls his eyes.
“Alright, I’m going to go make food. We have to leave in 30 minutes to go find the gold. I heard it may be in this murky little pond. Right near this huge lake. It’s west of here,” Michael says.
“How long are we going to be walking for?” Wil asks as he is tying his shoe.
“Around 3 hours. We just have to find the big lake,” Michael says. Wil sighs and lays on the floor.
4 hours later
“Oh my god, you guys?!” Michael yells while his face lights up with joy.
“What!? What happened?!” all of them reply.
“I found the lake! It’s about a mile away!” He points.
“Woah, you found it! You really found it!” Wil says.
“Dude, we’re going to be filthy rich!” John says.
They are running to the lake, pushing through the leaves, jumping over logs. They’re up along the perimeter of the lake and are trying to find the little murky pond.
“Look there it is!” John points to the opposite side of the lake.
“Lets go!” Michael adds. They’re running to the other side, out of breath and sweating. They’re up to the pond and see little glimmers of gold in the water. You can see the sparkle against the light.
“We did it, you guys, we found the gold,” Michael says.
“We’re going to be filthy rich, you guys!” James says.
“I can buy the Jordan 1s!” John says.
“I can get my mom a waffle maker!” says Wil.
“My family can finally pay off our rent!” Michael says with relief.
They’re surrounding the little murky pond with little sparkles. They look at each other, ready to jump in and get it.
The End