It was a beautiful day, it must have been early spring because the leaves on the maple trees were still a bright vibrant green. It wasn’t cold anymore, in fact I seem to remember it being just about the perfect temperature - not cold, but not overwhelmingly hot either. I had been playing soccer, which at the time I had considered myself incredibly skilled. I loved to play soccer, even though with the number of students in our class we could never split the teams evenly. Yet somehow when there was a game everyone managed to play, but not today.

Somehow my first grade mind had not managed to grasp the fact that we did not have all the students we usually did. This hit me when I heard a call from the woods below the field, and it called me into the forest. This voice was not simply a metaphorical voice, but a very real voice that I knew well.

The voice belonged to Nathan. Nathan was a tall lanky boy, with dark hair, large eyes, and a very prominent nose. He was very pale skinned and with a considerable amount freckles. To this day I do not know his last name, but what I do know is that we and our friends considered him and I an item, boyfriend and girlfriend, a couple if you will. Even in first grade we held hands, hung out all the time, and talked a ton. But even after that, I denied his request that I come into the woods. In five minutes he called again for me to meet him in the woods; I denied his request for the time being, but told him I would meet him as soon as the game ended. Even with that promise, he continued to call to me every few minutes, which irritated me to say the least.

When, at last, I did go to meet him in the woods, I went on the smaller path that went behind the shed and required me to weave my way through bur bushes, all the way following his voice that lead me down the hill and deep into the forest. I finally came to a clearing, it must have been about seven by seven feet, and as I came to the center of the clearing, I saw three boys in the small trees on the side of the clearing I was facing. The center one was Nathan, perched on a branch, one arm around the truck of the tree and his other arm resting across his lap, the hand grasping the trunk as well.

Beside him on either side perched his lackeys in similar positions, one had been leaning against the trunk of his tree and began to make an effort to sit up straight. The other perched in a relaxed position with one foot and one shin on the branch; he held on with both hands, but did not have his arm around the trunk. The trees seemed very skinny - almost too skinny - to be able to hold them up (and my perception may have been skewed because I was very short as a child), but the height that they were in the trees seemed very very high to me.

I only had a second to take this in though, because as soon as I had stepped into the center of the clearing, Nathan, my boyfriend and the center boy, came leaping out of the tree and tackled me to the ground. At least, that’s what I suppose happened because the next second I was flat on my back with him on top of me. It didn’t occur to me to scream, probably because I was so shocked. His face suddenly came very close to mine, too close. I moved my head back and turned it to the side, he followed. It was then that I realized what was going on: he was trying to kiss me. I struggled and kicked and turned my head from side to side, and he followed. This went on for several minutes.

It was finally getting to the point when I couldn’t think of any other way to ward him off when he moved suddenly and jerkily off of me. One of his friends, both of which were now out of the trees, had removed him. This one was the one who had been leaning against the tree, his name was Matthew. He was a red headed boy, with brown eyes, and average height and stature for his age. I remember this because when I looked up I saw an angel, a miracle, a hero, things I had never believed in or even heard of, but he was all of them. You could never know what it is to be that thankful in one moment unless you have been. From that moment I knew he would always be my hero.

At that moment, though, I had no time to thank Matthew. I knew, somehow, Nathan wouldn’t let me go so easy. Not only did he not get what he wanted, but he knew I would tell the teacher, the ultimate horror of childhood, and he would be in trouble. Matthew yelled “run!” He didn’t need to tell me, I was already up and at the edge of the clearing. I was a good three or four feet out of the clearing by the time Nathan was up and able to chase after me.

Nathan was very tall for his age and I, coincidentally, was and am very short for mine, which would make you think it wasn’t a fair fight, but there you would be wrong. There are two reasons why that is true. The first is very simple: the fact is that it is much harder to run through a forest if you are tall because you are much more likely to have to duck or get hit in the head with branches. I didn’t have the chance to look back to see if that happened, but I’m sure it did at least once. The second thing that tipped the scales is that I knew the forest so well I could have run the trails perfectly with my eyes closed. Even the area with no trails or area never treaded on, I knew them all like the back of my hand. I love the woods and knew it better than anyone, and that meant I knew it better than Nathan.

I ran the woods well ahead of my assailant, though he could see me and was still on my tail. I may have had the advantage in the forest, but his legs were longer and tired much less easily. Soon I was out of the forest, but I was nowhere near done. There was a huge field, that went into a very steep hill. The grass was long and difficult for me to run though and though it was completely in the open there was also no one anywhere close after sledding season ended.

As soon as I got out of the woods, I decided to run on the already trampled grass and soon I was across the field still ahead of my pursuer. The next part would be the hardest, running uphill in the deep grass and no cover. I sprinted, snaking between the hay bales used to stop sledders from crashing into the forest, that seemed to be very effective. I ran and I got to the top of the hill and I kept running until I finally I got to the huge oak tree from which I believe my school, Oak Trails, got its name. And even though there was no named finish line, we both knew I had won. I barely believed it.

My best friend came to ask where I had been. I told her the whole story and Nathan walked away red faced, both embarrassed and angry. I thanked Matthew then and every time I saw him after. Needless to say, Nathan's and my relationship was over. I told the teacher, who didn’t really punish Nathan as I believe she should have, but gave him a warning never to try anything like it again. And though I was angry about him not getting punished I was also happy that I had gotten out of the situation in one piece.