Excerpt: High School Prophesies of the Lunch Buddies

... Savannah was still leading the way. “It’s easier to walk uphill backwards,” she said.
“Just don’t fall flat on your face or you’ll be tumbling all the way down,” Jason said. “I’m not going to catch you.”
Savannah lunged forward to scare us, and then burst out laughing. “Catch me!” she said in a high voice. I ran up the hill and pretended to tackle her.
“If only I had more muscle and less fat, I could actually carry you,” I said.
“So you’re saying I’m fat? Oh, I see how it is,” she joked.
“Yeah, you’re so fat. I mean, what are you, a hundred pounds? You need a crash diet,” I exaggerated.
“Nicole, you’re the meanest friend in the world,” Mark said. “How dare you call a girl fat!”
“I’m just kidding,” I said. “Savannah, you’re not fat. You’re a toothpick!”
“Yeah, I’m chicken legs. That’s what the kids used to call me in P.E. class because we had to wear shorts. I have long, pale chicken legs. Buck! Buck!” she said, flapping her skinny arms and laughing all the way up the hill. She was far enough ahead of us that she didn’t see what was coming.
The terrain changed rapidly, and she stumbled, not realizing that she was no longer going uphill. She stopped chicken-walking just before she tripped over a fallen log and fell backwards, then rolling sideways down the steep incline of the hill.
“Savannah!” I screamed as I heard her small shriek as she tripped and her yelling as she rolled down the side of the hill. Only one of the skinny trees stopped her rolling, but she couldn’t grip anything and she continued sliding on her stomach until she slipped over the steep edge of the drop off.
“Somebody help her!” I screamed in panic.
“What happened? Where is she?” Mark asked frantically, his heart pounding.
“I—I don’t know. She tripped over something and slid down the side. Savannah, where are you?” I yelled.
“Help!” her choked voice called. “I’m holding onto a tree and I can’t climb up,” she said, crying....