Chapter 5: The Plaster Spaceship

When James inevitably broke his arm trying to jump his bicycle over an ambitious ramp constructed from sheets of plywood and heavy cinder blocks, Lily was the very first person to arrive with a detailed, multicolored assortment of markers to draw a magnificent spaceship across the solid white plaster of his cast. She spent hours meticulously coloring rocket boosters, glowing exhaust trails, and distant star systems while he sat on his front porch, grumbling good-naturedly above the intensely itchy feeling trapped beneath the fiberglass. It became a proud badge of honor, a testament to their shared reckless adventures and unwavering loyalty that defined their friendship through every broken bone and scraped elbow.