Dream On!

I don’t know why I kissed her. It’s been a while since I kissed a girl, but it was nice and it felt good. I didn’t even know I liked her, well I always liked her, I just never saw me liking her more than a friend. All I know was, right before I kissed her, I was thinking how pretty her eyes were. And the next thing I knew, I leaned in and felt her soft lips. After we had kissed we both smiled, then she asked me if she could tell me a secret. I said yes, and then she told me that this was her first kiss. I didn’t believe her at first and thought she was kidding but she told me it was true. I couldn’t believe it. She was a special person, something about her made her so attractive and it had nothing to do with the way she looked. Don’t get me wrong, I thought she was really pretty. When she talked to you, you can feel the absolute love in her voice and her smile was enchanting Something about her just made you feel loved and protected. What was it about her that made her sparkle that made her touch so electric? And the crazy thing about all this, is that I’m noticing all these things now. I never noticed any of this the first day of school. She took me but surprise, I never realized. But let me tell you that kiss made me smile like no other, if only I had known it was a kiss goodbye.

--------------------------------End of Prologue-------------------------------

I didn’t want to move, but I did have to admit that it was nice to get a fresh start, to be able to go somewhere where no one knows you. No one knows who you are, or who you were. No reputations to hold you back or anything. And it’s not like I was moving from Chicago out to a farm in Idaho. I was moving from Chicago to Waukegan Illinois. Waukegan wasn’t that bad, I guess, but I was a native born Chicago city kid. I lived in the fifth largest city in the country, Chicago, and now, I’m confined to the small city of Waukegan! Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little. Waukegan is actually huge, only slightly smaller than Chicago, and I have no idea whether Chicago is the fifth largest city in the country or not. So in conclusion Waukegan isn’t so bad, but what was bad was starting a new school. I was gonna be the new kid, never a good situation.

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Lincoln high, that was the name of the high school in Waukegan. Lincoln high looked pretty big from the outside, at least it did when my mom and me passed by it. So when I got there Wednesday morning at seven o’clock I wanted to look at my new surroundings. This was the place I’d spend most of my time at. All of the hallways were painted a ugly bland gray color, and they were narrow, so narrow it made me uncomfortable. I managed to walk to the locker that I was assigned on my schedule, locker 1056. The first day of school was rough, I’m not going to lie. No one talked to me, with the exception of teachers, the hottest girl in school isn’t my girlfriend and oh yeah, the most popular guy in school didn’t ask me to sit by him and his friends at lunch. Isn’t all this stuff supposed to happen to the new kid on his first day of school? Movies are so unrealistic!

Actually!, not a single girl looked at me, and I sat by myself at lunch. Now look, I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel sorry for me. Believe me, don’t! I don’t have that much time left in my high school career, I’m just here to finish, if I don’t makes friends like in stand by me, that’s fine with me. And besides Guys can’t make friends the way girls can. It’s just a fact. A girl can say:

‘I like your shoes, their cute.”

‘I like yours too! Where did you get them?’

‘JC Penny’

‘Me too!!!’

‘OMG!!’

Bam! Instant friends for life! Well, at least I think that’s how it goes.

Oh and don’t get this image of me being this scrawny tall shy kid who sits alone at lunch and gets picked on, Because that’s not me. Actually, I’m a pretty big guy, and never got bullied.

The day finally draws to a near, I dread going home, because I know I’m going to have to lie to my mom. I mean does any kid really come home on the first day school screaming:

‘MOM!! I made a bunch of friends, I’m quarter back of the football team and I have a girlfriend!’

Of course not, I don’t know why parents think that the first day of school is supposed to be magical like that, in reality the first day sucks.

When I walk home, I feel a little tense, I’ve never walked home from school before, my mom always had to pick me up, and I live in Chicago so I wasn’t exactly doing a lot of walking around town.

You know how you can tell a city kid from the rest? A city kid is always looking behind them versus a suburban kid always looking ahead. True story.

Suburban kid’s inner thoughts:

‘wow look at the sky it really cleared up today, I hope it doesn’t rain, oh look there’s Mrs. Johnson across the street and look at those blue flowers in front of the library!’

See what I mean, all that stuff is in front of them. Now here’s city kid’s internal thoughts:

‘I hope it doesn’t rain, ok, there’s no one in front of me’

They look behind them.

‘man in blue shirt behind me’

Does a double take.

‘No one to the right, no one to the left, the flowers in front of the library really do look nice.’

Anyway, when I got home and walk in the front door, I try to avoid my mom, which is impossible because she’s waiting in front of the threshold. She then asks the inevitable question:

“How was school?” my mother asks

“great.” I reply

“make friends?”

“yup.”

I didn’t completely lie to her, the librarian, was really nice, and I’d consider her my friend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day when I walked to my locker there was a girl standing in front of hers, which happened to be right next to mine. Her face was buried in her locker, all I saw was thick kinks of jet black hair sticking out, a chubby waist and a big butt.

I opened locker 1056’s door and when I did the girl closed her locker door, looked right at me, smiled like it was picture day and said ‘hi’. I just nodded. Her smile was so big, it looked like it was going to burst off her face.

“You’re new right? The office told me I was getting a new neighbor, I would have met you yesterday, but I was sick. My name’s Evelyn.”

“Chris.”

“Nice to meet you Chris, Where are you from?”

“Chicago.”

“Really?”

Her eyes widened and her smile got bigger, if that was even possible.

I nodded.

“I love Chicago, my Aunt lives down there. That’s really cool. Well Chiris, I’ll see ya around.”

She turned around and walked away. Evelyn seemed nice, but too weird for me. She was all over the place and a little too energetic for me.

At 7:40 the bell rang and the hallways quickly flooded with students. I looked down at my schedule, the office had changed it, on account I failed math at my old school, so they dropped me to basic math. I knew where every class was yesterday, but they had to go ahead, make my life harder and change my whole darn schedule. Basic math was in room 204 with Mrs. Jones. I had no idea where room 204 was so I did what I think any normal person would do, I asked. Some tall guy told me it was at the back of the school. I started to walk further and further back into the school. I don’t think I was going the right way, so I asked again. An even taller guy told me it was next to the office. The office is at the front of the school. Now I was really confused. The hallways were nearly empty now, I was going to be late on the second day, great I thought. I started to walk a little faster. I quickly turned around the corner and when I did I full on smacked into a girl. When I did she dropped everything that was in her hands. She swore and bent down to pick it all up. I was going to help her but she already had everything back in her hands.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going.”

She started to walk away.

“Hey wait.” I called.

She stopped and looked at me.

“Do you know where room 204 is?”

“C’mon” She motioned for me to follow her.

“It’s on the other half of the school why are you all the way over here?”

“Two guys told me-

“Don’t ever ask anyone.” She interrupted with a smirked.

We had to go all the way up to the second floor, walk down some stairs and then some. Even though I was behind her I could still smell her sweet perfume.

“Hey what’s your name? Your new right?”

“Yeah I am. My name’s Chris.”

“Reggie.”

That’s and interesting name for a girl I thought to myself.

“It’s right there.” She said and pointed at a room.

“Thanks.”

She nodded and walked on. Right when I walked in the classroom, the bell rang, as if on cue.

The first day of school is a half day, of course, which gives teachers a chance to “get to know you and go through the plan for the year.” But in reality, you have to put up with teachers who talk way too much about their personal life and then when the teacher makes you tell the class what you did that summer, you have to listen to a bunch of rich kids talk about their vacations in Aruba, when you know, all you did was stay at home most of the time, ate, slept and watched T.V.

But really pisses me off is when you have to fill out those stupid “Get to know you” questionnaires. Because me and you both know theirs no way in hell that ANY teacher cares about your personal life in any way shape or form. Teachers don’t care about your personal life, social life, or emotional stability, but most importantly a teacher NEVER cares about your feelings! Now, some might argue, but I ask you this! If teachers cared about your feelings, would they be assigning you all that homework? Would they be making you feel like a complete idiot in front of the whole class for not understanding something? Or would they give you a detention for not finishing a paper because your dog ate it? I think not my friends, I think not.

Teachers are strange creatures, I don’t think we’ll ever completely understand them, unless we ourselves become one. And we rarely see them in their natural habitat, because the teacher’s lounge is forbidden of any student. But might I say the teacher’s lounger would be a very interesting place to observe. I guess if you put yourself in a teacher’s shoes: A teachers got 3 options, actually scratch that, teachers have 3 weapons: 1. Detentions, the never fail way to get a bad kid to at least, lay off for a couple of days. 2. Parent teacher conferences, a drastic measure, and super effective but only used in the most severe offenses. (ex. failing). 3. The horrifying grade book, a weapon of mass destruction in some cases.

But who cares about teachers, let’s get out of their shoes now! The most physically demanding thing that can be asked of a student is to look in the face of a teacher you hate and be expected to hold your tongue and show them respect. It’s the worst when you know you’re not going to get any back.

At gym we played soccer. Not my absolute favorite sport to play, but I like it. We played a scrimmage game with an assigned team. I was getting kind of into it. I was running and passing the ball and even made a couple of goals. It felt good. After gym in the locker room a guy that was in my assigned group walked up to me and asked me if I was new. I said yes then he said

“Hey you should try out for the soccer team.”

“ I dunno. I’ll think about it.”

“My name’s Mike by the way.”

“Chris.”

At lunch I was looking for the spot I sat yesterday, I found it swarming with students, why was it empty yesterday? So I looked for another empty table, My eyes set upon a girl motioning to sit by her. She looked familiar. She was the girl who has the locker next to mine. She was sitting with some other people as well; it was the guy who said I should try out for the soccer team and the girl who helped me get to English class on time. I didn’t want to sit with them, they all seemed nice don’t get me wrong but I don’t know they were just so different from the friends I had back in Chicago and that made me kind of nervous, but what other choice did I have? And besides they were nice, so I sat down.

“You guys this is Chris, he’s new.”

I nodded even though they already had encountered me.

“Yeah I know Chris, we’re in the same gym.”

“Yeah and I know him, he made me drop all my books in the hallway.” She said seriously.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” I apologized.

“I’m just kidding.” Reggie smiled at me.

Reggie’s smile was perfect. It sparkled and shined, it was something you just had to look at it. I sat down, once again entering her relm of sweet perfume.

“Didn’t you say you were from Chicago Chris?” Evelyn said breaking my focus from Reggie.

“Yup born and raised.”

“Can you tell us a little about it? I could only imagine how beautiful it would be and all the adventures you would have in the big city. It must be glamorous.” Evelyn got bug-eyed just like the last time I mentioned I lived in Chicago.

I chuckled to myself.

“Well Chicago isn’t really like that, at least the part where I lived. The south side isn’t so beautiful and it for sure isn’t glamorous. And I haven’t really had and adventures, besides public transportation.”

Evelyn’s eyes returned to normal.

“But don’t get me wrong, if you take a metra down a couple stops, and go to the city city it can be real pretty.”

They were all leaning in, listening to me. It felt good to be listened to. So I told them about my life back in Chicago, the time I got lost on the subway system and the time when I went ice skating in the Hancock building. I also told them about my family and how I liked Waukegan. When Lunch was almost over Evelyn invited me to hang out with them on Friday.

“We’re all getting together at my house Friday after school, your more than welcome to come.”

When Evelyn spit those words out, Reggie and Mike both shot Evelyn a look. A ‘why did you invite him? We don’t even know this guy, kind of look. I easily caught this, I wasn’t stupid.

“No that’s ok, I’m kind of busy you know unpacking and all.”

“Oh but It’ll be fun! we’re gonna order pizza watch movies and everything right guys?” Evelyn shot back the same look. They just nodded with fake smiles. I wasn’t offended, I mean, they didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. To tell you the truth I really didn’t want to go I thought it was kind of weird, that Evelyn invited me to hangout after just meeting all of them. And I can catch a hint. Reggie and Mike did not me to go, which was fine with me.

“We’ll if you change your mind, just come on over. Here’s my address.” Evelyn wrote her address on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

The rest of the week by fast, I sat with Evelyn, Reggie and Mike for the rest of the week.

Friday finally came. I don’t know why I was looking forward to the weekend. I mean, it’s not like I had anything to look forward to. I was just anxious not to have any homework. So after school I went straight home. I got home around 3:30 and watched a little of The Simpsons. About an hour later my home phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi Chris?”

“Yeah, who is this?”

“It’s Evelyn. We’re all at my house, and I know you said you we’re busy unpacking and all but we we’re wondering if…”

I thought that was really sweet of Evelyn to call me up and ask again, But how did she get my phone number? I guess she got it from the school directory.

“Ya know Evelyn, just between me and you I don’t think Reggie and Mike really want me there. I don’t want to ruin your guy’s get together and besides I really am-”

“Chris, you’re on speaker.”

I kind of went silent for a couple of seconds. Yeah I felt like an idiot now and was tempted to hang up.

“Hey Chris, we really want you here I’m sorry if you thought I didn’t want you to come.” I recognized Reggie’s voice breaking the silence.

“Yeah man, I want you here too. Hey Chris, where ya live? I’ll come pick you up now.”

“are you sure man?”

“Definitely.”

So I told him my address. I felt like Evelyn felt sorry for me and was just inviting me because of it. But hey, it was something to do. Before Mike got to my house I told my Mom I was going to a friend’s house. A Minute later Mike was honking the horn in front of my house. I got into Mike’s car, which was a nice one, might I add. It was a ford pick-up truck, but it was a sweet cherry red.

“Hey man, ya know you live right by Evelyn.”

“Really? By the way this is a sweet ride.”

He started to drive.

“Thanks.”

“Hey can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure, are you and Reggie..ya know.”

I raised my eyebrows. He had a confused look until he looked at my face, and then understood. He first chuckled and then said.

“Oh, no. You should go for it.”

“Ok, just making sure.”

“So you like Reggie hugh?”

“Yeah, sorta she’s nice and her-

“Smile.” Mike Finished my sentence.

“Yeah, she does have a nice smile.”

“So have all you guys been friends for a long time?” I said changing the subject.

“Yeah, since like the 7th grade. We hang out all the time but twice a month, Evelyn plans special get togethers. She calls them Bonding time. We switch whose house it’s at every time. And we’re each supposed to bring like a snack for everyone to eat but only Evelyn ever does.”

I thought that was funny. So I let out a snort.

“Bonding Time?”

“Yeah, man. But Evelyn’s great, really.” He smiled.

Mike was a cool guy. I thought it was kind of weird he wasn’t friends with all the other jocks at our school, Mike was too nice I think. He really was nice. They we’re all nice and I liked that.



Mike and me we’re greeted at the door by Evelyn and Reggie. Evelyn was wearing an apron.

“C’mon in.” Evelyn urged.

Evelyn’s house was pretty big from the outside, but when I walked inside, it got bigger. It was super nice.

“You guys came back just in time, the cookies are almost done.”

I could smell them, they smelled great. Reggie, Mike and me sat in Evelyn’s front room while Evelyn was getting the food for us in the kitchen.

“Hey what did you guys get on that quiz?” Mike asked.

“Failed it.” Reggie stated.

“Me too! I hate Mrs. Smith, she’s so mean and the kid who sits next to be always asks questions, so she leans on his desk, so then her big fat ass-”

Evelyn coughed loudly from the kitchen.

“Language please.”

“Sorry her big fat BUTT is right in my face! It’s disgusting.”

“Thank you.” Evelyn said from the kitchen.

“Oh! And did you see Maggie today!” Mike added

“Oh you mean the skank?!” Reggie spat

Evelyn coughed loudly again but this time Reggie ignored her.

“I don’t know about skank, but she sure looked hot today!”

“Oh please! Her skirt was up to her underwear and her top was so low I think she

wanted everyone to see her new zebra print bra!” Reggie snapped.

“Whatever”

I thought this was funny, so I laughed. Although I did have to admit Maggie did look pretty hot today.



Evelyn emerged from the kitchen with a big plate filled with steaming chocolate cookies. She set it down on the table, took off her apron and sat next to Reggie. Mike reached for a cookie, Evelyn smacked his hand.

“Ow!”

“Not till we pray. Hands please.”

Evelyn held out both hands Reggie and Evelyn quickly joined in, I did hesitantly.

“Lord thank you for this food that you have given us and we pray for all those less fortunate. We thank you for each family represented here today. And all God’s children said..”

“Amen” Reggie and mike said in unison.

Mike grabbed a cookie as soon as he said amen.

“Can one of you guys help me get the lemonade please.”

“Sure.”

I followed Evelyn back to the kitchen.

“Did you make the cookies from scratch?”

“Sure did. My Grandma taught me how. I hope you like them.”

“I’m sure I will.”

“Can you carry this one?” She handed me a picture of lemonade.

When I went back to the front room, I tried a cookie. My taste buds nearly exploded. They were so sweet but not too sweet that it was over powering and the edges were golden brown. Evelyn was a really nice girl and when she talked to you, it felt like you we’re talking to your absolute best friend.

The whole night all we did was talk and watch scary movies. We hit it off. We laughed a lot told stories and we’re horrified by The Nightmare on Elm Street. I never had friends- I mean I had friends back in Chicago. But they we’re different. They weren’t fake, they were genuine people that cared about one another. I hoped they would eventually care about me, the way the cared for each other.

The first night in Waukegan was tough. When I slipped into my bed at about eleven the usual dog barking, traffic, and sirens were no longer there to lullaby me to sleep. I heard nothing, absolutely nothing I don’t even think the crickets were loud enough to be heard. The silence that swept Waukegan at night is something I will not get used to anytime soon.

Monday morning was awful. I hated getting up early, what teenager does. I got to school on time and went to my first period class. In the middle of the class period my name was called to the office. When I got there, they said my Mom was on the line. I picked up the phone.

“Mom?”

“Oh sweetie, how are you?”

“Fine, is something wrong?”

“Honey, your Grandfather died this morning and I thought you should know about it.”

I felt like I got hit by a brick. Shock that what I felt complete shock. My Grandpa wasn’t supposed to die, not mine.

“Honey? Are you still there?”

“Yeah Mom.”

“Do you want to come home, I’ll pick you up right now if you want.”

“No, no that’s ok.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah Mom I’m fine, really.”

The whole day I could not concentrate. I was trying to remember the last thing that I said to my Grandpa. My Grandpa and me were close. I could not believe I would never see him again. We would never go fishing together again, or go to the state fair. The day was droned on; I kind of regretted not asking my Mom to pick me up because I wanted to go home. Before lunch I went to the bathroom, locked myself in a stall and had a good cry. It felt good when I finished crying. I felt a little better. Before I left the bathroom I made sure that my face was rid of all tears and wasn’t red. I pretended like nothing was wrong at lunch, like it was just a normal day. I laughed and talked to Reggie, Mike and Evelyn just like I did every day.

The school day was finally over. Boy did I want to go home, I quick went to my locker and started to grab all of my stuff.

“Hey Chris.” I looked around to see who was calling me.

It was Evelyn, I completely forgot that her locker was right next to mine.

“Yeah?”

“Why, we’re you crying before lunch?” Evelyn asked in a low voice.

The only thing I was thinking about when she asked me that was, how could she have possibly known that!

“What are you talking about Ev?”

“You were crying, I know you were.”

How does she know? She sounded pretty confident, so I saw no point in lying.

“My Grandpa died.”

She told me how she was sorry for my loss and knows how I was feeling because her grandma died last year. After she talked to me she gave me hug and told me that she would see me tomorrow and she said she’d pray for me. Then I asked her how she knew I had been crying. She said she saw it in my eyes. I don’t know what it was, but Evelyn somehow, someway made me feel batter. I mean, the pain was still there but she soothed it.

Well this was officially the crappiest week of my entire life, I was excited for the weekend! Did I have anything to do over the weekend? No. But I was excited anyway, excited to just mope around, watch some tv and play some videogames. So when Mike called me up and asked if I wanted to go to the mall with Evelyn and Reggie I was a little reluctant, my grandpa had just died and I was looking forward to not changing out of my pajamas, But whenever I hung around mike Reggie and Evelyn, they did manage to make me feel better. And the mall wasn’t my first choice, but that’s what kids to around here for fun, they hang out at the mall, weird if you asked me. But I was ready to experience the full suburban experience.

Mike had picked me up, which reminded me that I really needed to get my license, but its like if I had it I would be driving around everywhere we have one car, and my mom uses it for work. Mike was a real nice guy. He could be popular if he wanted to he had everything going for him, he was athletic and attractive enough. He wasn’t like the rest, he never tried to prove his manhood wherever he went like everyone else, he was simply happy with who he was and who his friends were.

Actually that’s what I appreciated about all of them. Everyone says they don’t care what people think of them, but these were the kids who actually lived it. Reggie with her load mouth her oblivion to care if what she said affected someone or not. Mike, who’s closest friends were girls, and never went to a wild drinking party with the rest of his teammates. And Evelyn, who didn’t care that she was kind of chubby dressed funny and was a smart ass.

You know, something that really bothers me about Waukegan, is that in school, all day everyday I’m surrounded by a bunch of spoiled rotten brats, who piss and moan about their Daddy’s getting them the wrong car or complain about vacationing in Hawaii instead of Spain. And then there’s a handful of kids like me. Kids who are middle class, and sick and tired of hearing the rich and elite complain.

But it’s whatever; I had 20 bucks in my pocket and was ready for a little fun. Mike and I met Evelyn and Reggie in the food court. They were sitting at a table and both looked impatient. When Mike and I approached them, Reggie stood and said

“Where the hell have you assholes been!”

“I’m sorry, I had to clean my room before my mom let me out of the house, then I had to pick up Chris.” Mike explained.

Even though there was no danger of this developing into a full blown argument, Evelyn, who always kept the peace, still stood at the threat.

“Whatever” Reggie rolled her eyes.

“Can we go now? I really need to find my mom a birthday present.” Mike said, his eyes wondering.

“Yeah lets go.” I agreed.

“Let me go to the bathroom really quick.” Evelyn said

“Just hurry” Reggie added.

The three of us stood there talking about random stuff, are topics included:

-“Christmas is coming up!”

-“Ponies!”

-“Mrs. Bruiniuse’s Butt!”

Something noticed while were waiting for Evelyn, is that Reggie is kind of awkward without Evelyn by her side. We had been talking for a while now though.

“Evelyn Is taking long, don’t you think?” I asked looking around.

“Why don’t you go check on her.” Mike added.

Reggie nodded and walked into the bathroom, 30 seconds later she came back by herself. Maybe Evelyn wasn’t feeling good or something.

“She’s not in there.” Reggie said with a slight panic in her eyes.

“Well where is she? I didn’t see her come out of the bathroom.” Mike said

“Call her cell.” I offered.

Reggie flipped her cell phone open, waited impatiently, tapping her foot, then she slammed it closed.

“No answer, we got to find her.” Reggie demanded, she started to walk out of the food court, mike and I followed her.

We were following Reggie in the main hallway of the mall now.

“Evelyn!” Reggie called.

I stopped for a second and let Reggie and Mike walk on. I stood there, trying to remember what Evelyn was wearing. A blue-no, a purple t-shirt and she had black hair. I looked around, nothing to my left, so looked to my right, and I saw the back of a purple shirt and the back of a black head of hair.

“Guys!, I got her.” I called forward to Reggie and Mike. They both had passed Evelyn right up.

I half walked, half jogged toward Evelyn, soon after Mike and Reggie followed, Reggie passes me up and got to Evelyn first.

“What the hell Evelyn!” Reggie snarled.

Even though I knew Reggie was the one who was most worried. Mike and I thought Evelyn maybe went into a store of something, while Reggie’s mind probably jumped to rape or kidnap. But Evelyn was standing in front of a store window her eyes stuck on what it held inside, infatuated even. Evelyn didn’t answer Reggie, until Reggie pushed Evelyn’s shoulder.

“Evelyn!” Reggie demanded her attention.

“I’m sorry guys, I came out of the bathroom and saw this dress from across the food court.” Evelyn explained, even though she was talking to Reggie, Evelyn was still looking at the display window. I followed Evelyn’s gaze. In the window, on a slim mannequin was a neon purple dress, it kind of reminded me of a cupcake. It had sparkles all over it’s top portion, fluffed at it’s bottom like a tutu, and had an embellishment on it’s shoulder.

“It’s just a dress Ev, and you could have told us you wanted to look at it and you could of answered your cell phone, besides that dress is probably like 500 dollars you really-

Evelyn cut Reggie off.

“I’m 2 feet away from where we were sitting, I’ll get the money to buy it, don’t worry about that, I left my cell phone at home and It’s not just a dress, it’s THE dress.”

Evelyn said all this, in her usual sweet voice, but this time she spoke with authority.







Several months had passed before half of the school year was nearly over. I ended up trying out and making the soccer team, Reggie and Evelyn cam to almost every game. My friendship with Reggie, Mike and Evelyn only grew stronger as time went by. We continued to have Bonding Time, which was great, we even had it at my house once. But tonight it was at Evelyn’s house, the best Boding nights were always at Evelyn’s house. The Bonding Time was Christmas themed, so we were told to wear something a little fancy. I wore a button down shirt. When I got to Evelyn’s house, I was greeted at the door by her.

“You’re early.”

“a little, is that ok?”

“Yeah, of course, it’s just that no one’s here yet.”

I crossed the threshold, and when I did my eyes beheld the sight of a winter wonderland! The house was completely lit to its max, with all different sizes and colors of Christmas lights. And in the center of all of it was the biggest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen! And the best part of it, was that is was real! I could tell, I could smell it. I never had a real Christmas tree, always a small plastic one.

“Evelyn, its so pretty.”

Her lips simply caressed into a smile, her lips were pink. And she was wearing this dress. And let me tell ya, this dress, looked real good on her. It was red, and fit her like a glove, every curve was accentuated perfectly and it was my favorite color. Instead of Evelyn’s usual bed head hair, her hair was tamed into big curls that fell in ringlets and danced on her back whenever she walked. And when she walked in front of me- I was trying not to look at her backside, but, well, let’s just say it was hard not to. Evelyn was wearing light makeup, which made her skin look flawless.

“Chris?”

I think she noticed I was staring at her, I kind of blushed and looked back at the tree.

“Sorry, I was..thinking.”

“Why don’t we sit down on the couch and wait for the others to get here.”

I think I may have sat a little too close to her because she kind of tucked her arms and shoulders in her lap. I couldn’t help it she just, smelled so good and she looked so nice.

“So are you asking for anything special for Christmas?”

I wasn’t listening to anything she was saying, I just kept looking at her. I think I automatically moved closer to her because all I remember is leaning in, and it happened We kissed. I don’t know why I kissed her. I really don’t, it takes a lot for me to kiss a girl, but it was nice and it felt good. I didn’t plan to kiss her, I didn’t even know I liked her-well, I mean, I knew I liked her but I didn’t know I liked her- like that. All I know was, right before I kissed her, I was thinking how pretty her eyes were. The next thing I knew, I leaned in and my lips touched hers. After we had kissed we both smiled, then she asked me if she could tell me a secret. I said yes, and then she told me that, that was her first kiss. I didn’t believe her at first and thought she was kidding but she told me it was true. I couldn’t believe it. She was a special person, something about her made her so attractive and it had nothing to do with the way she looked. Don’t get me wrong, I thought she was really pretty. When she talked to you, you can feel the absolute love in her voice and her smile was enchanting Something about her just made you feel loved and protected. What was it about her that made her sparkle that made her touch so electric? And the crazy thing about all this, is that I’m noticing all these things now. I never noticed any of this the first day of school. She took me but surprise, I never realized. But let me tell ya That kiss made me smile like no other.

“That was nice.” I said

She didn’t say anything, she just sat there smiling and staring at me with her big brown eyes, they were bug-eyed just like when I talked about Chicago, and I was glad I could make Evelyn bug-eyed just like Chicago. We decided not to tell Reggie and Mike about the kiss that night, we figured that would have been awkward. That night was magical, mostly because of the kiss but I did have fun with Reggie and Mike too.

I decided I would call Evelyn tomorrow. She was supposed to be leaving in the morning to go to her Aunt’s house for Christmas. So I would call her while she was on the road.

I was awoken by my phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“Chris, it’s Reggie.”

“Do you know what time it is? It’s freaking seven o’clock!”

“Chris, listen to me.”

Her voice sounded serious.

“Evelyn-Evelyn”

She was stuttering.

“Evelyn What?” I demanded.

“Evelyn got into a car accident this morning and-“

“and what? And What!?”

“Evelyn died this morning in a car accident.”

“What? Reggie are you serious because if you’re not I swear to-”

“Chris I’m serious.”

She was really crying now, I hung up the phone.

“Evelyn is dead” Just saying it gave me the Chills. The words stuck to my throat. I felt like I was lying. I just saw her last night. It’s amazing what can happen in 24 hours. In 24 hours, you can kiss the girl of your dreams and in 24 hours you can lose the girl of your dreams.

I didn’t do anything for days. My Mom was really worried about me, because I had just lost my Grandpa as well. And when we finally went back to school it was terrible feeling to know that Evelyn wouldn’t be there next to my locker to say good morning to me, she wouldn’t be at anymore soccer games and she wouldn’t be there at lunch to make us all laugh. Her death was announced over the intercom during lunch. Reggie immediately started crying, she hugged Mike. Mike patted her, you could tell Mike had been crying too. The cafeteria was quite for a while but then returned to its usual rowdiness.

“Be right back.”

I went to the bathroom. Again, I cried in the stall. When I was in the stall I overheard some people talking.

“Man, that’s sad.”

“Yeah I guess, but some people are being a little dramatic, I mean its sad but I saw someone balling their eyes out. That’s a little over the top. I mean really?”

When I heard him say that I swung the stall door open and punched that guy square in the face and walked out of the bathroom. I didn’t even think twice about it. I returned to our lunch table.

“Oh my gosh!” Reggie almost screamed.

“What?” Mike and I both said in unison.

“The last time all of us saw Evelyn was when we went to her house for the Christmas Bonding Time. That was December 12th right?”

Mike nodded.

“Oh My Gosh!”

“ You guys, the last time we saw Evelyn was on her birthday! And we all forgot.”

Reggie’s voice got quite.

Boy did that make me feel ten times worse. We all forgot. Not one of us remembered. If I only I had remembered-she still would be dead. But still, it would have made me feel a little better. I was a jerk, we all were. Evelyn did so much for all of us. She mothered each one of us in a special way. And we forgot her birthday.

I couldn’t bring myself to go to the funeral. I don’t like to cry in front of people, and I knew if I went there would have been a lot of crying. It was too much too soon, but I heard there was tons of people there and it was really sad. Reggie told me she almost had to leave because, she was feeling sick.

A year had passed Since Evelyn’s death. It took a full year for the three of us to recover enough just to say her name. And I’m not going to lie, the remainder of our friendship was getting a little weak. Without Evelyn, who did most of the holding us all together it was hard to see each other. But I knew we had to stick together, the last thing Evelyn would want is to have our friendship completely determinate.

Evelyn blanked out a lot she would just stare off to the side, and when I got her attention, she’d say she was

“Thinking.”

“About what?” I would ask.

She never actually told me, just smiled. But now, I’d give anything to know what she was thinking in just one of those instances.

On December 12th we all met at my house, and we had a Bonding Night in honor of Evelyn. We made a birthday cake that read ‘Happy Birthday Evelyn’.

E. Melesia P.