"You promised you wouldn't think about it anymore". The boy's head was against his locker in the empty hallway, silent, while the girl reminded him of his own words. "I already told you she wouldn't say yes. She likes someone else".

And it was true, but the boy didn't seem to care. Getting annoyed, he closed his eyes, to see if he would fall asleep to get away.

"This is why..." The girl paused. She fidgeted around, trying to think of a way to talk to her friend. She breathed in, trying to hold back her words, but let it all out. "THIS IS WHY I HATE BOYS LIKE YOU!"

The girl never looked at him and instead stared down onto the floor like how the boy did to the locker. But no matter how much she wished not to look at him, she had an urge to. The boy was looking at her now. He wasn't shocked or hurt. It was straight and emotionless. His stare was quiet and dead, thoughtless.After a short time, the boy left, passing her without a single word. The girl didn't move for a while. They both never looked at each other when they passed.

The girl stood there thinking about what just happened. She began to question herself on what she just did. She walked a few steps forward to be at his locker. She knew it was his locker , number 929, because it was the locker they would meet at after school everyday, before they left.

She noticed that the locker had no lock on it, and curiously reached over and laid her hand against his locker, slipping her hand down to the silver latch. She clutched the handle and felt the warmth from the lowering sun, looming at the side of the school.

She opened the locker; it was empty.

The next day, after school ended, she stood by his locker, and waited for him to come. She had something she really wanted to say to him. She was there for a long time and it seemed like he would never come. She then began to count the people who passed her who said hello. She soon lost count, so she decided to count the number of black backpacks that caught her eye.

The day was about to come to an end, and the sun was at the same height as it was yesterday, when she saw him last. With fewer people in the school, she couldn't think of anymore things to count. The only thing in her mind was the population of the hallway: two people, herself, and the janitor down the hall. Still, the boy never passed by. His locker was still empty.

Tonight, in the town, was the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, an event they both went to together ever since they were young. It might had been their last festival together. They were both in eighth grade and middle school was coming to an end. They were certain they would both go to different high schools afterward.

The festival had already begun and the girl could hear the laughs and cheers of children. She imagined them running around with gifts and souvenirs in their hands, going from store to store. Sitting on the hill by the cherry tree, she began to think of the times she used to do the same with her friends. "They're probably still down there having fun" she thought, sighing with jealousy of the things she could've been doing. She could still remember the night she met the boy. It was only a few years ago, when she was still in elementary school.

Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket and she took out her cell phone and saw that one of her friends was calling her. She pressed the green call button and put the cell phone close to her ear. There was no response on the other side and she looked at the screen once more. She missed the call at the last second. A voice-mail message popped up in that instant and the girl opened it and put it on speaker. She laid down on the hill and listened to the message with her eyes closed.

"Hey it's me. We're at the …", there was a beep from the phone and on the screen it said "message deleted".

"He's late." she said to herself, picking up her phone again and dialing his number; "710-5858". His name immediately popped up as a contact at "710" but she wanted to put in each and every number. After a few long rings, the phone came back with a message she didn't want to hear; "I'm sorry, but the person you are trying to reach does not have a voice mailbox set up. Thank you for calling". She couldn't even hear the boy say his own name. She couldn't even say the things she wanted to say in a voicemail.

She dialed a different number and the other side responded with, "Hey, where are you. We're at the-"

"He's not coming," the girl abruptly cut her off, cuddling in a ball, holding back her tears.

After a few moments of silence, the girl on the other side tried her best to comfort her, "If it makes you feel better, we saved some cotton candy for you. We're at the river with the lanterns. There's not too many people yet, so you can easily find us. See you later," the girl on the other end hung up.

The girl looked at the festival from the hill and could see the reflection of the full moon in the river. The river was dark, but the litter of lanterns and the light of the moon brightened the festival with all sorts of colors. She wished the boy was there to see this sight as she got up from the grassy hill, and she walked to the end of the hill. Before she was consumed by the thick forest's magic, she looked at the tree behind her for one last time; the tree they both planted together, just after they knew each others' names. The girl walked away, never to come back to the hill ever again, never to see the ocean of lanterns and sky of fireworks. The girl never thought about the tree again.

2: Flashback One: How We Met

Fireworks spewed into the twilight sky and exploded with a beautiful combination of colors, causing everyone celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival to tilt their necks to observe. A unison gasp of awe was made as the people were amazed by the orchestra of blasts. Amongst the crowd was a young girl with a group of friends.

She and her friends were running all over the place, going from stall to stall, celebrating and having fun, but somehow they happened to get separated. The girl was lost in the crowd and was pushed to the side. She was so short, she couldn’t even see anyone else. Through the fog of the festival, she managed to find a small hill, and thought it would be easier to find her friends when she was on higher ground.

Walking towards the lonely hill, the girl coughed, tucking her arms closer to her, missing the close warmth of her friends. Once on the hill, she gasped in awe of the mixture of colors and lights coming from the festival as a whole. She was so amazed she didn't hear the footsteps behind her.  Her attention soon turned away as she saw a boy pass her, carrying a pot. "What are you doing with that?" inquired the girl.

The boy suddenly turned his own attention to the girl talking to him. He put down the pot and took a deep breath, exhausted from carrying the pot for so long. He caught a breath and said "I'm going to plant it on this hill", pointing to the small sapling. "It’s a Chinese White Cherry Tree."

"Why?" the girl asked, coming closer to the boy, smiling. She inched closer and closer as the boy never gave her an immediate answer. The boy started to step backwards and look to the side, as the girl came closer than before. He didn't want to make any eye contact.

"Um. This is weird. Could we say our names first?" the boy insisted.

The girl put her finger on her mouth and thought really hard. "Sure," she decided, "but you go first," smiling and pointing at the boy.

"Okay. My name is …"

 

3: Chapter One: The Mid-Autumn Festival

Julie felt a small tug and woke up to see her little brother pulling her blankets off. The lights weren’t turned on, but the rays of the morning sun that made their way through the cracks of the curtains were enough for her to make out his image.

    “Mom told me to wake you up.” He poked her cheek and scurried out of the room.

    The girl sighed and fell back onto the bed thinking about how wonderful it would be to sleep for a few more minutes. Julie had only closed her eyes for a few seconds when the lights in her room suddenly turned on. Irritated, Julie dashed up to see her little sister by the door.

    “C’mon, big sis. Mom said you gotta get up.”

    “Ugh,” Julie said, twisting and turning. “You’ve always had a better time getting up...”

    “Well it’s not like I force myself to sleep late.”

“Yea, I know.” Julie slipped out of her bed.

    “What time did you stay up till?”

“Probably about one in the morning.”

“Damn, you really do want to kill yourself.” The little sister chuckled with pity. “It’s only September.” She was right. For Julie, it had only been two weeks since the start of her sophomore year in high school, and she had already begun pulling all nighters.

“Well of course you don’t know. You’re still in middle school. When you get to high school you’ll understand.”

“Okay,” she said leaving.

The casual tone gave Julie the impression that her sister didn’t care about her. She sighed deeply, and glanced around her room, becoming annoyed that she had just a small room with very little in it; a small desk, that, at night, transformed into a mess of papers and pens, and a wall closet on the far side of the room. The yellow of the walls was tolerable, but one more shade darker would’ve made her puke at the very sight. She ignored minor details, like the chewed up peppermint gum that stuck on the edge of the garbage can, or the dust that you could see floating in the air after standing still for too long.

Before Julie could start to see that very same dust, she heard a light tap on her window. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand, and reached for the window using her other. Her eyes were shut, but she knew exactly where to stretch her arm. She knew because it had had normal for her to do so almost every morning.

The windows swung open and after she recovered from a flashbang of sunshine, she saw someone on the street, waving below her.

“Good morning, Dennis,” Julie greeted, drowsily slouching over the edge, her eyes half close from sleepiness.

“You ready? We’re almost late,” Dennis yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to extend his voice.

“Yea, yea. I’ll be right out,” Julie swiftly closed the window. High School huh … that’s right. The golden age of youth where youngsters yearn for the future and romance, but that’s only trivial, she thought to herself as she quickly scurried into her bathroom and took a look at herself in the mirror.

Julie ran down the stairs, already dressed, and went into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” she said, speed walking into her family of five and taking the piece of toast from her plate.

“Finally woke up?” her little sister said with a sarcastic giggle.

“I’ll hurt you, Kate,” Julie replied, giving her little sister a death glare.

“Julie, wait!” Her mother held Julie’s morning beverage in the air. “What about your orange juice?”

“I’m late mom. I’ll get something at school. Love you.” Julie walked out of the house, closed the front door, and saw Dennis standing there, waiting.

“Ready?”

“Yup, let’s go.” They both walked on the road to the school, which was only five blocks away from their neighborhood. Julie noticed something out of the ordinary. Usually the duo would have strange conversations about random things, but Dennis was extremely quiet this morning. “Is something wrong?”

“Um...” He seemed to be holding something back, “What made you say that?”

“Well, I was just wondering. You’re never this quiet.”

“Hmmmm,” Dennis looked up to the sky as he walked. “I guess you’re right.”

“So why are you so quiet all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel like it.”

Julie, seeing how her interrogation wasn’t working, decided to stop.

“Speaking of quiet.” Dennis said. “A lot of my friends think you’re too quiet. Said that if you talked more you would have a huge popularity base. I noticed that you only talk to a few people.”

“And you,” Julie had to mention Dennis.

“Yeah…why am I like the only boy you talk to?”

“Reasons,” Julie chuckled and skipped in front of Dennis. Julie actually didn’t know why. She started to wonder when she started to become a quiet figure.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Dennis said, stopping where he was.

“Wait…what!?!”

“I meant a friend that was a boy,” Dennis semi sprung around because of the mix up of words.

“No,” Julie said bluntly. Julie wasn’t entirely honest. Dennis started to walk again and Julie stopped for him to catch up.

“You’re lying,” he said when they stood side by side.

They reached the school and they were both going to part ways to their separate classes when Julie saw a group of her friends chatting before school started. She dashed off to join them, leaving Dennis in the dust.

“Whats going on?” Julie said, jumping right into the conversation.

“Oh hey, Julie,” one of the girls said while the rest were talking or immersed in their conversation.

“Good morning, Lauren.” Dennis looked scared while walking towards the group of girls.

“Um, Julie?” his voice completely silenced the whole group and they turned their full attention to him and Julie. Julie looked at Dennis and at her friends with a confused look.

“You need something?”

“Yea. um,” he gulped and hesitated for a split second. “Will you go out with me to the Mid-Autumn festival tomorrow night?” he said exhausted himself.

“She’ll be glad to, Dennis,” Lauren said, stepping in because of Julie’s silence. “right Julie?”

“Yea,” Julie completely caught off guard of what her friend just said. “sure, I’ll go”.

“Really, you will?” Dennis said, thinking that he had to hear it from her.

“I will. Its a date,” both Julie and Dennis smiled towards each other.

“Tomorrow. Seven pm, I’ll pick you up at your house?

“Sure,” Julie said with reddened cheeks.

“Sorry to bother you all,” he said in courtesy to the whole group before galloping off to his own. After the girls saw Dennis clear out of the way completely, the conversation began again.

“What did I tell you? I told you he was going to ask you out!” Lauren smiled from her successful prediction.

“Yea...don’t rub it in my face,” Julie pleaded, blushing from embarrassment. Lauren grabbed Julie to pull her away from the rest of the group. In privacy, of some sort, she swung her arm and rested it on Julie’s shoulder.

“So how long do you think you’ll last with him?” Lauren smirked along with the question.

“Wait, what?” Julie said, completely caught off guard of her friend’s sudden curiosity. “Well … “, Julie prepared her confession. “Junior year is coming up soon. We might have to end in the summer, I guess.”

Lauren immediately walked back a few steps.

“Hold on a second. You serious?” Lauren said with complete shock of Julie’s answer.

“I’m not kidding,” Julie said with a straight tone.

“But you love him. This is like every girl’s dream. People everywhere would kill for this to happen.”

“I know but…”  Julie paused. She didn’t know what else to say. She’d been given an opportunity that only happens in stories and shows, but she was just throwing it away.

“Girl,” Lauren sighed. “You are so strange.”

“I know,” Julie said, giving back the smirk. “Lets get to class.”

“Sure,” Lauren said, both of them walking through the school to their first period class.

***

Julie read the clock and it was already 11:40 a.m, well into 5th period. Julie sat in her seat in the front of the room, staring at the complexity of the math problem.

“You heard of the new guy in school?” Julie heard one of her classmate’s gossip behind her.

“No I didn’t. Is he hot?” she heard another girl say.

“I haven’t seen him yet, but I hope so. I know no one has seen him yet. Supposedly he’s been in the principal’s office the whole day. Something about him from another country.”

“Wait, he’s a foreign exchange student?”

Julie shot up from her seat and the two girls immediately stopped their conversion and without a word Julie walked out of the room with her teacher’s papers, fed up and annoyed beyond stupidity of the conversation she was forced to listen to.

She even heard some words of the new student while walking in the hallways on her way to the teachers’ office.

    “Excuse me,” she said, abruptly opening the door, “Sorry for the intrusion, I just wanted to … “ she stopped her sentence in the middle when she found out that the office was completely empty. She was the only one in the room. She found it awkward and was glad no one was there to see her fit. She walked over to her teacher’s desk and placed the papers the teacher wanted from her on it.

    As class was about to start, she returned to her seat, only to start the class with no teacher present. In the back, her classmates had already begun to chit chat with each other. She could have easily gone over to her two friends in the class, but she then thought of her studies. She reached into her bag and took out one of the study guides she carried.

    Class time went by quickly and it was already 9th period, the end of the school day. After 6th period, there were no teachers that attended any of Julie’s classes. There were substitutes that replaced them for the time being whose only job was to oversee the class, not to teach.

The last bell rang and Julie sighed, disappointed from today’s poor results. She was one day closer to taking the College Board SAT test and she would leave the school with little to no progression.

Walking downstairs from the third floor, she turned the corner to see a group of students from all grades, squeezed together around a classroom door window. She saw two of her friends pass her about to join the crowd and she asked them, “Nancy, what's going on?”

Nancy stopped and turned to say, “Supposedly, the new guy is in there talking to a teacher.” Pointing at the same classroom, Julie’s expression quickly turned pale uninterested in the highlights around the new student.

Julie turned around to walk away from the scene and her friend said “You’re not coming?”

Without turning around, Julie waved and said “I have a lot of work. See you guys tomorrow.”

Before Julie walked away any further, the silence of everyone in the hallway took her attention and tempted her to turn back and look.

While everyone gasped in shock, Julie’s eyes widened, holding her breath in disbelief. Out of the classroom came the teacher and the new student behind him. It was the boy years ago she met on the grassy hill when she was lost. Ever since they met, he’d always wait for her and on the last day they saw each other, she waited for him; he’d never came.

“Alrighty kids. There’s nothing to see here,” the teacher said, waving his arms around to disperse the crowd of students out the way. He and the boy then walked past them. Julie and the rest of them turned around to see them disappear around the corner.

“Hey, isn’t that Jonathan?” Nancy questioned.

“Who?” the girl besides her asked.

“You don’t know him, Maxine,” Julie snapped at the question. Nancy and Maxine looked at each other with confusion of Julie’s sudden attitude.

“He went to our middle school but disappeared randomly in the eighth grade,” Nancy comforted Maxine with more information. “I don’t really know him. Julie, do you remember him?”

“I’m just as confused as you are. I’ll see both of you tomorrow,” Julie said, walking away from the two and also thinking about the boy and how for the second time, he didn’t look at her when they passed.

***

    The next morning, Julie was in class with her head faced down on her desk on her crossed arms which acted as a soft pillow.

    “Good morning, Jules!” Lauren waltzed into the class and gave Julie a series of pats on the back. Julie turned her head to reveal her face.

    “Woah, Julie!” Lauren flailed backwards. “What time you sleep last night. You look like a zombie.”

    “I slept pretty late,” she omitted, but she knew it wasn’t because of the homework. Julie finished her homework early last night so that wasn’t what kept her up.

    She stretched back up, rubbing her eyes to force her to wake up. “Don’t you have class?” Julie asked in an attempt to give Lauren a reason to go away.

    “I’m off this period,” Lauren smiled with joy while Julie groaned back into her previous position. “You know, I never understood why you didn’t take any off periods.”

    “C’mon,” Julie mumbled through her sweater. “You know I can’t afford to waste credits on doing nothing.”

    “There’s a difference between knowing and understanding,” Lauren gave a second smile of satisfaction.

    “Whatever. Mr. Levine is just going to kick you out when class starts.”

    “Oh, you’re right. Mr. Levine is pretty scary.”

    “Mr. Levine is not scary.”

    “Julie. Who was the person that complained about her math grade?”

    “… me …”

    “And which teacher gave that to you?”

    “ … Mr. Levine, but that doesn’t make him scary. He was doing his job. I didn’t do well in math and you know how bad at math I am.”

    “True,” Lauren viciously agreed and looked at the clock at disbelief. “Oh would you look at the time. Its almost time for Mr. Levine to come. Anyways, talk to you later, see ya, bye,” Lauren rushed and waltzed out of the room the same way she entered.

    “She sure does love this class,” Mr. Levine said while entering the class and witnessing the escapee Lauren. “Alrighty class. Please take your seats and we can begin.”

    “C’mon, Mr. Levine. Can’t we relax or have a party some time?? Its first period. Everyone is tired,” a male student from the back of the class suggested.

    “Everybody, quiet down,” Mr. Levine asked for order, “We are always having a party in class,” he paused and smiled, “by learning math!”. At the climax, he took out today’s worksheets and passed them around while everyone grumbled. “Whats the matter? Aren’t we all having fun?” Mr. Levine continued to joke around.

***

    The clock read 2:45 and the dismissal bell rang. Julie walked out of the classroom and saw in the corner of her left eye, the familiar foreign student, come out of the classroom right next door. He was accompanied with other boys, laughing and enjoying his time.

    No that can’t be him, she thought. He would never smile like that.

    “Julie!” she heard someone call her name right behind her. She turned and was surprised to see Dennis. “I called your name before, but you weren’t paying attention.”

    “I’m so sorry, Dennis.”

    “What were you looking at anyways,” Dennis said as you attempted to look around Julie to get an idea of what she was so concentrated on.

    “Its nothing, Dennis,” Julie said, panicking and moving in front of Dennis’ view to prevent him from looking. Dennis moved around but Julie followed, blushing from the scene she was causing in the hallways.

    “Dennis, stop it.”

    “Alright, alright.”

    “What’s the matter?” Julie asked, seeing Dennis in a mood of urgency.

“It’s about tonight,” Dennis fiddled with his hands.

“Oh my god,” Julie said, realizing that she had made plans with Dennis. “I almost forgot we were going together.”

“I’m the one that needs to be sorry,” Dennis said, scratching his head.

“Hm,” Julie looked puzzled from the sudden shift of conversation.

“I can’t go with you tonight. Something came up and I need to perform in a play tonight...I wouldn’t be able to be with you at all. I’m sorry for making plans and cancelling them in the end.”

“Dennis. It’s fine. You don’t have to be sorry,” Julie laid back, trying to comfort Dennis from his feelings of guilt. “We’ll do something next time.”

“Thank you so much,” Dennis’s spirit sprang up with delight. “I thought you would hate me for this.” he chuckled, mocking his previous thoughts. Both of them smiled towards each other.

“Jules!” Julie looked down the hall, past Dennis, to see Lauren waving her to come.

“I think I have to go,” Julie said, starting a jog towards her friend.

“Wait!” Dennis yelled, grabbing her wrist. Julie, seeing what just happened, began to blush.

“I-I’m so sorry! That wasn’t suppose to happen!” Dennis immediately let go.

“No...It’s ok,” Julie said, her cheeks still flushed red.

“It’s just that....Since we won’t be together, can you at least come see me in the play?” Julie looked at Dennis for a moment.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Great! It starts at 7:30, all the way down at the end of the stalls.”

“Julie!” Lauren yelled impatiently for her attention.

“I’m coming!” Julie turned around, yelled back, and turned back to Dennis. “I got to go. I’ll see you tonight.”

“I’ll see you too,” he said, and saw Julie jog to Lauren while he waved from behind, standing still.

“Hey, what’s up,” Julie said, reaching Lauren.

“Gosh, that took you long enough. We’re going to grab some crepes. Wanna come?”

“Sure.” Both of them began walking towards to the exit of the school.

“So whats going on with you and Dennis,” Lauren asked, with a demonic look on her face. Julie’s body shivered from the question.

“Where did that come from?”

“Oh. You avoiding my question,” Lauren inched closer to Julie. Being uncomfortable, Julie was forced to back away from Lauren. “Just kidding,” Lauren said with a giggle.

 

***

    “Woah, those crepes were good,” Lauren said, stretching her arms back behind her as she and Julie walked through the neighborhood.

    “You had the Chocolate Coconut Crepe, right?”

    “Yea, I did. And you had the Strawberry Banana one. Don’t you ever get bored of that? You always order the same thing.”

“Well its the only thing there that interests me. Plus, I don’t like trying out new things if I know there is something I like.”

“Wow, Julie. You are a boring person.”

“That’s a mean thing to say...”

“I was just kidding!” Lauren said in a rush, causing both of them to laugh.

“Well,” Julie said when they both reached an intersection. “I have to go this way. See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lauren said, both of them walking away from each other. “Play it cool tonight.”

“What?” Julie said. But by then, Lauren had already walked too far to be heard. Julie shrugged it off and went on her own. The sun wasn’t set but the street lights began to light up the neighborhood. The image of a small park began to appear out of the corner as she came closer and she, for some reason, thought about what Dennis said today and how both of them met for the second time.

***

At home, Julie was in her room, staring into her closet, complexed about what to wear. Perhaps for the first time, she began to worry about how others would judge her on clothes and surprisingly even considered makeup. But noticing how late it was, she began to panick.

“Julie!” Kate yelled, breaking Julie’s thought. “Isn’t this cute?” She twirled around in the bright red traditional Chinese outfit. “Mom did the makeup.” Julie smiled at the sight of her little sister.

“You look really cute, Kate,” Julie complimented, but Kate’s smile soon diminished.

“C’mon. You’re not suppose to say nice things like that. Plus, didn’t this used to be yours?”

“Well, it’s good to say nice things once in a while. And yea, I used to wear that every year but I outgrew it. It’s good to know that someone else is wearing it.”

“When was the last time you wore it?” Kate asked.

“I can’t remember. Maybe 8th grade?”

“Hm. Okay,” Kate said abruptly, turning to leave Julie’s room.

“Hey, maybe when Derek get bigger, we’ll put it him.”

“Ew!” Julie heard Kate yell out in the hall, causing Julie to smirk at the joke. With Kate out of her thoughts, Julie went back to stare in her closet. This time, she seemed more relaxed, and reached for the outfit best fit for the night.

***

    Kate was walking along the aisles of stalls set up for the festival, holding Derek’s hand.

    “Kate, I want that,” Derek pointed at one of the stalls.

    “Derek, you want a candy apple? You know that’s bad for you.”

    “But I want one,” Derek whined. “I want one, Kate!”

    “Okay then! I just have enough for one. I’ll give it to you, okay?”

“I’ll share it then!” Derek said with delight.

    “Really? You’d do that for me?”

    “Yea!” Derek let go of her hand and galloped off into the line and Kate followed with a smile.

    A few moments later, Kate and Derek got to the front.

    “Sorry little girl, but you don’t have enough,” the person stationed at the candy apples said.

“What do you mean? The sign says it’s $4.99 and I just have enough for tax too,” Kate said, with a furious attitude of how unfair she was being treated.

    “That’s a mistake. Sorry about that. Next!” the person yelled for the next person in line, completely ignoring Kate.

    “Its okay, Kate. I don’t want it anymore. You’re mad now. I don’t like you mad,” Derek suggested.

    “I’m sorry, Derek. Let me deal with this,” Kate said, kneeling down to Derek. “Look Mr. False Priced Candy Apples. You have a sign with the wrong price for your product. If you don’t change that, I’ll get the committee to shut down this stall,” she stood back up to talk to the indecent man.

    “Hey missy. I don’t need to deal with this right now. And you’re holding up the line. Next!” the man yelled. Kate was being ignored again. “How many do you want? Three?” the man, taking the order of the person behind Kate and Derek.

    “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get one for you. I’m a bad sister,” Kate said to Derek, taking him away from the stall.

“Its okay. I still love you. Next time, I’ll get you a candy apple,” Derek said, comforting Kate.

“Excuse me, little boy,” a boy who seemed like he was from high school said behind Kate.

“Is there something wrong?” Kate got up to greet him.

“Theres nothing wrong. I just wanted to give this to him,” the boy reached out a candy apple, causing Derek to smile joyously. “I know those kind of people are annoying but we just have to deal with them.”

Kate was about to say that they couldn’t accept it but Derek had already taken the apple to bite.

“Um. When can I pay you back?” Kate proposed.

“No need to. Looking at your dress gave me a nostalgic feeling.” His words soon caused Kate’s face to flush red with embarrassment.

“Is it a good feeling, mister?”

“Hm. I don’t know. Maybe it is.”

“Why do you have two candy apples?” Derek continued to bother the stranger.

“It’s for another person.”

“Is that person special?”

“Well excuse us,” Kate said, butting into their conversation. “We were told to not talk to strangers. But thank you for the candy apple.”

“Thank you kind mister!”

“Well, I’m sorry.” The boy was very sincere. “The candy apple is on me.” It was at that moment they both walked away from each other. As Kate dragged Derek’s hand forward, Derek turned his head back, to see the boy disappeared into the crossing crowd.

“Who was he?” Derek said, looking up at his older sister.

“I don’t know, Derek. I don’t know,” she said looking forward.

“He was a kind man, wasn’t he, Kate?” Derek added.

“He sure was,” Kate said, now smiling at Derek. “Lets go find our sister.”

“Yea. Lets go. Lets go,” Derek said, pointing forward as they both walked all the way to the end of the aisle where the play was going on.

***

    Kate and Derek kept on walking with their hands held together and they neared the end of the aisle.

    “Hey!” Derek yelled, pointing looking at Kate. “It’s Julie.” Derek let go of Kate’s hand and ran off to Julie with his candy apple, half consumed, to Julie.

“Don’t drop the apple, Derek!” Kate yelled, seeing Derek run away. Kate took her time, walking to the rest of her family.

“Where did you get the candy apple?” Julie asked Derek. “Did Kate buy it for you?”

“Actually…” Kate said, hoping to interrupt so she could tell the story straight.

“A kind mister gave it to me,” Derek said, beating Kate to the story.

“A kind mister?” Julie questioned. “Someone else bought it?”

“Yea, but he said it was fine. We don’t have to pay him back,” Kate tried to convince Julie of the event. “He was really strange though. He sort of complimented my dress. Said it gave him a nostalgic feeling.”

“Seriously? No, that’s ridiculous. Where is he right now? I’ll go pay him back.”

“Julie, he insisted that it was fine.”

“Please, Kate.” Derek looked at both of them, confused whether or not this was a argument or just a little dispute.

“We last saw him around the stall near the park of benches. You most likely won’t find him. He’s sure to have gone somewhere else.”

“I’ll find him,” Julie assured Kate. “Thanks,” she said leaving the scene. Julie was well lost into the crowd.

“Kate, is Julie mad?”

“I don’t think so. Wanna watch the show?”

“Yea!”

On the stage behind the curtains, Dennis was working, moving crates of props for the show around. On the little opening between the walls he saw Julie’s image get farther and farther from the stage. He paused and just stared into the audience, thinking whether or not he should be sad or relieved.

***

    Out of breath, panting, Julie stopped when she was at the park of benches while also seeing the stall selling the candy apples.

    “What an idiot,” Julie said to herself. “I don’t even know what he looks like and I’m trying to pay him back.” She gave another look.

    “Um. Sir. Did you by any chance give a candy apple to a boy and girl? … No? … Excuse me, sorry.” She said that several times, just asking random people who she thought they would’ve committed the deed.

    Tired, Julie found a bench and sat on it, looking at the festival unfold at close range. She flipped her phone open to see that the time was 7:15. Dennis’s show started at 6:45. Julie yelled out of frustration but the sounds of the festival made sure no one heard her.

    How strange though, Julie thought. The guy had a nostalgic feeling about the dress but that doesn’t make sense. There’s no way. There was no one else that would know about that dress except for her family and middleschool friends.

    Stumped on finding this person, she stared at the candy apple stall which was giving her so much trouble. She could hear the old man screaming from across the pathway which made her chuckle, “He hasn’t changed since the day I got lost.” Julie then suddenly caught herself saying something strange. Since the day I got lost, she thought to herself. Something started to run through her mind. Right across the old man’s candy apple stall, behind the bench, there’s a hidden path that leads to a hill covered by the trees of the park. Julie began to follow this nostalgic feeling.

    Getting the tree branches and the brush out of her way, she paused to see what was before her. It was an open hill with a well grown tree that sat in the middle. Next to the tree, stood a figure. Tall, broad shoulders, short black hair. It was a boy and he held two candy apples in his left hand pointing downward. He stood there, watching the festival unfold before him.

    Julie stood there in disbelief, as she heard the launching of the fireworks and witnessed the explosion of all colors that brightened the sky and the hill. She stepped forward onto a thick patch of grass, making a sound, causing the figure to turn around. The next set of fireworks were launched and the light made the figure’s face out.

    Julie was still speechless as they both looked at each other. She knew who was in front of her. It was their own secret place that no one knew about. The place she found when she was lost and the place where he planted the tree. The new student in the school was never new to begin with. He belonged here from the start and now he was back.

    “Welcome ba …”

     “I’ve been back for a long time.” The boy before her said with an angry tone. “I was wondering how long people here would notice.” He turned to look down on the town.

    “You’re,” Julie hesitated before she said the name. “Jona -”

    “That’s not it,” the boy firmly said.

“C’mon, don’t joke around.”

“This isn’t a joke. I changed my name.”

“Jonathan,” Julie said it so fast that the boy couldn’t correct her.

“Julie, I already said it countless times.”

“It seems you remembered my name.”

“Unlike some people, I don’t forget the people I meet.” The boy stared at Julie and Julie instantly understood what he meant.

Julie absolutely didn’t know what to do or what to think. She was completely paralyzed in thought and was frozen still by the cold words from the person she thought she knew before.

“Speechless? Classic Julie.” In the midst of the explosion of colors in the sky, the boy walked next to Julie. “The name is Ike now. This Jonathan you know … I don’t know him.” The boy exited the hill, leaving one of the candy apples he had in Julie’s hand.

The barrage of fireworks continued on in the night sky of the festival and at that point in time, everything was lost like a dream. It wasn’t good like a fulfilled wish, or bad enough to be a nightmare, but it was a memory that was forgettable.

 

4: Flashback Two: A Dream or Nightmare

    The young teenage boy stared into the sky as a plane flew over him, casting a shadow that may forever haunt him. Rain started to fall upon the boy and he looked forward to see what he could make out as a train station on the horizon. At a distance, the boy could hear the echoes of the trumps the train made along the tracks. The boy looked down and saw his foot along the painted yellow zone. He was suddenly at the station and the sound of the train horn were no longer echoes. The train kept rolling right in front of him but the sounds suddenly were muted as the boy heard a different horn that stretched closer and longer. Longer and closer. He knew exactly what was coming next. The screaks rubber made against blacktop concrete roads and the crash to follow. A silence was welcomed but more noises entered the fray. The boy noticed a crying child kneeling down. The child’s glasses were sloppily placed on his face as his constantly used his hands to wipe away his tears. The boy pitied the crying child and had the urge to hit him and yell shut up. But no matter how the boy stared, he couldn’t bring himself to punish the past. The boy then turned around and found himself surrounded by a forest of pine in the darkness of night. Beyond the trees was a hill with an opening that oversaw a small town and in the middle of that opening was the outline of a tree that didn’t belong to the forest. Fireworks joined the full moon to illuminate the light and the falling sparks joined the littered sky of stars. From behind, someone called a name. A girlish voice called a name that wasn’t his and he didn’t turn around. He couldn’t.

    

 

5: Chapter Two: The Lonley Blue Jay

    The light of the rising sun broke through the scattering clouds in the morning sky and the town came alive with motion. The sound of several alarm clocks resounded through the neighborhood, one of them being Julie’s. The sunlight had just pierced through her window all in the while the obnoxious rings echoed through the room. She shrugged them off, not because she had become used to to the noises, but because she was already wide awake.

    “Julie!” Kate’s voice was heard through the hollow walls in the house. Julie heard Kate’s door slam and the pounding of her feet through the hall that was getting louder and louder by the second. Julie’s own door swung open abruptly, and Kate stuck her head in. “It’s Saturday and we’re all trying to sleep! Turn off your alarm!” Julie turned over, blindly groping for the button to slam her alarm off. With that done, Kate shut the door and returned back to her own room in the same manner in which she went to Julie’s. The whole house settled down following the silence of Julie’s alarm.

    In the soothing quiet and relative peace of the house, Julie went back to laying on her back, closing her eyes to get something she didn’t get all night; some good sleep. Even with the emptiness of sight, she saw something extraordinary. The rustling leaves that swayed because of the push of the chilling wind. The sight of exhaling breath that was left behind as I walked forward. The colors that illuminated the night which casted the three silhouettes of him onto the grassy hill, the tree, and also in me. A dream? No. It all happened last night. That’s right. I saw him last night. This is…a memory.

    She didn’t want to think about it anymore. In her pajamas, she rose up and sat in her seat in front of her desk. In front of her, she cracked open her SAT book at the bookmark where she left off just two nights ago. I hate math so much, she thought as she loomed over the series of numerical questions.

The room was perfect for studying; the lights were bright enough to see everything clearly and it was all quiet from the inside. But even with the perfect environment, Julie was having a hard time putting her focus on the book, She kept thinking about him.

She leaned back on her chair and rigorously exhaled from exhaustion even though she had yet to solve a single problem. Staring at the ceiling, she stopped thinking for a moment and snapped right back in front of her book. Just about when she was going to write the equation for the question, the sound of the toilet flush completely shattered her concentration. Julie was close to frozen when her sister opened the door, poking her head out once again, and saying, “It’s all your fault that I woke up early,” shutting the door, leaving Julie to pull the last straw.

I can’t take this anymore, Julie silently thought in her head. Already completely frustrated from her lack of progress in her study book, she packed her books and pencils into her bag and headed for the front door, passing the kitchen on the way.

“Where are you going?” Kate asked from the seat of the kitchen table as she noticed her sister almost storming out.

“I’m going to the library,” Julie said quickly, almost annoyed.

“I hope you don’t go wearing your pajamas,” Kate snickered, taking a bite from her toasted bread.

“Thanks,” Julie said with an insincere tone, turning around towards her room to change her outfit.

Kate, just about to take her second bite, noticed Julie passing the kitchen door again but this time properly dressed. Just as Julie disappeared past the door frame, Kate heard the front door open and close. Kate, stared for a moment, wondering what was wrong with Julie, but went back to eating.

“What’s going on??” The mother of the family appeared in the opening of the door, still in her pajamas and her hair not yet done. “I heard a bang!” She took out her burglar bat and started to look around.

“How am I even your daughter...” Kate, whispered to herself, sighing and putting her piece of toast down. “There’s no burglar mom! And go get changed!”

***

    The library was not so far away from Julie’s house. For any person, it would take about six minutes to walk there but Julie liked to take her time and would take ten minutes instead. Although she didn’t necessarily stare at her surroundings, she liked to pay attention to the scenery. The cars that zoomed past up and down the streets. How the tree branches swayed with the wind. She would often notice the change in the color of leaves as the seasons go by.

As she approached the glass entrance of the library, the double doors automatically slid open. Julie was quite surprised herself, just noticing a sensor above her head with a blinking red light. It just showed how long she hasn’t been to the library. The last time I came here was when I was studying with … Julie stopped her thought and proceeded into the library.

One step inside and she could instantly feel the difference in the environment. Although it was in the middle of the autumn season, the library’s air conditioning was on full blast. With one breath, Julie could tell that the air was dry and crisp. Walking deeper into the library, Julie noticed just how barren the place was compared to the last time she was here. The weeks before midterms and final exams were the worst. Crowded with study groups, which most didn’t actually study, it was difficult to concentrate.

Walking down the aisle of rectangular tables, Julie was pleased to see that the few actually working in the library were diligent and quiet. Taking her own seat, she had to do the same. Opening her bag, she saw an assignment sheet which reminded her of a research paper on birds which she hasn’t even started. Great timing! Julie optimistically thought. What’s a better place to research, than in a library!

Leaving her things at the table, Julie went over to the front desk, asking one of the workers sitting down, “Do you know where I can find books about birds?”

“Let me check,” the lady said, twisting over to face the computer screen. While Julie was waiting, the lady began a series of typing and clicking. “It should be in the nonfiction area,” the lady looked up and said, “I’ll give you the specific numbers. It starts at 6390.”

“Thank you so much,” Julie politely said, and went over to the nonfiction area of the library. The nonfiction section of the library was very secluded, being in the back of the library behind the fiction section. Julie strolled in between the shelves, reading the numbers on the bottom of the spine. As she got closer to her desired number, she noticed a group of three boys, who looked like in their senior year of high school, talking and laughing. I guess the library wasn’t that quiet after all... Julie ignored them, as she just wanted to just get her book and leave to work on her paper. On her peripheral vision, she noticed that one of the lousy boys were leaning on a book with the number 6390. Great…now I have to talk to them.

“Excu -” Julie was about to interrupt their conversation but was cut off before she could finish.

“Excuse me,” a person behind Julie, which had a teenage deep voice, said. “I’ll need to be getting something and you guys happen to be in the way.” Annoyed but surprised, Julie turned around to see that it was Jonathan who spoke up. The boys stopped their conversation but stood still, staring at Jonathan. He walked past Julie as if she weren’t there and stared down at the boy leaning against the books. Julie took notice that Jonathan was quite tall compared to the other boys. Without a word, the boys moved away from the area. Jonathan then kneeled down and pinched a book, taking it out from its squeezed position between the other books.

“Thank you,” Julie said. Jonathan turned around and looked at Julie as if she just appeared out of nowhere.

“Why are you thanking me?” Jonathan said coldly and Julie’s face became shocked. “Those guys were being jerks and I wanted to get this book.” He revealed the front cover of the book and without sparing another second of time, Jonathan disappeared in between the book shelves, leaving Julie. She returned back to her seat with several books, but her collection of research was incomplete without the one Jonathan had already taken.

***

Julie softly closed a mediocrely thick book and placed it ontop of the stack on her table. Finally finished with the research portion, Julie leaned on the table with an exhausted sigh. Damn, high school sucks, Julie’s thoughts pouted. The thought had to pass as she reached for some looseleaf and a pen to start her essay. The clocked ticked by in seconds and then minutes, and in about two hours, Julie swiped away the eraser scraps off her finished first draft.

Finally, she thought, stretching her arms behind her. She felt relaxed as she laid one cheek against the cold wooden table. I’ll close my eyes for a few minutes. She folded her arms into a makeshift pillow and rested her head on the soft cotton of her jacket. Although she planned to only rest for a few minutes, she by accidently fell asleep.

***

    “Aah,” Julie let out a small gasp, realizing that she had just awoken from an actual sleep. But something else caught her attention. Slowly rising her head from the table, she stared at Jonathan who was sitting next to her, reading. He had no reaction at all and continued to read. “Why?” Julie asked, assuming Jonathan knew the entire answer.

“You didn’t answer my question before,” Jonathan immediately responded without taking his eyes off from the pages in front of him.

“I said thank you because I was being polite.”

“Oh,” he reacted as if he never considered that an answer. “That’s funny.”

“What’s so funny about being polite?”

Jonathan firmly closed his book, causing Julie to flinch backwards. He stood up and placed his book on top of Julie’s stack. “There’s no such thing as true politeness. People are only polite because it’s a social custom. Nobody is polite for the sake of being polite.” With that statement, Jonathan pushed his seat out and started to walk away.

“You aren't staying?” Julie said, stopping Jonathan in his path.

“I have some things to do.” Jonathan said without turning around, his hands hidden in his pockets. Before Julie noticed, Jonathan had already disappeared out of the library. He’s running away from me again. I have to go get him. Julie set herself a mission, but before she zoomed off the book Jonathan had before caught her attention. She picked up the book and stared into the eye of the Blue Jay on the cover. She thought as she placed the book down. With short strides, she ran out of the library in hopes of catching up to him and she kept on repeating in her head

Facing the entrance, she can see the back figure of Jonathan through the glass double doors. She closed the gap, just making it through the small opening the doors had automatically created.

“Jonathan!” she yelled and he stopped where he stood. There was a sudden pause between them as the autumn fallen leaves swirled on the ground. Julie’s hair flew to her side while the blade of wind only skimmed Jonathan’s hair. “This is unfair! Why do you always go away without giving a reason??”

“What do you know about unfairness?” Julie was shocked to hear that statement. “Do you even know who I am? That’s not my name anymore.” Jonathan turned to only show the left side of his face to Julie; his hands were still in his pockets. “My name is Ike.”

That’s true. Julie thought about what she had just heard. I thought I was closer. I thought I could be close. I thought…we were friends? As Julie thought on, he took a chance to leave the scene.

“Jonathan!” I’m not letting him slip away again.

“How many times do I have to say?” he frustratedly said. “My name is …”

“I’m not calling you that,” she said, looking down at the ground, clutching her hands by her side. Ike almost thoughtlessly stared at Julie. The wind paused and Julie took a deep breath in, releasing the stress from her tensed hands, and she lifted her head on the same level as Jonathan’s. “I’m not calling you that because it makes it seem like you changed, but you didn’t. You’re still stubborn like you were before. You’re still senseless like you were before. You’re still the kind and caring person I’ve known you to be.”

The wind abruptly returned and Julie looked at Jonathan’s expression again. It didn’t change at all. “Then don’t call me,” he said, turning his back again. “I wish all of the things you said were true.” But before he managed to even take a step, Julie said something that halted his journey.

“Is your favorite bird the Blue Jay?”

“Yea,” he said, looking up towards the clouds as if he were looking for the blue jay.

“Then let me,” Julie stuttered her first few words. “let me call you Jay.” she projected forward, taking a step closer to Jonathan. She stood frozen, waiting for a response from the boy in front of her. A few seconds later, she noticed the silliness of what she just said when she saw Jonathan crack a little laughter inside.

Before Julie was able to take back what she asked, Ike interrupted, “Sure.” Before Jonathan and now Jay. He then walked away from the library, but this time without any interruption. As Jay disappeared around the corner of the library, Julie returned back to her work in the library.

Sitting down, she picked up the book with the cover of a Blue Jay perched on a branch and wondered why Jay would ever be interested in this bird. She noticed at side of the book that one of the pages had been bent at the corner, as if someone wanted to bookmark to page but didn’t necessarily have a bookmark. Opening the book to that certain page, Julie discovered a large picture that filled both pages. At first, a smile grew on her as she saw a forest filled with all kinds of birds she had just researched. As she admired the picture, she noticed that there was a Blue Jay at the very bottom. Without any looking any further, Julie closed the book and reminded herself that her paper was due this upcoming Monday. I should probably get to work.

 

6: Flashback Three: Homecoming

The window was slightly cracked open, allowing the noises from transportation of the summer city to enter the room. The boy laid on his bed, staring at the circling blades of his ceiling fan. He lifted his head from his sweat stained pillow and clenched his chest to feel his fast beating heart. A dream or a nightmare? the boy thought.

    The boy left his room and entered the kitchen to be greeted by his father. “Zao,” the middle aged man said good morning while chewing on his breakfast. “Zaocan zuo hao le.”

    The boy didn’t respond to his father. In fact, he never did. He took his seat, picked his chopsticks up, and began eating. The man stared at the boy, annoyed by how slowly he was eating.

    “Eh, ni shin bing le ma?” The man attempted to provoke him to speaking, but failed as the boy continued to eat in his unusual slow manner. He quit and continued to eat as well.

    “Eh, ba,” the boy spoke. The father stopped chewing to give his son a surprised look. “Wo xiang yao hui jia.”

    The man slammed his chopsticks on the table, shaking the legs and spilling the pepper. The boy seemed unfazed by his father’s obvious anger as he reached to pick up the pepper and put it next to the salt which was only moved by the quake.

    “This is the first time you’re speaking to me and this is what you say?” his father pointed out in broken english. “Why?”

    Possibly for the first time, the boy stared back at his father and he said, “I have something to do.”

    Perhaps it was the resolve the father saw in his son that he laid back against his chair and said, “You moron. I’ll call your sister.”

 

7: Chapter Three: Friends?

    “Julie, Julie!” Kim hollered Julie’s name, even though she sat right next to her. The sleeping Julie moaned at her calling and Kim, offended by the ignorance, annoyingly shaked Julie until she finally woke up.

    “What is it?” Julie muttered, still half asleep, barely staying awake. The five minutes between each period were one of the few opportunities Julie could get some rest, but it seemed evident to her that with Kim she wasn’t going to get those five minutes.

    “I have to tell you what happened to me this weekend!” Kim said with an urgent yet cheerful tone which confused Julie whether or not it was something of significance.

    “Is it that important?” After her question, Julie immediately thought that she shouldn’t have asked. She knew most, if not all, of Kim’s stories were irrelevant and ridiculous. But, however, Kim needed someone to talk to and it tragically happened to be Julie.

    “Yes, yes! This time it really is.” Julie internally rolled her eyes as she heard an obvious lie from Kim but she had to put up with it until class started.

    “Okay. Go on before I fall back to sleep,” Julie informed Kim to not waste anymore time. Julie went back into a comfortable position, crossing her arms to form a pillow to lay one side of her head on. It seemed like she was on the verge of collapsing into a sleep again.

    “Okay, so for like, Friday dinner I ate ramen noodles because I was like, super lazy and then I went to sleep,” Kim rushed, jumbling her words together. Julie’s attention span began to shrink and so was the gap between her eyelids. “And then I wake up and I’m like - really thirsty, so I went and got a glass of water.”

    “Oh. My. God.” Julie said aside to herself. Although she was dead tired, Kim’s rambling completely made it impossible for Julie to sleep.

“On my way back, I saw this spider on the floor in front of me and it was like, really strange that I didn’t panic because I’m usually afraid of things with more than four legs!”

“That’s called entomophobia...” Julie burrowed her head into her arms, now muttering through her sleeves.

“What’cha say?”

“I said entomophobia.” Julie’s head emerged from hiding, now giving more clarity to her comments. “Entomophobia is the fear of anything with more than four legs.”

“Whatever,” Kime said, pushing Julie’s comment aside. “So, you know what I did next?” Kim said with a sudden shift in tone. Kim gave a look at Julie like she was waiting for her to do something.

“What did you do, Kim??” Julie said with a fake passion.

Before Kim said anything, she looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to her. Little did she know that Julie was the only person in the world that tolerated Kim’s blabbering. She cuffed one of her hands around her mouth and whispered, “I dropped the cup on the spider.”

Julie stared forward at nothing, thinking about the words that just came out of Kim. Any person with nine hours of sleep would immediately react, but Julie wasn’t one of those people who had  the luxury of getting nine hours of precious sleep. But as she slowly took in every single word in her head, I…dropped…the cup…on…the spider, her eyes instantly widened.

“But that’s not even the best part,” Kim happily added into their conversation. Julie let out an exhausted exhale. “I basically woke up the entire house and my mom came down with a baseball bat and started sayings things like ‘is there a burglar? Is there a burglar?’”

So my mom isn’t the only abnormal person with a burglar bat, Julie thought.

    “Take your seats. The bell rang,” the teacher in the classroom demanded.

“And then she told me to go back to sleep, lol!” Kim ended her story and went back to her desk.

***

    “Lets eat lunch together!” Lauren excitedly said, energetically lifting her arms in the air, appearing just as Julie left the classroom.

    “Where’s everyone else?” Julie asked, as they usually ate in a group.

    “They went ahead. I came to get you.” They began to walk besides each other. “So I’ve heard you’ve been getting along with Kim. Is that true?”

    “Ehhhh,” Julie thought about what Lauren just said. “I guess so. We had a very interesting conversation today.”

    “Really,” Lauren reacted the about the same way.

    “Yea. Why? Is something wrong?”

    “Just heard from the other girls.”

    “What they say?”

    “They said something like.” They turned the corner and immediately stopped to see something going on in the hallway right in front of them.

    “Say you’re sorry,” Jay demanded to a group of girls. Julie’s eyes widened as it was her friends he was yelling at. Julie absolutely had no idea what was going on. She just stood there as a bystander, asking herself questions that will never get answered.

    “Speak of the devil,” Lauren whispered. At first, Julie didn’t understand what Lauren was referring to but everything was quite clear when she saw Kim in the scene as well. “You tripped her and now her lunch is on the floor.”

    “Just who the hell are you?” It was the voice of Julie and Lauren’s friends.

    “Does it matter? Say you’re sorry,” Jay continued to demand.

    “It’s her fault for running around and flirting with everyone. You’re new so you don’t know how annoying she is,” another girl started to defend.

    “My goodness,” Lauren said, jogging over to her friends’ side. “Just say it was an accident.”

    “Psh,” Jay acted like he overheard Lauren. “Like that was an accident. So are spreading rumors and talking behind each other accidents too?”

    “It’s ok...” Kim whispered. Jay stayed silent for a while, deciding whether or not to listen to Kim’s pleas.

    Jay bent downward and started to pick up the scraps of Kim’s destroyed lunch from the floor and put it on the napkin. “C’mon. This is really yours. Help me.” As they cleaned up, the girls except for Lauren and Julie left the scene.

    “Julie. Lets catch up.”

    “Oh.” as Julie scurried to Lauren. As Julie passed Jay, Jay got up from the ground and whispered something to her.

    Lauren and Julie began walking again, just behind the other girls. “What did he say?”

    “Nothing. It wasn’t for me.” Julie knew she lied and she looked back to see Jay and Kim disappear around the corner Julie and Lauren just came from.

***

    “What are you doing here?” Julie found Jay sitting on one of the wooden benches in the courtyard reading a book. Not giving an immediate response, Julie remembered the words he said earlier in the day. Some friends you have, she thought about what Jay said.

    “You stalking me too?” Jay closed his book and laid it besides him on the bench. “Wanna take a seat?”

    “Why would you say that?” Julie fiddled with her hands. “You aren’t the type of person who would say that...”

    “How do you know? Does he still exist? I don’t see him. People change.”

    “People change for the better.”

    “And you think you changed? You thought you were friends with everyone. But then you found something and you thought you changed, but you really haven’t because you still think that you have friends.”

    “What do you know about friends?”

    “Still looking,” he stared right at Julie which gave her a disturbing idea and her eyes widened as she found out what he had meant.

    “I see.” Julie took Jay’s offer and sat on the space next to him. “Then I’ll be your discovery. I’ll be your first friend.”

    “You weirdo,” Jay chuckled. “Deal with your own ‘friends’ before trying to make an impossible one out of me. I don’t need to bother putting on different masks for different people. I’m done with the lies.” He got up from the bench and stared into the sky. “It’s something I don’t need at the moment.” He then walked away, leaving Julie to stare at the sky alone.

    “Who’s he?” Julie turned around to see Dennis resting his arms on the open window sill.

Julie gasped and then said, “Someone I don’t know anymore.”

“Sounds tough… Ready to go?” They walked towards the entrance and were about to go around the corner when Julie heard the familiar voices of her friends. They were laughing and Julie could picture them smiling during a cheerful conversation, but she stopped where she was and grabbed Dennis’ wrist. Dennis turned to see what is was, but he completely understood what was going on. The gesture meant don’t let them see me.

“Kim got what she deserved.” It was Sharon’s voice.

“Yeah, that was so funny when you just stuck your elbow out while she was skipping towards us.” Addison’s voice.

“And then that boy she was stalking defended her. Like what? That was so weird. Who would do that?” Sydney’s voice.

“Oh, you guys know for tonight we aren’t inviting Julie.” Sharon again.

“Definitely,” the other girls almost said in unison.

“She is so stuck up. She acts all shy and quiet and then shows off how she can get asked out to the festival right in front of us. Like ugh. But yeah, alrighty girls. See you tonight.”

“They’re gone,” Dennis said, sticking his head around the corner. “Seriously… People are still acting like this in high school?”

“I guess so.” Julie let go of Dennis’ wrist and walked around the corner they were hiding behind.

“You okay?” Dennis walked up to where Julie was.

“I don’t let those kinds of things hurt me.” Without another word, they both left and Julie wondered how many lies she said today.

***

    Damn this sucks. Julie slumped over her bed, thinking. It’s all his fault. Talking about friends and masks and lies. The memory of what happened at the entrance kept on appearing in her head. Friends shouldn’t question each other. They’re probably just annoyed because I hang out with Dennis too much.

    Julie rolled side to side on her bed before picking up her phone. Maybe I should call Dennis and ask him about it... She dialed the number and put the phone against her ear. Wait … isn’t Dennis the problem…maybe I shouldn’t talk to him after all.

    But it was too late. Several rings into the call, someone picked up.

    “What’s up Julie?” It’s Dennis’s voice. Its so staticky. “It’s really late for a call. Do you need something?” I don’t know. Julie slowly distanced away from the phone but she could still hear Dennis’s voice from the phone. “Are you there? Julie? Is something wrong? Julie?” I want to talk but I don’t know what to say. I need some air. Julie ended the call.

***

“I’ll be right back!” Julie yelled while running down the stairs.

“It’s a school night,” Julie’s mom reacted but Julie was already out of the house.

It’s all his fault. It’s all his fault. Stupid Jonathan. Stupid Ike. Stupid... Although she was aimlessly walking, Julie found herself on top of the hill with the tree. I guess thinking about him got me here. Serves me right I guess.

She sat down and continued to contemplate about how her high school life was ruined in one day by one person. She thought so much, she couldn’t tell how much time had passed.

“Is this your first time seeing the sky from here without the fireworks?” Julie heard Jay’s voice from behind and was startled.

“Are you stalking me?”

“Don’t copy me. I happened to have a feeling that you were here.” Jay took a seat nearby Julie and looked straight into the opening that displayed the town.

“This is a lot different from back then.” The town isn’t that lit up and the skies are barren of color. “You were right. I suck.”

“Finally. Some truth from you.”

“Hey!” Julie hit Jay’s arm but he reacted with a chuckle. “It’s about the friendship and what not. I really don’t have friends.”

“Yea. If you think about it. I was the first person to find you and I couldn’t care less about your well being. Just goes to show that no one cares about you,”

“Wait, what? First person?” Julie’s suddenly wasn’t that depressed anymore. “You mean there’s more people?”

“Wow. You’re easy to cheer up. Yea. How do you think I knew about your little disappearance?” Jay paused for a second before continuing. “I got a call from ehhhhh, what’s his name ...”

“Dennis?”

“Yea. That’s the guy. Asked me if I knew where you were. Told him that I didn’t want to bother and he gave me a scolding that I didn’t bother to listen.”

“Then why’d you come?”

“Knowing the group he called up, they wouldn’t find you if they took the whole night.”

Group?

“Lets see,” Jay pinched his forehead. “The other two were Kim and Lauren.”

Isn’t Lauren hanging out with the rest of the girls and I basically only know Kim by name. Why... just why…

“They care about you.” Julie’s eyes widened as Jay was able to answer her question out of nowhere. “They’re taking time out of their lives to look for you because they care, and you should do the same for them.”

“Do you really think I made everything right now?” Despite saying all of that philosophical stuff… I honestly don’t think I can do it.

“Being right is relative. Changing doesn’t start with the people around you, but with yourself.” Jay lifted himself from the ground. “Although they don’t necessarily have a direct relationship, they somehow relate.” Jay offered his hand to Julie. “And even when you don’t see anything in front of you, there will always be people pushing from behind, even when you don’t know it.”

Dennis, Lauren, Kim, Mom, Dad, Kate, little brother Derek, and even Jay. They’re all supporting who they care about the most.

“You going to take my hand or what?”

“No,” I want to stay here just a little longer.

“Great. Making me say all that stuff too early,” Jay said, sitting down in the same spot.

“The stars are beautiful.”

***

    “Aah-Chu!” Julie sneezed. Julie and Jay were walking home.

    “Idiot,” Julie felt something soft being put on her head.

    A hoody?

    “Put that on. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Oh.” Julie put her arms through the sleeves. Julie noticed how big the hoodie was. The bottom just barely reached her knees and the cuffs were at least a foot away from her hands. Julie looked at the now, jacketless Jay. Even though it has only been a few short years, Jay had physically grown.

“If you’re going to run away at night at least know what to bring.”

Julie couldn’t tell if Jay was being kind or not. His scolding made it hard to distinguish, but Julie knew that Jay was a kind person.    

“Found them,” Jay said and Julie looked forward to see Kim waving, a laughing Lauren, and a panting Dennis. Both groups walked towards each other and met in the middle.

“Where were you??” Lauren yelled. “Where did you find her?”

“That’s a secret to everyone.”

“You didn’t go to the hangout with everyone else?” Julie asked Lauren.

“As if I would hang out with them again. Once I found out they purposely didn’t invite you, I left. They didn’t even tell me because they knew I was the closest to you. And then I found out from Dennis that you went mia and I was like ‘what the heck is going on??’”

“Kim?” Julie said.

“You're only one of the few people who have ever talked to me without getting annoyed... I’m grateful for that.”

“Don’t…ask…me,” Dennis panted between his words while managing a smile.

“I know,” Julie laughed. Julie now knew who to cherish and who her true friends were. But it wasn’t without help. Julie knew that if Jay hadn’t been there, she would still be lost.

Dennis, bent over his knees, still trying to catch his breath, tugged on Lauren’s sleeve. It was then she realized that something wrong had gone unnoticed.

“Where’d he go?” Lauren pointed out with words.

“Ike disappeared.” Kim noticed as well and it seemed that Julie was the last to figure it out.