All Our Next Times: Fallen Brook Series: Book 1 Read online

  “Yeah. For a girl, you’re pretty cool,” Julien grins at me.

  Jayson nods his agreement and takes my hand, the one without the candies. After we eat our sweet treats, we decide to play castles and dragons. As soon as the dragon has been defeated, we hear my mom’s voice calling us from the backyard, followed by Hailey’s.

  “Lizzie. Boys. Time to come in.”

  Hailey’s voice comes next, “Daddy's grillin’ burgers!”

  We quickly wash our hands in the creek because they are caked in mud and sticky from the candy. Deciding there isn’t much we can do about the state of our clothes and shoes, I take both boys’ hands in mine, we walk back toward our houses.

  “Wanna play again tomorrow?” I ask them.

  I get two huge smiles beaming at me. My heart is full and happy. I have a good feeling that we really are going to be the bestest friends forever. My two princes.

  That night after mommy and daddy kiss us goodnight, Hailey sneaks into my room and crawls on top of my pink princess bed covers. I tell her about Jayson and Julien. I tell her all about what we played and what we did. How I showed Jayson a crawfish. How I fell in the mud trying to leap across the creek after Julien. How we splashed and jumped in the water. The opposite of what I had told Jayson earlier, Mom was not happy about how filthy my dress was when I got home. I told Hailey how we played princess and her princes, how Jayson slayed the dragon and Julien rescued me on his white horse.

  As I snuggle next to Hailey, I tell her how I fell in love with those two boys today and we were all going to be great friends. I tell her how my face hurts from smiling and laughing so much. Hailey doesn’t say anything the entire time I talk. When I finish, she gets up, goes into her bedroom, and comes back with her sparkle pencil and scented paper that smell like oranges, and begins writing.

  “Whatcha doing?” I ask, and she holds up her finger to her lips for me to hush. I look over her shoulder and she turns away so I can’t see what she’s writing. Giving up, I walk over to my window and look out. Across the way, two faces are looking out the window of the house next door. They see me and raise their window. I raise mine.

  “Good night, princess!” Jayson calls out.

  “Sleep tight,” Julien shouts after him.

  I blow them each a good night kiss.

  “I’m done,” Hailey says from the bed.

  I wave bye to Jayson and Julien but keep my window open. I notice they do the same. I feel happy and safe knowing my two princes are nearby and can hear me if I call for them. I crawl back into bed as Hailey gets under the covers with me. She always likes to read me her poems before we fall asleep.

  “This is a poem about Elizabeth and her two princes,” Hailey begins.

  My sleepy eyes start to droop and her softly spoken words lull me into sweet dreams.

  Chapter 2

  Third Grade

  Elizabeth

  I’ve been bummed since this weekend because the twins have been stuck at home sick with the flu and haven’t been able to come to school the past two days. My mom won’t let me go see them at all, so as soon as Hailey and I jump off the school bus steps, I run home and rush up to my bedroom. Lifting open my window, I see Jayson and Julien are already at their window waiting for me.

  “How are you feeling today?”

  I hope they say they are better because I miss them so much. Jayson starts coughing so Julien answers me.

  “Mom said our fever broke but we have to stay home the rest of the week.”

  He looks sad and then grabs a tissue to blow his nose. That just makes me feel even more miserable than I already am.

  An idea forms in my head and I tell them to hold on a minute. I grab the card I made for them today at school. There is a large oak tree between our houses with branches that span across and reach close to both of our windows. I don’t know why the idea has never occurred to us since we climb trees all the time in the forest surrounding our backyards. Without thinking too much, or else I know I will lose my nerve, I climb out of my window onto the sloped roof below it and grab a hold of the tree branch in front of me. Placing the handmade card in my teeth, I carefully extend my left foot out toward another branch while holding on to a branch above my head with both hands. The branches shake as I start to shimmy across.

  “Liz, what are you doing?” Jayson and Julien both yell at me.

  I can't really answer back seeing as I have my teeth clenched tight on the card hanging from my mouth. So I ignore them and navigate my way around the trunk before climbing onto the branch that leads to their window but stops short about a foot. I wrap my legs tightly around the branch and sit down before I take the card out of my mouth.

  Breathless I say “hi,” to two stunned faces.

  Behind me, Hailey calls my name. I tell her I’m going to visit with Jay and Julien for a bit and will come back inside later and not to tell Mom I’m out here. She will definitely freak out if she sees where I am. Dad has been gone for a few weeks with his band and won’t be home until next month. We video chat with him several times a week and I think he said they were heading to Sacramento, California next.

  Hailey’s head disappears from my bedroom window as she says she’s going to grab some cookies from the kitchen and wait for me downstairs. Hailey is the best sister. She always has my back just like I do hers. We plan to go out to our fort later and collect some fall leaves to put in a jar. It’s the beginning of November and the leaves on the trees have changed color, the forest a kaleidoscope of oranges, golds, and reds.

  “I made you guys this today at school and got everyone in class to sign it.”

  I proudly open the get-well card and show them the pictures I drew, including the one I drew of the three of us. I even got almost all of our classmates to sign the card as well. Samantha Winters refused to sign it which made me mad. We got into an argument at lunch over it today and Samantha poured her milk all over my clothes. Luckily, the teacher saw what she did and Samantha was sent to the principal’s office. Mom had to bring a spare change of clothes for me to school after the principal called her to let her know what happened. Mrs. Wright, our principal, then made Samantha apologize to me. Samantha was so not happy about that. I have a feeling that she’s going to try to get me back at some later time for it.

  “I hate that you guys are still sick. Mom won’t let me come over,” I pout.

  I lean forward as far as I can to hold out their card. Jayson leans out is window and is able to take it from me without dropping it. I want them to have it so they can see how much they are missed.

  I hear Hailey urgently whisper-shouting my name again from my window. “Lizzie! Mom wants you. You better get back inside before she comes up and finds you out there.”

  Julien blows his nose again. “Window tonight before bed?” he asks.

  The twins share a room together and have the coolest bunk bed. It has a bookcase and desk under the top bunk next to the bottom bed. We usually drape a sheet over the top bunk’s railing to close the space off and then watch movies on my tablet while sitting on pillows piled along the floor.

  Jayson, Julien, and I always say goodnight to each other every evening through our windows, just like that first night after we met two years ago. I’ve started to sing to them at night since I can play the guitar much better now, and they seem to like it. Maybe I can try and bring it with me the next time I climb out onto the tree. Daddy has me keeping up my guitar lessons and we practice together during our video chats. I like how we can still sing to each other over video even though we are hundreds of miles apart.

  Hailey anxiously calls my name again.

  “I got to go,” I tell the boys. “See you later tonight.”

  With that, I swing across the tree limbs, back to my bedroom window where Hailey waits for me.

  The next morning as I take my place on the reading rug in our classroom, I daydream about last night. When I went to my window to say goodnight to the twins, stars and a moon made out of construc
tion paper were taped outside my window, and each star had a letter written on it that spelled out “princess”. I saw the branch outside of my window move and that was when I noticed two brown-headed boys smiling at me through the glass, both balancing on top of the sturdy oak branch. Startled, I jumped back before I regained my wits and opened the window for them. I held out my hands to help as Jayson climbed through first, then Julien.

  “What in the world?”

  I stepped back so they could both stand up. “How were you able to put those stars up on the window? They’re beautiful.”

  “We got bored being stuck inside so thought that if our parents wouldn’t let you come over, we would come to you.”

  Jayson helped me pull Julien over the windowsill, but Julien accidentally knocked over my small ladybug nightlight lamp from my bedside table. Jayson picked it up and placed it back where it belonged. Julien made an umph sound when his legs landed on the floor.

  Hailey must have heard the noise because she came through the bathroom and her jaw dropped open. “Mom is going to be so mad at you if she comes in here.”

  I really doubted it. Mom usually left us alone to settle down and sleep once she kissed us goodnight.

  “Love you Hales, but scram,” I said to her.

  “Your funeral,” she said and retreated back to her room.

  The boys and I snuggled down together on my bed. Julien still had a stuffy nose, but they sounded and looked much better than they did earlier that day. Jayson doubled a pillow over and laid on his stomach beside me, propping his head up on top of his folded arms. I reclined back against my headboard and Julien sat next to me before laying his head on my lap. I knew he must be tired from being sick, so I started to rub his head by sliding my fingers through his thick, soft brown hair.

  “Would you rather... ” Jayson began. We loved playing this game.

  Jayson continued. “Would you rather eat a bowl full of maggots or three spiders?”

  “So gross!” I threw my stuffed dog at him.

  “I’d eat the spiders because they’re small and there’s only three of them. I don’t think I could eat an entire bowl of wriggly maggots,” Julien stated after considering the question seriously.

  “Still gross,” I said pretending to fake vomit, “but I see your point. I agree. Ok. My turn. Hmm.” I spent a second thinking and then it hit me. “Would you rather... kiss a girl or kiss a toad?”

  Jayson slid his eyes to Julien as Julien tilted his head up at me. Jayson then looked at me and said, “We’d kiss the girl but only if she were you.”

  I knew I was only nine years old, but after first grade when Jayson, Julien, and I became the best of friends, I discovered that boys were not as icky as I once thought they were. I also saw Samantha kissing boys all the time behind the jungle gym on the playground at recess and it made me start thinking about whether I wanted to kiss a boy. Or have a boy kiss me. My mom and dad kissed all the time. Mom said that people kissed when they really liked each other. Samantha must have really liked a whole bunch of boys then.

  I liked Jayson and Julien and they were boys. Would I want a boy to kiss me? I don’t think I would. But then I would see Julien racing across the playground after Jayson, or I would think about the color of their eyes that had always fascinated me, and I would change my mind. Yes. Yes, I did want to kiss a boy. Well, two boys. And yes, I wanted them to kiss me back. I actually talked to Hailey about it one night. She still thought boys were super gross and that I should keep my feelings a secret. Most boys in my class thought girls had cooties, and I’m afraid if I tried to kiss Jayson or Julien, they would stop being my friends.

  Hearing Jayson say what he just said made my tummy feel like worms were crawling all in it. Before I could say anything back, Hailey came back into my bedroom and told the twins it was time for them to skedaddle back home before we all got caught and got in big, big trouble.

  Before getting off my bed, Julien pecked my cheek quickly, followed by Jayson, and they both climbed out of my window.

  Jayson poked his head back in. “Samantha tried to kiss us on the playground but we told her no.” Then he smiled at me and pulled his head back out.

  Seconds later, I heard their voices from the darkness say, “Good night, princess.”

  I touched my cheek where they kissed it and it was Hailey’s turn to make fake vomit sounds.

  Coming out of my daydream, I pick at some fluff on the reading rug while waiting for class to begin. It's day three of no Jayson or Julien at school. The rest of the kids arrive to class and sit down as well. Samantha and Jacinda Blanchard, her best friend, start giggling and talking about some boy they saw in the hallway. I hear them snicker about how his clothes look dirty and he must be poor. I really hate when they talk about people behind their backs. My mom says it’s bad to gossip about others, and I have to agree. So I just ignore them and start talking to Maria who's sitting next to me.

  Our teacher, Ms. Pauling, steps into the classroom, her hand resting atop the shoulder of a dark-haired boy. His head hangs down looking at the ground like he’s nervous to be in here. He’s wearing a light blue long-sleeved button-up shirt and jeans. I do notice that he has some brownish-black stains on the front of his shirt. Samantha and Jacinda start to giggle loudly and the boy’s head snaps up, a scowl on his face. He knows they are laughing at him.

  “One, two, three, eyes on me,” our teacher chants the familiar words she uses to get our attention and our focus.

  “One and two, eyes on you,” we all repeat back to her.

  “Good morning class. I would like to introduce our new classmate, Ryder Cutton. Ryder is from Virginia and will be joining us for the rest of the school year.”

  Choruses or “Hi, Ryder,” and “Welcome, Ryder,” sing out from our reading rug.

  “Since it’s November and Ryder has not been here for the past three months, who would like to be his class buddy? As class buddy, you will help show him our class policies, lunchroom procedures, where the bathrooms and water fountains are located, and help introduce him to all of the other students at recess. Any volunteers?" Ms. Pauling looks at us expectantly.

  I immediately raise my hand. “I can be his class buddy Ms. Pauling.”

  “Excellent, Elizabeth. Thank you.”

  She instructs Ryder to sit next to me on the reading rug. I try to scooch over to make room for him but Jacinda and Samantha refuse to move. Ms. Pauling doesn’t notice because she has turned around to get the box of our assigned reading books.

  “Please move over and make room for Ryder,” I tell Jacinda.

  She ignores me, and she and Samantha continue to giggle and point at Ryder’s stained shirt. Ryder frowns at them but doesn’t say a word.

  I huff out an annoyed breath and decide to take matters into my own hands while Ms. Pauling’s back is still turned. I swivel around towards the girls, bend my legs, and then push them out like a plow, forcing Jacinda and Samantha to slide across the rug.

  Before they even get a chance to say, “Ow!” I grab Ryder’s hand and pull him down next to me in the empty space I cleared for him. The half-smirk he gives me tells me that he appreciates what I just did for him, and he sits down cross-legged next to me. Ryder has really pretty eyes. They’re this light color of brown. They remind me of sunsets in the autumn when the sun sinks behind the forests in our backyard making the red, orange, and yellow leaves glow.

  Ms. Pauling turns around after hearing Jacinda’s loud “Ow!” “Is there something wrong Jacinda?” she asks in her stern teacher voice that says she won’t be happy if she finds any of us messing around on the rug and not sitting quietly.

  “No ma’am,” Jacinda replies, and when Ms. Pauling turns her back once again, Samantha sticks her tongue out at me.

  Our assigned reading books get passed out to us.

  “Ryder, until you take the reading test so I can assess your reading Lexile level, why don’t you and Elizabeth go to the school library so you can pick out a book to
bring back to class. I will let Mrs. Heard know you are coming.”

  Mrs. Pauling looks at me, “Elizabeth, as class buddy, you can show Ryder where the bathrooms and fountains are on the way.” She points to the clock hanging on the wall. “Please be back in thirty minutes, no later.”

  “Yes, Ms. Pauling. Come on, Ryder.”

  We get up and I take the hall pass Ms. Pauling holds out to me. Our school isn’t very big since our town is on the outskirts of Raleigh, North Carolina. We are close enough to Raleigh so the drive isn’t that long to get into the city to shop or go to museums and parks, but it’s far enough out to be considered country.

  “I’m sorry that Samantha and Jacinda were so mean to you.”

  Ryder shrugs, so I keep talking, pointing out stuff to him along the way to the library.

  “That’s the boy’s restroom and the water fountain. At the end of the hall is the cafeteria and gymnasium. We usually go outside to play but when it rains, we play in the gym.”

  Ryder continues to silently walk beside me. At the end of the hallway, I pull open a heavy glass door and gesture Ryder to enter.

  “This is the library. It’s my favorite place.”

  Seeing Mrs. Heard sitting at the curved librarian's desk in the middle of the large room, I wave. “Hi, Mrs. Heard!”

  “Hey, sweetheart. Ms. Pauling said you were coming. It’s nice to meet you Ryder. Let me know if you need any help finding a book. We’ll get a chance to talk more during library time on Friday.”

  She lets us browse the shelves by ourselves and goes back to typing on the computer at her desk. Ryder is still being quiet, looking around at the books on the shelves while watching me at the same time.

  “So what do you like to read?” I ask him.

  He shoves his hands inside the pockets of his jeans and shrugs his shoulders again. I decide to try a new tactic. I grab a My Little Pony picture book from the shelf and hand it to him.

  “I'm sure you must like magical horses. Who doesn’t like talking rainbow unicorns?”