Every single day we told Elizabeth the stories of her loved ones. We told their stories to keep them alive forever, and it warmed my heart knowing that Elizabeth understood that even though people passed away, they were never truly gone—not as long as we held them close to our hearts. That night, our loved ones were close to us. I could feel them in the wind. I could feel their love and protection every time I looked up toward the sky.
That night we sat beneath the sky, and the stars all shined so bright.
First Dance
Kennedy
Twelve years old
Year two of summer camp
“What do you want to be when you grow up, Jax?” I asked as we sat on the dock looking out at the water. We’d been skipping rocks until we ran out of rocks to skip, so now we were sitting on the dock being bored as ever. It was one of the slower days at camp, where there wasn’t much to do. At least I had Jax to do nothing with, that always made it better.
Plus, I did run off to steal some popsicles from the dining hall, so we had those to enjoy.
The sky was full of clouds, and I knew a storm was coming soon. I was so excited for it, too. I loved when it rained. Jax wasn’t a big fan of storms, but I always told him they’d grow on him.
“I don’t know. I don’t really think about the future like that,” he replied, licking his popsicle. “What do you want to be?”
“I think I want to write books and I want to use all the big words that you taught me. I want my books to be so big and so good that they make people happy when they finish them. I want people to be so excited with the idea of waiting for another book from me. And, and, and each book will have a word you taught me, so it’s like you’re always a part of the books, too.”
For a second, I thought he was going to laugh at me and call my dream stupid, but he just did his Jax thing. He stayed calm as he licked his popsicle fast enough, so it never made his hands messy. Then, he said, “I’ll read every book five million times.”
I smiled.
“Hey, Jax?”
“Yes, Kennedy?”
“Will we still be friends in the future?”
“Friends forever,” he replied.
“And ever.”
He rested his free hand on the dock, and I rested mine right there beside him. His pinky brushed against mine, and I felt it in my heart.
I loved Jax Kilter, and someday, I hoped, he’d love me, too.
But that didn’t matter to me too much that night. We were still kids. We had all of forever to fall in love with each other. It didn’t have to happen that night. That night, all we had to do was sit on the dock and wait for the rain to come.
When the rain began to fall, I stood on the dock and began my wild dance moves. I jumped and wiggled and twisted and turned. I couldn’t believe what happened next.
For the first time since I’d met him, Jax danced with me, too.