The Prelude of Ella and Micha (The Secret 0.5)

He considers what I’ve said then, with a sigh, he climbs off me. “Oh, fine. You win.”

“I always win,” I say, shooting him a cocky grin.

“Well, if you’re going to act that way.” He dives back on me and starts tickling me until I drop the sketchbook.

“You are the meanest boy ever!” I laugh so hard tears stream down my cheeks.

He grins as he releases me and backs up off the bed. The smile slips from his face as he catches sight of my sketchbook and the drawing I was trying to hide from him. His expression is unreadable—confused and kind of … flattered?

“You’re drawing me?” He looks at me with curiosity written all over his face.

My cheeks erupt with heat as I flop back on the bed and stare up at the Chevelle poster on my ceiling. “I was bored, okay? The art class projects are too cliché, and I needed to work on improving my life drawings.” Liar, liar.

I wait for him to call me out because he knows me well enough that he can.

He leans over and picks the sketchbook up off the floor. “You want to go to the park with me and hang out for a bit?” he asks as he tosses the book onto my dresser.

I prop up on my elbows and arch my eyebrows at him. “What? No snarky remarks about how my drawing means I’m secretly in love with you? Or that I think you’re so dreamy?” I make a joking swoony face then gag.

He snorts a laugh then waves me off. “Nah, I don’t need to repeat something we both already know.” When I pinch his arm, he laughs. “Come on. Come to the park with me.” He pouts out his lip. “Pretty please. It’ll be fun.”

I roll my eyes but easily give in, knowing he’ll keep looking at me like that until I do. Besides, I’m never one to pass up the opportunity to get out of the house.

“Fine,” I surrender, sitting up. “But only because I have nothing better to do.”

Grinning like a goof, he offers me his hand and hauls me to my feet. He doesn’t let go, slipping his fingers through mine as he leads me out of my room and down the stairs.

The holding hands gesture is nothing new. Ever since we became best friends ten years ago, he usually either has his arm around me, is holding my hand, tickling me, or touching my hair. Sometimes, I think he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. Renee, this girl that I sometimes hang out with, thinks it’s because Micha has a crush on me and is secretly in love with me. I laugh whenever she tells me this because Micha isn’t in love with me, at least, not like the way she means it. He’s already kissed like three girls, and I don’t see him ever trying to kiss me. Well, except for maybe on the cheek.

“So how bad did Diana look after the fight?” Micha asks after we’ve exited my house and entered the neighborhood we’ve both grown up in. “I’m guessing you got her pretty good.”

“Of course I did,” I reply as we start up the sidewalk lined with rundown homes. It’s late afternoon and most of the area appears like it’s sleeping. But that’s typical for Star Grove. Around ten is when the yards and houses will be flooding with loud noises of parties taking place. “Both her eyes were swollen.”

He smiles then leans over and gives me a quick kiss on the head. Then we continue our journey down the sidewalk in comfortable silence. When we arrive at the desolate playground, we hike across the dry grass to the rusty swing set in the middle. We each sit down in our own seat and then run back and pump our legs, swinging high toward the tip of the nearby trees.

“Do you ever wonder what life would be like on the other side of the mountains?” I ask as I stare at the rolling hills that encompass the town.

“Of course I do.” He kicks his legs, ascending higher as he tips his head back toward the grey sky.

“Do you think we’ll ever get to find out?” I grasp the chains as I soar. “Do you ever think we’ll get out of here?”

“Of course we will,” he says. “There’s no way we can stay here in this stupid town forever.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to leave my mother behind,” I mutter. “I mean, who will take care of her if I’m not around? My dad’s not capable of doing so, and Dean’s not ever going to.” Dean is my older brother who is probably home about twice a week, only coming back to change his clothes. I have no idea where he stays during the rest of the week.

“So what? They can figure that out.” Micha’s jaw is set tight, and his blue eyes burn fiercely. “You’re not staying here. You’re leaving with me.”

“We’ll see,” I sigh. “At eighteen, we might not even be friends anymore. I’ve heard high school is rough.”

He’s silent for a while, contemplating what I’ve said. It’s not like I really believe high school will ruin our friendship. I just don’t believe I’ll ever be able to leave Star Grove. It’s just hope, and I’ve hoped for a lot of things I’ve never gotten.

Micha abruptly plants his feet into the dirt below us and skids to a halt. Without uttering a word, he reaches over and grabs the chain of my swing, causing me to jerk to a stop, spin around, and crash straight into him.

“Holy crap,” I say breathlessly as I clutch onto the chains. “What the heck did you do that for?”

“Because I want you to understand something,” he says intensely. “You and I are going to leave this town. Together.” He pauses when I stare at him with doubt. Then he thoughtfully adds, “In fact, we’re going to make a pact on it. Right here. Right now.”

“Haven’t we made a ton of those already?”

“So what’s one more?”

“Good point.” Still, I’m a pessimist when it comes to ever escaping this town. Most people born and raised here never leave. But I’ll try anything to boost the odds from not being a statistic. Plus, the future he’s proposed doesn’t sound all that bad. In fact, it sounds nice. “All right, let’s make a pact.”

He grins then spits into his palm before extending his hand toward me. “Ready?”

“You know, we really need to come up with a less disgusting way to make these pacts.” But I still spit into my palm and place my hand in his.

“So who’s going to say it this time?” he asks. “You or me?”

“I’ll do the honors.” I consider my word choice. “Okay, so here’s the deal. As soon as we turn eighteen, we rummage all our money together and get the hell out of here. No questions asked.”