Chapter 2

   *A few days later*  Ash and I started hanging out more. We are walking to a place where he likes to hang out and I’m blindfolded. I lost count of how many trees I've run into. “Almost there.” That's the fifth time he's said that.

   “We’re here.” he lets go of my arm and I take my blindfold off. I look in amazement at the waterfall in front of me. “It's beautiful” is all I can say. I watch as Ash walks over to an open space of grass and lays down staring at the night sky. He points up.

   “Look at the stars with me, they’re pretty,” he says and I walk over and lay down next to him. He was right, the stars are pretty. I can’t believe I've never stopped to look at the night sky before. We lay there for a while and when I look over at him he's asleep. I let out a little laugh and sat up brushing my black bangs with blue streaks out of my eyes. My dad was pissed when I dyed my hair, I didn’t care much and I like how it looks so oh well. I smiled at him and ran a hand through his hair causing him to wake up.

   “Uh sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” I say, putting my hands up like you do when someone aims a gun. Ash laughs a little.

   “It's fine.” he rubs his eyes and I can’t help but think how adorable he is. He leans up and I notice the hair clips in his hair-two stars and a moon-

  “Why is there a moon, a moon isn’t a star,” I pointed at his hair clips. He laughs and points at the sky.

  “Well, I think the moon is actually the biggest star at night. Stars light up the sky and so does the moon, granted stars are gas and the moon is kinda just a giant rock but the way the sun reflects it makes it look like a star so in my book, it’s the biggest brightest star at night,” he keeps looking up with a smile.

  “But the smaller stars are still my favorite.” he stands up and takes off his jacket, the first thing I notice is his arms...and the scars covering them. He takes a look at his watch and then reaches into his jacket pocket, grabs a small hand water gun and fills it at the waterfall. I instantly stand up but am too slow. He started spraying me and I started running. I back up against a tree and he blocks me spraying me with the gun.

   “Hah you have nowhere else to run.” he gives his sunshine smile but this time it's jokingly evil which I thought was impossible. How could I be scared of a short, adorable thing like him? I get an idea and give him an evil smile which makes him stop smiling and I tackle him to the grass. We both laugh and I take the water gun spraying him with it. He uses his arms to cover his face while still laughing.

   I stop spraying him and he gets up. “Hey uh Waylen, can you promise me something,” his smile is sad now.

   “Yeah, sure what is it,” as I say that he looks down at his feet.

   “Promise me you’ll never forget me,” he looked up at me and I stared at him shocked but I gave him a comforting smile and grabbed his arm, and pointed at his scars.

   “Only if you promise me you won’t ever do this again.” he looks down at his arm and back at me with a nod.

   “I promise,” we shake hands and he grabs his jacket and puts it back on and we start walking back to our houses. I follow behind him since I don’t know the way. Ash suddenly stops walking and yells.

   “DAMN IT!!” The sudden yell makes me jump.

   “What? Also, language, cursing doesn’t suit your demeanor”

   “I HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW SUMMER IS OVER!! And I’ll say what I want” I start laughing.

   “So do I, and I’m pretty sure we’re gonna go to the same school.” he looks up at me and smiles. I have a feeling he's keeping something from me but I don’t quite know what. We finally get to the edge of the woods and I see my house, we both start running but Ash trips over an overgrown root and falls. I help him up and look down at his hand. Blood drips from it. I reach into my pocket and grab my checker bandana and wrap his hand.

   “You didn’t have to do that,” he says with a small smile.

  “Nah, it's fine.” We both look at the houses and start running again. I open the door to my house and my dad is standing right there looking at me.

   “Where have you been?” He looks out the window and sees Ash run into his house.

   “Already made a friend?” he looks back at me.

   “Uh yeah I have, his name is Ash.” he gives me a glare and then walks off. I run down the hall to my room and look through the window. I don’t see Ash but I see a note in a star pattern envelope on my window sill.

Dear, checker boy, yes, you have a nickname now, 

Please make sure to keep your promise, I don’t have any friends at school

All the other students are against me, you’ll see what I mean by that tomorrow and I don’t care if you hang out with them just please don’t forget That I’m your friend too. I’m not ready to tell you all my secrets but this is a good start.

Your friend,

Ash

P.S I had a lot of fun today

   I smile a little at the note and then look at his window. I see him standing there smiling. I nod and we both close our windows but leave our curtains open. I put the note in my nightstand drawer and went to bed still having a smile stained on my face.