Sudden Hope Read online

  “Nah, Bro. Just leave Skylar alone.” I pause. “Seriously.”

  “Okay,” he says, but he has this stupid grin on his face. I’ve known him long enough to know that he’s going to try talking to her.

  “Are you really just going to stay in and sulk for the rest of the day?” he asks.

  I sigh. “Pretty much.”

  He gets up and heads over to the door.

  “Kyle?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m serious. Please leave her alone.”

  He nods once before leaving.

  I actually go over to the window and watch him leave to make sure he doesn’t go next door. Once he’s gone, I go up to my room, lie down, and close my eyes.

  I keep hoping to hear her sing, but there is nothing but silence.

  CHAPTER TEN

  I jump awake when I hear a loud noise. I look out the window toward the street and don’t see anything. I glance at my phone and realize it’s already ten at night. My stomach, growling, reminds me that I missed dinner. Then I hear another noise and look toward Skylar’s house. I see a ladder on the side of her house and look up to find Skylar lying on top of the roof.

  “Are you insane?” I yell through my window.

  She sits up and stares at me.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Trying to have a moment to myself.”

  “Can’t you do that from a safe place, like hmmm the ground?”

  She ignores me and lies back down.

  Argh. “Can I talk to you?” I ask.

  She sits back up with an amused look on her face.

  “Sure,” she says. “Come on up,” she grins before laying back down.

  I step away from the window and shake my head, knowing by her grin that she remembers that I’m terrified of heights.

  I pace back and forth in my room for a while trying to decide what to do. She didn’t say no, although she doesn’t think I’m really going up there… but this might be my only chance to really talk to her.

  I take a deep breath, put on my tennis shoes, and go to her house.

  I stop at the bottom of the ladder. My hands are sweaty and trembling. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I then open my eyes again and look up. My heart starts racing when my hands touch the cool metal on the ladder.

  I shake my head and think to myself, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this.’

  I start to climb up, not once looking down. When I get to the top, I look at her, and I can’t make myself let go of the ladder to get on the roof.

  “Alec! What are you doing? I thought you were afraid—”

  “Oh, I am! Terrified is actually more like it,” I say. “In fact, I can’t seem to move right now.”

  She bursts out laughing.

  “This is really not funny, Sky.”

  Her laughter vanishes as soon as I say the nickname I had for her when we were little. I realize that I hadn’t said it in so long… I missed it actually.

  “What do you want to talk about?” she asks.

  “Can you come down?” I ask in a pleading tone.

  I know by her expression she’s about to say no, but changes her mind. I’m pretty sure I look as terrified as I feel.

  “Fine. Let’s go,” she says.

  She starts to move toward the ladder, but I can’t move anywhere; in fact, the trembling gets worse.

  “I don’t know if I can—”

  “Look at me,” she says, and I look into her bright blue eyes. “Focus on me and don’t look down, okay?”

  I feel an urge to look down as soon as she says that.

  “Don’t!” she says. “Just focus on me and take one step at a time.”

  I nod and do as she says. About halfway down, I move at a faster speed, and when my feet hit the ground, I feel like my legs are about to give out on me.

  As I regroup myself, I watch her come down like this is nothing.

  “What is it?” she asks as she turns to face me.

  “Do you still have the playground in the backyard?” I ask. I know she does, but feel like I need to ask anyway.

  She nods.

  “Can we talk over there?”

  She sighs. “Let’s go.”

  She heads over for the swing and sits down. I sit on the one next to her. I watch her swing a few times before I get the nerves to say what I have to… what I want to say.

  “I want to apologize.”

  “What for?” she asks.

  “You know… about what I said when we were little--about not wanting to be friends anymore. I have always wanted to apologize; but something always got in the way when I tried.”

  “Like what?” she says with nothing but doubt in her eyes.

  I hate blaming stuff on when I was sick, but it’s the truth and I don’t want to do this by lying to her.

  “Like me getting sick.”

  She goes silent for a while.

  “It’s okay,” she says in a low tone. “You didn’t really need to apologize.”

  “Yes, I did.” I pause. “I have always regretted being so stupid to let my best friend get away from me. I hated myself for hurting your feelings just because someone was making fun of me for having a girlfriend.”

  She looks down. “That was the reason you didn’t want to be friends anymore?”

  I’m embarrassed to even admit to that. “Yes, but please remember how old I was. I didn’t know any better.”

  “Why are you telling me all of this now, Alec?”

  “I can’t answer that. I tried to tell you before, but maybe now is just the right time.”

  “That is a pretty cheesy line,” she says.

  “That’s all I got,” I pause and look away for a split second before I look back at her. “Sky,” I say and she stops swinging and stares into my eyes. It’s like she’s shocked every time she hears me call her that. “I want to start over.”

  “Start what over?” she asks.

  “Being friends.”

  “Alec, I don’t know—”

  “Please,” I beg. “Just give me a chance.”

  She starts swinging again.

  “We can’t just wake up tomorrow and be best friends all over again. Things don’t work that way.”

  “I know, but we’ll get there.”

  “You seem pretty confident,” she laughs.

  I smile at her and hop-off the swing.

  “Can I give you a ride to school tomorrow?”

  “I—hmm”

  “Please.”

  “Alec, I don’t think we even have anything in common anymore. Your friends and I belong in two different worlds.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not like most of them. Just let me prove it to you.”

  She sighs. “Sure.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SKYLAR

  I wake up missing Kristi so much it hurts. Talking to Alec the night before distracted me a little, but after, I wished Kristi was around so I could talk to her about this insane idea that Alec and I can be friends again.

  “Honey, are you ready for school?” Mom yells from the kitchen

  I run down the stairs.

  “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  “Okay,” she grabs her keys.

  “Actually, hmm… Alec is giving me a ride.”

  She looks confused for a second. “Alec from next door?”

  “Yes.”

  She starts to smile, “Okay.”

  I grab a breakfast bar.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks.

  “There is nothing to talk about, Mom. He wants to try and be friends again. I know it won’t work, but I agreed because I know he won’t leave it alone until he sees it for himself.”

  “Why do you think it won’t work?”

  I shrug.

  I know what time he usually leaves because I always hear his truck, so I try to hurry out. “You wouldn’t understand. I have to go, Mom. Love you.”

  I start to head outside.

  “I l
ove you too,” she yells after me.

  I find Alec almost to my doorsteps.

  “Are you ready?” he asks.

  I nod. Truth is, I’m not. I’m definitely not ready to deal with his friends wondering why we rode to school together.

  I get in the truck and text Mike.

  ‘Are you going to school today?’

  ‘No, but I’ll be there on Monday. I can pick you up from school today to take you home though.’

  ‘No, it’s okay. I’ll see you Monday.’

  “Actually, I can come over this weekend and hang out, if that is okay. Mom has been bugging me to get out of the house.”

  “Ok”

  I put the phone down and look up toward the road.

  “Is everything okay?” Alec asks without taking his focus off the road.

  “Yeah. Everything is good.”

  We get to school early and he parks close to the back entrance.

  I tense and he notices it.

  “What’s on your mind, Sky?” he asks. Every time he calls me Sky, it takes me back to the days when we used to play together.

  “I’m not ready to deal with any crap from your friends. Do you mind if we go our separate ways from here?”

  He looks unsure of what to say. He seems like he wants to say that he does mind, but he finally says, “If that is what you really want. I really don’t care what they think. Who I’m friends with is none of their business.”

  “I know. I just don’t want to deal with the drama.”

  “Okay.”

  His friend Kyle pulls up, parking right next to his truck.

  He looks at Kyle and then back at me. “He’s cool.”

  “I know,” I get out of the truck before any of his other friends get to school.

  ALEC

  I hate that she feels she needs to hide our friendship, but I give her space. The last thing I want to do is push her away, especially considering that I didn’t think she would ever give me a second chance.

  I get out of the truck and Kyle is standing by the door, waiting on me.

  “I see that you talked to her,” Kyle mentions.

  “I knew you would if I didn’t,” I say jokingly.

  “I was just trying to push you to talk to her.”

  “Just friends, Kyle...”

  “Ah. So I can still talk to her then?”

  “Dude. No.”

  He laughs and we go in.

  The first part of the day goes by fast. I don’t have any classes with Sky, but we have the same lunch schedule.

  Kyle and I sit at our usual table in the cafeteria and the rest of our usual group joins us.

  Mandy and Lizzie are talking amongst themselves, laughing about whatever they are talking about.

  That is when I see Sky get out of the lunch line and sit down to eat… alone.

  I feel the urge to go and sit with her, but I don’t want to put her on the spot like that. That is when I hear Mandy and Lizzie laugh.

  “I mean, come on,” say Lizzie, “I get that she’s sad about her friend and all, but she should at least throw some make-up on to hide those dark circles under her eyes.”

  I’m about to say something to them when I hear Kyle clear his throat.

  He reaches for his tray. “Come on, Bro.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going exactly where you want to go,” he grins.

  He stands up and walks toward Sky. I quickly stand up and follow him.

  I can’t see Mandy and Lizzie’s reactions and I really don’t care.

  Sky looks shocked when we reach her table.

  “Do you mind if we sit here?” asks Kyle.

  She looks from him to me. “No. It’s okay.”

  Kyle sits next to her and I end up sitting directly across from her.

  “What are you doing this weekend?” Kyle asks.

  I kick him under the table.

  “Dude!” he says.

  “What?” I ask like nothing happened.

  She shrugs. “Probably just going to hang out with Mike.”

  Mike… I suddenly find myself jealous of their friendship. This should’ve been me.

  “What do you guys usually do?” I ask.

  She takes a sip of her drink and puts it down. “Either watch movies or play video games.”

  “What kind of movies are you into?” asks Kyle, and I give him a warning look. I don’t know why he’s asking, but he better not have any ulterior motives.

  “Horror movies mostly.”

  I smile at her. ‘Nice answer,’ I think to myself.

  “So no romance junk?” asks Kyle.

  She laughs. “Definitely not. Kristi hates--” Her laugh turns into a frown and she looks down. “--She hated those movies.”

  We all eat in silence for a while. Suddenly, she looks over my shoulder and seems tense.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “I feel like Lizzie and Mandy are going to burn a hole through me if they keep staring like this.”

  “Don’t worry about them,” says Kyle. “They are not worth your time.” He looks at his watch. “I have to talk to coach before class. I’ll see you guys around.”

  He grins at me before leaving.

  We fall into an uncomfortable silence for a while.

  “Are you going to play this season?” she asks, catching me off-guard.

  “No. I’m not playing anymore. Well, maybe for fun, but not on the school’s team.”

  “Why is that?” she asks.

  “I would rather not talk about it right now. Maybe we can talk about it later.”

  “Okay,” she says.

  “Do you need a ride home today?”

  She looks away.

  “You live next door. It’s really no big deal.”

  “Okay,” she agrees.

  A few minutes before the bell rings, she says she has to go, and walks away before I can say anything else. I get the feeling she didn’t want to walk out of the cafeteria with me, or take the chance of me walking her to class.

  One of the guys from the baseball team comes over once she leaves to talk about their last practice.

  After lunch, Lizzie is waiting for me by my locker.

  “What was that?” she asks.

  “What was what?”

  “You and Kyle sitting with that—”

  “She has a name. It’s Skylar, and she is our friend.”

  She laughs. “Since when?”

  “Look, I have to get to class. If this is all you wanted to talk about—”

  She interrupts me. “Actually, a friend was asking me if you already have a date to prom.”

  I know there was no friend asking. She’s the one who wants to know and she wants to hint at me asking her again. “No, I don’t. I’m going alone.”

  “Is this about that no-dating silliness again?” she laughs as she brushes her hand against my upper arm.

  “It is actually. Look, I’m really not trying to be mean here. You’re beautiful and you have guys lining up to ask you to go. Say yes to one of them.”

  “You think I’m beautiful?” Of course that’s all she heard. “Yes, but I’m still not going to bend my rule. If I go to prom, I’m going alone.”

  She sighs. “Okay. Will you at least dance with me?”

  I shrug. “Sure.”

  She smiles from ear to ear and gets closer to me. She gives me a kiss on the cheek before she goes to class.

  I shake my head, grab my books from my locker, and go to class before I’m late.

  After my last class, I go back to my locker where there is a note from Sky saying that she didn’t need a ride anymore.

  I want to text her to ask if she is sure, but realize I don’t have her number.

  I get in my truck and drive straight home. I walk over to her house but no one is home, so I go over to Kyle’s where I spend the rest of the day.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Saturday afternoon, I look out the back window and see Sky
and Mike in her backyard, on the swings. They look like they’re in deep conversation.

  I go around the front and then to her backyard.

  She looks over and cocks her head to the side once she spots me.

  “Do you mind if I hang out?” I ask.

  Her friend Mike gives me a confused look, which is expected. I try to make small talk.

  “Mike, right?” I ask.

  He nods.

  “I’m Alec,” I extend my hand and am left hanging, so I finally lower it.

  “So, what are you doing today?” I ask Sky.

  She glances over at Mike and I follow her gaze. He actually looks pretty bad, like he has lost some weight and he has dark circles under his eyes. I suddenly feel bad for interrupting whatever they were talking about.

  “Should I go?” I ask her.

  She nods. “Yeah. I think it’s best if you do.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”

  She gives me a sad smile and I walk away.

  SKYLAR

  “What just happened?” asks Mike.

  I sigh. “Long story.”

  “I have time and it might be good to talk about something else for a bit. I can’t get Kristi out of my head for one second. That is all I think about. All I see. I just can’t--”

  Tears well up in my eyes. “I know,” I take a deep breath. “Alec and I used to be friends in elementary school,” I say.

  “Hmm okay. That was forever ago,” says Mike.

  “We had a misunderstanding and stopped talking. He apologized the other day and asked me to give him another chance.”

  Mike raises an eyebrow. “And what did you say?”

  I tried to tell him it’s been years. We are different people now… but he’s very persistent. It’s a little difficult to avoid him when he lives next door.”

  “I’m sorry, but I have a bad feeling about this.”

  I shrug. “He’ll get bored sooner or later and go his own away. Like I tried to tell him, we are different people now. We have nothing in common.”

  Mike sighs. “So why did you stop talking anyway?”

  I laugh. “It’s actually pretty stupid.”

  Mike stares at me and I know he won’t give up.

  “I had just started to go to his school and his friends were making fun of him by saying that I was his girlfriend. So he said we couldn’t be friends anymore.” I shrug. “Silly kid stuff, I guess.”