Chapter 2

There was a knock at exactly 10 am. Charlotte knew Jessica wanted to go to the park and practice. She was strict when it came to timing. She was a bit of a perfectionist, actually. Charlotte grabbed her bag and headed for the back door. She waved to her mother in the kitchen and headed outside. It wasn’t Jessica who greeted her. She stood face to face with James. He smiled brightly.

“Hey.” He greeted shyly. Charlotte nodded.

“Hi.” She greeted. They were both quiet for a minute. He started rocking on his feet and stuck his hand in his pocket. He took it out and held a piece of paper in her direction.

“I have to go home, but, if you want to stay in touch, call me.” He directed. Charlotte smiled.

“I will.” She assured. James nodded and awkwardly sped away from the house. Jessica and Kim were standing in the yard, looking confused.

“No way!” They screeched in unison. Jessica grabbed her wrist and took the piece of paper.

“What is it?” Kim asked excitedly. Jessica passed it to her.

“His number.” She answered, sounding defeated. The reality must have hit her that it meant she had to follow through on her end of the dare. Charlotte grabbed the note back from Kim and looked at his phone number. He drew a little heart underneath the number. Charlotte smiled as she folded it up and slid it into her pocket. Kim was laughing as she started walking alongside them.

“So you told him?” Jessica asked flatly. Kim lightly slapped her shoulder. Charlotte shook her head.

“Um, no, I actually didn’t.” She mumbled. Jessica stopped walking.

“What?” She squeaked. Charlotte shrugged.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized. Jessica dropped her head back and let out a loud groan.

“Well, either way, that means you have to tell Kevin.” Kim cooed. Charlotte kept quiet. Jessica nodded.

“I know.” She agreed. She started walking again, dragging her feet in exaggeration. They walked along the sidewalk towards the park across the street. The light seemed to take forever. When it finally changed, Jessica bolted across the road and Kim followed. Charlotte was distracted. Jessica turned around and started shouting her name. She shook her head and followed along behind her friends. There were a few other kids at the park, but they were younger and keeping to themselves. Charlotte threw her bag on the ground and dropped down beside it. She pulled her notebook out of the bag and tossed it on the ground. There was a list of songs on the open page. Jessica grabbed it, nodding along.

“I think you can take this one off.” She noted, pointing to one of the songs. Charlotte handed her a pen, and Jessica scribbled over the writing. She handed the notebook back to Charlotte. She handed it to Kim.

“I like it both ways.” She answered loosely. Charlotte laughed. Kim was always the neutral one.

“She’s right though. We’re not getting the footing with this one.” Charlotte complained. Kim nodded.

“That’s true.” She agreed. She hopped onto the swing set and began swinging back and fourth. Charlotte watched her for a minute. Jessica let out a deep sigh.

“Are you going to call Kevin tonight?” She asked. Jessica shrugged.

“I want to, but, I’m nervous. I’ve never asked someone out.” She confessed. Charlotte nodded.

“Neither have I.” She assured. Kim started laughing.

“Yeah, usually the guys are begging you to go out with them.” She teased. Charlotte shook her head.

“You make me sound,” She paused, then shook her head.

“Experienced?” Jessica offered. Kim nodded to herself.

“That works.” She agreed. Charlotte laughed.

“I’m not experienced at anything.” She argued. Jessica raised her eyebrow.

“You’ve had how many boyfriends?” She countered. Charlotte shook her head.

“I was young, those weren’t real relationships.” She defended. Jessica waved her hand in the air.

“Yeah yeah. It’s still more experience than me.” She complained. Charlotte sighed.

“Do you want me to be there, for moral support?” She asked. Jessica shook her head.

“Definitely not. I already feel like an idiot.” She groaned. Kim stopped swinging.

“If neither of us are there, how do we know you did it?” She questioned. Jessica shrugged.

“I’ll tell you our plans?” She offered. Kim nodded, then went back to swinging. Charlotte took the piece of paper out of her pocket and tucked it away in her backpack. Jessica motioned towards her.

“Are you going to call?” She pried. Charlotte nodded.

“I already said I thought he was cute.” She added. Jessica nodded.

“Great. Another Aly.” Kim groaned loudly. Charlotte laughed. She plucked a clover from the ground and threw it at Kim. She laughed as loudly as she was groaning.

“I’m kidding.” She assured. Charlotte nodded.

“I know.” She agreed. Jessica groaned again, drawing Charlotte’s attention back to her.

“For real though, don’t be like that.” She practically demanded. Charlotte nodded.

“I promise, I won’t be like that.”

Jessica called Kevin that night and they planned to go to Scary Movie 2. Kevin was more than happy to hear that Jessica was interested in him, and he knew she loved scary movies. Charlotte, on the other hand, didn’t call James right away. She wanted to, but, she was also scared. Every time she got close enough to someone to let her walls down, they would leave. She didn’t want to get hurt again. Maybe she gave her heart away too easily. Maybe that was why everyone thought she was “experienced”. In grade school, a few boys had spread rumors about her that she was still having trouble getting away from. She tried to set the record straight, but the truth never spreads the same as gossip. She was called “easy”, “overly friendly”, “reckless”. The names could go on and on. She stopped taking the name-calling seriously. She knew that getting upset was exactly what the bullies wanted. She never wanted to give them that satisfaction.

She did call James after a few days. She wanted to go and see the Legally Blonde movie. She thought it would be the perfect first-date movie, because it was a ridiculous love story. The movie was funny enough that he laughed along with some of the dialogue. Charlotte found herself watching him more than she was watching the movie. There was something, bright, about his smile. It was like the corner of his lips reached all the way to his eyes, which seemed to sparkle in the dark of the theatre. He was beautiful for a boy. She thought everything went great. He must have agreed because when they left the theatre that night, he kissed her on the cheek. It was soft, and sweet, and perfect. He stayed until her mom arrived to pick her up, then made his way back to his own area of town.

Charlotte didn’t make a big deal out of having a boyfriend. Only Jess and Kim knew about the blossoming relationship. As far as anyone else was concerned, James just wanted to hang out. A few of the neighborhood kids actually called him “gay” for hanging out with only girls. He didn’t seem to care about the name-calling. He didn’t seem to care what people thought at all. The only reason he was being reserved was that Charlotte didn’t want to be the new Aly. She wanted a friendship, more than a relationship. James seemed happy enough to be spending time with her. At first.

At first, they would go on walks around the block. She lived in a cul de sac, right around the corner from Aly. When they passed her house, they would let go of each other, waiting until they were out of sight to reach out again. They repeated this every time they went around the block. It was sweet of James to put in so much effort to be casual, especially when he wanted anything but. He was the type of boy who fell in love hard and wanted to share it with the world. That was why he was so overly affectionate with Aly. It wasn’t an overcompensation. It was the way he was. He loved love. As Charlotte got to know him better, that was one of the things she liked about him. He could be swept up in a child-like whimsy so easily. It was amazing to her. She was often called skeptical and pessimistic. Aside from her closest friends, it was hard for her to get to know other people. Her personality seemed to be an acquired taste that most people didn’t have. She was pleasantly surprised that James enjoyed spending so much time with her.

As the weeks rolled by, they stopped trying to hide the relationship. Charlotte wasn’t flaunting it either, by any means. But if directly asked, they would say they were dating. Officially. Charlotte was over the moon about the relationship. She just downplayed it for the sake of everyone around them. She really wanted to shout it from the rooftops. In another life, she may have. Instead, it was him shouting from the rooftops, how happy she made him, and how lucky he felt to have her in his life. He was as hopelessly in love as she was. Falling faster every day.

They started talking on the phone all the time. She would tell him about the video games she was playing and which levels she had cleared. He would talk to her about skateboarding. He would sing random songs to her. One of her favorite songs for him to sing was Wherever You Will Go by The Calling. My Sacrifice by Creed was another favorite. He had a nice voice, though a bit shaky. He wasn’t confident in it as a talent, but he wasn’t bad. With training, he could have been a vocalist. It wasn’t something he took seriously though. Unlike Charlotte. She wanted to be a performer of some sort. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be a singer or dancer, but her eyes were set on the stage. That was why her, Jessica and Kim had spent all summer practicing their dance routines. They would be starting high school at a performing arts school, so it mattered. Charlotte wasn’t as flexible as Jessica, because Jessica had taken ballet when she was young. Kim was also a trained dancer. Charlotte was the only novice in their group. They weren’t the worst dance group though. There were two other groups they knew of that might be in their class that performed worse, despite having more trained dancers. Charlotte was just happy if she could keep up with everyone else. She wasn’t sure how long she would be able to dance with her friends. If the routines got too complicated, she was bound to trip over her own feet and take her group down with her. She didn’t want to bring Jessica down. She was truly destined for greatness. Kim didn’t take dancing seriously. She didn’t take very much seriously. She was a compassionate person. Charlotte was sure she would end up being a nurse or something similar. She could be a case worker. Charlotte had met a few of those, and Kim was nicer. Her kindness was truly transcendent. She was sweet to everyone in a way that she got along with anybody. It didn’t matter if she had nothing in common with someone, she could strike up a conversation. She was good at reading body language, despite how young she still was. She had to grow up fast because her family immigrated from another country. She might have thought she had something to prove. Charlotte never asked. She just accepted the kindness. Kim was the most kind when it came to James. She even extended an invitation for him to join them at the beach. It was just after Jessica’s date with Kevin. The girls were still buzzing over the concept of Jessica and Kevin sharing a tender kiss. They giggled quietly to themselves as James and Kevin were hitting an inflatable ball back and fourth in the water. They were engrossed in their own conversation about cars.

“I can’t believe you both have boyfriends.” Kim groaned, dropping her back against the rough sand. Charlotte laughed as she looked out at the water. She got distracted as she watched James, his wet torso glistening when the sun hit at the right angle. He was skinny, but he was toned too. He wasn’t scrawny, like most kids his age. He had an older brother, so he was used to wrestling and rough housing. That’s what he said, anyway. She snapped her focus back to the girls.

“I thought about it.” Kim confessed. Charlotte raised her eyebrow, having missed an important piece of the conversation. Jessica shrugged as she started digging a circle in the sand.

“Well, like Charlotte said, just talk to him.” She advised. Charlotte smirked.

“Yeah, I mean, it worked for us.” She added, motioning to the boys. Kevin was coming out of the water at the exact moment she was pointing towards them. He froze, raising his eyebrow. Charlotte laughed as she dropped her hand.

“I was just saying, Kim should just tell him.” Charlotte repeated. Kevin sat down on the towel beside Jessica. His own was draped over a rock behind them. He grabbed it and started toweling himself off. Charlotte looked over to see if James was joining them too. He was staring out at the water.

“Tell who what?” Kevin asked through the towel. Charlotte zoned back into the conversation.

“Kim has a crush on Chris.” Jessica cooed. Kim lightly hit her shoulder.

“Shut up!” She scolded. Jessica shook her head.

“You made me, now it’s your turn.” She argued. Kim shook her head.

“It’s not the same thing. You knew he liked you.” She mumbled. Jessica looked from Kim to Kevin, then blushed. She looked down at the ground, which made Kim laugh. Charlotte joined.

“She has a point though.” She agreed with Jessica. Kim shook her head.

“Fine. I’ll tell him the next time I see him.” She agreed, sounding defeated. Jessica laughed.

“And when is that going to be?” She questioned. Kim shrugged.

“I guess when school starts.” She answered, sticking her tongue out. Jessica shook her head.

“That’s not fair.” She argued. Kim shrugged.

“I don’t see how else I’m going to tell him. It’s not like I have his number.” She answered. Jessica was quiet for a minute. Kevin started to smile to himself.

“I have his number.” He announced. Jessica’s eyes went wide.

“Yes!” She screeched. Kim shook her head.

“No. I can’t call him randomly. That would be creepy!” She tried to argue. Jessica just shook her head.

“You’re taking his number. You’re telling him. Or I am going to.” She threatened. Kim shook her head.

“Why do I ever try to be nice to you people?” She groaned. She started laughing right away.

“I’m just kidding.” She assured. Jessica nodded.

“Fine, you can wait until school starts. I’ll give you the first week.” She finally conceded. Kim nodded.

“See, now that I can agree to!” She agreed. She climbed to her feet and darted towards the water. She dove in, splashing James in the process. He shook his head, coming back to the present. He started laughing as he splashed in Kim’s direction. She also laughed, splashing him back. He shied away from the splashes. Kim waved at Charlotte, motioning for her to join them. Charlotte laughed as she stood up. She couldn’t dive in the water Kim did. Instead, she tested the water with her toe. It was cold and she wasn’t a fan of water to begin with. But she didn’t want to be the one person not swimming. So she dipped herself into the water and swam gently towards Kim. The three of them hit the ball back and fourth and splashed around while Jessica and Kevin sat on the beach together. It was a great afternoon.