Mira, 10
I think it’s safe to write my wish here. You won’t tell anyone, right? My grandma sent a birthday box and I opened it last night. I’ve been wanting a journal just like this one. Some days I think all my thoughts are going to burst out of my head and I will give away the only secret that my best friend, Jaxson, doesn’t already know.
I will write it as much as I want in here: I love him. I love him. I love him.
Like, love him, love him. I love Jaxson.
My chocolate cake had ten flickering candles. I looked around the table, laughing at all my favorite people singing, “Happy Birthday.”
Jaxson sang the loudest.
“Make a wish, Bells!” he yelled. He stood on my left side, ready to help me blow out the candles if I didn’t hurry up already.
“Done,” I said, blowing all the candles out.
Wishes. I wished that Jaxson and I would stay best friends forever and that we’d get married and have three babies. Two girls, one boy. And even though I was going over the maximum limit on wishes, I wished he’d kiss me before I turned twelve. That seemed like enough time to get ready. I’d probably need to practice on a pillow or something lots before then.
Jaxson’s sister, Gemma, hugged me. Sometimes she was too cool for Jaxson and me, but tonight she was being sweet.
“Hurry, I want you to open our present,” she said.
“What is it?” I looked at her and then Jaxson.
He wouldn’t look at me—he knew I’d get it out of him. He was terrible with surprises.
Gemma snorted. “Oh Jaxson, you’re all mouth and no trousers.” She jabbed me in the arm. “He’s the one who bought your present. You should have heard him goin’ on about it.”
Jaxson turned bright red. “I know what she likes!”
I couldn’t wait after all this. “Can I open it, please?”
“Jaxson, go get it.” She leaned over and whispered, “He even wrapped it himself.”
Jaxson’s embarrassment surprised me, but I was too excited to see the gift to worry about it. I stuffed the rest of the cake into my mouth just as Jaxson got back. First he told me to close my eyes and hold out my hand. Little balls dropped into my hand. They smelled so good I knew right away what they were.
“Maltesers!” I didn’t even open my eyes; I just popped them in my mouth and crunched. My very most favorite candy. He did know what I liked.
Then he put a box in my hand and told me to open my eyes. I looked at him before I looked at the present. He shifted from foot to foot. Shy.
“Go on, open it,” he said softly.
It was a small box wrapped in orange paper, our favorite color.
“Pretty,” I whispered.
Inside the box was a silver necklace with a heart.
“Jaxson, I love it!” I said in shock.
“It’s from Gemma too,” he said. “But I knew you liked hearts a lot, because you’re always drawing them on everything.” He finally looked at me and smiled.
“Thank you, Jaxson.” I stood up and gave him a hug, nearly knocking him over. He was used to my powerful hugs and tolerated them.
He gave my back a few pats and stepped away, still red.
“Thanks, Gemma,” I said.
I went in for a hug, but she laughed. “Save the hugs for Jaxson,” she said. “I’ve already handed out my hug for the day. Happy Birthday, kid.”
I stuck my tongue out at her and made her help me with the necklace.
As soon as the necklace was on, Jaxson took my hand and dragged me outside.
“I have one more present for you.” We were almost to the rose garden and he pulled me behind a tree and pointed to the ground.
A little box sat in a dug-up hole.
“Is that our collection box?” I bent down to pick up the box.
“Yes, I thought we better move it someplace safer. And no one will mess with it here, right?”
“Good idea, Jaxson.”
We’d been working on this box for months. It had our favorite rocks, a few books, candy, pictures of our favorite football players, and a CD of our favorite songs. We’d decided to only open it every couple of years to add new favorite things.
He gave me a playful nudge and pulled something out of his pocket.
“I just have to add this one thing,” he said. He held up a folded piece of paper.
“I want to see!” I held out my hand.
He held the paper just out of my reach as I tried to grab it. “I don’t know. I think I’d like you to read it later. Much later. Like, when we’re fourteen and fifteen or something…”
“C’mon, let me read it! It’s my birthday.” I fluttered my eyelashes and he laughed.
“Stop it. Here, read it.” He gave me the paper and stuck his hands in his pockets, looking shy again.
I wasn’t used to him being the timid one.
“You’re being so weird today.” I shook my head at him.
“I should have just put it in the box before I showed you. But now, I can’t have you beggin’ me forever.” He rolled his eyes.
I flicked his arm and he laughed, rubbing his arm.
“I have to see it if it’s in our box!”
I unfolded the paper and it was a list in Jaxson’s writing.
The Life List for Jaxson & Bells
1) Be together forever.
2) Go to America and eat peanut butter every day.
3) Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
4) And the Empire State Building.
5) Make enough money to eat out all the time. (Unless Bells learns to cook.)
6) Read every single book at the library. (Bells)
7) Go swimming with dolphins.
8) Visit all the zoos in the world.
9) Always have a dog.
10) Live on the beach.
11)
I read it a few times, nodding as I thought about each one. Finally I looked at him. “You need to read the books with me.”
“We’ll see,” he teased.
“What was number eleven going to be?”
“I-it was, uh, about kids.”
“What kids?”
“Um, our kids?” he said.
“Oh. Our kids?” I smoothed out the paper and tried to see if anything was written in that he’d erased. “You mean, yours and mine?”
“Yeah.”
“That we have together.”
He sighed. “Yes, Bells. See why I didn’t want you to read it yet?”
“Oh. Okay.” I nodded again. And couldn’t stop smiling. “Just making sure. We should write that in then—got a pen?”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pencil. “Just this.”
He handed the pencil to me, but I gave it back to him. “It should be in your writing, since you made the list.”
He took the pencil back and the paper and leaned against the tree to write: Have kids. (At least two.)
When he was done, he looked at me and lifted an eyebrow. “Is that good?”
“Two’s good. Three’s better.”
He nodded, erased the two, and added a three.
“So…we’re doing all of these things together?” I just had to make sure I was fully understanding what he meant with this very beautiful and important document.
“Yeah!” He pointed to number one. “See? It says right there.”
I had to press my lips together to keep the grin from cracking my chapped lips.
“I like it,” I said.
“Good. Now, let’s sign it and bury it.”
We both signed our names, and he put the list in the box and locked it. We both spread the dirt over the box and patted it until there was no sign that anything was there.
He held up his pinky finger and I latched mine around it.
“Okay, it’s official,” he said.
Best day of my life.