Page 6 of Fall From Grace

He ran his hand through his matted hair. “Not every night,” he whispered with a shrug.

“It’s kind of chilly,” I told him. “You don’t… in the winter, do you?” I feared for him if he did. When he didn’t answer, that was answer enough.

“It’s nothing,” he grumbled. “Stop being nosy, Grace.”

“You do things that make me worry for you,” I said, flicking his nose.

I could barely see him as he grabbed his nose in the darkness. “I’m rethinking this friendship,” he told me.

“Sure, sure.”

I flopped down, pulling him down with me. “What are you doing?” he grumbled.

I laughed. “Too bad we can’t see the stars inside the treehouse.” I placed my hands behind my head. He got comfortable next to me. We lay there in silence for several seconds as he pointed the flashlight toward the ceiling, turning the light on and off. “You won’t be lonely anymore,” I whispered in the dark space around us, trying my hardest to make the words sound as if we were older. We were there together, but why was there such a vast amount of difference between us? Why did I try so hard to make sense of things at only six-years-old?

He made a sound in his throat. “I’m not lonely,” he muttered.

I turned my head and smiled. “Not anymore.”

No summer was better than this one. The nights Noah went to the treehouse, I slipped off and stayed with him. His blankets had an odor to them that I could never get used to but that didn’t matter. I didn’t even care that he was dirty and even the days when he did bathe, he rarely put on clothes that were washed. Mom took notice too, and a lot of days I wanted to ask her to wash his clothes, but the fear of something bad happening because of my meddling, I let him be. I wanted him around more than wanting him to be clean, and the fear of Mom calling the people Noah was afraid of taking him away only made my choice easier.

I discovered so much about Noah, he didn’t fear hardly anything. He picked up bugs, frogs, and a black snake that he swore wasn’t poisonous. His favorite food was meatloaf, and Mom made it for us once a week. He liked popsicles like me, but when I discovered his love of chocolate ice cream, I started making Mom buy that for me instead so that I could share it with him.

I cut my foot on a piece of glass while playing in the hills with him, and he had carried me on his back all the way down. I could still remember how surprised I was that he could, his shoulders were no bigger than mine, and we were the same height. After that, he never let me go into the hills with flip-flops. Mom had scolded me too, and he stood right by her nodding and agreeing, causing her to shake her head and smile at him.

Then school came that August. Luck was on our side that day when I stepped into my classroom and saw he was in the same class as me. Mom taught sixth through eighth so it would be few years before we had her for a teacher.

I noticed his clothes were ones I’d never seen him wear before. His parents must have bought him new ones just like my parents did for me. I was so happy until I approached him while he was talking to two other boys. “Hey, Noah!” I beamed at him only to get a cold glare in return.

“You know the new girl?” one of them asked him.

“Since when do you hang out with girls?” said the other.

“I don’t!” he yelled.

“Hey, I’m Sara,” said someone stepping to my side seconds before I could yell at Noah. My cheeks felt like flames, and I was embarrassed. My stomach hurt with his need to ignore me.

Sara pulled me away and I shot Noah a glare. He had the decency to look worried before he crossed his arms and gave me an arrogant smirk. “You’re new here so you don’t know that those three dweebs are jerks. They’re mean to all girls—”

“It’s only because they like us,” another girl interrupted Sara. “Hi, I’m Tiffany.” Tiffany was shorter than both Sara and I, but Sara was the only blonde out of the three of us.

“My name’s Grace,” I told them.

“How do you know Noah anyway?” Tiffany asked. “He’s the biggest jerk of them all.”

“We live in the same neighborhood,” I answered, sneaking a glance over my shoulder at him. He was laughing with the others, but he met my eyes for a fleeting moment. “I thought we were friends.”

Sara and Tiffany laughed. “Guys suck,” Tiffany said.

“Girls rule and boys drool,” Sara added, and they both laughed again. I quickly followed with a fake one as I turned around to see what Noah was doing.

That evening, I drove home with Mom as she asked me how my first day was. I sat on the porch and looked toward the trailers. When the bus dropped Noah off, he didn’t even go inside his house. He started running toward my house. I slipped inside and ran out the back door. I managed to make it inside the treehouse before he did.

When his head popped up first in the treehouse. I brought my knees to my chest and glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him.

“I can’t be friends with you at school, Priss,” he told me right away.

I puffed my cheeks out. “Why not?”