All The Single Ladies
Chapter 1: Wishes on a star
“Cause our song is the slamming screen door
Sneaking out late tapping on your window,
When we’re on the phone and you talk real slow,
Cause it’s late and your mamma don’t know.
Our song is the way you laugh,
The first date man I didn’t kiss her when I should have
And when I got home
Before I said Amen,
Asking God if he, could play it again……”
Just what this world needed: two Taylor-Swift-Obsessed BFFs. I thought, as Rose and I grabbed our things and hit the door, followed by Leo, my best guy pal.
“I can’t believe 8th grade is over! It went away so fast,” Rose exclaimed, in her pretty soprano voice that sounded like Diana Ross.
“Yeah, it’s like just yesterday I entered the door and found you drooling all over Andrew,” Leo cracked, winking at me.
“Oooooh, burn!” I giggled and slapped him a high five.
“Ah, where are those golden days,” I started again.
“When Roselyn Gonzalo wrote love songs to Andrew Dawson--,” Leo continued.
“Only to be rejected—
“And have her heart left out in the rain.”
“Okay, but you two missed out the part where we became best friends. Plus, I never sent him a love song,” Rose said, some how managing to blush in her dark complexion.
“No, but you wrote one for him,” I reminded.
“Just four lines and then I passed it onto you to finish it because you loved it so much,” I could tell by the way Rose had her shoulders squared that she wasn’t going to give in to our teasing. She was never the stubborn child--she just had a lot of determination when it was necessary.
“So, is it done yet?” Leo asked me.
“No, I haven’t started working on it,” I replied. “What about you? Any luck with Adam?” (oh by the way, Leo was a gay. But of course it was some thing between just me and Rose)
“Not yet. I’ll start seeing him this summer,” he answered, his voice becoming slightly depressed.
I looked at Rose and we read our thoughts. That sounds a little weird so let me explain--Rose and I don’t always have to talk. We could just look into each other’s eyes and know what the other was thinking.
Soon, we were out of the school gates and guess who the first person I see? Jake Lincoln. My first ever crush.
I had a lot of drama with this guy. He knows he used to make my knees bend whenever he was around, so it’s a little embarrassing when we talked, which was very rare, although I’m over him. But even now, his face still makes my heart go melting like butter running down hot toast, reminding me of all the reasons why I had a crush on him at the first place.
“ Hey Em, did you do any more writing?” He walked towards me, the childish smile already in place with that never-ending curiosity in his eyes.
“Not yet, but I have tons of projects to catch up on this summer,” I smiled. He was one of my fans! Yay!
“Oh, okay,” he replied, gave a mysterious smile he uses on me and Rose and then trotted off towards his friends. Oh God! He just made my day!
“Trying to flirt with Jake again?” Samantha and Miranda, my other two favorite girls came and stood beside me.
“No,” I blushed beetroot.
“Oh, really?” Samantha asked with a naughty look in her eyes. Miranda laughed.
“Hey, what did I miss?” Rose came back from……….wherever she had been.
“Nothing,” I said quickly, before Sam could say some thing.
The four of us walked home, remembering old times, anticipating high school and the fact that I would be the only 14 year old in our freshman class. I let out a humph. I hated being the youngest, even if it was just a year difference. I never had any one my age. My sister Eloise was 6 years my junior, maximum of my cousins were 2 years my senior and very few were my juniors. I was the lonely middle man.
It was a 15 min walk home from school. As soon as we’d reach the beginning of Ellen Street, all our paths would separate into four different directions. Miranda’s would lead to the perfectly quiet neighborhood of Black Woods, Rose’s one to Ghost Lane, Samantha’s one to Sun Ville and mine was the most faraway-- to Orchid Grove.
We walked on till it was time for the four Single Ladies to part—that’ who we were : The Single Ladies. There used to be five of us before, when lovely Megan was on board, but she moved to L.A six months ago. The Single Ladies were really special to each other, but their friendship history was even more special. We all had serious life experiences and those were what made us together. And it wasn’t easy being in our shoes either—you’ll soon know why.
The “BUTTERCUP BAKERY” stood right at the beginning of Ellen Street, in the middle of other shops and offices and hustle and bustle. I went inside. Some of the waitresses smiled at me—I was the daughter of one of their bosses.
I found my mother at the counter dealing with some of her customers. I went past her and inside the kitchen, where I found cousin Derek sitting in a corner. My father has two older brothers and we lived right next door to each other. Derek was the son of my eldest uncle and his class ends five minutes before mine. We always come here after school and wait for cousin Mandy who was the only daughter of my second uncle and whose class ends ten minutes after mine. We wait here till either her mom or my mom was ready to drive us home. It was a matter of ten minutes only, but our parents were pretty over protective and walking home for 45 minutes was very exhausting.
I took the seat next to him and started talking. He was a 7th grader. We chatted excitedly over the same topic: SUMMER!!! And the conversation continued with Mandy, who was all: “Man, I’ll miss class 9!” and “Eeeeep! Can’t wait for 10th grade!” and “June (my middle name) you’re officially in high school now, welcome aboard!” and “Awe, Derek, you have to wait one more year!” and “OMG! I’m gonna get my driver’s license!” and more blah, blah, blah …….....
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and then going over at Mandy’s to watch High School Musical marathon. Of course, we did not just watch the movie, we played it! (some thing we loved doing especially during sleep-over) I played Gabriella/ Ryan, Mandy played Sharpey/ Troy, while Derek and Eloise played supporting roles every now and then. By the time High School Musical 3 : Senior Year ended, Mandy and I lay collapsed on the floor, holding our swollen little feet in our hands.
The phone calls started coming around seven. I carried the cordless in my hand and came to the balcony of the room I shared with Eloise. I was having a call conference with Sam, Miranda and Rose. The wind was warm, but some how soothing, and my favorite crescent moon was hanging against the mysterious blue wall of the night sky; the never ending wall that usually sparkled with silver glitter. But tonight, God had wiped away the glitter, missing just one spot right next to the curved yellow smile called “moon”.
“Dosti, (dosti is a Hindi word for “friendship” and dost is Hindi for “friends”. But I liked calling my best friends dosti and believe it or not, it has become our personal nick name.)”
“Yeah?”
“Come to your windows.”
“Okay, what?” Miranda asked in an interested voice.
“This better be good Em, I am having a tough time dragging the landline all the way here,” Sam warned.
“Alright, do you see the star right next to the moon?”
“The evening star?” Rose asked.
“Yes. Is it just me, or did you guys happen to notice how it’s the only star who cares to appear, no matter how cloudy the sky is, or even if no other star was there to provide company?” I asked, my voice suddenly thick with emotion. I was feeling for a lonely star! Of course I would feel bad for a star! I was the crazy one!
“Always shining, no matter what,” Rose whispered, making the atmosphere feel magical, instead of laughing at me like any one else would have done.
“Sort of like hope. The light of hope never dies you know, or so they say. You never stop hoping for some thing…. For anything,” Sam commented.
“Let’s make a wish!” Miranda’s suggestion put a smile on my face.
We all took a moment to make our wish. I wished that Jake and I would become friends.
And then the four of us hung up, without saying goodbye.
