(Listen to the song attached to the story)

As I get clothes from my drawer, something in my peripheral catches my eye. It’s a black box. Opening it, I find a ring inside. It’s handmade, woven, and has an intricate design. Attached to the center of it is a star shaped crystal. I remember that before, I used to wear it on my ring finger but that’s not possible now because I grew up. I try it on my pinkie finger instead.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday happy birthday, happy birthday dear Alyson!”

Joy and love fills my heart as my friends greets me a happy birthday. My chocolate strawberry birthday cake has eight pink candles.

“Make a wish! Make a wish!” My friends say simultaneously, more excited than me. Truth is, they’re eager to eat the cake.

Closing my eyes, I wish with all my heart  -- the wish I make repeatedly in my birthdays, thinking that the more I wish for it, the more it will be true. When I blow the candles, my friends clap enthusiastically.

“Come on,” Alex says, grabbing my hand after the party.

“Where are we going?” I ask. I am so exhausted with today’s event; this is my best birthday yet.

He doesn’t answer my question, so I let him guide me to wherever we are going. We make our way towards our little garden, both of us not talking, contented with the silence. We sit on the bench beside a tree, near the pond.

“I have something for you,” he say.

“Really?” I ask. I don’t expect to have gifts for my birthday. The sisters gave me a teddy bear which I named Bunny. They laughed at his name because they assumed I would call him Teddy. Is it wrong to call a bear Bunny? Grown ups are so confusing.

Alex gets something from his pocket and then hands me a box with a flower wrapping in it.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Open it.".

I tear the wrap carefully. When I’m finished, I see a black box. Alex is looking at me hopefully. I guess he put a chocolate bar inside the box. Opening it, I see a ring. A star shaped crystal is attached to its center.

“I made it for you,” he says shyly.

“Thank you,” I say, feeling suddenly ashamed. I haven’t given him anything on his previous birthdays.

Getting the ring from the box, I put it on my ring finger in my right hand. It fits perfectly. In the past few days, Alex didn’t play with me. I thought he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. I didn’t know he just wanted to give me a present for my birthday.

“Sister Madeleine helped me in making it,” he says, smiling.

“It’s the best gift that I ever received,” I say truthfully.

He smiles and gives my hand a squeeze.

A nudge on my feet brings me back to the present. Puppy wants my attention, perhaps he’s hungry. I get the ring out of my finger and put it back inside. When I left the orphanage, I had the sense to take the ring with me. Maybe a part of me didn’t want to forget him despite what he’d done. Even though I can remember some of the memories I had with Alex, I can’t still see his face. He’s just a blur.

Walking out of my room, I go downstairs. Getting milk from the refrigerator, I put it in a bowl for Puppy. I already washed the dishes and did the laundry when I got home from school.

I think of the things happened in the school while I take a bath. There are two new students in my school. Caleb and Alex looks nothing a like, even though they’re siblings. Perhaps one of them gets the look of the mother, while the other is the father. That’s possible. Something weird happened in the cafeteria a while ago. I didn’t really see what happened because I didn’t eat there, but Kamille saw everything. And this was what she told me.

Leanna, a girl in my History class, bumped into Maegan making her food spill into her designer’s shirt. Maegan made a scene, blaming Leanna for being a dork and not looking where she was going. Everyone in the cafeteria stared at them. Maegan liked to be the center of attention.  She wanted Leanna to pay for her ruined shirt but dramatically remember that she was a poor girl and didn’t have enough money to buy food much less a designer shirt. No one helped Leanna; her so called friends were afraid of Maegan and her minions that the same thing will happen to them if they interrupt. I feel bad for Leanna, she ran out of the cafeteria in humiliation. If I know, Maegan planned it all along because Leanna didn’t let her copy her assignment in Physics.

The same thing happened in my imagination but Daniel didn’t make a scene, still helped me and be friends with me. If only people are like him, the world will be a better place to live in.

Getting out of the shower, I put my pajamas and walk to my room. I can’t sleep with my wet hair so I read Anna and the French Kiss to not waste time. At first, I was hesitant to read this book because of its title; I thought it was just pure romance. I’m so glad I am wrong.  Sometimes I want to crawl inside this book and be in Paris for a while.

When my hair isn’t wet anymore, I lie on my bed. I’m not yet sleepy so I close my eyes, and think of Daniel. It’s not so hard imagining him now, maybe I’m used to it.

When my last class ends, I’m surprise to see Daniel outside the door. I’m just about to pass him when he grabs my arm. He invites me to have snack with him. Of course, I don’t decline. So, here we are, in the coffee shop a few blocks away from school. I pick a seat beside a window. When he asks me what I want, I tell him a cappuccino will do.

“What is your favorite color?” He asks as the waitress gives us our orders.

“Why?” I ask.

“Why, is it wrong to ask?” He raises his eyebrow. “I just want to know more about you. We’ll hang out more, so we must understand each other.”

“Okay,” I say with a smile. Hang out more.

“So? Your favorite color is?”

“The color of the sky,” I say truthfully. Not everyday there’s someone asking what your favorite color is.

He looks surprise with my answer, maybe he expected to hear pink, or blue, or I don’t know. “Interesting,” he says, “Can you tell me why?”

As I answer him, I turn toward the window outside the shop and my gaze turns upward. “Because,” I answer, “Looking at the sky gives me hope that there’s still tomorrow.”

Daniel looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. Did my answer bother him?

A genuine smile appears on his face. “When I ask people that question, they give me colors. You are different. But I already felt that when I first saw you.”

What is this guy doing to me? He gives me butterflies in my stomach. Drinking my coffee, I hope he doesn’t see the blush creeping in my face.

Clearing my throat, I ask him the same question.

“The color of sunset,” he answers.

I choke the coffee I am drinking. Thank goodness I have the sense to turn away from him. My throat burns at the hotness of the coffee.

What funny is, this is my imagination, by why am I like, humiliating myself? And I don’t think before I speak. Perhaps I know, in the end of the day, I’m still the one who can make things happen.

The color of sunset, Peeta’s favorite color. Hah. My subconscious mind surely gets it from The Hunger Games.

He gives me a glass of water which I accept graciously. Even though I drink the cold water, my throat is still burning.

“That ends our question for the day,” he says suddenly.

“Question for the day?” I repeat.

“Yeah. Every day, we ask a question about each other. Today is my turn, tomorrow is yours.”

Whoa! “So, what are we going to do now?”

“Just talk. Anything.” He looks at the things beside me. “What is that?” He asks, peering at my notes.

 “It’s nothing,” I mumble, ignoring him, thinking he will leave it alone. As I put my notebook in my bag, he snatches it away from my hands.

“Hey!” I try to get it back, but he raises it so high it’s out of my reach. “Give it back!” I order, but he just laughs at me.

“They have been neighbors since they were kids,” he reads.

“Stop it!” I can’t believe he’s reading my work. “Please,” I plead.

He sighs, but doesn’t give it back. “What is this?”

“My story,” I mumble, looking away.

“You write?” he asks incredulously.

I nod.

He looks surprise. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You should be proud!”

Sometimes I think I’m not the one thinking about what Daniel say or do. I can’t believe I can motivate myself by using him. Perhaps he has a mind of his own, albeit he’s just a figment of my imagination. Either way, I’m glad I can think about him.

“Can I read it?” he asks.

I can’t help but roll my eyes. “You already read the first sentence so you might as well continue.”

He grins, showing all his perfectly white teeth.

“They have been neighbors since they were kids,” he reads softly. “They do a lot of things as they grow up. They do home works, and projects together. The guy is not that good with math so the girl tutors him. When they enter high school, the guy meets a lot of friends because of his good looks, making his time with the girl limited. Even though they meet a lot of people, they still keep in touch for they are living next to each other.”

Daniel stops and gives me a wry smile. And then he resumes reading, “The girl rides with the guy to and from school when their schedule is not conflict because the girl doesn’t have a car. Their parents tease them that they will end up together. The guy says that he will never fall in love.  There’s a stab of pain in the chest of the girl which she ignores. That’s when she realizes that she’s falling in love with the guy. She fakes a smile and says that he’s not her type. As time goes by, the guy becomes busy with his friends, while the girl on her studies. Despite the fact that he said he will never fall in love, he already had a lot of girlfriends. He tells the girl then that none of them really makes him happy .”

“It’s not yet complete,” he says, frowning.

“Easy reading is damn hard writing,” I quote. The frustrating thing is that, even though I really want to write, there comes time when I’m running out of ideas.

Being with him, even though he’s not really real is the feeling of being on Cloud 9. I can tell him things and I can guarantee that he will not tell anyone about it. Am I the one controlling him? If only he is real. I don’t know anything about him so I’ll imagine on his point of view next time.

Opening my eyes, I’m back in my bedroom. What Daniel actually read is mine. I write it whenever an idea will pop into my head.

Like reading, writing helps me escape reality. I am the one in control of everything. Like in my imagination, I can make things perfect, but that means no adventure, goal . . dream. So I have to make a little complication, but not to the point where the protagonist losses hope. I will surely solve the problem in the end. .

Being hopelessly romantic, I want a happily ever after. If only real life is that easy, all the problems will have solutions. But no . . Life is defined by the choices we choose and the actions we make. Our destiny is in our hands so I might as well sleep now to have energy for tomorrow’s battle. I sound like Dimitri Belikov of Vampire Academy there, giving a life lesson.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk to either Caleb or Alex and will make sure I will get the answer I want.

*****

I’m excited to read City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare! :) Anyone sharing my enthusiasm? Readers of TMI? Share your thoughts!

The song is called Anywhere but Here by Mayday Parade -- such a good song, and a great band.

Thank you! <3