can finally rest at ease when they go to her wake.
My heartbeat picks up and I scan around hoping to see Hailey. I look back at the poem. Hailey always expresses herself in her poetry. How she feels, the things that happened during the day, her life. Always. I read the poem again. It’s heartbreaking. Scary, desperate. I should have pushed more for her to talk to me. I should have yelled and cursed and pleaded until she talked to me. About the bruises. About why she wears long-sleeved shirts all the time now even when it's hot outside. About the sounds of crying I think I sometimes hear coming from her bedroom.
I fold the poem up and place it inside my bag and shut my locker.
Julien loops his arm around me. “How’s your song coming? Ready for the competition next month?”
I grew up around music and can play several instruments. My choir director asked me to compose an original piece that I will perform at a national competition next month.
“It’s coming along nicely. I can’t wait for you guys to hear it.”
They walk with me down the hall. My mind goes back to my sister. “Hey guys, I need to go home. Can one of you sign me out at the front office and let them know it was a family emergency?”
I start to walk off without another word, but Jayson grabs my hand.
“Liz, what’s going on?”
Again, I know he thinks I’m still upset about the stuff with Jacinda. I’m not. Honestly. Ok, well, sort of, but I’ll store it away until later when we can talk privately.
“Sorry,” I squeeze his hand and place a quick kiss to his lips. “It’s about Hailey.”
Jayson stops me. “I’m coming with you.” His tone lets me know it’s not a question and not up for argument.
“Fine.”
I give Julien and Ryder a quick hug and rush out the front main doors with Jayson to find my sister.
Chapter 1
Summer Before First Grade
Elizabeth
It’s summer break and in a month I will start first grade. I am super excited because I loved kindergarten and I know I’ll love first grade just as much. My dad takes the summer off from touring with his band, and right now we’re in the middle of our daily guitar lessons. I’m sitting in his lap, his larger hands on top of mine helping me push down the chords and strum, when I hear loud banging and yelling outside our house.
Daddy started giving me guitar lessons when I was four after he found me in his music room strumming and banging on every instrument he had in there. Instead of yelling at me like I thought he was going to, he sat down on the floor, moved me to sit on top of his crossed legs, and placed his acoustic guitar in front of us. With gentle fingers, he started strumming and humming a melody to me. Mom found us hours later, me still sitting on my daddy’s lap while he strummed his guitar and we sang to each other. It made my mommy cry, but she said they were “love” tears, whatever that means. I only cry when I’m sad. I love my mommy and daddy and sister, but I hope my love for them never makes me cry. That would just be weird.
I hear more loud noises from outside. Daddy pulls the guitar off our laps and I get up quickly to go to the window and see what’s going on. We live in a two-story Craftsman with a red door and red shuttered windows. I love our backyard because it’s huge and has a forest that backs up to it and a creek where I go and catch crawfish in. I squish my nose against the window glass so I can better see the very large moving truck at the house next door to us. The family that used to live there moved out a month ago, but I didn’t care much since all of their kids were grown up and there was no one for me to play with. I hope that the new family has kids my age. It would be really cool to have friends that live right next door to play with every day.
“Yes!” I shout.
I see two boys that look my age walk across the front lawn in front of the truck. I notice that they are with a tall bearded man who is holding each of their hands. With gleeful excitement, I squeal and run out of the room and up the stairs.
“Where are you off to puddin’?” Dad hollers after me.
Bounding up the stairs to find Hailey, my sister, I shout back, “I’m going to meet the new neighbors and I have to look my best!”
I hear his chuckle behind me as I try leaping up two steps at a time in my haste to get to my room.Running as fast as my little legs can carry me, I throw open Hailey’s bedroom door, waking her from her nap.
“Hailey! Hailey! Come on! We have to go meet our new neighbors. Get up! Get up!”
I run through our jack-and-jill bathroom to my room and fling open my closet to grab my blue Easter dress. Mommy said I looked like a princess in that dress so that is the dress I’m going to put on to meet my new neighbor boys.
“I don’t wanna go,” Hailey yawns sleepily at me standing at the bathroom door that leads to my room.
“Fine. But I’m going.”
I wriggle out of my shorts and top and put the blue dress on. Mommy taught me how to braid my hair, so I quickly comb it and then braid it into two pigtails. Seeing my gold plastic princess crown I wore last Halloween sitting on my dresser, I grab it and carefully place it on top of my head. I push past Hailey into the bathroom, do a quick look in the mirror, decide I look awesome, and run downstairs. I grab a bag of fruit candies, shove them in my dress pocket, and sprint out the front door only to skid to a sudden stop once I see my mommy talking to another lady on the porch of our new neighbor’s house. I turn around and look everywhere for the two boys I saw from the window, but I don’t see them anywhere. I walk up the steps of the neighbor’s house to where my mom is and grab her hand.
