“Is that a lobster?”
“No, silly. It’s a crawfish. My daddy calls ‘em crawdads. I guess they do look like tiny lobsters.”
I take the crawfish out of Jayson’s hand and put it back into the creek.
“They are all over the place under the rocks in the creek. You can find all sorts of things here. Turtles, water striders, dragonflies, minnows. See,” I point to three small minnows darting around a swirling eddy where a large branch lies across the creek.
“Hey, want to build a dam?” Julien looks at us before grabbing a large stick and wading to the middle of the creek.
Jayson and I start looking around for more sticks and make a pile of them along the bank for Julien to get.We work side by side for the next half hour and I ask the twins about where they’re from and why they moved here, what their favorite game is, favorite color, favorite food. I learn they moved here from Knoxville, Tennessee because their dad got a new job, we are the same age, and we will be going to the same school for first grade. I hope they’re in my class. Jayson says his favorite food is pizza, and Julien’s is tacos. Remembering the bag of candy I left in the fort, I tell them I'll be right back and rush off to get it.
When I return,they’re sitting on the ground waiting for me next to the pile of sticks. I reach out and grab Jayson’s hand and pour some fruit candies into it, and then I do the same with Julien’s. I pour some into mine then decide to pick all of the purple ones out and shove them in my dress pocket because, yuck, who likes grape? Watching me do this, Julien takes all the orange ones from Jayson's hand and gives them to me. Jayson turns to me and takes all my yellow ones but gives me his red ones. Picking candies from each other’s hands makes them taste better somehow.
I take a moment to study the twins. I know what twins are from kindergarten. We had picture cards with words on them of different people and twins was one of the words. The picture card had two identical blond girls with matching red bows in their hair. I know Jayson and Julien look the same but if you were to ask me, I would be able to tell you who was who. Jayson’s eyelashes are slightly longer, and Julien has a small scar above his left eyebrow. Jayson has seven freckles across his nose, but Julien only has four. I counted. For boys, they are really nice and I like them a lot, so as my habit, I blurt out what I am thinking.
“We’re going to be best friends forever and ever.”
“Yeah. For a girl, you’re pretty cool,” Julien grins at me.
Jayson nods his agreement and takes my hand, the one without the candies. After we eat our sweet treats, we decide to play castles and dragons. As soon as the dragon has been defeated, we hear my mom’s voice calling us from the backyard, followed by Hailey’s.
“Lizzie. Boys. Time to come in.”
Hailey’s voice comes next, “Daddy's grillin’ burgers!”
We quickly wash our hands in the creek because they are caked in mud and sticky from the candy. Deciding there isn’t much we can do about the state of our clothes and shoes, I take both boys’ hands in mine, we walk back toward our houses.
“Wanna play again tomorrow?” I ask them.
I get two huge smiles beaming at me. My heart is full and happy. I have a good feeling that we really are going to be the bestest friends forever. My two princes.
That night after mommy and daddy kiss us goodnight, Hailey sneaks into my room and crawls on top of my pink princess bed covers. I tell her about Jayson and Julien. I tell her all about what we played and what we did. How I showed Jayson a crawfish. How I fell in the mud trying to leap across the creek after Julien. How we splashed and jumped in the water. The opposite of what I had told Jayson earlier, Mom was not happy about how filthy my dress was when I got home. I told Hailey how we played princess and her princes, how Jayson slayed the dragon and Julien rescued me on his white horse.
As I snuggle next to Hailey, I tell her how I fell in love with those two boys today and we were all going to be great friends. I tell her how my face hurts from smiling and laughing so much. Hailey doesn’t say anything the entire time I talk. When I finish, she gets up, goes into her bedroom, and comes back with her sparkle pencil and scented paper that smell like oranges, and begins writing.
“Whatcha doing?” I ask, and she holds up her finger to her lips for me to hush. I look over her shoulder and she turns away so I can’t see what she’s writing. Giving up, I walk over to my window and look out. Across the way, two faces are looking out the window of the house next door. They see me and raise their window. I raise mine.
“Good night, princess!” Jayson calls out.
“Sleep tight,” Julien shouts after him.
I blow them each a good night kiss.
“I’m done,” Hailey says from the bed.
I wave bye to Jayson and Julien but keep my window open. I notice they do the same. I feel happy and safe knowing my two princes are nearby and can hear me if I call for them.I crawl back into bed as Hailey gets under the covers with me. She always likes to read me her poems before we fall asleep.
“This is a poem about Elizabeth and her two princes,” Hailey begins.
My sleepy eyes start to droop and her softly spoken words lull me into sweet dreams.
Chapter 2
Third Grade
Elizabeth
I’ve been bummed since this weekend because the twins have been stuck at home sick with the flu and haven’t been able to come to school the past two days. My mom won’t let me go see them at all, so as soon as Hailey and I jump off the school bus steps, I run home and rush up to my bedroom. Lifting open my window, I see Jayson and Julien are already at their window waiting for me.
