Chapter 1

Plunk. Plunk. Plunk. God! Make it stop! There was an annoying pounding coming from my bedroom window. Stop it! But it would not obey me and just went on. Ugh… I gradually slid out of my large bed, and dropped onto the floor, leaning on the side of my bed.

“Grr…”I grumbled. I grabbed my soft pillow from my white bed and shoved it in my face to block out the noise. Plunk. Pluck. Pluck. It just became louder. Oh my god! Ugh… I couldn’t understand, nor believe, why someone was forcing me to wake up and collapse out of my soft, cozy, wonderful bed at four a.m. because of a dumb noise.

            I walked to the annoying, noisy window, opened it and shouted, “Oh my god! Who is making that sound? Stop it!”

Apparently, nobody else had heard the sound; they also opened their window and told me to shut up. My face reddened immediately. I finally looked down to see who was making the sound, and I saw that it was Jake. His head of short, messy, attractive hair was noticeable anywhere. My heart swelled with joy, and irritation. Sadly, he didn’t hear my shriek, because he was further away, and continued throwing pebbles. One of them almost hit my face. At last, he saw my head, smiled, and motioned for me to come down. I sighed and nodded my head, knowing that if I refused, he would just keep on throwing until I was so annoyed that I would go down there just to my him stop.

I swiftly slipped into my ripped skinny jeans and tucked a blue spaghetti strap with three blue black peace signs in the corner over my head. I checked out my outfit in the mirror. It was good enough for a going out and appropriate for school too. Wow, this was the best I had dressed in 5 minutes. But, I remembered, I still hadn’t combed my hair! Grr… If I wasn’t down soon, the throwing would resume and disturb the peacefulness of early morning. I seized my black brush, and began combing my hair until it was safe to look at without ruining your eyesight. I combed a bit more, and you could finally see the shine in my layered, dark brown hair. There was no noise, so I was sure my parents were still sleeping. I snatched my black converse and shoved them on my feet. I opened my white window and I put my right foot out first. I was on the second floor so this was kind of hard to do, and having long hair falling in your face didn’t really help either. I climbed along the frame until I saw that thing with vines on it and began climbing down from it. At last, I reached the bottom of it, and jumped down.

Jake was there, waiting for me. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket, and jeans.

“You know, you’re pretty slow at this, considering how many times you’ve done this. I got so bored waiting that I almost went to your door and rang the bell. But, I decided to watch you climb down. It’s actually pretty fun to watch.,” he announced, his smile still fixed in place.

I smacked his shoulder playfully. I smiled back. Then, he pulled me toward him, and hugged me tight. I wrapped my arms around him for a moment.

“Hey, what did you wake me up at four for? I was sleeping happily in my bed and you start throwing pebbles? By the way, you almost hit me,” I told him.

Jake pouted. He was so adorable when he did that.

“Well, I was hoping we could o for a drive and find a place to eat,” he explained.

“That’s sweet, but breakfast at four?  How do you even get up so early? Well, I guess since you already woke me and everything…” I replied with a smile on my face. I wrapped my arms around him. I forgot that it was four and I was wearing spaghetti straps with no jacket. The breeze felt chilly on my skin.

            “I’ll take that as a yes. You know, having you as a best friend actually has its good sides. None of my other friends would’ve done this. They would’ve hit me on the head or something,” He replied.

“So you’re saying you want me to hit you on the head?” I joked,” But still, none of my best friends would ever wake up to take me to breakfast at four, now would they? Oh, I hope not.” I smiled at him more to make sure he knew that I was joking.

He suddenly lifted me into his arms, carrying me as a mother would her baby. I squealed and squirmed a bit.

When we got to his black BMW, he said, “Ash, you got heavier! But I guess that’s a good thing, you know, because the last time I carried you was about a year ago.”

I lightly smacked his shoulder again, and then burst out laughing. Jake started laughing with me, and I was happy to see him smiling. We slid into the car, and he turned on the radio.

“Is Kiisfm okay?” he asked.

I nodded and looked at him questioningly. Jake just shrugged and said, “I like this station.”

            “Well, so do I.”

            He looked over at me, smiled and replied, “I know.”

I was pretty sure that he knew more about me than anyone else. Jake started the engine and it made a loud sound. Soon, we were near the park. I rolled the window down so I could feel the cool breeze caress my face. I stuck my face out the window carefully, so I didn’t get my head removed from the rest of my body, and my long hair flowed behind me.

“Oh! Let’s go to the book cafe! Its open 24/7 right?”

“Yep. Okay. We’ll go. Just let me park first.”

It wasn’t really hard to find a parking space since it was only four thirty. Once we parked, he opened my door and pulled me out of the seat. Jake held my hand as we walked into the cafe.

I loved the place. It was so small, and cozy. Jake and I found a table to sit at. We opened the menus right as a waiter came to take our orders.

“Jake! Let’s get two coffees and a cake! Is that okay?”       

            “Sure. That’s fine,” he replied. He was so cooperative. Even if he didn’t want something, he agreed. Well, usually.  But, I knew that he loved coffee and cake.

Jake turned to the waiter and asked, “Could we have two coffees and, umm… chocolate cake?” I turned toward him, my blue eyes sparking with joy. My mom rarely, if ever,  let me have chocolate cake for breakfast.

            “Mmm…perfect for breakfast! Chocolate and coffee!” I laughed.

            “Yep. Perfect. It’ll at least keep me awake during Mr. Hester’s history class,” Jake joked. He smiled brightly at me.

Soon, our food came. I inhaled the sweet scent of the delicious coffee, and then the yummy cake.

“You two look like such a happy couple,” the waiter said.

I blushed and said, “We’re not dating, just friends,” Jake looked up at the waiter and nodded. The waiter seemed as if he didn’t believe us, but didn’t say anything and left. I looked back at Jake, and we both exploded with laughter.

“Ash, do you want to go read a book?” he asked, after we finished our breakfast.

I nodded enthusiastically. We strolled over to the Children’s section and picked out a book about two best friends. Well, it fit, so why not?

Jake plopped on the brown, carpeted floor, and he gestured me to sit on his lap. I sat in his crossed lap, and he enclosed me in his warm arms. He held the book in his hands.

Jake whispered the words in my ear.

“There were two best friends. They were the bestest friends in the whole world.” His soft murmur sent shivers down my spine.

Jake showed me the picture. There was a young girl holding hands with a little boy running in the park.

“They did everything together. They bought lollipops.” Jake pointed to a picture of them both licking lollipops. We started giggling. It was so soft, like sighing and giggling in one.

He flipped the page and continued reading.

“They laughed while they blew bubbles.” Above the words was a picture of the same girl and boy blowing bubbles in a backyard.

“They walked to school together,”

He flipped the page again.

“They studied together.”

“They did everything together. They stayed best friends forever.” It was the same picture as the first page, except it was night.

Jake closed the book and laid it on the ground. I changed my position and laid my head against his chest. He cradled me in his arms. Jake placed his tender hands on my back and on my hair. I was so tired and I felt peaceful and happiness. I gradually began drifting to sleep, my last thoughts of Jake.