dream on, my dear.

"pretty heart"

Aspen finally adjusted to her new school. She didn't hate it. It wasn't the worst, because she's definitely seen worse, but it wasn't that good either. Aspen kept to herself, she didn't really care much for the people at this school either, and that was her new excuse as to why she didn't go talk to people. Except for Amber, of course. But Amber wasn't as boring or rude as the other kids. These kids were annoying, selfish, boring, narcissistic, and most of time, just overall assholes. Everyone thought they were better than everyone else. Amber was a genuinely sweet girl.

-----

Aspen hated lunch. She dreaded thinking about sitting next to the kids here, or even sit alone. She didn't want to be like that "sad and lonely kid" from the movies. Who has no friends, so they sit in a bathroom stall to eat lunch. She felt bad for kids who actually had to do that, but even if she really is that person, she wasn't going to admit it, to herself or to anyone else. She decided to just walk around campus and listen to her music. She loved music, so she didn't mind the walking as much. She pulled a novel out of her backpack and found a place to sit down. Away from the other students. She sat and enjoyed the music and the quiet and the beautiful words and textures of the pages of her novel. After awhile, she noticed Amber walking towards the cafeteria. She wanted to say hi, but she didn't want to seem weird. Even if that wasn't a weird thing to do, she just had this though that she would seem weird.

"Hey, Aspen!" Amber looked over in Aspen's direction. She smiled and waved at her. Aspen walked over, standing there awkwardly as she stood beside the lunch line, in front of everyone. "How are you adjusting?"

"It's not as bad as I expected it to be." Aspen smiled nervously. "I have a question, actually."

No I didn't.

"What?"

Aspen took a deep breath. She thought and started to panic (internally, of course).

"Can I get your number?" Amber continued to look at Aspen, saying nothing. The split second of silence scared her. "You know, for class, since we're in the same class. And maybe, you know, to get to know each other, become friends, maybe?" She rambled on, nervously, smiling and laughing lightly. Amber started to giggle.

"Don't worry, I knew what you meant. Let's get out of the lunch line." Aspen smiled and sighed with relief as Amber pulled her backpack around to her chest and pulled out a piece of paper from a journal and a pen as they walked to the cafeteria. Amber scribbled on the piece of paper, smiled and then handed the paper over to Aspen. "Text me, call me, either one is fine. See you in class?"

"Yeah, yes. Of course."

She's so pretty.

Aspen shyly waved in return and smiled wide, trying to contain her excitement. She opened the tiny piece of paper to see her neat handwriting with a heart that Amber drew on the paper. Aspen's smile grew uncontrollably as she tucked the paper into her wallet.

-----

Aspen ran to her mom's car, hopped in and looked at her mom, smiling. "Hi."

"Well, you look happy."

"I do?"

"Yeah."

"How was your day?"

"Not as exciting."

Aspen looked away, her smiling dropping slightly. She opened up her backpack and grabbed her wallet, along with her headphones, plugging them in. She pulled out the paper, putting it in her pocket. She kept her hands in her pocket, listening to music and rubbing her finger across the paper.

-----

Aspen rushed through the front door, throwing her backpack onto the floor in her room. She kicked her shoes off and jumped onto the bed. She pulled out her phone reached her hand into her pocket, struggling to pull out the piece of paper. She finally managed to pull it out, putting the numbers into the phone.

Aspen laid in her bed, staring at her phone, racking her brain on words to send to Amber. She finally typed out the words,

'hey! this is aspen, how are you doing?'

She knew this wasn't the best message to send to the girl she liked, but it was all she had. She reluctantly sent it and her heart started beating faster and faster. She waited, and waited, and waited. It felt like she was waiting an eternity. She laid waiting, when finally, she heard a notification.

'hey! nothing much, just finished up some homework. what's up with you?' It was a normal response, and yet her heart jumped when she read it.

'just talking to you, pretty much.'

'alright, then i have some questions.'

'okay.'

'so, tell me some of the things you're into. your hobbies. we didn't get to talk much today.'

'well, i draw, write stories, read a lot. i also love nature. i dream of traveling and going outside a lot. i love the rain and the cold, the snow.'

'oh wow, that's really cool! i'm glad you didn't give some boring response.' Aspen smiled wide once again.

'you have a pretty heart, aspen. i can tell already.'

'a pretty heart?'

'listen, i know it sounds really dumb, but i can tell you're sweet, you're caring, you're interesting, just by what i saw today when i met you. you just seem so down-to-earth. you're seem like a really good person, aspen. that's just what i like to say to describe all that, you know? you have a pretty heart.'

'thank you, amber. no one has ever told me anything like that before. i like the way you said.'

'of course. i also want to say, you're really pretty.'

'thank you so much! you are too!'

'i'll talk to you tomorrow, aspen'

'i'll talk to you tomorrow, amber' She got up and squealed with excitement. She smiled a stupidly big smile, looking into the mirror she had leaning against the wall, and then laid back down, faced up, looking at the ceiling. She smiled so wide, it almost hurt.

"A pretty heart,"

"I have a pretty heart."