One Wish - Short Story Collection

Emmelyne

I had told myself it would never happen, but somehow it did. Out of the odds and ends of possibilities of what could become true, I'd never expected this one to be it. And as the oak-scented wind blew against my face and the fallen leaves from last autumn flicked around me, I wasn't sure what to expect, though I stood tall and bold, carrying a tote bag and my case, as if I was aware of what that rehearsal would be like that day.

I'd been accepted into one of the youth ensemble groups in town. After weeks of worrying about the audition, this was it. I wished with all my heart I could become the concertmaster, the lead player of the entire ensemble, but I knew that the odds of that weren't likely. It was January when I was accepted; everyone had already started, already made friends, already made stand-partners.

Thankfully I would be arriving at the same time as others, but like always my family was late, and I was the last person to arrive. Feeling awkward and stared at, I walked into the church and faced the conductor.

"Have a seat next to Emmelyne," she instructed.

The conductor gestured to an empty chair, and my heart fell. I saw that the other girl, Emmelyne, had already been sitting on the concertmaster's seat. I was to be the substitute concertmaster, if something happened to Emmelyne.

As I sat down, speechless and shy, I snuck a peek at Emmelyne, and I felt a twitch of jealousy. Emmelyne was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, with silky blond hair and eyes of the deepest brown. But it was her fault I didn't get what I wanted most. I hated her. White-hot anger coursed through me. Blood pounded in my ears.

When the rehearsal started, my gaze shifted to the conductor and- the realization hit me. Of course! Emmelyne was the conductor's daughter. They didn't look much the same, but I knew it was true because they had the same eyes.

Over the course of the next rehearsals, a boy named Justin became acquainted with me. The only thing that bothered me was that every time I sat down for a conversation with him, Emmelyne would sit down on the other side of Justin. I couldn't avoid her. She appeared wherever I went. I still hated Emmelyne for taking concertmaster and my conversations with Justin. And they already knew each other, so when Emmelyne jumped in I felt left out most of the time. I still wasn't making any friends.

But then came that one day everything changed. I was walking, my fingers stroking the cold stone that built the church. The other ensemble's music filled my ears as I looked for someone to talk or play with. I stumbled upon the church playground, and even though I had supposed Emmelyne was the type of person who shook their head at playgrounds, she and Justin were playing on the playground.

"Hey, Mira," Emmelyne called, still oblivious to the fact that I hated her, "Want to join us?"

It was a beautiful invitation and for a moment I wanted to agree. "Oh... I have to go soon," I lied, remembering that this was Emmelyne, Emmelyne.

"Come on, Mira," called Justin, popping up beside Emmelyne.

"Oh... okay?" I agreed. Just this one time wouldn't hurt, I thought.

We played tag together, and to be honest, it was awesome. Awesome to run around, screaming, taunting, being chased, then chasing. And I felt like that anger kind of melted away during that thirty minutes. I felt like Justin, Emmelyne and the others were all equal; no concertmaster to rule them, no violas or cellos to support us. We were free.

Sure enough, it happened again. The next week after rehearsal Emmelyne invited me again. And the week after that. And the next week. And the week after that. But in the fifth week, something different happened.

We were playing tag, just like normal. I was letting my anger and jealousy and hate go away, but after we were finished, I expected it to come back. But it didn't. Honestly, I felt happy. Happy, exhausted, and laughing. I looked at Emmelyne and she smiled.

On the car ride home, I felt like something inside me changed. I felt comfortable with Emmelyne now. I no longer felt upset when I looked to my right and saw her in the concertmaster's seat, or when I was talking to Justin and Emmelyne joined us. Actually, I felt glad whenever that happened.

And I guess that was okay. I knew I had made a new friend. A pretty, kind, talented, concertmaster-worthy friend. An impossible-to-tag friend. Yeah, that was totally cool.

I would always remember that last conversation we had before summer started, and we went separate ways. Emmelyne and Justin lived in Solvang, and that meant I wouldn't see them for the two months of summer. We had to pick those words carefully, because they were going to be the last words to each other for the whole break. We stood in the middle of the room, silent for a while.

"Well...that was fun," said Emmelyne.

Justin nodded. "Definitely."

"Justin! Time to go!" called his mom from the courtyard.

"Bye guys, Emmelyne, Mira," he said.

"See you," me and Emmelyne said.

I stared at her. She stared at me. I had hated her but she had become a good friend. "Have a good summer," I told Emmelyne.

"You too, bestie," she replied.

And I paused. "Besties," I agreed.