The Boy Next Door

Notes in a Journal

Andrew, Kendall, and I laughed while Hannah, annoyed, placed her hands on her hips. "I'm leaving now. Come on Ali." she pulled my hand.

"What if I don't want to leave?" I protested. I hadn't even known Andrew and his sister for more than fifteen minutes but I liked them more than my normal family already.

"Then mom will just find out about those summer camp highlights."she sneered.

I quickly followed her out the door while Andrew shouted behind me,"What summer camp highlights?"

"None of your business!", I called back. I could feel him smiling and the joy warmed me like sun. Snap out of it Ali said one part of me, but the other side said his eyes are so dreamy and both of them were yelling wave goodbye to him you fool. I turned and waved just as Hannah pulled me out the door.

"What was that all about?!" she demanded when we were finally safe in our house.

"What?"I replied twisting my hair still in an Andrew daze.

"Ugh I'm telling mom."she ran down stairs and I didn't care, in fact, at the moment I didn't care about anything, except for Andrew. Andrew with his dark hair and amazing sense of humor. Andrew with his awesome family and elegant hand writing. A lightbulb flashed over my head as I reached in my bag and pulled out my journal, intact, nothing about it was off, except for one page. The one page after Josh's song. Andrew's tight cursive handwriting read:

Dear Ali,

Hey this is Andrew. I'm your new neighbor and I think you're probably going to kill me for writing in your journal or song book or whatever this is. I just wanted to say hi and stuff, you know? Welcome to the neighborhood, wait I'm the one that's new to the neighborhood. Yah. Well then. I'm going to stop wasting paper in you journal and just say that this Josh guy you wrote the song about, he sounds like a jerk and you shouldn't take him seriously. I have barely even met you and I know you're too good for him. Just remember that you're awesome. K?

-Andrew

P.S. xxx-xxx-xxxx. This is my phone number. You know if you want to call me or anything.

I smiled at how immature he seemed and the way he made me feel like I was flying and falling at the same time. That night I barely slept and when I did I dreamt of Andrew. When I woke up I immediately reached for my notebook to make sure that this was all real. I flipped to the page and sure enough there was Andrew's note. I smiled and read it over and over again trying to figure out what each word meant. Then the side of me that Josh had hardened into never being in love again told me to get up. I obeyed it and wen through my normal routine for the day. First I picked out my clothes. Today I aimed for a more casual look and found a black hard rock cafe t-shirt and a comfortable pair of jeans. I had a shower, dressed, and went down stairs only to see my mother waiting in the kitchen to grill me.

"Why did you embarrass your sister yesterday in front of the neighbors?" she asked just like the lawyer she was.

I played along with her and stated, "I believe I have the right to remain silent." Then I stormed out of the kitchen and up to the roof top. It was a mess. My small sanctum had been invaded by no one but my sister. She smiled and closed my piano bench that she was previously rummaging though.

"Hey sister!"she said through a cheesy grin, and not even the good kind, "I was wondering where you kept that journal of yours."

I could feel my face getting warm and my blood temperature rising as I screamed, "Never come up here AGAIN." I could hear my voice reverberating down the street.

Hannah slowly got up and whispered in my ear, "I'll make sure that mom finds out about those highlights and so much else." I squeased my hands into a fists and took deep breaths to keep from killing Hannah as she waved to me from the elevator. The next thing I knew tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was running down the stairs to my bedroom. When I arrived there I locked my room door, grabbed my journal, hid in my closet, and cried. I shakily grabbed a pen and scribbled into my journal:

Dear Andrew,

If you ever read this I want you to know that I will never forget about Josh he was my first boyfriend and I loved him so much. I just wish everything could be back to normal. That my mom and dad would still be married, that my sister wasn't a spoiled brat, and that Josh never existed. I wish that everything was normal and that I could just love a normal life.

From, the wishing to be normal,

Ali

For the rest of that day I cried into my journal until the pages were wet enough to squeeze a waterfall out of. Then I slowly got up, testing my shaky feet. When I was stable enough to stand I took the elevator up to the roof and saw the mess that Hannah had made. All my previously organized sheet music were throw about and some of it had probably blow away. I sighed and started cleaning up the wreckage. After two hour everything was back to the way it was and I sat down at my piano to write a new song. Then I started thinking about Josh's song, why did it have to be so sad. I flipped back to the page it was on and picked up the beat. Then I tweaked the lyrics so it was more about Andrew and I.

I was so into my song that when I heard someone yell, "Cool song!", from the next balcony over I totally freaked out and threw my journal at them. It turned out to be Andrew and my aim was pretty good because my journal hit him straight in the face.

I ran to the side of my balcony that was closest to Andrew's, I had never noticed it but our two balconies only had about two feet of distance away from each other here. "Sorry." I said over the gap.

"It's okay."he pretended to wince back.

I laughed and threatened to throw another book at him, "Why were you watching me?"

He chose not to answer my question and said, "Is that a faster version of the Josh song, with different lyrics? About me?"

I groaned and responded, "You have to answer my question first. Otherwise it isn't fair."

"Ok, I was watching you because I think your songs are really good," he finally answered, "now mine."

"Fine, yes it is the same song. With different lyrics. About you." I muttered. He smiled widely. "Are you congratulating yourself on having a song in my book?" I rolled my eyes, guys were so immature sometimes.

"Nope, I just found the chords for this song." He picked up a guitar from the edge of the balcony and strummed a few notes. I burried my head in my hands and refused to look at him. "Come on, play your piano." he suggested. I sighed, sat at my piano, and started the intro for the song. Conveniently the song was a duet and I had written the music for both the piano and the guitar. I sang the first few lines and then Andrew started. His voice was amazing, almost angelic. I smiled when I saw it and stopped playing my piano to absorb it. He took advantage and began playing his guitar louder. When he finally ended the melody I clapped.