The Fountain Girl

Chapter 14

I hummed by myself that evening as I strolled down the fringe of the moor, rounding the bend towards my house. The tune of 'YMCA' was catchy, and too catchy, because it had been stuck in my head since the dodgeball match earlier. On the way I would undoubtedly pass by Katie's house, the brown-and-green brick house, with a dusty, almost untouched wooden shed in the backyard and her room's window off the left side of her house.

Five minutes later I passed by her house, and looked to her bedroom window, from which a path of warm yellow light had found it's path through the curtains. She was most probably doing her homework at six in the evening, while the sky was already a dark, cold blue and the wind was blowing strongly once more against my jacket. I had my backpack slung over my shoulder, containing my crumpled homework which I had bothered to do in Macdonalds.

Might as well go to discuss the homework with her.

I climbed the oak tree that was tall enough to almost touch her windowsill, finding the strongest branch to rest my feet upon, shaking the remains of the yellow leaves off the tree, making them fall gently and sadly to the ground. I had never done this before and was trying my utmost best to remain silent and safe at the same time. With a strong push from my right leg, I catapulted myself from a branch to the side of Katie's windowsill, where there was a small ledge that my feet could find space to land on. There were no sudden noises, no broken bones.

From inside the room, I could faintly hear a familiar song, sung by a voice that was distinct and sweet, and also familiar. I relished the music of the voice, standing silently and still on the ledge by her window, fingers clutching her window frame tightly, for fear of falling ten feet down.

"Let it go...

Let it go...

Turn my back and slam the door..."

I knew this song! Hey, we even watched the movie the previous weekend together!

"And here I stand...

And here I'll stay...

Let the cold rage on..."

These three lines I sang with all my might, surprised by the fact that I could sing, which I had never done before. The voice from within the room went silent. And then the two voices collided in a final single-line duet.

"The cold never bothered me anyway." There was total silence. The branches stopped swaying. Leaves on the ground stopped rustling. The entire South Hampington neighborhood held its breath, waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly the window's curtain opened, and my feet almost slipped off the edge of the ledge. My palms turned sweaty from gripping the window for too long, and I had a mini heart-attack. I found myself staring at Katie's face, her hair tucked into the back of her one-sie, holding a pencil in her left hand and staring back at me with her bright, brown eyes. She raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Any particular reason you're hanging off my windowsill?" She asked, smiling and leaning closer to me. If she pushed me even with the slightest touch, I would fall to my demise.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she put a finger on my lips. "A good reason."

I hesitated, and shook my head. "Come in."

I sat on her four-poster bed, my bag strewn on the ground by her window, surrounded by teddy bears and a chest of drawers. "I didn't know you could sing," I commented.

"I didn't know you could either."

"You learn something new everyday, don't you?" I asked her, a rhetorical question.

"My parents don't know you're here."

"They wouldn't mind anyway."

"That's true."

Her and I sat on her bed for a few moments in awkward but sleepy silence, listening to the sound of the branches outside rustling. I paid attention to her cute one-sie, a pink one with a spray of girly words down the front and back. It was unceremonious and perhaps a little embarrassing, but I knew that Katie couldn't care less when I was around.

"Well, it's late."

"Yup."

"Best be getting home."

"Be off on your way."