The Cherry Trees

Chapter Three: 2012

I played a game everyday to help me adjust to my new home. I had been here 3 weeks, and I was starting to get used to it, but I still needed a little convincing as to why I should like it here. So, everyday, I would come up with a new thing that I liked about living in Georgia. It was actually Lexi's idea, so I would tell her my "like" at the end of the day when we rode the bus together. There were some days where I could not find something I liked, such as when the class bully decides to push me, or when i get a bad grade on my homework. But, whenever I do have those days, Lexi goes on suggesting what is amazing about Georgia. It actually kind of helps me out.

"So, what is your Like of the Day?" Lexi asked on the way home. Today, she smelled like pineapples. She seemed to smell of something different everyday.

"I like the way you smell," I told her.

"Okay, sorry Anne, but that is just weird," she said laughing.

I laughed too. And then she opened her mouth to say something again.

"Hey, do you wanna come over to play tomorrow? You could just get off the bus at my stop, and my mom could drive you home. Is that okay?" she asked.

I hadn't been invited to anybody's house since I had moved here, so of course, I was super excited. "Yeah sure, but let me ask my parents!" I said.

"Okay! Lexi said. She stood up to leave, since we were at her bus stop.

"Don't forget to ask!" Lexi shouted as she leaped down the steps. Being shorter than I was, she had a tough time getting up and down those tall bus stairs.

"I won't!" I said. I pulled out my rubbing stone and started to trace patterns on it with my thumb. Except, this time it wasn't because I was nervous, it was because I was very, very excited.

-

 The next afternoon, I got off at Lexi's bus stop. She lived in a different neighborhood than me, but her house was right behind mine.

"My house is right up this hill and to the left," she said pointing in that general direction.

"Don't your parents come here to walk you home?" I asked.

Lexi looked over at me confused. "No. My mom is too busy because she works at home, and my dad lives somewhere else."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"My parents are divorced," she said looking down at her feet. She now wore flip flops since school was almost over and it was getting hotter.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know," I said feeling ashamed.

"It's okay. You couldn't have known," Lexi said. She seemed really upset. I had never seen Lexi not smiling before. I wanted to make her feel better, so I thought fast. Just then, a warm breeze blew at our faces and I looked up to see the canopy of cherry trees we were walking under swaying. A little bunch of the pink tinted flowers fell, and I caught them in my hand. I grabbed Lexi's arm and put the flower in her hair.

"Please don't be sad," I said.

She smiled. "I'm not."

We kept walking until I saw a huge house. The house was made of a burnt, red brick with white window panes and a beautiful green lawn, the color of Lexi's eyes. Flowers grew in front of her house, and vines grew up her mailbox, with tiny purple buds on them. On the front porch, there was a little glass table with rocking chairs.

"This is your house?" I said shocked.

"Yeah," Lexi said, "do you like it?"

"Of course I do!!" I said.

Now, what I said wasn't a lie. I did like it, just not for me. I liked small cozy houses, like the one we had in North Carolina. It had a big backyard with a stream running  through it, and I loved every bit of it. But now we lived here. In Roswell. Suddenly I was feeling homesick, but not for my home in Georgia. That could hardly be called a home. It was just somewhere that I lived. I had no memories in it. Though my parents said that I would make many new ones.

"Come on! Let's go meet my mom!" Lexi said, already feeling better.

And so, we began to walk into her giant house. As we walked, I admit I got a little nervous. Okay, maybe a little more than nervous. To be completely honest, I hate meeting new people. The way they look at you like you are some foreign person invading their space makes me sick. As we walked into her house through what I assumed was her kitchen door, I felt the butterflies in my stomach pretty much explode into a series of colorful fireworks. When I saw Ms. Blackwell, my assumptions began eating away at me, but when she turned to see me, I realized she wasn't how I thought she would be at all.

"Hello sweetie! I'm Lexi's mom, Ms. Blackwell. And you must be Anne," she said. It was weird, Lexi was my only friend, and I hadn't even known her last name.

"Yeah. That's me. Nice to meet you!" I said.

Ms. Blackwell smiled. "Lexandra, honey, why don't you go show Anne our home, will you?"

Lexi nodded. "C'mon Anne."

I followed her up to what I assumed must be her room, and when she opened her door, I gasped. Her room was beautiful, and almost just like mine. A white trim ran through her room, and the bottom was a teal color, looking exactly like the ocean. When I looked at the top section, I realized it was meant to be an ocean color, because the top was a wallpaper of a beach. Her bed was the same teal as her walls, and sequins were carefully stitched to the sheer fabric.

"Your room is amazing," I whispered.

"Thanks! I love the beach, so my dad did my whole room like it!" she said.

I kept looking around at everything. Lexi suddenly sprung at me.

"You know, before I moved here, the people who lived here said that my house was haunted."

I felt my eyes widen. "Like, with... ghosts?"

"Yeah, ghosts," she said. "Let me tell you the story. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in this house with her sister, her brother, and her parents. One day, a robber came into the house and killed everybody. From that day on, the little girl's spirit stayed in the house and haunted it forever. The end."

I laughed. "Lexi, if you are going to try to scare me, at least come up with a better story," I said.

She giggled. "Whatever Anne, you come up with a better one," she said.

The rest of the time, we told ghost stories, trying to scare each other, even though most of the time we didn't. When it was finally time to go home, I knew I had found something as my Like of the Day.