Take Me to the Stars

Chapter 5

~ 5 ~

The next few days of school were a daze for me. Sort of like a dream, where you refuse to live in reality and your always wishing for something more. 'No matter how hard I tried, I could not get Rico out of my mind. Fall started to turn into Winter as the temperatures got colder and almost all the trees were bare. School stayed the same, somewhat. All my classes were just as boring, I continued to get mountains of homework, and all the popular kids still ignored me. But that all changed when one of the hottest guys in my grade, Justin Bennett, asked me out.

I wasn't expecting it. At all. He's what you would call one of the “popular” boys. He has spoken only 3 words to me to me in his entire life, and almost every girl in my grade would die to be his girlfriend. I had absolutely no clue that he had any interest in me until just yesterday.

Justin and I are both in history class together. For the whole year, he has been sitting across the isle from me and for the whole year, he has never even glanced at me. But yesterday, when the teacher was lecturing us about a project we had to finish, he kept staring at me. I tried to ignore it, but it was just too weird. So, I looked him right in the eyes, and he smiled at me. I looked away. A little while later he had asked me out, but I politely refused. No, this couldn't happen. I am in love with Rico, and nobody can change that. Unfortunately, my friends think i'm insane.

You see, the thing is, since my friends have never actually seen Rico, they think that I was either hallucinating or that i'm just making this up to make them jealous. But before I get into the story, I should tell you about my three best friends.

There's Jenna, an extremely outgoing girl with long, straight blond hair. She's so hyper and slap-happy, I swear that girl has no ego. Then Grace, the shyer one of the group. She's got medium length, dirty-blond hair and a couple freckles on her nose. She loves books, writing stories, and even though she wont admit it, she's the smartest one out of all of us. Then there's Lily. She's... well... it's hard to describe Lily's personality in one word. She's completely unpredictable. Sometimes she will be quiet and insecure and then sometimes she'll be the life of the party. She's obsessed with boys, and she always has to do something with her long, brown, wavy hair. She'll braid it, put it in a bun, french twist it, curl it, straighten it, color it, you name it. She will do anything.

Anyway, back to the story. I've tried to tell them that i'm not going crazy, but they just won't listen. For example, just the other day Grace, Lily, Jenna and I were having a sleepover at my house. It was late, and we were all sitting in my room asking each other questions.

“Okay Grace, your turn.” Jenna said.

“What? I just went! It's Lily's turn now.” Grace protested.

“Alright fine, I'll go.” Lily smiled. “I've got a question for Lindsey.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, lets get this over with.”

“I pretty sure that everyone has been wondering this for some time now, and we want to know the truth.” Lily looked at me and I could tell she was being serious.

“Uh what are you talking about?” I asked, confused about about where she was going with this.

“My question is, who do you really like? And not your imaginary boyfriend Nico.” All my friends giggled under their breath.

“His name is Rico, and he's not imaginary!” I shouted.

Jenna sighed. “Lindsey, we're serious. You need to stop pretending that you have a boyfriend in Sri-Lanka. This has gone to far.”

“I'm not pretending! Why don't you believe me?”

“Well, if he's a real guy, then why don't you call him? You said you had his number.” Grace said.

“Yeah, call him.” Jenna agreed.

“Okay, I’ll try, but he has been ignoring me for a couple weeks now. I don't know if it will work.” I reluctantly pulled out my phone, dialed in his number, and listened for Rico's voice. All my friends were staring intently at the phone, waiting for an answer. The phone kept ringing. Come on Rico, please, please i'm begging you, pick up the phone, I whispered. My friends will confirm that i've gone crazy if they don't have proof that I really did meet you. I was so sure he was going to answer this time, but, just as I thought, it went to voice-mail. I hung up.

“He.... he didn't answer.” I said, barely over a whisper.

“Ha, my point proven.” Jenna said triumphantly. “You've just been making this whole thing up to make us jealous and to make us think that you have a boyfriend. But you don't, do you?”

“Jenna -”

“No, you don't. Don't even try do deny it Lindsey.”

“Okay Jenna, she gets the point.” Grace said quietly. She looked at me with pity. “Sorry Lindsey, but that's enough lies.”

“I'm telling the truth. He's real, I swear.” I said, almost crying.

Jenna just rolled her eyes. “I'm going to bed.”

“Yeah, me too.” Lily agreed. They both snuggled up in their sleeping bags and quickly fell asleep. Grace was still sitting there.

“Come on Grace, you believe me right?” I asked.

She looked at me sadly. “I wish I could, Lindsey. I wish I could.” Then she got into her sleeping bag and went to sleep.

I tried to fall asleep too, but I just couldn't. All I could think about was Rico, and if it was even possible to prove to my friends that he really exists. I closed my eyes and pictured him as a shining star in the sky. I know he's always there, but I just can't reach him.