Dear Declan

Chapter 4

One snowy January, I was out skiing with Blythe's family, which was a regular occurrence since the second year of our friendship. She dared me to go on a mountain I was trying to avoid, but in order to not seem like a coward, I agreed. Pretty much our friendship in a nutshell. In conclusion, I broke my arm when I landed on it.

Immediately after I returned home from the hospital with a cast on my left arm, I started writing to Declan.

I thought my cast was the coolest thing, since I was usually a pretty reserved person and didn't go too much out of my comfort zone unless it was with Blythe. I was probably the person you'd least expect to break something. There was just something about having a cast that made me feel badass.

Naturally, I wanted Declan to think of me as badass as well and I was so incredibly elated that day, so I snapped a photo of myself with the cast and mailed it along with my letter.

It took me a few tries to get a good photo and by a few I mean half of my camera roll. Eventually, I decided on one where my eyes were slightly crinkled from my smile and I looked very carefree. Because I totally didn't care about him seeing a picture of me. Not at all.

Dear Declan,

Remember the ski trip I was so excited about? I broke my arm! Just my luck.

The cast has to stay on for a few weeks at least before the doctors can x-ray it again. As you can tell, it looks pretty cool. A bunch of people signed it, even the kids in older grades crowded me and asked me what happened. It was crazy getting so much attention.

Is it weird that I was almost excited to break my arm? No, no, that's not right. It was just this feeling that made my toes wiggle and my eyes close so tightly just to make sure I wasn't dreaming when they opened again. I'm so glad you understand me so well. If someone else got their hands on this letter, they'd think I'm insane.

On a sadder note, exams are coming up! Our first exam season. Crazy, right? I swear, just yesterday we were third graders, getting a pen pal assignment.

How long have we known each other? Six years this year? We've known each other since I was living in Canada! Since before I knew what a douche my dad is! I keep all the letters you write to me in a blue box in my closet; maybe I can dig up the first letter you wrote if I try hard enough.

Me being me, the letters were actually perfectly organized based on the date they were received and I probably could've pulled out his first letter within thirty seconds, but he didn't need to know that.

Imagine six years from now. Sorry, it's almost midnight here and you know all my great ideas come out after then.

Anyways, do you think we'll still be talking six years from now? That's when we're nineteen or twenty, I believe. College baseball for you? We all know you'll be getting a full ride by any college who knows how good you are. Me, well, I'm definitely going to be in school. An ivy league university if my mom has anything to do with it.

I know you always tell me to cut my mom some slack and I totally understand her wanting her daughters to succeed in a world dominated by white men, but she just pushes so hard. Olivia, she's just finishing university applications and she didn't apply to one school that wasn't ivy league. Like, how am I supposed to follow perfect Olivia with her 4.0 GPA, her smart boyfriend, and the fact that she's probably going to go to Harvard?

Little Maria is just like Olivia. Just great. I love the both of them to death, but I really can't be compared to two sisters who have first class confidence and grades that never fail to make my mother proud.