I Amsterdam (Completed)

Chapter 6.1 - Brandon

"I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that I'd have to make a lot of sacrifices. I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream."      - Lionel Messi

Her eyes are embedded within my mind, green as a field of summer's full bloom, adorned by golden specks the color of amber chrysanthemums, golden specks so palpable that they may as well have been the actual treasure sprinkled among the tsavorite of her eyes, rare gems anxiously awaiting desperate miners to be unburied out of their home in the Earth. The colors reminded me of a golden sunrise upon a wild, lush forest, of the green and yellow of the rainbow interlocked in color. Emma seemed so simple and so straightforward to understand, yet was a box of mysteries to me slowly being uncovered, like a Russian nesting doll, and I never was patient with nesting dolls.

I sat stiff on my bed, staring straight at the wall with Emma's raven sketch in my hand. I rubbed my finger delicately along the lines of the shading, careful not to smudge the brittle lines of her unsharpened pencil tip. I remembered sitting just as stiff on my bed, looking afar from my window the day before as I watched the wind snatch Emma's torn sketch from her hand, and carry it over to my yard. It settled on the grass as gracefully as it was drawn.

I immediately went to return it, but before I had the chance to even step outside, I overheard Emma speaking to a man. I was amazed at how Emma spoke her mind, with no care in the world of what the man thinks. Guiltiness of eavesdropping eventually made me tune out in the middle of their conversation. It was only later, when Emma had gone inside, that I went back out to collect her sketch from the ground.

But something the man commented had caught my ear, something mysterious that held a ghost-like presence in my thoughts.

"Go back to him."

Who is him? I wondered. I felt as if I was in a mystery show - not the type where you cuddle with your blankets on the couch at midnight, eating popcorn as you wait for the protagonist to enter the pitch black basement, but the type that would play on your mind and hook you so that you binge watch the entire show to discover the answer.

Emma has a story, and I want to know what it is.

I could clearly remember her and me standing on the solid ground of our yards, with the fence between us, but our words touching. The more Emma spoke, the more I was drawn. I've never really felt comfortable around others; I always just stick to myself, and let the rest of the world turn around me, not to be bothered with.

But Emma makes me feel like I could turn with it.

It's strange because I just met her, and yet I could feel something so strong, so strong that I can't understand, can't describe.

Focus, I thought. Where are you going to take her?

"Live your life like there's no tomorrow," she told me. Why do I feel such a big impact from her words? Adrenaline rushed through me, making me shudder.

The canal. I'll take her to the canal. We can get a ride along the water; it's one of the most popular tourist attractions.

I was so caught up in my dreaming that I forgot about my restrictions. I fell from the clouds to the ground in a single second as reality struck me: my parents.

I'm definitely going to have to ask them about this, and they're definitely gonna say no, because of my sophomore year. Why on earth did I get so caught up in it? Why did I ever allow myself to do the things I did?

If this was some ordinary situation, like if I wanted to ask whether I could study at a friend's, then I would probably just keep it to myself and handle self-studying. But I was desperate to learn more about the girl I had just met, and that need drove my legs out of my room and downstairs. I grabbed my phone, some money, and placed them in my pocket, despite the high probability of being denied and having to put them back anyways.

Step by step, I made it to the kitchen, where my mother was preparing breakfast. She had just woken up, and was washing her hands in the sink with her back to me. "Mother?" I said to get her attention.

"Hmm?" She didn't turn around.

"I'm going out t-," I stopped myself.

Do they even need to know why?

"I'm going out," I told her.

"Why?"

Why not?

"To walk around. I'm planning to go buy some stuff for school, too."

"Did you eat anything yet?" she asked.

"No, but I'll get some food. I got some money."

"Ok, bring your phone."

I let out a small relieved sigh, quiet enough so that my mother couldn't hear it over the rushing tap water. "Got it."

As collected as possible, I made my way outside, but once I absorbed the crisp, morning air, and I heard the door click shut behind me, my heart sprinted along with my legs as I ran over to Emma's. I knocked, and harsh, fast steps approach me before Emma appeared in front of me, holding her front door as if almost about to close it, with only a small gap to peek half her face through.

"Hello again." She flashed a smile, her eyes glowing.

"Hey," I replied.

She whirled her head around to seize a quick glance at whatever's behind her, her hand still holding the door only a few inches open. "Um," she said. "Can you give me a minute to grab something?"

"Sure," I replied, and Emma gently closed the door with a soft click. After less than a minute she was back, and in a rush she lashed open, and almost slammed closed her door. In her hands was a sackpack, with a big, brown, leather book inside. She swung it over her shoulders to slip it on.

"What's that?" I asked.

"My sketchbook. I hope you don't mind, but I love to sketch. I was thinking maybe I could sketch some of the places we visit. I usually-." She stopped herself. "That is, whenever my family and I move somewhere new, I like to sketch the place so I will never forget it."

"Wow, that sounds cool," I commented. "Maybe you can show me some of your sketches sometime?"

She chuckled. "I'd be delighted. So where are we going?"

"I was thinking we could take a boat around the canal."

She nodded. "Sounds great."