Beyond Our Wildest Imaginations

Chapter Two: First Time

September 2009. Chicago, Illinois. Charlton Academy. It was the first day of school and I'll start my sixth grade in a new school. It was raining and I didn't even wanna go to school. I was the new student in my class at Charlton. I was shy, quiet and not good at making friends. But it doesn't mean I don't like having friends it's just I'm too shy to introduce myself. We were about 16 in the classroom, 7 boys and 9 girls. There's this girl that caught my eye. She's cute, beautiful and smart. I was young and I'm experiencing these feelings. It was recess time and everyone went outside. The cute girl is still sitting on her chair. I'm so shy to talk and ask her name. I decided to be brave and went to her.

I asked her name. "Hi! Umm....My name's Arthur Hale. I'm new here. What's your name?"

"Hi there, nice to meet you! I'm Skye. Skye Alexander. You look cute, Arthur." she replied.

"Aren't you going to go out and eat?" I said.

"I was about to. You wanna share a table with me?" Skye replied.

"Sure! Thanks a lot. You're the first person that ever talked to me here." I said.

We went to the cafeteria and sat on our table. It was just the two of us. I know, I know. I'm still a kid and I'm acting like a teenager.

"Hey Skye, do you like comics?"

"Not really. They are just books that aren't worth reading. There's too much violence. Try reading REAL books like like Harry Potter."

"What??! Not all are violence. Besides, comics are more worth reading. It has a lot of pictures and more color!"

"Well, boys are boys." The bell rings and we're still at the cafeteria. "Hey, it's almost English class. Hurry!" she shouted.

"Good morning. Welcome back, guys! My name is Teacher Jennifer Ellis for the new students. You can call me Ms. Ellis and I'll be your English teacher. Any new students here?"

"My name's Arthur Joseph Hale, Ms. Ellis."

"Well hello Arthur. Welcome to Charlton!"

The day ends with a bit of happiness. I met Skye and I felt that I can start making friends now and that I won't be shy. It was 1 pm and Skye and I sat in the bus together. I didn't know she also lives across our neighborhood. So I let her join me for lunch at my house.

"Hey mom! I'd like you to meet Skye Alexander."

"Aww isn't that adorable? Arthur already made friends. Hi, I'm Susan and this is Arthur's father Daniel." my mom replied.

"It's nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Hale."

"Hey mom, I invited Skye if she can eat lunch with us."

"Sure, why not? I hope you like mac and cheese."

After we finished our lunch. Skye left. I started feeling this emotion and that I like her.

The following day, I decided to make new friends. Guy friends. Michael Farraday. Chris Atlas. Dustin Collins. These are the guys that I felt I want to hang out with. Thank goodness that they didn't ignore me whatsoever. So again, I got to know them. Michael loves playing video games. Games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and all those violent games. I know right. Chris loves skateboarding, he's a pro. He tried to teach me but it's not just my thing. Lastly, Dustin loves watching movies. Horror movies, action movies and even romance movies. I think I'm going to have fun with these guys.

My first month here in Charlton was pretty okay. I made good friends, the school is great, the cafeteria food is super delicious, my grades are good and lastly, I met Skye. She's always on my mind, 24 hours a day and 7 times a week. I also got to know more of her. She loves to sing and she has an amazing voice. I think we're a perfect match. She also loves playing the guitar and she aspires to become a singer someday. She also loves eating cheesecake, like any kind of cheesecake. I brought cheesecake for my class on my birthday. I saw Skye so excited to eat it and said it tastes so wonderful. I tried to talk to her more but she also has her circle of friends.

There's Alisson James, the smartest girl in our batch, second is Skye and Haley Jones, the bookworm. Skye and I would still talk but not much.

There's an upcoming singing contest on our school a week from now and I decided to join. Skye didn't know and I didn't tell her. It was my time to sing and I'm still feeling nervous. I chose The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson. I didn't really see her reaction when I was onstage. We were in the backstage and she felt surprised that I can sing.

"Wow, Arthur. You've got an amazing voice. Nice song choice though. Is it for someone?"

"Thanks, Skye. It was......" I was about to tell her it's for her but I told that it wasn't for someone.

She was the champion and I got the second prize. I was about to tell her that the song I sang was for her but the music in the auditorium was too loud and she probably didn't hear it. She invited me to meet her family and eat dinner ar her place. I met her father, Jacob and her mother, Rebecca. I also met her brother, Theo and her little sister, Amy.

"So you must Skye's friend, Arthur." her dad said.

"Yes, sir. I am."

"As a good friend, I want you to take care of Skye when she needs help, okay?" her mom said.

The day ended pretty well and I said thanks to Skye for the wonderful dinner and said good night.

Fast forward to December. Christmas time. My favorite holiday and everyone's favorite holiday. Gifts, snow, Christmas break and another year will end and another year will start. I haven't told Skye that I have feelings for her. I asked Chris tips on how or when will I tell her.

"Come on, Arthur. You should go tell her how you feel. On our Christmas party this coming Friday. The perfect timing, dude!!!!"

We had a fun Christmas party. Everyone had a great time. Me and my friends are about to go to the mall and watch this new movie but I told that to wait and I'm going to tell Skye what I needed to say. It was quiet and we were the only ones left in the room. This time, Skye talked to me first.

"Hey, Arthur. Aren't you going out with the guys?"

"Yeah I will but I'm going to tell you something." My heart is pumping so fast. I needed to say this properly for her to understand. "I'm going to say this really straightforward, Skye. I like you. I really like you. You're beautiful, cute, simple. I have a crush on you ever since the first day of school." (Insert nervous face here)

She blushed and bites her lips. "Me too, Arthur. You're cute, nice and loving."

"I almost forgot. Merry Christmas, Skye." I gave her this teddy bear as a Christmas present. It was one of the happiest days of my life.

It's the new year and the fireworks in the sky are just so damn beautiful. There's a lot of activities in our neighborhood and everyone had a wonderful time. My parents threw a New Year celebration party at our house and everyone in our neighborhood went. I was waiting for Skye and her family to show up and they did. I dragged Skye to my room snd showed her the beautiful view of the fireworks at my room.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it? The fireworks. Oh, this is my room, Skye. It's kinda messy."

"I can see that. You really love comics."

"Yeah, I do. Batman's my favorite superhero. Want to read it?"

"It's violent and I'm not a fan of reading these kind of stuff."

"Not all. Here's Fables. It's like a different take on the fairy tales that girls read. I know, it's for teenagers but I recommend you reading it."

"Fine......"

We sat on a chair beside the window and saw the fireworks and stars in the sky. It was a memorable night for me, not sure for her. Since we were kids back then, we aren't taking this seriously. As soon as they were about to leave, Skye gave me a hug. The first hug of maybe, many hugs this new year.

The Christmas break ended and the snow is still there. We all went back to school and everyone's talking about what they did during the break. I'm sitting in my chair and I smiled to Skye who's sitting far right. She smiled back.

It's January 19th, Skye's birthday. I decided to treat her at the cafeteria and I also got her the blueberry cheesecake that she always loved. We had a wonderful lunch and I couldn't do it if it wasn't for Dustin who planned all this.

"Thanks alot, Dustin! I couldn't do this without you."

"No prob, dude."