Starlight, Star Bright

By: dontwaitupxx

Chapter One – Age Six

-Monday-

Six year old Clara Edwards trailed behind her mother through the grocery store, trying to keep up. It was one of those grocery runs where her mother didn't have enough room in the cart for her to sit in the seat; the seat holding the fruits and vegetables that they were to have that week. That week was considerably special because it was going to be Thanksgiving that Thursday – a holiday that had little Clara bouncing up and down through the store as her mother selected the turkey, the potatoes, the carrots, the green beans, and everything else that were on her mother's seemingly endless list. It was certainly a holiday to be thrilled about – because she would have her grandparents coming in, the ones she never saw because they lived down in the states.

Earlier in the week, during her grade one class, her teacher asked for them to tell the class what they were most thankful for, in light of the holiday that was coming up. When it was Clara's turn to speak, she raced up to the front of the classroom, different from the other students, who had simply stood at their desks and mumbled what they were thankful for, and said in a happy, delighted tone, that she was thankful that her entire family – herself, her sister Darcy, her mother, her daddy, her grandpa and her grandma – were going to all be in the same house and spend time together. And, of course, she mentioned that her grandparents were from the states, and promptly afterwards her teacher asked if she knew which state. With a joyous grin on her face, Clara replied: "Co-nettie-quit!"

As Clara and her mother reached the front of the store, Clara turned her head towards another one of the lines and saw a boy from her class; Elijah was his name. She didn't really know him that well, but he seemed nice enough. Nonetheless, she hid behind her mother's legs and made sure that he would not see her. It felt weird to see someone from her classroom outside of the classroom. It was like they belonged in the classroom and deserved to be locked in. It wasn't that she hated him, she was just afraid of the awkward confrontation that eye contact or worse– saying 'hi' – would bring. Overall, she was a generally shy girl, but she did have her outgoing moments.

This was not one of those "outgoing" moments.

As her mother moved the food items from the cart, Clara slowly inched out of Elijah's sight until she was behind the row of candy. She stared at the cart, completely bored and wanting to go home. She began to sway to a nonexistent tune until her mother had finished paying and all of the bags were stationed in the cart. The bagging of the groceries had maximized the space in the cart, so her mother lifted her up and let Clara sit in the cart. As her mother pushed the cart away from the lines, Clara's mind went to other lands – that is, until the cart stopped moving.

"Cece!"

"Oh my goodness! Helen! I didn't even recognize you! You look fantastic!"

Clara's mother pushed the cart over towards Cece, who was supporting her own cart with child in tow. As Clara looked over, her cheeks burned red. There, sitting in his own cart, was Elijah, the very boy from her class, and the very boy that she was trying to make sure didn't see her there. She did the one thing that she could in a situation like this.

"Clara, you're probably too young to remember, but these are our old neighbors, Mrs. Goldsworthy and her son Elijah… you actually might remember Elijah." Her mother commented, "You two were three years old when we moved. Do you remember Elijah, Clara?"

Clara looked at her mother, then to Mrs. Goldsworthy, then at Elijah, who was staring back at her. His hair was spiked, as most of the boys her age had, and his green eyes were bright and innocent as he looked at her. He seemed nice enough, but the introduction was outside the classroom. Being caught in a situation that she didn't like, at all, her bottom lip began to tremble, and her face soon scrunched up into a wail that had the entire grocery store staring at the four of them. Her mother's smile soon turned into a scowl.

"Clara, what has gotten into you?" She lifted up Clara slightly from under the armpits so she could look into her eyes, but Clara's eyes were scrunched up with only the littlest portion of them open for her tears to flow through.

Clara's mother sighed and set her back down in the cart, which only made Clara cry and scream even harder. Her mother looked slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Cece, but I've got to get Clara home. We'll catch up some other time. How does Saturday sound? Want to come over for lunch?"

"I can come over right after Elijah's soccer game. Sounds good!" Cece responded.

Thus, Clara's mother pushed the cart out of the grocery store and out into the parking lot with a frown on her face. It wasn't that she was mad at Clara, no. It was just… different. Her older daughter, Darcy, was so much more outgoing at Clara's age. Sure, the trick was to get her to stop talking, but nonetheless, there was scarcely a time where Darcy would cry; unless it were a situation where she scraped her knee or forgot her favorite stuffed pony at grandmas. Never was there a time that meeting someone new would bring her to tears. But then again, she had to remind herself: Darcy and Clara were two different children with two completely different personalities. And she remembered that instead of crying, Darcy had a way of stamping her feet across the house, simply fuming, if she didn't get her way. Sometimes she'd add a few high pitched screeches and perhaps a lone tear or two, but there were rarely any moments where Darcy would have an absolute crying fit.

When her mother had gotten to the car, Clara was still crying, only she had forgotten exactly why she was crying. Regardless, she still had the immense urge to cry, and did so, not even stopping when her mother pulled out the Scooby-Doo fruit snacks from one of the bags and handed it to her.

As her mother put her cart back, she picked Clara up and looked at her.

"Clara, this isn't a crying situation." She said, whipping at her tears, "Now I don't want to hear anymore of this, understand?" She said sternly. Clara could only pinch her eyes shut and nod. The wailing ceased, but the crying and hiccupping still continued.

Her mother then walked them over to the car and strapped Clara in her car seat. Since she was now a big girl, she had gotten a new car seat; one where she could use the big people seat belt instead of the baby seat belt. She still had her Scooby-Doo fruit snacks, so before her mother could close her door, she showed her the pouch and her mother took it from her and ripped it open.

As her mother started driving away, she said, "Now Clara, I picked up dinner for tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday for this week. I got stuff to make spaghetti, tacos, and sloppy joe's. Which do you want to have tonight?"

"But Mommy, you forgot about the Thanksgiving turkey!" Clara pointed out.

"Sweetie, that's going to be for Thursday night, when we have your grandparents over."

"Ohhhhhhh… okay, I want tacos tonight!" Clara said, the excitement from the food making her smile and cease crying – but partially also because of the fruit snacks.

"Alright then! We'll just have to wait for daddy to come home and for your sister to come home from cheerleading practice."

"Okay. Mommy, can I watch a movie tonight?"

"Not tonight, Clara, it's a school night. Besides, it's bath night."

"Okay." Clara said, suddenly sad. Not because they couldn't have turkey that night, not because she couldn't watch a movie, and not because she had to take a bath.

Her last fruit snack was gone.

-Saturday-

"Mommy, I don't want to wear these pants today. I want to wear my dress!"

"Honey, it isn't Sunday; there's no reason for you to wear your pink dress today."

"But Mommy, I want to wear it!"

"Honey, you're going to be playing outside today, and I don't want for you to get your clothes soiled."

"I don't care! I hate wearing these pants."

"Well I do care. You're not wearing your pink dress today, and that's final!"

Clara huffed and stuffed her legs into the purple, cotton pants that her mother was making her wear. She then turned around and ran out of the room.

"Clara…" her mother beckoned her back.

Clara huffed back into the room, held her arms up stubbornly, and her mother put her purple shirt with the pink heart on. She then ran out of the room and down the stairs. Her mother laughed to herself. It seemed like most girls Clara's age would not even dream about wanting to wear pink dress. However, it was the complete opposite with her. Clara never liked to wear just pants and a shirt. She wanted to always parade around in her dresses, and her mother was usually perfectly find with it, but there was a point where she had to draw the line. Clara had specific "play clothes" and "church clothes" and she seemed to always want to wear her "church clothes" whenever possible. But with Clara's dresses being more expensive than her play clothes, her mother could not afford for her dresses to become ruined with dirt.

Clara's mother heard the doorbell ring, and her spirits instantly perked up. She put away Clara's pink dress in her closet and headed downstairs. She saw Clara dancing around her father's feet as he sat on the couch, obviously amused. Of course he would never go to answer the door himself. Clara's mother slapped a smile on her face and opened the front door. There stood Cece, in her hands a plate of cookies, and Elijah standing next to her, wearing his heavy fall jacket with his soccer uniform still visible underneath. Her mother beckoned them in, and from the couch, Clara spotted Elijah, and remembered last Monday at the grocery store. However, the awkwardness was gone, because this situation was different. His mother had brought cookies.

"Hi Clare!" Cece said when she saw Clara.

Clara made a face and stuck her face in her father's knee. Her mother whispered to Cece, "Clara doesn't like to be called that. She's very picky when it comes to variations of her name."

Cece immediately understood and walked over to Clara with the cookies and bent down to her level, "Clara, would you like a cookie?"

Clara turned towards Cece, and with a smile and a short little head bob, she grabbed a cookie from the plate.

"Clara, what do you say to Mrs. Goldsworthy?" Her mother asked, manners being an all-time importance.

"Thank you, Mrs. Goldsworthy!" Clara chimed, the happiness on her face evident as she took a bite out of the giant cookie.

"Mom," Elijah tugged on his mother's pant leg, "Now that we're here, can I have a cookie?"

"Of course, Elijah," his mother said, handing him one.

Clara jumped towards Elijah, "Do you want to go play outside? We have a trampoline!"

"Are you serious?" Elijah screeched, "That's so cool!" The two of them ran towards the back door.

"Clara, put your jacket on! It's windy outside! I don't want you catching a cold!" Her mother called out, "Oh, and put on your boots, too!"

Her mother heard an "Okay mommy!" from the back door, and then a shuffling of two pairs of feet towards the laundry room, then back towards the back door. She heard the back door slide open, and then shut.

Outside, the sun was out, but the fall air was chilly. Instantly, both of the children's cheeks turned red as the air contrasted with their body temperatures. Since it was after Thanksgiving, the air had a wintery vibe to it, and both children were looking forward to the first snow fall. Clara led Elijah out to the trampoline and let him climb in first. He immediately started jumping, which made it more difficult for Clara to climb on.

"Elijah!" Clara said, a trill of laughter in her voice, "Stop jumping! I can't climb on!"

Elijah jumped towards her and then bent down and offered his cold hand for hers. She accepted it and climbed on. She didn't let go of it, though; it kept her hand warm. So instead, she grabbed his other hand and started jumping. He began jumping with her, and they soon found themselves on their backs from a lack of balance, laughing, and rolling around. They played games like tag, flips, and 'who can jump the highest?'. It was the most fun that she had ever had, even more fun than when her best friend Allison came over for sleepovers, where they played house, cops and robbers, and Legos. It wasn't necessarily the games that were so much fun; it was who she was with that made them so much fun.

She had made a new friend. Just like that.

A child's life is so simple. There's not a complexity to things. Things just are, or are not. The friends a child makes can turn out to be some of the best friends that child would ever had. And that's just what Elijah turned out to be: her best friend. And as they were jumping up and down together, their small breaths making the air turn white, they saw something else white come their way; on top of Clara's nose to be precise. Together, they witnessed the first snowfall of the year. Sure, it melted once it hit the ground, but it marked the beginning of winter for the two. It would be the one thing that the two remembered as the beginning of their friendship.

That night, after Clara and her mother, father, and her sister Darcy prayed together, and after Clara was "put to bed", Clara knelt beside her bedroom window and looked up at the sky. Although she couldn't see any stars that night, she knew that they were there in spirit. She folded her hands under her chin and prayed:

"Starlight, Star Bright,
...If I saw a star tonight:
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight."

She silently prayed that Elijah would be her friend forever, and that nothing would ever come between them. Because at that age, forever is a bound agreement that truly means forever.

-End of Chapter One-