"Where is it?" I asked mum. I'd just arrived but I was eager to finally see it. I had completely forgotten about it after all these years, but the moment she reminded me about it, I jumped on my car and drove to Corringham as fast as I could.
"In the kitchen table, darling" she said.
I almost ran to the kitchen and yes, there it was the little envelope. It had once been white, but the years had turned it kind of yellow. I wondered if the letter inside was yellow too. I opened it and took the letter from inside. I read it as quickly as I could, but trying not to loose any detail.
'Dear me: Hi Dougie from the future, you, yes, you! Mrs. Wilson from the Literature class asked us to write a letter for ourselves and keep it for 6 years, which I think it's stupid, I will probably loose it by next week or maybe I should ask mum to keep it… Well, in 6 years we'll find out if we lost it or actually managed to keep it. Whatever, the thing is that the teacher asked us to write about anything we wanted and I cant really think about anything… I wonder is Jazzie will be as annoying as she is now in 6 years. Did we kick her first boyfriend's ass? Emma says I won't, but I should really do it to show her she's wrong. I just hope Jazzie doesn't date older guys than me. I wonder what Emma will look in 6 years. She's growing up fast, I bet she'll look great... And I know she doesn't ever get to read this, it would be very embarassing. I wonder if I'll have a girlfriend in 6 years. Or maybe I could be in a band! That would be really cool. I'm going to an audition in a couple of weeks, I really want to get in that band. I'd be in a kiss-ass band at the age of 15, I would rock! I wonder if girls will die for me, that should be awesome because I asked Ruby out last month and well, that didn't go the way I wanted, she would have kicked my ass if she was a guy… And I think Adam wants to kick my ass, I should watch my back... Emma will probably defend me anyway, we always look after each other. I hope that in 6 years we'll be still be friends. Anyway, we agreed that we will both write this in out letters; we will meet each other in 6 years -after receiving the letter- in London one day before Christmas in the park we saw in front of the History Museum during the excursion with school last week. Be there before lunch time. I should really keep this letter because if I forget about this, she's is going to get really angry. Well, I'm done writing, have no idea what else to write. Goodbye Dougie from future.'
It had been a funny thing to read this letter but I felt awful the moment I remembered Emma; she'd been my best friend, my almost only friend, she was the one who made school bearable, without her I would have lost my mind… And I did great at that audition I'd mentioned in the letter; it was McFLY's auditions. One month later, I was out of Corringham on my way to London… And I almost didn't see her ever again. The band kept me so busy and I was so excited about being in such a successful band that I ended up forgetting about everything else. I forgot about Emma. She must hate me now.
"So, did you read anything interesting in the letter?" mum asked me "I almost forgot about it"
"Well, yes… Do you remember Emma?"
"Emma, your best friend Emma?"
"Yes, yes, that one! Does she still live here in Corringham?"
"No, she moved, his father got a new job in somewhere in France and they left"
I sighed. I wondered if she got her own letter from Mrs. Wilson's class. I hoped she did. I hoped she had written something about me, I hoped she still remembered me.
After I left Corringham, I saw her about three more times. She didn't have enough money to travel to see me there and I didn't have much free time, I couldn't travel, I needed to be in London. Little by little, we started to see each other once a month and then we sent each other letters once a week… Then once a week became once a month… And then I just forgot to open the letters, I threw them in the couch and said to myself that I would open them later.
I wonder if she was going to meet me in London before Christmas. I started to think it was useless to go, if her family had moved to France, she must have probably started a life there, she must have a boyfriend, she must hate me for sure. I abandoned her. I abandoned my best friend. She was too shy and too different, I knew that nobody in hour class would pay her attention, they never really did except for me. We only had each other.
"Do you know where exactly?" I asked her.
"When I said 'somewhere in France' did that gave you the feeling I knew where exactly?" she raced an eyebrow "Didn't she tell you she was moving?"
"I don't know, we kind of lost contact after a while"
"After you left, she usually came here to talk to Jazzie, they got quite close. Maybe you could ask her"
I ran upstairs, I knew Jazzie would be in her room; she was in her last year at school, after that she was planning to move to London with me and study art there. We were going to have loads of fun together. 6 years ago, I thought Jazzie was the most annoying person in the world, but now she was one of my closest friends. I didn't even knock, I just opened the door; she was lying on her bed watching TV. She jumped off the bed and hugged me.
"Dougie, hi! What are you doing here?" she asked me.
"I received a letter, but I came to talk to you about something else."
"What is it?"
"Do you remember Emma?"
"Of course"
"Do you know where she is?"
"She moved to France many years ago, just a couple of months after you moved to London"
"Don't you know where exactly?"
"No, why? Are you planning to look for her?" she laughed.
"Why's that funny? She was my best friend"
"Exactly; she was your best friend. You left her here completely alone. She was a loser and suddenly she was the most popular girl because she was Dougie Poynter's friend, the amazing bassist from McFLY… But then you guys stopped being friends and she became a loser again. Doug, she looked miserable"
I felt even worse now! I looked down ashamed of myself and sighed. Now that I thought about her once again in my life, I felt kind of a whole in my chest; I missed her. We had been together every single day of the week since we were about 7, including holidays, and we usually spend the weekends together, except for those days in which his father was free… I remembered he used to work all the time, he wasn't home usually so every time he was, Emma would spend every single second she could with him, she adored him, but it always gave me the feeling he cared more about his job than he cared about Emma. That's why I never wanted to leave her alone, I could see she felt lonely and she was way too shy to talk to anybody else… And because the rest of the boys and girls of our age thought I was a weirdo and nobody wants to be friend with a weirdo because that would make you a weirdo or a loser.
I remembered the day we first became friends…
-flashback-
There was no one left but her, this was going to be a disaster, girls don't run fast!
We were in a gym class at the very beginning of the school period, I already missed the holidays and my freedom. We had to pick a partner, tie our right ankle with our partner's left angle, and run as fast as we could. The first ones to get there would be able to leave the class earlier. I really wanted that but now that I had to do it with her, all I could do was dreaming. I didn't understand why none of the boys wanted to be my partner; I'm not slow! Alec Collins, the last of the boys without a partner, chose Ruby Harper, a girl, instead of me! How did that happen? I felt ashamed; I had always had the feeling I was a loser, but I really wasn't expecting this.
I sighed and walked toward Emma, the last girl without a partner; she knew she was going to have to do this with me, but she was shy and probably she could see I didn't want to do this with her, so she hadn't even looked at me yet.
"You'll have to be my partner" I said trying not to sound too unfriendly; it wasn't her fault to be slow after all.
"Yes, I noticed" she said as if I had said something stupid. So she's shy but she's one of those girls who think they know everything… Perfect.
"I'll tie our ankles…" I said. I knelt down by her side and tied my right ankle to her left one.
"I warn you; I'm fast" she said.
"Yeah, right… I hope you can catch up with me"
She raced an eyebrow but looked away as we walked toward the starting-line. The rest of the boys laughed when they saw who my partner was; being with a girl was pathetic, Alec was lucky that Ruby was one of the prettiest girl in the class.
"Ready?" the professor said "Set… Go!"
Emma wasn't kidding; she was really fast, as fast as any boy or even faster. I had to do my best to catch up with her; if I didn't, the two of us would fall and then I would have to move to another town. I smiled; we were going to win. She took my hand to help me run by her side and smiled when she saw me smiling. We nearly jumped over the finish-line and fell to the floor, both really tired. I won! I mean, we won! And she's a girl!
"I told you I was fast" she said.
"Alright, Poynter and Darling, you can go" the professor said.
I laughed "Your surname's Darling?"
"Yes, why, Poynter? Any problem with that?" She was shy, but she looked fierce when she wanted.
"No, it's just… Weird"
-end of flashback-
'Weird… Well, look who's talking' I thought. Emma Darling. Come one, it's a weird name! But we were both weird, which made us very good friends somehow, we were closer. I started to think that if I hadn't been so blind, I would have even liked her... Like really like her. She was the type of girl you could easily fall in love with; cute but fierce, tall and beautiful, polite and intelligent, sarcastic, which I loved, and good at sports. She was the girl of my dreams and I'd never noticed it… Until now.
Hope you like the story, let me know if you find any spelling or grammar mistake, I actually speak Spanish, not English, so you would help me by telling me about my mistakes.
I have to finish a book-report in about 10 days and I bought the book yesterday, so I'll be kind of busy for the next week. BUT dont worry, I'm not one of those writers who upload once a month. [though I'm about to freak out about that book-report...]
Review please, at least so I can know if anybody's reading it.
