ONE

I was never going to stop thinking about her. That was very clear the first day I saw her. It was a regular Saturday afternoon in the middle of September. I was riding my skateboard down Durry St. and just happened to look over towards her house. There she was, of course I didn't know who she was at the time but still. I don't what it was about her, her form-fitting jeans and beige sweater, no that just made her look like a normal 13 year old girl and she wasn't, I could tell. Maybe it was her wavy, dark brown hair, or her steel-grey eyes, but no, no, I think it was something else. We locked eyes for a moment, just a few seconds and she smiled at me. The kind of smile that makes your heart melt inside your chest and makes you feel like everything's going to be okay. But everything wasn't going to be okay, because after I forced myself to leave, I had a lingering feeling that this was the last time I was going to see that smile.

Two weeks later, I hear a knock at the front door. I look at her through the window and decide to make my move. "I GOT IT MOM!" I yell as I'm running down the stairs towards the front door. She knocks again and I throw the door open, startling her. I notice a small girl clutching her hand and standing behind her. She has rich auburn hair and blue-grey eyes. Neither of them say a word and I notice tear stains down each of their cheeks. She isn't smiling and something tightens beneath my ribs. The little one hands me an invitation and they both start walking away. "Wait!" I yell and they both look back at me. "What's your name?" I say a little quieter, looking into her eyes.

"Cassidy." she mutters as she lowers her eyes. They start to walk away, "Cassidy Blackburn." I catch before I lose her again.

TWO

FOUR MONTHS LATER

I fell into a dreamless sleep. Dreamless except for someone continuously saying, "Josh. Josh wake up, wake up. JOSH! Cass is waiting for you!" I jump out of bed and look at my clock. Crap. It's 10:15 and I'm supposed to meet Cass at 10:30 and I promised I would be at least 10 minutes early AND bring food. I run to the bathroom and turn on the hot water and start to take my shirt off when I remember that my 16 year old sister Charlotte is still standing at my door. She looks at me, "Don't I get a thanks sis or anything?" I give her the get-out-of-my-room-or-I'm-going-to-kill-you look and slam my bathroom door.

"THANKS CHARLIE!" I yell from the bathroom.

Thank God. I think to myself as I run up to our willow and see that Cass isn't here yet. I set the basket down in the grass and decide to wait for her in the branches. "You're late," she says as she swings lightly down to sit next to me on one of the lower branches. I jump and she giggles. I look at her and she smiles, but not her old smile, a fake one. The one she always uses now. She jumps down and I notice a little girl running up the hill. "C'mere you," Cass says as she puts her arm around the little one. I recognize her, she was with Cass when she knocked on my door that time, that time when she gave me the flyer. "This is Kayla, she's seven. Say 'hi' Kay," Cassidy says as she sits down with her back against the tree and opens the picnic basket. I hear a mumbled 'hi' from Kayla before she plops down into the grass a few feet away from the tree and starts reading. I could tell they were related, sisters even. The shape of their face was the same and their body structure. The only differences were size and hair and eye color. "Pickles, ham sandwiches." Cass says as she unloads the basket. "OOH! Oreos!" She looks over at me then Kayla and smirks.

"Yeah, I packed those too. Anyone who wants some can have them." I say as I look over at Kayla. Cass muffles a laugh with her light grey hoodie sleeve and her high, messy ponytail flicks around as she ducks her head. I smile and continue, "I do suppose that you have to be paying attention to your surroundings," Kayla's still oblivious to everything we're saying, "okay, more for us Cass!" At that we both burst out laughing. Kayla glances up from her book and gives us a look of hey! Cassidy falls over laughing and I fall into the tree.