Maya's POV
I'm hanging out with my best friend, Riley, after school. Our other best friend, Farkle, is helping his daddy with inventing something. We're seven now. It's late January.
"So you don't have any sisters or brothers, right?" She asked me.
"No," I said. "I mean, I kinda have dreams of having a sister, but dreams aren't real."
"Dreams? What kind of dreams?" Riley asked.
"You know like us playing together and stuff," I said. "Except the girl had brown hair. My mom and dad are blondes, like me, so that doesn't make sense."
"Is it like you're remembering something?" She asked.
"No, if I was remembering something, I'd remember it when I'm awake," I said. "Anyway, you're the closest thing I have to a sister."
"Okay," she said.
Riley's mom and dad were standing in the doorway of Riley's room.
"Hey girls," Riley's mommy said.
"We'd like to talk to you both," Riley's daddy said.
"What about?" Riley asked.
"Well," her mommy said, motioning to the bed. We all sat down. "We're going to Philadelphia this weekend."
"Oh," I said. "So, I won't see you all weekend?"
"Actually," Riley's mom said. "We talked to your parents and they said that you can go with us."
"Really?!" I yelled, smiling.
"Yeah," her daddy said.
"Uncle Josh will be there right, daddy?" Riley asked.
"Yeah," he said. "So, Maya, your mom will pick you up tonight to pack, and we'll pick you up in the morning."
They left the room.
"You have an uncle?" I asked Riley.
"Two," she said. "One of them is really weird…the other one is Josh."
"How old is your Uncle Josh?"
"He's nine," she said.
I laid in bed, listening to my mom and dad yelling at each other again. They wouldn't stop, so I ran out of my room. I looked at them.
"Shut up!" I yelled. They looked at me.
"Go back to bed, Maya," dad said. "This doesn't concern you."
"No! I can't sleep 'cause you won't stop!"
"Don't backtalk me, go back to bed!" Dad yelled at me.
"I will when you stop," I said.
Mom kneeled in front of me.
"Baby girl, go back to bed," she said, softly. "We'll stop, okay?"
"Okay," I said. "Tuck me back in?"
"Sure," she said.
We went into my room and I got in bed. I heard the front door slam. Mommy looked at my door and back at me.
"I'm sorry we keep fighting," she said.
"At least I won't have to hear yelling this weekend," I said.
She looked down. She finished tucking me in and kissed my head.
We got to Riley's grandparents' house.
"Where's Uncle Josh?" Riley asked right when we walked inside.
"He's in the backyard," Riley's grandpa said. She grabbed my hand and pulled me with her, through the kitchen, to the backyard. There, I saw a brown-haired boy riding a skateboard.
"Hey Uncle Josh!" Riley yelled, making him stumble off his skateboard.
"Oh, hey Riley," he said, looking at her. Then he looked at me. "Oh, hi."
"Hi," I said.
"Who's your friend, Riley?"
"Oh, this is Maya," Riley said.
"Pretty name," he said, then blushed. "I mean, nice name."
"Uh, thanks," I said. "So you ride a skateboard?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah," I lied.
"Maya," Riley said.
"You wanna use mine?" He asked.
"Sure," I said. I went up to it and tried to ride it. I ended up slipping, instead, and someone caught me. "Um, thanks Josh."
"So you've never ridden?" He asked me.
"No," I admitted.
He shrugged. "I could give you some pointers if you'd like," he said.
"Okay," I said.
We hung out a lot for the weekend and started on our way home. I hid Josh's skateboard under my bag in the car, because I really liked it.
"So, Riley, we need to tell you something," Riley's dad said.
"Okay," she said.
"Well," her mom said. "You're going to be a big sister!" Riley's scream was ear-piercing. I dropped my candy that Riley's Grandma gave me. It went under my bag.
"Riley!" I yelled.
"I'll get it," she said.
"Don't!" I said, but it was too late. She had already lifted up my bag. She gasped.
"Maya!" She almost shouted.
"What's going on, Riley?" Her mom asked. I shook my head 'no'.
"Maya took Uncle Josh's skateboard!" She said.
Her dad turned the car around and drove us back to their house. When we got there, I gave Josh his skateboard back.
"I'm sorry I took it," I told him. "It's just…I wanted to remember you, and…"
"It's fine," he said. He looked at his skateboard. "You can have it."
"What?"
"I have another one," he said.
"Josh," Riley's dad said.
"It's okay, Cory," he said. He looked back at me. "And I won't forget you." I smiled.
"Thanks," I said.
"Consider it an early birthday present," he said.
"That's almost a year away," I laughed.
"Still," he said. I looked in his eyes, they were dark blue. He smiled.
When they took me home, they told my mom about me taking his skateboard and she grounded me for a week.