Chapter 6

"Well?" came Johnny's voice after returned to the kitchen. Roy said nothing as he placed the empty cups in the sink. Johnny, being his usual got to know now self was impatiently waiting on the couch across the room.

Turning to face his partner, Roy smiled, "The curiosity is killing you isn't it, Junior." "Ha, Ha, very funny pal. Now come on, spill it." Came Johnny's reply. "Okay, keep your shirt on, I'm coming."

As Roy joined him on the couch, he looked at his partner and best friend. "Where do I start?" he began, seeing the intrigue in Johnny's eyes made him smile. "How about the beginning." Johnny said, and Roy nodded with another smile as he remembered the day he had first met Hayden.

It was finally summer, and Roy was now a teenager. Thirteen, big step he thought as he waited on the front porch for his friends to get there so they could go fishing. "Roy?" his mother called from the house. "I'm out here, mom, on the porch." He answered. "I know you wanted to go fishing, but do you think you could wait until tomorrow?" "Oh, come on mom, the guys will be here soon." He complained. "Please, honey, I really need your help today." She said as she watched the fallen look on her son's face. "I'll make it up to you, I promise." "Okay." He said getting up to go and call his friends and tell them he couldn't make it.

"This better be good." He mumbled as he went upstairs, and his mother smiled.

Moments later, after Roy had called his friends, he came back down stairs to find his mother waiting for him in the living room. "Roy, come sit down." She said, patting the cushion beside her on the couch. Skeptical, Roy walked over to join his mother. "Have I done something wrong, Mom?" he asked. "No, I just want to talk to you." Roy was quite as he looked at his mother. Something was up because she never just wanted to talk to him.

"I know you aren't going to like this much, but I need you to help out with something." Roy looked at his mom for a long moment before he said, "Sure, mom, what is it?" "You know Hank and Emily Stanley who just moved in a couple of houses down?" "Sure." "Well, Emily is going to have a baby and things are kind of touchy. Hank is taking her to a special doctor who isn't around here, and they will be gone for about a week. I was talking to Emily the other day, and she was telling me that Hank has a goddaughter, and just last week she came to live with them. Both of her parents are dead, and Hank is all she has left. She's almost your age, Roy, and while the Stanley's are gone, she's going to be staying with us." Realizing where his mother was going with this, Roy began to shake his head. "Mom." He started, but she cut him off. "Now, Roy, don't be like that. It's only one day. Her name is Hayden, and they'll be bringing her in about an hour. I have some things I have to do for your father today, and I didn't want to leave her alone. I'm not asking you to take her with you every where you go this week, just to be here today." "Okay." He sighed. "I'll keep her company today." She smiled at her son; he's growing up, she thought. "Thanks, honey."

Roy had no idea that his life would take a turn in the next hour. Hayden would become a friend, and someone he could always turn to. They dropped her off about a half hour after Roy and his mother had had their little talk. She may have only been 11, but there was something different about her, something Roy would someday understand.

"Thanks for watching her, Sarah." Hank said as he sat down the small suitcase he carried. "No problem, Hank, just take care of Emily, and don't worry, Hayden will be just fine."

"Hayden." Hank said, smiling at the little girl with shoulder length brown hair, and eyes the color of emeralds. She turned to face him. "You be good, and mind what Mrs. Desoto tells you to do. I'll be back for you at the end of the week." Hayden's eyes blurred with unshed tears as she spoke. "Promise me, okay, cause daddy said he'd be back, but he didn't make it." Hank looked at this young girl who had lost both her mother and father within four years of each other. Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms. "I promise I'll be back. I'm not going to leaving you, do you understand? Like it or not, kid, you're stuck with me." Hayden returned his embrace, and kissed his check. "Just be careful." She whispered, and then stepped back from him.

Sarah stepped forward, and laid her hand on Hayden's shoulder. "She'll be fine. We're going to have a great time."

"Thanks again. I'll call when we get to the hotel." And with that, Hank ran his hand across Hayden's check, and left.

"Now, lets get you unpacked, and then my son will show you around the house." Sarah said as she led the little girl up the stairs to what would be her room.

"Roy." Sarah called as she helped Hayden put the last of her things in the chest. "Coming, mom." He called as he ran into the room. "Hayden, this is my son, Roy. He's just turned 13. So the two of you are just about the same age. I've got to run out for a little while, so you can ask Roy anything you want to know, and I'll bring home something good for supper."

"Okay." Hayden said, looking up at Roy's mother. "You, behave, young man." She said to him as she headed out the bedroom door, and down the stairs.

"So," Roy began after his mom had left. "What do you want to do?" Hayden smiled at this boy in front of her. "I know you didn't want to stay with me today. I would have rather gone fishing myself." She said, watching the surprise run across his face. "How did you know I was gonna go fishing?" he asked. "I read your mind." Was all Hayden had to say. "I don't believe you." Roy said looking at her. "If you can read my mind, then what am I think right now?" Hayden was silent for a long moment, studying him. "That your friends will never let you live it down that you had to stay home today with some girl you didn't even know so your mom could run some errands." Silence fell between then, Hayden smiled, as Roy's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Cool." He said, and smiled at her. "Come on, I've got an extra bike out back." "Okay." She said, and then they left the room.

"It was amazing how she could read my thoughts from the first moment." Roy said to Johnny who still sat on the couch listening intently. "Didn't it creep you out at all?" he asked. "No, I thought it was cool, and we were friends from that moment.

We used to sneak out sometimes and meet down at the park. Our folks would have killed us for being out so late, but it was fun. Just a couple of good friends, hanging out. Even my other friends learned to like her, she was just always there, and became one of the guys." "She doesn't look like one of the guys." Johnny said, smiling. "Yeah. It was a couple of years before that changed. Joanne and I was a thing back then, and even she liked Hayden. She never questioned our relationship. But Joanne moved when I was 16, and I wouldn't see her again until my first year of college.

I was heart broken. Hayden told me things would be ok, and that if Joanne were my destiny, then our paths would cross again. It was that summer that I began to see Hayden differently."

"She always wore her hair in a braid, or a pony tail. Always up. But I remember that my folks let me have a 16th birthday party, and it could be how ever I wanted it to be. So, we made it a boy-girl party, and dressed up and everything. It was fun. All my friends were there, and brought their girlfriends. It bothered me a little, since I didn't have Joanne any more. Then Hayden came in. I still remember what she wore. It was a green dress, the color of her eyes, and her hair hung down, almost to the middle of her back. She was so beautiful, it was breath taking." Roy smiled at the memory. Even his friends had been surprised at how beautiful she looked.

"She's still beautiful if you ask me." Johnny said before he caught himself, then smiled at Roy and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, she is." Roy agreed with his friend and told him more of the next two years of being a teenager with Hayden, and how they became inseparable.