AN: Hey! Okay, I updated faster than ever. Why? I love this story. I might turn it into like a book and change the characters a little cuz they're copyrighted. But I'll just stick to fanfiction now. Kay, tell me what you think! This chapter is based off "For Always, Forever" by Every Avenue. That's the first song on the Promise Me soundtrack! Enjoy! ~Rinny
March 31st, 2005
I had gotten his text at 9:13 in the night with a long day of school to follow the next day. This wasn't extremely rare as he loved to bug me by texting me at late hours, especially when he knew I was asleep. But the text read: "C+WW ASAP." I smiled a bit at the text, mostly for the curiosity stirring in my mind. I knew what Chad was telling me, for we sent this text to each other often. Only blocks away from my house was two intercepting streets named Charlotte and Woodward Avenue. And right beside the sign that proclaimed the names of the streets was the largest tree in all of Wisconsin.
We were told how dangerous it was. We were told to never go near it again. But who listens to warnings when you're in middle school? I grabbed a black hoodie and slide it on, zippering it quickly as I crawled out the window of my second story bedroom. With an interested smile on, I leaped onto my roof. As if a routine, I climbed down the smartly camouflaged ladder, covered in ivy, leaves, and branches that hid it from view, only visible if you looked really hard. After jumping down from a few bars before the ground, I covered my head and upper face with the black hood and ran down the street, giggling with happiness.
I came to Charlotte Street and looked up to see Chad in the branches already, smiling to me with a picnic basket beside him. I grinned and ran to the base of the tree. I grasped the first branch I could and lifted myself up. My fingers forever burned with calluses from the rough bark, my legs forever scarred from when I fell. I scrambled up the tree and grabbed Chad's hand, helping me to the small flat area, perfect for seating two people with a late snack. I asked the most obvious question as I slid the hood off of my hair.
"So, why'd you text me so late? You know, besides just to piss me off?" I asked, smiling as I did. He passed the basket, heavy with goodies to place just between us.
"I need to tell you something." His tone was serious, almost scary for the fact that he was never quite this sincere. My smile dimmed a little, but grew as I pulled out a wing from the basket.
"Uncle Joe's?" I asked, mentioning the diner from downtown. It was a pretty terrible restaurant in general, for the food was all right, the service was bad, and the menu was small. But we just always went back for the wings and garlic bread. Tradition for breaking news to each other and apologizing.
"Do we know another place to eat?" he asked, smiling at last. I chuckled, bumping into him slightly, my legs swinging in mid air.
"So, what's up?" I asked, chomping down on the messy chicken, sauce spreading past my lips. He bit into a piece and quickly swallowed to respond.
"Allison," he began. "I got a job offer," he said, nonchalantly. I let my jaw hang in pride for him. My eyes widened, wrapping my arms around him with happiness.
"Chad, that's wonderful! Congrats!" I said, but he pushed me away from the embrace, his expression saddened.
"But… its in Hollywood," he told me, worried of my reaction. My mind didn't take this in all the way. It didn't want to.
"Aw, that's a hassle. No weekend hangouts? Bummer." Chad shook his head immediately, his expression remaining grim. He took my hand and looked deep into my eyes.
"No," he said slowly and softly, being extremely fragile with my heart. Little did he know, no matter how sturdy his hands were while holding it, he would trip and fall to let it fall to a thousand pieces. "I'm leaving, Allison."
Tears. There were many rules to them. There were different kinds and different regulations. There were happy tears, appropriate for chick flicks and weddings. There were crocodile tears, appropriate for when you want your older brother to get in trouble. There were sad tears, appropriate for times like these. The kind you hold back with every last nerve. The kind that give you that horrid lump in the back of your throat. The kind that were being shed at the very moment, even if my heart wouldn't accept what was being told.
There were rules to tears. Many, way too numerous to try to count. But a cliché one was Rule #42: Boys shall not cry. But rules were meant to be broken. Even if this broken rule was an accident, a moment of weakness. Another rule was #89: Best friends can see you cry. This was a rule that was solid, impenetrable. So we sat there, letting the salty tears fall, breaking rules and hearts along the road. I opened my mouth, the lump in my throat vanishing for the moment, tears halting.
"Wha-what?" I stuttered, managing to pick up some of the pieces of my heart I found on the floor. Chad's grip grew tighter on my delicate fingers, squeezing them with his.
"Ally, I'm leaving for Hollywood." No emotion, or so he tried. But his voice cracked a bit as he spoke my taboo nickname. My voice came back to me, taking advantage of it, I asked the simplest, most important question there was.
"When?" He took a deep breath, giving me the foreshadowing that he knew. And that no news was good news. He let out the intake of air to speak the terrible words that would repeat in my head forever.
"Tomorrow."
Memories. We all have a whole head full of them. Ones from the first day of kindergarten. When you remember sharing your juice box with the new blonde student that happened to be quite handsome. Ones from your eighth birthday. When you remember going to the park with your best friends in the whole wide world, who happen to be everyone in your class that year. Ones from your fifth grade graduation. When you messed up your big solo and after while the bullies were giving you a hard time your best friend stood up and yelled back when you could only keep your head down.
Memories. We all have a whole head full of them. But the ones we remember must be important. The ones out of every moment of our lives most have some significance in the long run of our lifetime. It takes time to realize that every memory out of our lives shapes who we are. It takes time to realize you remember kindergarten because it's where you met your best friend. You realize that one birthday was when you realized you loved him. You realize that night the bullies where at the worst, that you'll never forget him even after all those years.
Memories. There's that one. That one you nearly wish you'd forget. That one that you cry when you think of. That one you think could have made a good TV show. That one you love most of all because of all those years after. Where you can look back on it and smile just a bit. Where you can reminiscence about the good times before they turned bad. There's that one you realize is most meaningful of all for that one good reason. That one other person in the memory is coming back into your life after all the years and all you can do is wait.