Chapter One

Once upon a time, the air was alive and bright. A girl slipped on her jacket and a boy pulled a hat over his ears. They got into seperate cars, and drove the same route.

The boy watched the band sway in formation. Back and forth, sounds colliding as they moved gracefully, too coreographed to be real. He hummed. Fingers tapping metalized beats, blending in. Too soon, the symphony siezed and the stark silent emptiness surrounded him.

The girl watched the lost boy slip deeper into the waves of the music, letting it wash over him. She remembered him. They'd shared hallways since the sixth grade. Easy laughter, tricky smile, careless smarts. She gazed up at the boy, thinking, liking what she saw.

The boy heard a noise. Music?! He turned and looked and saw her. Looking back at him. Blue eyes to blue eyes. The boy smiled, a secret smile, and motioned in an earnest fashion, to her, silently hoping she would come. Closer, closer, closer.

Once upon a time, a girl decided to take a risk. Her breath making snow-colored imprints in the air as she climbed higher and higher up the bleachers. And then finally, suddenly, she was there and it was if she'd always been, and as if she would be.

The boy unconciously held out his hand to the girl and said his name. Like the falling of rain or the sound a dandelion makes after a wish has been made. His name was a gift.

-Whit