Torn Souls (18 page)

“Movement, I’m lost, Julia.”

“You know, how we are going to try and change things for other kids in school. No more worried about being bullied. I haven’t given up. My parents and I came up with some great ideas, but I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.”

“Sounds good, so let me get dressed and ready. I’ll see you later on today.”

“All right, bye, Alex. See you soon.”

Chapter Nineteen

Just as I finished wrapping Alex’s gift, which I totally forgot to do earlier, I heard a knock on the front door. Mom answered the door before I could. I could hear Alex’s voice, so I went running. I felt like I hadn’t seen him in years. I even had butterflies in my stomach from seeing him. There was so much I couldn’t wait to tell him.

“Hello, Alex, come on in,” Mom said, while she closed the door behind him.

“Thank you. Is Julia in her room?” he asked.

Before my mom could answer him, I came popping out from around the corner. “Hey, Alex, it’s been a while,” I said as I reached out to hug him. I think he found it a little weird that I was hugging him, so I left go and tried playing it off by saying, “It’s the medicine I’m on.”

He laughed while saying, “Oh, gotcha.”

Boy, was that crap. I wasn’t on any medicine, but I didn’t want him to think I went crazy while he’s been gone. After catching up with Alex about everything, Mom came in and asked if we wanted to watch a Christmas movie in the living room while dinner was cooking. She was making ham with potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, squash, homemade cornbread, and for dessert, pumpkin pie.

Knowing how much I loved Christmas, Mom had bought me just about every Christmas movie there was. I wasn’t sure what one to watch. It was a toss-up between
It’s a Wonderful Life
or
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
. Because I couldn’t decide and Alex was a guest, I let him chose. He said he’d seen them both, but he wanted to watch something funny, so he chose
Christmas Vacation
with Chevy Chase.

Throughout the movie we laughed practically every five minutes. Even though I’d seen the movie at least forty times I still found it hilarious. There have been plenty of times that I’ve watched it when it wasn’t even Christmas. Looking over at me Alex said, “How many times have you seen this movie? I swear you know every word.”

“I’ve seen it a lot and yes, I probably know every word,” I said while watching it and laughing.

Just as the movie ended Mom called us into the kitchen to eat. Alex and I washed up first and then sat down. I was starving and everything looked and smelled so good that I couldn’t wait to dive in. While we ate, Dad mentioned to me that he had someone make me flyers, so sometime after the New Year Alex and I could start going around handing them out. He was so excited about it that he had one at the dinner table.

“So what do you guys think?” he asked as he handed it across the table.

Alex and I both read it. The design was really good and the message was right to the point. I thought it would work well for what we were trying to accomplish. “What do you think, Alex?” I asked.

“I think this could work though I’m a little worried, Julia,” he said.

“You are? Why are you worried?”

“It just a lot for us to take on alone, what if it doesn’t work? What if people don’t show up? I know you’ll be disappointed.”

“I know what you’re saying, but I’m trying to stay positive. Mom and Dad had said the same thing, but I can’t give up before I’ve even started. If nothing else, we can make a change in our own school. I think Mr. Joseph will agree to do at least something after everything that has happened. Don’t you think?” I asked.

“You’re absolutely right, Julia. I say we need to start handing out these flyers the week after the New Year,” Alex said, sounding excited now.

Once we were done eating dinner and had dessert, Mom suggested we all go in the living room to open one present each. I was excited to give Alex his. I couldn’t imagine what he would’ve bought me, but whatever it was I was grateful that he thought of me. Mom and Dad sat on the couch while Alex and I sat on the floor. Just as we were about to exchanged presents Dad got up and walked over to the entertainment center.

“Don’t you guys think we need a little Christmas music?” he asked.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right,” Mom agreed.

“Okay, now can we exchange presents?” I asked impatiently.

I was a bit surprised when Mom not only handed me a present, but handed Alex one too. She happened to catch the look on my face and said, “Did you think I’d forget to get Alex a present. Your dad and I like him and we’re glad he’s here with all of us,” Mom said, smiling at Alex.

“Wow, thanks Mr. and Mrs. Stone, that was really nice of you. I wish I had known. I would have picked you guys up something when I bought Julia’s gift.”

“Your friendship with our daughter is a wonderful gift. We don’t need anything else,” Mom said while elbowing Dad.

“Yes, what she said,” Dad agreed.

Of course Dad didn’t even know what Mom had just said, but went along with it. He was too busy with his face buried in his laptop. “Honey, its Christmas Eve. If I can forget about work, so can you. Now, please close it and put it away,” Mom scolded.

Mom and Dad watched eagerly as Alex and I opened our present that they had bought us. I had a feeling we both had the same gift seeing it was in the same shaped box and weighed about the same. Neither Alex nor I could believe what was in the box. We both thanked my parents as we pulled our gift from the boxes.

“You’re welcome. Glad you both like them. Now you guys don’t have to rent them,” Mom said.

I couldn’t believe my parents bought us ice skates. Mine of course were pink and white and Alex had black ones. I wanted to throw them on and head to the park. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas Eve than with my best friend.

“Mom, can Alex and I head on over to the park for a while?”

“Sure, but aren’t you going to open your present from Alex first?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, of course.”

Looking at Alex I asked, “Did you already unwrap the present I bought you.”

“Nope, I was waiting. I wanted to see what you thought of your present first.”

I couldn’t wait to see what it was, so I tore off the wrapping paper and slowly lifted the top of the box and peeked inside. I couldn’t believe what was in it. I didn’t know if I should show my parents, especially my dad. I love jewelry, but a diamond ring? What did this mean? What was Alex thinking?

“So, Julia, what’s in the box?” Mom asked with a knowing smile.

“It’s just jewelry. You’ve seen one piece of jewelry you’ve seen them all. No biggy, just jewelry,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t care if I showed it to her.

“Come on, Julia, let me see,” Mom demanded while she reached her hand out for the box.

Before handing the box over to my mom, I looked over at Alex and said under my breath “Are you crazy? What were you thinking?”

“Julia, Julia, Julia, I’m not crazy. Show her, I think you’ll be surprised at her reaction. Wait, do you not like it?”

“Yes, I love it, but I’m fifteen and you and I are not…well, you know.”

“Julia, I’m waiting,” Mom said.

I handed over the box and waited for my mom to freak out, but she didn’t. Instead Mom made this “awe” sound. I thought I was in the twilight zone or something. Why wasn’t she freaking out?

“Here you go, Julia. That was very nice of you Alex to buy such a beautiful gift for my daughter,” said Mom.

Taking the box back from Mom I closed it and laid it on my lap. I was still in shock that my dad of all people didn’t freak out. Maybe I was missing something or maybe he just wasn’t seeing what it was.

“Tell me the truth, Julia. Do you really like it?” Alex asked. “If not, I can always exchange it for something else.”

I did love it, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. Did I want him to return it? No. Did I want to have a commitment? No. I didn’t know what to say, but then we did say we would be honest with each other.

“Yes, Alex, I love it. It’s beautiful, but I want you to know that I feel that I’m too young to wear an engagement ring, and on top of that, we’re not even dating.”

Dad jumped in and said, “Wait a minute! I thought that ring was a friendship ring. No one is marrying my daughter anytime soon.”

Mom and Alex began to laugh, but Dad and I didn’t find it funny at all. I was with Dad on this. I wasn’t ready for anything that involved dating never mind marriage. Before dad flipped completely, Mom intervened to calm him down.

“Mr. Stone,” Alex said, “it’s not an engagement ring. It’s a promise ring. Mrs. Stone helped me pick it out for Julia. Trust me; I’m not ready for anything like that. Julia and I are just friends; that’s all. My parents would kill me if I was engaged at my age.”

“A promise ring?” Dad and I said at the same time.

Turning toward me Alex said, “Julia, think about it. People usually date someone before they propose. We’re just friends, but I will say this, I do love you as a friend. I wanted to buy you something nice that’s all. I bought you this ring as a symbol of our friendship, a promise to always have your back and so you know you’re never alone in this world.”

Tears began to fall as Alex explained what the ring meant and how much our friendship meant to him. I didn’t know what to say, but I knew from that moment on I would never feel alone again. Alex leaned over and wiped my tears from my face and smiled. Without a single thought in my mind, I wrapped my arms around him and said, “I love the ring and you mean the world to me.” Alex didn’t say anything. He just smiled.

“Okay, why don’t you put it on so we can see how pretty it looks on you?” Mom suggested.

I slipped it on my finger. It fit like it was made just for me. I loved it. It was so beautiful and it shined and sparkled with such beauty. As I stared down at my hand, I thought about how lucky I was to have Alex in my life. None of us even thought about Alex opening his present. We were all too busy admiring mine. When the shock and awe finally subsided, I turned toward Alex and said, “Open your present.” I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face.

When Alex opened the box his eyes lit up. I was guessing he really liked the watch. I waited for him to say something, but he just kept staring at it. I think he was trying to find the right words.

Finally he looked at me and said, “Wow, Julia, wow!”

I looked at both my parents and saw the expression on their face. Neither one of them knew what I had bought for Alex so it was a surprise for them as well. Alex took the watch out of the box. He examined it as if he had never seen a watch before. Then he put in on and before I could ask him if it fit okay, he wrapped his arms around my body knocking me flat on my back.

As much as my ribs were still hurting, I kept quiet. I didn’t want to ruin the moment by reminding him that I was still sore. I couldn’t help but to notice how close our faces were to each other. I could feel his breath and his lips were close enough that they were almost touching mine. In an instant I thought, gross, and pushed him back off of me.

“So I take it you really like your watch, Alex?”

“Like it? I love it! This is one of the nicest gifts anyone has ever given me,” he said while looking down at the watch and then back at me.