Page 5 of Already Falling

“Everything Okay Annika?” The teacher stands. I hope they didn’t notice us passing notes.

I swallow and look at the movie that I haven’t been watching. It’s frozen on a herd of Vikings with swords that look like they are invading a little town. “I’m just so upset that the Vikings hurt villages like that.” Please believe me.

Our teacher lets out a sigh and nods. “It really is upsetting. This part should be over soon.” They sit down and resume the movie. Phew

I look over to Reid, and he passes the note to Chloe and then turns to me, giving me a little smirk. Did he read my note? Did he see his name? I try to focus on the movie for the remainder of class, pushing down the embarrassment bubbling up through me.

THREE

ANNIKA

It’s a tradition for Chloe and me to see the premiere of the new vampire movie Darkfall. Well, this is only the second year we’ve done it, but after seeing the first, we swore to each other that it would be a tradition, just the two of us. This year is extra special because we are seventh graders, which means we can go to the mall alone. Usually, my mom tags along with us, but I begged her this time. I had to promise to text her every half hour, but it was worth it.

My mom drops us off at the entrance of the theater about an hour before the movie, so Chloe and I can walk around the mall and sneak some snacks in the giant tote bag she brought with her.

“Remember, Anni, every half hour! If you forget, I’m going to call you,” my mom yells from her Jeep.

“Stop yelling. Everyone can hear you.” I swear my mom lives to embarrass me.

“I’m not yelling. I’m raising my voice. Have fun! Text me!” my mom yells again and waits until we walk inside to drive off.

She’s so protective of me it feels overwhelming sometimes. However, I push those feelings away because I think of Chloe and her parents.

As we step into the mall, Chloe reaches into her bag and pulls out a small stack of papers and her strawberry lip balm.

“Anni, my grandma Alice gave me a box of random crafts and paper. I found some old postcards inside that have these stamps with the letter ‘A’ on them. I thought they were cool, and you could add them to your scrapbook.”

She applies her lip balm and hands me three postcards that I flip over and look at each as we start walking around the mall.

One has “Nashville” in big letters on one side, which is where her grandma lives. The back has some cursive scribbles that are hard to read, but Chloe is right. There’s a pink stamp in the corner with a fancy “A.” The others are pictures of cats, with the same hard-to-read scribbles on the back and the same stamps but in blue and the other in green.

“These are so cool. I love them so much! I wonder what the note says,” I say, trying to squint and read.

“I’m not sure. I was trying to figure it out too, but my grandma writes so sloppy, I can never read the birthday cards she sends me. There were a lot of cool papers in the box, too, that I’m excited to paint on.”

I look at the postcards again, remembering the first postcard I ever received. It was from Chloe in fourth grade. She was visiting her aunt in Florida during Christmas break. We missed each other so much and tried to talk on the phone, but when I tried to call, she was already asleep. So one day, I got a postcard in the mail, and it was from Chloe. It had a picture of a beach with palm trees on one side. Chloe wrote, “Hi!! I miss you!! Love, Chloe!!” on the other side. There was a daisy stamp in the corner. I got a scrapbook so I could keep the postcard safe, a little memory tucked in the pages.

I sent her a postcard back, and we always send one to each other when one of us travels far away from home. I think I’ve filled up half of the scrapbook with her postcards so far. Chloe’s the only one to send me postcards, but it’s cool to see these old ones that her grandma got. It’s kinda like reading a mini-story about someone’s life. I wonder if my mom has any old postcards I can add to the scrapbook as I take another look at the fancy “A” stamp.

“I’m definitely going to put these in my scrapbook. Thanks again,” she responds with a little wink and grabs my hand, skipping in the direction of the candy store.

I fill up a bag of peanut butter cups, and Chloe gets a mixture of gummy bears and sour straws. We are so different sometimes it makes me wonder why we are friends. But maybe us being different is why it works so well. We are never competing for the same things.

“Do you think I can fit a lemonade in my bag?” She walks over, slurping a sour straw in her mouth.

“Maybe if you don’t put the straw in and if you keep it really still.”

Before heading back to the theater, we load up her bag with two pink lemonades, a giant pretzel, and two corn dogs. I can already feel the stomach ache I’ll probably get later today, but this is our traditional movie food.

We buy tickets and make our way to the theaters, trying to act sly and hide Chloe’s bag from the theater attendant so they aren’t suspicious. We make it through easily and quickly slide over to Theater Five, where the movie is playing. Technically it premiered last night, but there was no way my mom was going to let us see it at midnight. Which reminds me I need to text her.

We find our seats at the very back center, unload her purse, then lay out all our snacks.

“So, is Reid your boyfriend yet or what?” Chloe gives me a sly look while sipping her lemonade.

My mouth drops open. “You can’t just say things like that out in public! What if someone from school hears you?” I quickly scan the theater. We arrived so early that we were the only ones in the theater. The previews haven’t even started yet.

“Oh, puh-lease, everyone knows you two like each other.” My face heats up at the topic of my crush. I can’t help it. I get all nervous but also excited to talk about Reid.