CHAPTER 4
*PAST*
“Three weeks after meeting”
Aaron
Maya was the first friend I made. Spending time with someone who wasn’t my brothers and sisters was nice.
There were great things about having siblings, like you always had someone to play with, and as the second oldest, I was the one who got to order them around—at least, when they wanted to be ordered around.
Maya didn’t have siblings, so she didn’t understand how difficult it could be to live with two younger sisters, a younger brother, and an older brother. They were loud, and I always had to share my toys.
Every time I got a gift, they wanted to play with it. Sometimes, the toy was broken before I could play with it properly.
My siblings tried to play with Maya like she was my new toy, but she was my best friend.
Maya was too busy looking up at the big sparkle lamp, or as Mom called it, the chandelier, in the corridor of my new house.
“Do you like our chandelier, Maya?”
I was trying to impress my new best friend.
“Chandelier?”
she asked.
“The big lamp.”
“It looks like the one in the princess movie,”
my sister Evelyn said timidly.
“Yes! Do you like princesses?”
my other sister, Cassie, asked with too much enthusiasm and a big smile.
Maya’s cheeks were red while she looked at me, and then between Cassie and Evelyn. Cassie’s smile started to fade and become a pout.
“I like it. I do,”
was Maya’s answer, and with that, Cassie smiled bigger than before.
“I love that movie. I have the same dress as the princess, and I love to dance around here on it. You look like her. Do you want to try it on? We can play princesses together.”
It was hard to compete with that, but I wanted Maya for myself. An idea came to my mind. We both loved to read, and I wanted to show Maya the books I’d read this summer. The library was the best place for my afternoon with Maya.
Dad said once that it looked like the one in the princess’ house. I didn’t see the similarity, but maybe Maya did.
Before I could escape from my siblings with Maya, my mom appeared and looked at me with an arched brown and a little smile. “Aaron, darling, have you introduced your siblings to Maya?”
My shoulders tensed a little. I didn’t want to waste time with my new best friend introducing my siblings, but the sooner I did, the sooner I could play with Maya.
“Maya, I have, like, a thousand siblings, so feel free to not remember their names.”
“Aaron, that wasn’t nice of you.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. So, my older brother is Nicholas, or Niko, as he likes to be called. He’s six years older than us. I don’t think you are going to meet him today. He’s always busy or in his room. After him, I’m the oldest. Then Carlo—he’s the one that you saw at the entrance with the bike. He’s going into second grade. The girls are Evelyn and Cassie. They aren’t twins but look like they are.”
“Maya, do you have any sisters?”
asked Evelyn.
“No, I don’t have any siblings,”
replied Maya.
“Oh, don’t worry, we can be your sisters,”
said Cassie with her cutest smile. I knew what she was doing: trying to steal my friend from me. I didn’t want Maya to be another sibling; I wanted her to be my friend.
Maya was looking at Cassie with a strange face. I couldn’t tell if she liked the idea or if she was trying to decline without hurting my sister’s feelings. “T-Thank you, Cassie. I would love that.”
Cassie was smiling bigger than ever. I glared at my little sister.
My mom cleared her throat and looked at us, trying to hide her smile.
“Well, who wants to prepare cookies with me? Maya hasn’t tried them yet.”
Cassie raised her arm and started to jump in place while chanting, “Me, me, me!”
I didn’t know how Maya didn’t want to leave at that moment. Next time, maybe we could hang out in her house.
Thanks to Mom, my little siblings let us go into the library alone. Maya looked around everywhere as we went up the stairs without looking at her steps. I was worried that she would fall.
I was shocked, too, when we moved here from our hometown. The big spiral staircase looked like one from a castle. I thought it was old, and my siblings had already made some chips on the stairs.
My parents laughed about it. They said to one of our new neighbors that with so many children, they stopped worrying about those small things and focused on how much laughter there always was at home.
Maya caught me looking at her, and I turned my head fast. I felt my cheeks turning red. I opened the door to the library and turned to see her reaction. Her mouth was open, and her brown eyes were shining. I grabbed her hand to pull her over to my favorite place. Her hand was very soft and a little cold.
The comfy seat was a big bench just below one of the big windows in the library. You could close the curtains around you and be in another world. It was so fun to do that when I was reading a book. It made me feel like I was inside the story.
My dad said that I should wear more sunscreen when I sat here in the full sun, and that he knew when I had been reading here because a couple more freckles appeared on my face. I didn’t know how he realized that. I couldn’t tell apart the new ones.
I brought Maya to the soft bench and let her try it out. Then, I ran to bring some of my favorite books and a blanket. When I came back, I saw her sitting on the edge with her hands on top of her lap.
She seemed shy and uncomfortable. “Are you alright? Would you prefer to play princesses with my sisters? It’s okay, I won’t be sad about it.”
Maybe a little, but she didn’t need to know that.
“No, no. I’m fine, it’s just … you have a beautiful house. I haven’t seen one this big before. And everything is so nice. So many, many books, too. I—”
“It’s different from our old one. Both were nice, but you know that I wasn’t very happy about moving. My mom received a great promotion, and they decided to move here. I was sad until I found this spot and started to read here. Try it.”
I didn’t know if anything I said made sense to her, but she seemed less uncomfortable and was sitting less on the edge, too. She looked out the window and saw the garden. I put the books I’d brought in the middle of us and sat.
“There are more if you want to look, but these are my favorites.”
I put the blanket on her lap. She looked at me curiously. “Your hands were cold.”
Our eyes connected for a moment, and then she turned away.
“Thank you. You’re very kind, Aaron.”
My face was burning. “It’s nothing,”
I said in a small voice. She started to check the books. “If you have read them already, you can grab something else.”
I already said that, but didn’t know what else to say. Maya looked at me and smiled. The corners of her mouth tipped up, turning into a full smile.
While she was looking through the pile, I decided to bring her more books. I brought another five books and then ten smaller ones. I felt her hand touch mine. It was warm now.
“More books,”
I said shyly. It was so hard to know what she must be thinking. With my siblings, I knew them so well, and if I ever said something that hurt them, they would tell me about it. Or my parents would. But I had never wanted to impress my siblings or gain their affection and friendship before.
“I picked this one,”
Maya’s soft voice said. I looked at the book. It was one about fairies that Evelyn had picked at the local bookstore last year.
She told me it was about fairies traveling to our world and looking for treasure. She said it was super fun. Also, it had pretty drawings with glitter; if you scraped some parts, you could smell different stuff. Maya seemed excited to read it, so I just smiled back.
We sat reading our books, but I got distracted when Maya giggled. She didn’t seem to realize that she was doing it. She was reading on her tummy, moving her feet.
I couldn’t concentrate on the words in my book. I was used to loud siblings, but I couldn’t focus now. I wanted to know what was making her laugh like that. I peeked at her book. She was in a part where the fairies were in a big forest.
“Aaron?”
“Yes?”
“I-Is it true that some pages … smell of stuff?”
She was almost whispering.
“My sister said that they did.”
“I have never seen a book that did that.”
“Me neither. We should check if it’s true.”
We both got closer at the same time to smell the page. Our cheeks were touching.
“It does.”
Maya sounded incredulous. I smelled again, remembering that I was supposed to be doing that. It did smell like pine trees and fresh air. How could they do that?
“Wow. It does.”
Maya’s eyes were shining like she’d just discovered the bestest thing in the whole world.
We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and checking the rest of the smells. I ended up reading the rest of her book with her, my own book forgotten.
We read until my sister came up after finishing with the cookies. Then, she wanted to play with Maya. We played hide-and-seek, rode our bikes, and played in our new treehouse.
Mom told us that Maya’s mom had called, saying she would be late because of her work. Maya didn’t seem fazed by it. Her mom worked a lot, and her dad did, too.
My mom made dinner, and for dessert, we ate the cookies that my sister and Mom made. Cassie was waiting for Maya’s verdict on the cookies, looking at Maya with so much interest that I thought she would make Maya not want to come back anymore.
Maya bit into the cookie. “They’re delicious. Best cookies I have ever had!”
Cassie jumped up and down, screaming with such a big smile that I couldn’t even help but grin.
Maya was her new favorite person in the whole world. She ran to Maya and hugged her so fast and hard that it almost made Maya fall.
I waited to see her try to remove my sister, but instead, she was shocked, and returned the hug after a beat a little awkwardly.
“Kids, why don’t we watch a movie?”
my dad asked.
After cleaning the table and grabbing the plates of cookies with other snacks, we went to the cinema room. It had three big sofas, some blankets, and a projector. After some arguments, we decided on the princess movie.
I was sitting next to Maya. Cassie sat on her other side, giggling and putting her head on Maya’s shoulder. It was one of her favorite movies, and Maya enjoyed it, too.
Dad and Mom started braiding my sisters’ hair. Cassie was with Dad, and Evelyn was with Mom.
“Maya, darling, do you want me to braid your hair?”
my mom asked Maya.
“Thank you. That’s very nice, but it’s fine. I’ll brush it when I get home.”
“Alright, if you change your mind, let me know.”
Maya hesitated for a second, contemplating. “My hair gets very tangled, and it takes a lot of time to brush it,”
Maya said shyly, touching her hair. Her hair was messy after playing.
“I get it. Mine’s the same. I have some tricks, though. I can show you if you want?”
“Thank you. Yes. That would be great.”
My mom used some cream on Maya’s hair and started to brush her hair softly.
Dad finished braiding Evelyn’s hair, and she was asleep in his arms. Mom finished Maya’s hair and put a big blue bow in her hair, like the one the princess wore in the movie. Maya couldn’t stop touching her hair. It looked so soft. She let me touch it while smiling shyly at me.
“It looks just like the princess’ hair,”
I whispered, and she smiled bigger.
“Thanks.”
Her cheeks were pink.
We heard the doorbell ring, and my mom rose to answer it. Maya and I went reluctantly. Maya’s mom had the same hair color as her daughter and seemed tired, but she smiled at Maya with big eyes and a bigger smile.
“Your hair looks fantastic, Mai. Were you good?”
“She’s such a lovely girl. The kids had a great time together. My baby is obsessed with her. Smiling so big. Maya, darling, you are more than welcome to come when you want.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Willow. I had so much fun.”
She was blushing.
“Thank you so much for taking care of my baby. Now, we shouldn’t intrude more. Let’s go home, Mai.”
Maya was saying bye with her hands, stopping only to open the car door and put on her seatbelt, and we both continued to do so until her car was out of sight.