“I’m s-s-sorry,” she stuttered.
“It’s okay. It didn’t hurt too bad.” I acted like I was gonna cry. “Want your pebble back?” I’d reached over and picked up the pebble and I was holdin’ it out to her.
“Yes, please.” I handed it to her and when my hand touched hers, she pulled back real quick.
“You okay?” She was lookin’ a little strange.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just kinda nervous. I’m starting school here today. My parents are in the office signing me up.”
“What grade ya in?” I asked, really hopin’ she’d say third.
“Third. What grade are you in?” She asked me as she pulled her pretty red hair back behind her ear. I could see her little pearl earring.
“I’m in third grade too. We’ll be in the same class. What’s your name?”
“Suzanna. Suzanna Mallory. What’s yours?” she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Cade Walker.” I did what my dad always did when he met someone new. I stood up and reached my hand out to her. “Nice to meet ya.” I shook her hand the best I knew how.
“Nice to meet you too, Cade Walker.”
Wow, she had a real pretty smile. I thought I was gonna like havin’ her in my class.
Suzanna~
“Why do we have to move again, Mommy?” I tried to say through my tears. “I just made some friends and I love my teacher. Why can’t we just stay here?”
My mom, Melinda was not a sweet woman, and today, her meanness was shining. “Suzanna Marie Mallory, I’m sick of explaining this to you. Your father got a new job and we have to move. That’s just the way it is. Now stop acting like a titty-baby and get your little bottom out of the car.”
I did what she asked. I leaned over and picked up a little pebble out of the parking lot of my new school. I was going to miss my friends from my old school. Why did Daddy have to get a new job? I wanted to stay in Joplin. I was so happy there. We were all happy there.
My dad was waiting for us in the hallway. “We’re going to go in here and get you registered, Suz. You stay out here and we’ll be right back.” My dad pinched my cheek as he took my mom’s hand to lead her into the office.
I dropped the pebble and started kicking it across the floor. I wasn’t really paying any attention to what I was doing. I was just bored, a little sad, and a lot nervous. I didn’t know anybody here. This was going to be so hard. School sucked enough when you had friends to help you get through the day, but when you didn’t know anybody, it was really rough. I’d never been accused of being shy, but it was still hard to make friends when you were the new girl. My daddy always called me “mouth”. I wasn’t sure sometimes if he meant that in a nice way or not. I guess I was a little outspoken. I always said what was on my mind, when it was on my mind. I didn’t really believe in holding anything in.
I went to kick the pebble and missed, kicking something a lot bigger than the pebble. I almost fell right into the little blonde-haired boy sitting on the floor in the hallway. I thought he was about the same age as me. He was just sitting there, on the ground, in the hallway. He must’ve done something pretty bad to get that punishment.
“I’m s-s-sorry.” When I get nervous I stutter. Not a whole lot, but just enough to make me sound like a real dork. My mom always joked, “It’s just your meanness coming out, Suz.” I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t stutter every time she spoke if it was caused from meanness.
The boy told me he was okay and handed me my pebble. When his hand touched mine, I bout jumped outta my hide. That was weird. I guess I was just so darn nervous, that he kinda shocked me.
He asked me my name and looked at me with the brightest green eyes. I’d never really seen eyes like that....they looked like green ice. The sunshine coming in from the window on the other side of the hall was shining through his blonde hair and making his eyes sparkle. Something about him made me a lot less nervous.
He told me his name was Cade Walker and I felt like we were gonna be friends. Thank goodness I would at least know one person in my class. That would take some of the fear out of the first day of school.
The next day my mom dropped me off at school and didn’t even walk me into my classroom. Luckily I knew where to go after seeing Cade yesterday. Well, I figured that was our class he was sitting outside of. I had my Strawberry Shortcake backpack and my few pencils and supplies I had from my old school. My mom wasn’t real big on buying school supplies for me, or clothes, or food, or anything really. She was more about Melinda Mallory, than anyone else. Thank goodness my dad was there to make sure we had dinner every night. I really think she would make food for her and let us starve.
Cade met me at the door to our room. “Mornin’, Suzanna. I brought somethin’ for ya.” He had the biggest smile on his face when he turned around to grab something out of his backpack. “My momma gives me one of these every year on my first day of school. My cousin Cord makes fun of me, but I don’t care. I asked Momma to make ya one. I hope ya like it.”
He handed me a long skinny purple pencil box. It had my name written in really fancy letters on the front. It had lavender lace all around the edges and it was pretty heavy.
“Momma told me she liked makin’ one for a girl.” Cade was pretty proud of this present.
It was so beautiful. I opened the pretty purple box and it was filled with stuff. Everything I would need for my first day of school. It had a little package of tissues, erasers, tons of pencils, a pack of sugar-free gum, a ruler, scissors, a protractor, and some pretty stickers with purple flowers on them.
“I love it, Cade. Tell your momma I said thank you.” I couldn’t quit smiling. My mom never gave me stuff like that for school. I always got the cheap, generic school supplies - nothing special or pretty. The only reason why I got any school supplies was because my dad would take me to pick them out. Usually the day before school started. So we wouldn’t have many choices.
“I’ll tell her, but…well, it’s kinda from me, Suzanna. I mean, I asked her to make it for ya.” Cade put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his shoes. He looked hurt. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. I just wanted to thank his mom for such a sweet present.
“Thanks, Cade. I love it.” I leaned over and pecked his cheek. I still couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I had to look like such a dork. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like Cade was blushing.
Cade whispered to me, “Mrs. Merritt can seem a little scary, but she’s really okay. Just don’t ever put a frog in her desk. Whew...she don’t like that.” He sounded like he was speaking from experience.
I nodded and started over to Mrs. Merritt’s desk.
“Good morning, Miss Mallory. Are you ready for your first day of school?” She asked with a sweet smile on her face. Well, she did have a sweet smile on her face, until Cade peeked out from behind me. “Mr. Walker, take your seat please,” she ordered sternly through gritted teeth. She definitely wasn’t smiling anymore.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cade replied as he headed back to the far back corner of the room to his desk. I really hoped I could sit close to my new friend, but Mrs. Merritt put me in the front row. Guess she wanted to see what kind of student I was.
I took my new pretty pencils to the front of the room to the old silver pencil sharpener attached to the wall beside the chalkboard. It was really old and super loud. Everyone was staring at me. My face was burning and bright red. I decided I would just sharpen one pencil for today. I could save the others for another day.
When it was time for our morning recess, I walked outside as the rest of the class ran out in all different directions across the playground. The swings were always my favorite part of recess. I loved to swing back and forth and feel my hair swinging in the breeze.
There were lots of girls swinging. Well, there were until I sat down and started to sway back and forth. It was like I had cooties or something. They shot me mean looks, like I was invading their territory and then they took off. Being the new girl really sucked. I hoped I never had to feel that way again.
I was so relieved to see Cade walking up to me. “Ya want me to push ya?” Cade asked as he walked around behind me and put his hands on my back.
Holding onto the chains of the swing, I spun around to face him. “No, but we could have a race. See who can swing the highest. You want to?” I was so excited I bet I looked like my eyes were about to bug outta my head. I was so glad to have Cade to play with during recess. I so wanted him to sit down and swing with me. The thought of spending recess alone made me want to cry.
“Heck, yeah!” He jumped on the swing next to me. “I’m so gonna kick your butt.” Gosh, this boy was full of himself.
“I don’t think so, cowboy!” I yelled as I started kicking my legs back and forth. Cade smiled as we swung higher and higher. We were laughing and I was having such a good time. We decided it was a tie and I thought maybe this new school wouldn’t be so bad with Cade here to save me.
About a Year Later
Cade~
“Ranger, come on boy.” I was yellin’ for him, but I couldn’t get him to come outta hidin’. “Come on, Ranger. Where the heck are ya?”
“He’s with me,” I heard Suzanna holler from behind the barn. When I found her, she was kneeling behind the barn and Ranger was on his back gettin’ his belly scratched. That was his favorite thing to do.
“Boy, I’ve been callin’ ya forever,” I groaned as I leaned down and scratched his ear. Ranger was my big ole red and white collie dog. I’d had him since I was big enough to walk. But I was beginnin’ to think he liked Suzanna more than me.
Since that first day at school over a year ago, Suzanna had come home with me just about every day as soon as that final bell rang. Her mom was glad to have her out of her hair, and my mom was thrilled to have a girl around the house. I think all the Walker boys were about to drive my poor mom to the loony bin.
Suzanna would help my mom make dinner and they would talk about girly things. I didn’t know or care what they were talkin’ about - it was just nice to have Suzanna around. She was pretty fun, for a girl. Cord, Clay, and the twins spent a lot of time at my house, too. They were fun to wrestle around with, but Suzanna and me did so much more than that. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty at all. We’d play for hours out in the barn, practically rollin’ in crap. Her mom got really mad at her for ruining one of her dresses, so my mom started havin’ her change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt when she got to our house. My mom would buy her clothes when she’d go into town. She loved buying her stuff. And besides that she couldn’t stand the thought of Suzanna gettin’ in trouble at home. Our moms only met a few times, and let’s just say it wasn’t real pleasant when they saw each other. They tried to avoid each other if possible. My mom couldn’t stand the way Mrs. Mallory treated Suzanna.
“I don’t think he’s feeling right, Cade.” Suzanna looked worried while she was softly rubbin’ Ranger’s belly.
“Aw, he’ll be alright. He probably just ate somethin’ he wasn’t supposed to.” I was sure he’d be fine. He was always gettin’ into somethin’ he shouldn’t and gettin’ an upset stomach. It’d work itself out in a day or two. “We better get back in the house, before Momma sends the army out after us. You know how she gets when it starts gettin’ dark and we ain’t up by the house.”
“I don’t wanna leave him, Cade. Look at his eyes. He looks like he’s crying.”
When I looked down at Suzanna, she had tears streamin’ down her face. She ‘bout near made me cry - and that was not somethin’ I ever did.
“I’ll go get my dad. Just wait here with Ranger,” I said as I started walkin’ off toward the house. My dad was walking out onto the front porch when I got in our front yard. “Dad! Suzanna thinks Ranger is sick. Can you come check him out?”
“Sure, son. Where’s he at?” My dad was steppin’ down the stairs toward me.
“He’s out behind the barn. Suzanna’s there with him. I told her he probably just ate somethin’ he wasn’t supposed to, but she’s kinda scared.” I needed to make sure he knew it wasn’t me worryin’ about Ranger. The girl was worryin’ about him, boys didn’t do that.
When we got back out behind the barn, Suzanna’s head was down and her chest was heavin’. My dad went over and took Ranger out of her arms. He looked like he was asleep. When dad picked him up, he looked like…no. He couldn’t be…I just left. I wasn’t gone ten minutes. Suzanna slowly stood up and walked over to me.
“I’m s-s-sorry, Cade.” Then she started cryin’ again and put her arms around my neck. I couldn’t believe it. My dad took Ranger over and laid him down in the field. He came back over to us.
“I’m sorry, son. Ranger’s gone.”
What? This was crazy. I didn’t remember a time when I didn’t have Ranger. He was always there for me. Suzanna was takin’ this real hard, too. She and Ranger were buddies. We never went to the pond or played outside without Ranger.
“We’ll have to prepare a place to bury him. I’ll go get Larry and see what we can do about a marker for his grave.”
We had a small funeral for Ranger that night. Just me, Momma, Dad, Suzanna, and Larry. I didn’t cry until my mom put her arm around me and whispered, “It’s okay, son. Even big, tough boys like you cry once in a while. Just let it go.” Then I let the tears fall. Suzanna reached down and grabbed my hand and threaded her fingers through mine. I looked over at her and we were both cryin’. She squeezed my hand and I knew at that moment that I would never meet another girl like my Suzanna.
~Chapter 3~
Thirteen Years Old
Cade~
“Would you please come down? Pleeease?” I begged Suzanna to get her butt out of the tree, but she wouldn’t do it.
“I will not! I don’t trust you, Cade Walker,” she yelled down at me.
“What do I have to say to get you to come down, Suz?” I knew what I needed to say, but I wasn’t gonna say it.
“Um, you could start with ‘I promise not to throw you in the pond, Suzanna’ and then we can see if I believe you and go from there,” she snarled at me.
“Suzanna, I promise not to throw you in the pond. Now please come down out of the tree.” I was holdin’ my arms behind my back. What she didn’t know was that I had my fingers crossed. And when your fingers are crossed and you make a promise, it’s automatically canceled out by the crossed fingers. That was the truth of the matter. Everybody knew it.