Page 1 of Already Falling

PART 1

CHILDHOOD

ONE

ANNIKA

As soon as I push myself through the heavy double doors to the cafeteria, I know today won’t be like any other day. The smell of floor cleaner and two-day-old pizza hits my nose first. It is a typical smell for this place on a Monday. As soon as I walk in, I see the new boy for the first time. The girls in my class were whispering about him this morning before our teacher did roll call. They mentioned there was a new kid in the other fourth-grade class across the hall. They were saying how cute he was and who was going to kiss him first.

Gross.

I don’t understand why the girls in my class are so obsessed with boys. They smell like dirt and are always burping.

But here he is, the new kid, standing at the salad bar. Looking at him gives me a weird tingling feeling in my tummy. I grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after scanning my lunch card and make my way to the salad bar, standing across from him with only sliced tomatoes and celery sticks separating us. He is about my height, which isn’t out of the ordinary since I stand in the back row of the class pictures. He has messy brown hair with little blond streaks that look like the sun brushed its fingers through his hair.

I grab an apple, so it doesn’t look weird that I’m staring at him. His arms are tan, and there are freckles along his hands and cheeks like he spent all summer outside. I wonder why he moved to Ojai. It’s so boring here. Especially since we are already a few months into the school year.

I wonder where he’s going to eat his lunch? I think as he fills his plate with orange slices and wanders over to the table with the rest of his class. The lunch room is divided by classes, with each getting their own long lunch table. But everyone sits in clumps along the table, huddled around their friends. The kickball boys, as I like to call them, sit at the far end of the table, while me and my friends sit on the other end. The boys are usually too rowdy and throw food at each other. As the new boy approaches his class’s table, I see my friend Isaac wave at him to sit near them. I look down at his outfit. He’s wearing baggy jeans and a sweater without a hood. He has skateboard shoes on. Those big chunky ones.

I join my friends at my lunch table and try to be smooth about glancing over Chloe’s giant head of curls to look at the new boy. He is laughing and chatting with the other boys in his class as if he’s been here since kindergarten. Chloe keeps waving her hands around the air as she tells a story about her parents arguing last weekend. She said she locked herself in her room, and they promised to buy her a new toy if she unlocked the door. So that’s how she ended up with a new paint set.

Chloe is my best friend for life. “BFFL,” like our friendship bracelets say. She knows me better than my own mother! I can have a look on my face, and she just knows I ate too much bread and my tummy is hurting. She’s been my friend for as long as I can remember. Which isn’t that long since I’m only nine. We do everything together. We are always in the same class and hang out almost every weekend. Last spring, we both played soccer, and after the first practice, we both decided we hated playing soccer.

I moved to Ojai in first grade. I don’t remember too much before we moved, but my parents said we used to live in Santa Barbara, which is a few towns away. But I remember the first day at my new school like it was yesterday. I was so nervous to be in a new school and didn’t know anyone. The school looked so big back then.

My mom, Mia (or Mamma Mia as my dad calls her), walked with me to my classroom and introduced me to my teacher, Mr. Kelly. He looked younger than my parents, was tall, and wore a brown suit jacket like my dad wears when he goes to work. My dad, Eddie, sells people their dream houses for work. Sometimes he takes me with him when he gets it all nice to show people. I like pretending which room would be mine if I lived there.

Mr. Kelly had a seating chart and led me to my seat. The classroom was decorated for the fall season, and Mr. Kelly had made a big paper-mâché tree in the corner with orange and red leaves on it.

Everyone else in the class filed in, and a girl with wild curly hair plopped down next to me. She looked to be a whole head shorter than I was and had those cool light-up shoes I always see commercials for on TV. All the desks were paired up in rows in the room. She pulled out a purple notebook with “Chloe” written in big letters with a heart around it on the front.

“Welcome to first grade, everyone! I’m Mr. Kelly, and I can’t wait to learn new things with you this year.”

“Hi, Mr. Kelly,” we all responded in a sing-song way that made him laugh.

“First, I’d like you all to grab a leaf from this big tree over here, write your name and birthdays on it, and stick it back on the tree. Go ahead!”

He made a big jump back as kids started rushing over to the tree.

I grabbed a pretty orange leaf and started shuffling through my backpack, looking for my pencil. I felt my stomach drop when I realized I forgot my pencil case in my room. I made a big deal at the store with my mom that we needed to get pens and pencils for school, and I couldn’t believe I had left the case on my desk at home. I felt tears start to form in my eyes. I kept holding my breath, hoping the rush of feelings would stop.

“Hey, are you okay?” The girl next to me poked my arm.

I sniffled and looked over at her. She had a really pretty pink ruffle shirt on and heart earrings that sparkled like her blue eyes. Her nose was turned up a little bit like a button, and her cheeks were pink like my mom’s roses.

“I forgot my pencil case, and now they’re going to put me back in kindergarten,” I responded to her, sniffling again.

She knocked her head back, laughing.

“Shhhh, I don’t want Mr. Kelly to find out.” I looked over at our teacher, who roamed the class helping the other kids write their names.

“You are so silly. Mr. Kelly is so nice, don’t worry.” She tried to pat my shoulder to calm me down, but I was still worried. “Hey, I have some extra pencils. You can have one of mine.”

She reached into her bag and handed me a green pencil with hearts on it.

“You really like hearts,” I said to her while taking her pencil. “Thank you, I’m Annika. I’ll give you back the pencil tomorrow when I bring my pencil case with me.”

“I’m Chloe, and keep the pencil, my gift to you as my new friend.” She gave me a big smile, and I saw she was missing one of her front teeth.