It was a hot day in March in our small town, Celina, Texas. Me and the other boys had taken our shirts off, while the girls had on sun dresses of pinks, yellows, and whites. Some of the girls had pictures of flowers on their dress, while others just wore a crown of flowers on their head. Me and some of the other boys were swimming in the lake. I stayed away from the other boys, though. I just didn’t know how to talk to others very well, except for my grandma, who I’ve lived with since I was little. I don’t ever remember living with anyone else.

Our house is right next to the lake. I could smell the apple pie my grandma was baking, it’s my favorite. Laziness had spread over the town. You could see the whole town from my doorstep. “Jade Dirk!” I heard my name being said, as I turned in the direction of the voice I saw Johanna and Jonathan Crow or as everyone else called them, ‘the Crow twins’, such named for they are identical twins. They both have brown hair, green eyes, and they are both 5’6”.

I stammered out a, “Hi. How’s the team this year?” Johanna and Jonathan are both on the football team. Johanna plays running back, while Jonathan is our teams’ quarter back.

The twins replied in unison, “Were going to win the championship this year. Those Vikings are going down!” Our teams’ name is the Black Rose. Not many people take us seriously because of our name. The twins continued, “When we win, we’ll show those talent scouts whose boss.” The twins have always said they were going to go to the same college and play football side-by-side. A little while later, Ceirra Sherry walked up, reading a book.

I stammered, “Hi, Ceirra. Which book are you reading?”

She said, “Oh, hi Jade. I’m reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series.”

I said, “Oh that’s cool. I’ve read those before. My Grandma owns the series. You could borrow any you don’t have.”

“Oh, thanks. Could I borrow the last two books of the series?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks again Jade. I’ll see you around.”

“Ok, bye.” When I looked away from Ceirra, I found that Johanna and Jonathan had left. Let me backtrack, Ceirra is one of the smartest and prettiest girls in school. She has ankle length dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and looks like a pixie; she is also 5’2”. I got out of the lake and went home to find the books for Ceirra. When I got home, I went and got dry clothes on and went to the attic. While looking through boxes of books me and my Grandma have read and reread, I found the books for Ceirra. When I picked the last one up, a piece of paper fell out. When I asked my Grandma about it, she told me it was hers.

“Oh, I used to put my wishes on here, the sad part was, they came true.” I tried to ask her what she meant, but all she said was, “Nothing dear, just be careful, please.” That night I wrote down my heart’s desire, to be able to speak clearly, and not stammer in my sentence structure. The next day the Crow twins were walking toward me.

They yelled out in unison, “Hey Jade!”

I said, “Hey Johanna and Jonathan!” They stopped dead in their tracks, they noticed my stammer was gone, and just stared at me, mouths ajar. I walked right on by, smiling as wide as can be. That night I got bolder, I wrote down what I’ve wanted to do for years. I knew I would be good at it, but I never had the courage to try. The next day I knew it had come true. I was standing next to the Crow twins on a large expanse of green field. I felt good in my uniform that fit just right on my slim 6’ structure. (Maybe I should explain how I look, my hair is down to my shoulders, and is a deep raven black color. I also have black eyes, making it look like my eyes are only pupils. Growing up, I was always a tall, freaky looking kid. )

I was part of the football team on our last game night until the championships, the Black Roses against the Yellow Jackets. It was 3-3, and this kick was our last chance, so I prepared myself as our schools kicker, and I made it! The Black Roses won! The next day, I was congratulated, but somewhere inside of me, this didn’t feel right. The one person I liked the most wasn’t there, Ceirra. When I went to find the paper, it was gone. I went to Ceirra’s, and found out she had it.

I ran in and told her, “Don’t write on that!” I told her about when I found it up until that moment. She handed me the paper, and I wrote for everything to go back to before I found the paper, except that I would remember it all, and I would have the paper. When it came true, I ripped the paper up and burned it. After that, I went back to being me, adding on to myself so I could speak clearly and be less shy. And I even got up the courage to try out for the team. Overall, after that experience, my life got better, a little at a time.