The New Girl

2

Short Skirts and Tears

Alexa was sitting in the branches of her favorite climbing tree, peering through an opening at the lake, and on the distant shore, Charlie’s house. She really missed Charlie, but was worried that if she were to go over to his house now, he would be angry with her, and she would run home crying because her old best friend never wanted to see her again. Her old school bus would pass his house every day, and she would wave to his dog, Brady, and Brady would bark and follow the bus to the end of the property. Sometimes when she passed his house in the summer, she would think she saw Charlie through the window, but she could never be sure. She never saw him outside. Alexa often wondered what he would say, if he said anything at all, if she passed his house and he was outside.

Alexa was cruelly brought back from her thoughts by the appearance of the last person she wanted to see right now- annoying, mean, Niles Vanda. He hardly ever came by, but one time at Conrad’s birthday party, he had insulted her and made her cry. Alexa cries easily, but she hates it when people see.

He asked, “Alexa? Are you there?”

“What do you want, Vanda?” Alexa said as she slowly climbed out of the tree.

“Err… you’re a girl…”

“How nice of you to notice,” Alexa retorted coldly.

“I was wondering… could you help me?”

“I don’t know of anyone who could help you.”

He laughed. “I mean … well, I have a crush on a girl. How do I get her to like me?”

“Well, it really depends on the girl. Try to get to know her. That’s pretty much all I got right now.”

“Okay, thanks. Hey, umm, Conrad’s going to Harvest Day today in town, and he invited us to come along. Do you wanna?”

“Yeah, I guess. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” Alexa ran inside, grabbed her wallet, wrote a note to her dad, saying where she was and Conrad’s cell number, and then dashed back outside.

Alexa and Niles met Conrad and Jack (who was Andy’s age- two years younger) outside one of the family-owned restaurants in town. Conrad, Jack, Conrad’s mom, and her middle-aged lady friends had just finished lunch, and now the kids grabbed their bikes (except Jack, his mom had dropped him off, so he had to run to catch up), and rode to the local ice cream shop. Neither Conrad nor Jack had money, so Alexa and Niles paid for the sprinkle-covered soft serves and water ices. Then, after liking their fingers, the three almost-teenagers, and Jack, wandered the rest of the little town. Most of the booths were selling little crafty items or fancy cheeses or bread, so after a little while, they parked their bikes in a little open park, and began climbing trees. Alexa found a branch that would have been perfect for hanging upside-down on, but she was wearing an almost-too-short blue-and-black skirt over black leggings and a blue shirt that was too small, and she did not anyone to be able to see down it. At one point, the four were just riding around for fun, and as they passed Main Street, Alexa saw Charlie sitting on the curb outside a convenience store, looking right at her.

    Eventually, Conrad got a call on his cell phone, and it was Alexa’s dad calling for her to come back home to pack her things into the car and drive to Durmon. Niles said he probably had to go home too, and by this time, Jack had already gone home with his mom. So Alexa said goodbye to Conrad, then hopped on her bike and rode home, and Niles was right behind her. When the two reached Alexa’s house, the sun was already setting, and Alexa said goodbye to Niles, though she figured she probably wouldn’t really miss him, and went inside. Her first step was to call Andy and say goodbye.

When Alexa and her father had loaded everything into the car, Alexa went upstairs to make sure they didn’t forget anything. They didn’t, so she began walking back down the hall, when she suddenly glanced at one of the doors she was about to pass. The door had a little hand-made sign naming the space beyond the slightly ajar door as ‘Jordan’s Room’. Alexa opened the door. Nearly everything was covered in dust, but she could see footprints in the dust that were clearly very recent. Alexa went in and sat down on the army-green bedspread, sending up a huge cloud of dust that made her sneeze. On the bedside table was a large picture of a handsome black-haired young man in full army uniform. Covering the walls around his old bed was a collection of several certificates stating his many changes in rank. On one otherwise blank wall was a massive collage of pictures of Jordan, laughing, smiling, towering over both parents, at Christmas, blowing out his twenty birthday candles, in his army uniform, and every other time that Jordan is smiling in a picture. At the bottom, in large black text, ‘Jordan Samuel Brown; January 18, 1987-July 21, 2009’ He was 24. Alexa stared at this through a film of tears.

“Alexa!” her father called up the stairs, “Are you ready to go?”