The Heart Never Lies

“Honey, I promise this is going to be a good thing for us.”

I looked up at my mother. Her dark brown, curly hair cascading to her mid back. My father in the driver’s seat smiled at me from the rear view mirror. I clutched my doll to my chest.

Leaving the friends I had, we packed to Arizona. A new place. Traveling almost the whole country, I was afraid of what was to come.

We pulled in front of a two story house. I waited ‘till the car was stopped. My mother opened my door to climb out the car.

I jumped out of the car. Hand in hand with my mother, we walked inside the house. I held my doll tighter as we stepped in further. There was a glimpse of light out the window, enough sunlight for us to see. I looked at mother. She smiled and squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be fine. I promise” I smiled. She always knew what to say.

I let go of my mother’s hand and explored upstairs. I was stunned. I never expected this house to be that huge. I think I’m sort of liking this place. I heard slow footsteps going up. Dad noticed me and gave me a big bear hug. That always made me warm and fuzzy inside
.
“So what do you think?” He ruffled my hair. “Like it?”

I set my doll down to quickly fix my hair.

“Yes daddy, I do.” I grinned. “Mom has great taste!”

“Wha-Hey! I picked it too you know!” Dad doesn’t really act like a dad. He’s more of a best friend. Although, he does have one of those “fatherly” moments from time to time.

“Sure dad!” I giggled. Daddy was just really fun to make fun of.

“And for punishment of making fun of me, you’re helping us unload the boxes.”
I frowned.
“But Mommy said it was too heavy for me!” I pouted and gave him the biggest puppy look. He couldn’t resist that. Ever. He raised his eyebrow. I continued to smile sweetly.

“Fine, fine.” He sighed. It always works. I smiled to myself as I watched him leave to go downstairs. With further inspection, I reached my supposed room. Holding on to my doll, I slightly turned the door knob and pretended I was in a horror movie. The door opened to an empty room.

“Charlie,” I spoke to my doll. “What do you think? I think it’s fabulous.” I giggled softly to my doll. The room was my dream room. It had white walls, which will be changed later. I continued to walk around the room. There was a walk in closet too! No way! I quickly walked to my window. The sunlight hurting my eyes a little, I looked out. I grimaced. Why is there another window out my window? As I looked further, I saw a young boy playing video games. He noticed me staring and smiled. I swiftly turn away and dashed downstairs and out the door.

I bumped into someone. I glanced up to meet a pair of eyes filled with astonishment.

“Hayden?” He asked and felt my forehead “You okay?”

“Yes, dad I’m fine” I said with a reassuring smile. This is one of those “fatherly” moments or should I say motherly moments. He can be such a worry wart sometimes.

“Oh, really now?” He folded his arms and raised his eyebrows. He leaned closer to see me eye to eye. “Then why is your face so red?”

“W-what?” I stuttered.

“Hayden, are you sure you’re okay?” I felt his hand on my forehead again.

“Yes, Dad” I quickly changed the subject. “Oh, look, there’s a lot of boxes left. Let me help you with that.” I picked up a box. I left my dad with a confused face and heard a mumble of ‘weird girl’. Thanks dad. Love you too.

We finally finished unloading and unpacking the boxes. We finished by 9PM. I went up to my room. Now it looks so much better with all my posters, stuff toys, clothes, bed, and of course Charlie! I picked up Charlie and gently brushed her golden locks. While I was at it, I straightened up her red dress.

“Hayden!” Mom yelled, “Dinner time!”

“Coming mom!”

I set down Charlie on my bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “See you later Charlie!” I went downstairs jumping and skipping steps. I was greeted with the smell of steak and…strangers? I scurried to the kitchen.

“Mom,” I whispered. “Who are those people?”

She smiled and crouched down. “Sweetie, those are our neighbors. They’ll be having dinner with us.” I stared at her. “Be nice okay?” And with a kiss on the cheek, she pushed me out. I looked at the strangers before me. There were three of them. The lady next to my dad had long, curly brown hair. She wore pearls and had a sophisticated blazer and skirt. The man next to her had black hair and pale skin. He wore a casual green polo and blue jeans. They were a gorgeous pair of parents I’d say. I looked at the boy next to him. The boy with a smile to die for. He looked more of his dad. He had short, black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a breathtaking smile. He wore a green Hurley tee and plaid shorts. I think I was ogling at him too long ‘cause everyone was staring at me anxiously.

“Uh…”

“Hayden,” My mom nudged “Tell them your name.” When did she even get there? I fiddled with my fingers. The sound of silence and the feeling of nervousness haunts me. My stomach had the butterflies. My throat is starting to hurt. And I think I’m shaking.

“H-hello, M-my name is H-Hayden.” The cricket filled the silence. Well, this is awkward. I darted out of the dining room and into the kitchen. I started panicking. I paced back and forth, getting restless. I suddenly bumped into something. I glanced up at the pair of blue eyes above me. I seemed to get lost in his eyes. The next thing I realized, he pulled me into a hug. And held my shoulders and made me look him in the eyes.

My heart beat increased.

“I’m Daniel!” He flashed his white pearls at me.

My heart skipped a beat.

“And we’re going to be best friends!”

My heart exploded.

-one year later-
“I told you so!”

Daniel and I have been the best of friends for a year now. Ever since that day, we were inseparable. Everyday, we were side by side. We would go to our secret place, our secret garden. Where we were free. It was a place where we could be ourselves and nothing else would matter. The garden was filled with the scent of all types of flowers: roses, carnations, daisies, everything. There was a bird bath where we would watch birds bathe themselves. A path of stones led to a mini hut, where we would hang out most of the time. There was also a beautiful streaming creek. Sometimes, we would play with the water and pretended we were fishes.

Daniel wanted to celebrate one year of our friendship. We went inside the mini hut. It wasn’t big, but fit just enough for the two of us.

“So..” Daniel turned to me “You ready for your present?” He had a huge smile on his face I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Here it is!” He pulled out a bright blue box with a cute, matching ribbon wrapped around it. Oh and there was a small tag too.

To: My bestest friend

I giggled as I slowly opened it. The box revealed a key necklace. I beamed “Daniel! This is gorgeous!” He took the necklace and put it around my neck. He then showed me his keychain. He had a soccer ball, his house key, and a heart? I looked at him curiously. He chuckled. “This is so you can have the key to my heart.” Haha. Pun.

I sniggered. “Uhuh. Sure, sure.”

“Are you ready for your present?” He was going to love his present. He always talked about how he loved soccer. He would watch every world cup game. Ever since that day he told me about soccer, I saved up my allowance to buy him the best gift.

“Heck yeah I am!” His eyes were full of excitement. I handed him a brand new soccer ball it was wrapped around with a silky, red ribbon. My eyes locked with his.

“Thank you Hayden. This is the best gift anyone has ever given me.” He flashed his white pearls at me. Seeing him in high spirits made me really happy.

“What are friends for?” I smiled. He stood up and tossed the ball on the ground. He looked back at me and smiled. “We’re best friends.” My heart skipped a beat. What is this feeling? Love? I’m way too young for that! I shook those thoughts away and watched him play happily.

“What are you sitting there for?” I snapped back into reality.

“Hm? Did you say something?” Daniel rolled his eyes.

“C’mon! Let’s play some soccer!” I stood up and went over to him.

We continued to play until it was time to go home. “I’ll race you!” we ran full speed. He may be good at soccer but I’m amazing at running. “Looks like I beat you again.” I smirked. Daniel was out of breath. “You okay?” Uh-oh. I think I overdid it. I held his shoulder to keep him steady. He suddenly pulled me into a hug. De ja vu.

“Daniel?”

Daniel lifted his head “Thank you ,Hayden, for this perfect day.”

-a week later-

Morning came. I walked to my window and opened it to get some fresh air. I looked out on the streets. There were moving trucks? Someone new? I'll check that out later with Daniel. Breakfast comes first! The smell of eggs and bacon in the morning made my stomach growl.

“Thanks for breakfast mom! I’m going out for a while!”

“Okay. Be careful! Be back before dinner!”

I made my way to Daniel’s house.

Ding dong

The door opened to reveal a Daniel Jones.

“C’mon Daniel! Let’s check out the new kids.” I motioned him to come. We walked the streets receiving a few awkward glances. We saw five boys and one girl. They looked about our age too. A group of four boys approached us.

Once we reached them the tallest one stood in front of the others. The way he looked intimidated me. I got a little closer to Daniel. The tall boy had a scar on his left cheek making you think he wasn't one to mess with.

"Hi, I'm Rafe. We just moved here." His smiles softened his face.

"Hi, I'm Daniel and this is Hayden." I timidly waved to them. One with blonde hair came to stand next to Rafe.

"You didn't forget us, did you?" He looked at us. "Hello, I'm Conner. Please excuse my dearest brother. He loves most of the attention. These are," He pointed behind him. "Lucas and Ryan. We're adopted brothers that's why we don't look alike." Rafe smacked him on the arm.

Lucas spoke for the first time. "Hi. There is also Sam. But he keeps to himself, for some reason." Daniel and I nodded.

As the days passed I noticed Daniel spent less time with me. Instead of riding out bikes together to school I would have to ride the bus. We would talk to each but the conversations would only last about five minutes. More and more of his time was spent with Rafe, Conner, Lucas, and Ryan. It hurt me a little that once they moved here and more attention they got the less time I would spend with anybody.

One day I was walking to my art class when someone bumped into me. I looked to a girl with black hair and blue eyes. She smiled apologectically. "I'm sorry. I was running from Sam and didn't see you there."

Another boy stopped behind her. "Ha I got you!" The girl turned to him.

"Its not fair. I was talking to her." The boy I'm guessing was Sam looked at me.

"Hey your Hayden. I saw you when I first moved here. I'm Sam." I waved to him. I soon found out that the girls name was Kayla. They told me that I would eventually see no more of Daniel. With a goal that I would make more friends I soon was insperable with Sam and Kayla.