Age:
High School
Reading Level: 2.0
Chapter One
What I remember most about high school is Tristen. For a long time, she was all I remembered. But it was not for the reasons anyone ever expected. Not even me.
We actually met in 7th grade. She came to our school mid-year.
I’ll never forget the instant the teacher brought her into our classroom.
Her green eyes struck me first. They added to the bright glow of her face. It was like a light from her went straight through me. I thought she really was an angel. She was just that beautiful.
Every day, I had trouble looking at her. I had to keep looking away or I knew I’d never be able to take my eyes off her.
Her outward beauty wasn’t all that got my attention. She had this mystery around her.
I only knew she transferred from the school district of Brookfield, which was in a very wealthy neighborhood. But ours was not. Plus, it was made up of Hispanic and Asian kids. I was Filipino.
There was something else unique about her besides her eyes. She had porcelain skin and red hair.
I wanted to introduce myself and ask where exactly she lived, but I was too shy.
It turned out she was braver than me.
Chapter Two
I saw her glancing at me now and then. I figured it was because of my background. I was the only Filipino in school, and I stood out.
One day, she walked straight up to me and asked, “You’re Juan, aren’t you?”
I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak. So I let her fill the silence. She introduced herself.
Then everything I couldn’t say before came out in a rush.
“Tristen, do you know what? One day, I thought I saw you walking to school ahead of me. You were on the same road I was on. But I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t you. It’s a long walk.”
“Oh? Where do you live?” she asked in an interested tone.
“Eleven Smith Street,” I said.
“No way!” she exclaimed. “I live two blocks away! Twenty-two Smith Street!”
“That means we should walk to school together,” I said playfully.
Inside, I was wasn’t even hoping that would ever happen.
“OK,” she said with a wide smile.
I had to pinch myself. I couldn’t ask her to repeat it. So I asked my classmates nearby if she really did say that or if I was dreaming.
It was too bad, though. We had this conversation near the end of the school year.
But at the start of 8th grade, we picked up where we left off. We walked together each day.
Chapter Three
To get to our school, we had to go through “the Clearing.” It was a wide stretch of land with very few trees. The ones there were low enough to see the school from our homes, and our homes from the school.
In the Clearing, the sky spread out wider than it looked downtown or in the nearest city.
We walked through the Clearing every day until high school.
That’s when she led me to the biggest decision of my young life. It would become a choice I never expected.
I would trade anything never to face that kind of decision again.
