Page 6

Chapter 6

Nine Years Earlier - Julia

“Nathan! Please! I want to watch Aladdin!” I whine, sticking out my bottom lip in a pout I know Nathan is powerless against.

“But I don’t want to! Can’t we watch something else? Anything else that’s not about love?” Nathan wrinkles his nose as if love is personally offensive to him.

“Please, please, please! We can watch a sports movie or superhero something next!”

Nathan sighs, way too old for his seven-year-old self. “Sure. Let’s watch Aladdin.”

Right as Aladdin offers Jasmine a ride on a magic carpet, Graham barges in the front door. “What are we watching?” He glances at the screen. “Ugh. Aladdin! This isn’t even the good part.”

“Is too!” I demand. “This is the best part. One day, a boy will take me on a magic carpet ride. We’ll fall in love and live happily ever after!”

“Magic carpets aren’t real,” Nathan sneers, still upset we aren’t watching what he wants.

“I don’t care. Somehow, he’ll do it for me. I just know it.”