Page 9 of The Silent Waters (Elements 3)

“I don’t know…” I stuffed my hands into my pockets and shrugged, looking down at the grass as a worm wiggled across my shoestring. “Maybe just for ten more seconds.”

I loved Brooks Tyler.

I wished there were a bigger word to describe my feelings for the handsome, rude boy who had been kissing me lately, but love seemed to be the only thing that came to mind whenever he stood near me.

As I lay on my bed, thinking and thinking about our last ten-second kiss, I heard a loud, “You have to be kidding me!” from Cheryl.

I wasn’t certain what was howling more, the wind outside or Cheryl. “I don’t know how to be a maid of honor!” Cheryl whined as she plopped down next to me. Her curly red hair bobbed up and down as she bounced on my mattress. Cheryl had been my best friend since I’d moved in with her family, on top of being my stepsister. Therefore, she had to be my maid of honor.

“You don’t have to do anything, really, except everything I don’t want to do, and when I’m stressed over wedding planning, you’re the girl I get to yell at nonstop. Oh, and you have to hold the back of my dress while I walk down the aisle.”

“Why do I have to hold your dress?’

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but my aunt’s maid of honor held hers, so I think that’s just part of getting married.” In the middle of my bedroom floor I’d set up the whole layout of the wedding ceremony with my Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, and My Little Pony toys. Ken was standing in for Brooks in the position of groom, and Barbie was standing in for me.

“How’d you even get a boyfriend, anyway?” Cheryl asked, still bouncing.

“Fiancé,” I corrected. “And it’s pretty easy really. I’m sure you could get one. You just twirl your hair and write a letter telling him he’s going to marry you.”

“Really?” Cheryl’s voice heightened. “That’s all it takes?”

I nodded. “That’s it.”

“Wow.” She sighed, sounding a bit amazed. I didn’t know why, though. Boys were pretty easy to get. Mama said it was the gettin’ rid of them that was the trouble. “How do you know all of this?”

“Mama told me.”

She pouted. “Why didn’t she tell me? I’m her daughter, too. Plus, she was my mom first.”

“You’re probably just too young. She’ll probably tell you next year or something.”

“I don’t want to wait a year.” Cheryl stopped her bouncing and started twirling her hair. “I need a pen and paper. Or, well…are you sure Brooks wouldn’t want to marry me, too?”

My hands slammed against my hips, and I cocked an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She kept twirling. “I’m just saying. I’ve seen him smile at me a lot.”

Oh. My. Gosh.

My sister was a tramp. Mama said I wasn’t allowed to say that word, but I had heard her call her sister it once for going after a married man, and Aunt Mary hadn’t been happy about it. Cheryl was pretty much trying to do the same thing.

“He’s friendly. He smiles at everyone. I saw him smile at a squirrel once.”

“You’re comparing the smiles he gives me to the smiles he gives squirrels?” she asked, her voice heightened. I hesitated for a moment, thinking on it. Cheryl and squirrels had a few things in common. For example, squirrels liked nuts, and Cheryl was completely nuts if she thought for a second Brooks would like her before me.

Cheryl stood up and huffed, still twirling her hair. “You took too long to answer! Wait until I tell Ma what you said! I could get any boyfriend I wanted, Maggie May, and you ain’t gonna tell me no different!”

“I don’t care. You just can’t have my fiancé.”

“I could!”

“Couldn’t!”

“Could!”

“Shut up and stop twirling your stupid hair!” I screamed.

She gasped, teared up, and whined, storming off. “I’m not coming to your wedding!”