So what I want to say is thank you. Thank you for befriending a girl who is probably very broken but at the same time so amazingly perfect. Thank you for befriending a girl who is probably a little different and quotes too many books. Thank you for befriending a girl who doesn’t talk about her feelings a lot, but trust me, she feels everything.

Thank you for being there for her.

So now, I promise you that I’ll be there for you, too. I don’t know how. And I probably shouldn’t make those kinds of promises…yet just know that when you see the winds whistling through the flowers, that’s me thanking you and hugging you during your darkest days.

Thank you, friend.

You’re doing great.

~ Gabrielle

Hailey folded the note up and sighed. “I really like your sister.” The way she said ‘like’ as opposed to ‘liked’ made me feel as if Gabby were still here. That feeling stayed with me like a warm glow of happiness from knowing that a part of Gabby had never left. With these letters, she’d somehow fought death. Somehow she’d survived.

Hailey drove Ryan and me to school, and we agreed to meet up for lunch as always. On my way to my locker, Jake ran up to me and nudged me in the shoulder.

“Hey, Ashlyn.”

I gave him a small smile. “Hi, Jake.”

“You look beautiful today,” he said, eyeing me up and down.

I looked up to see Daniel staring at the two of us talking, a splash of anger on his face. His jawline was clenched, his eyes almost shooting daggers. I narrowed my eyes, confused. He then looked away. Had I done that to him? Had I made him jealous?

“Thank you, Jake,” I muttered, still staring at Daniel.

I wished he weren’t so handsome—angry looks and all. It made it hard for me to pretend I wasn’t attracted to him. He vanished around the corner in the direction of my locker. I hoped I would get to see him when I rounded said corner. It was complicated. He was the high point of my day even though he was the low point of my day.

How could that be?

Jake kept walking next to me, his stance being a bit too close for comfort. “So, I was thinking…” He moved in even closer. I could smell the overwhelming amount of cologne on his shirt, which made me gag. “I’m having a Halloween party next weekend after the football game. My parents are out of town and you should come. Costumes required.”

I cringed yet hoped he didn’t notice. “I’m not really the party type of girl. The last one didn’t work out so great for me.”

“Yeah…” He smirked. “But carpe dame, right?” I frowned. I was pretty sure he’d meant carpe diem. He kept on. “Come on, Ashlyn. You can’t always be the assistant principal’s daughter. You gotta start showing people who you really are. Or else they’ll keep eating you alive.”

“I…” I paused. “I’m not interested, Jake.” I saw him frown and instantly felt bad. “Maybe the next party?” I gave him a kind smile and nudged him in the arm.

He perked up and nodded. “Yeah, okay! You’ll be the first name on the invite list. I’ll see you in class, okay?” He hurried off with a huge smile on his face. I hoped I wasn’t leading him on any.

When I turned the corner to get to my locker, I saw Daniel standing in front of it, ripping things off.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He saw me and started ripping faster. “Damn kids,” he muttered. “I’ll find out who did it and—”

“Did what?” I moved closer and saw the pictures. Cut-out images of br**sts plastered all over the place. My eyes went to water over but I bit my bottom lip when I heard some girls giggling behind me. I wouldn’t cry; that was what they wanted me to do. I was so embarrassed that he was the one who had to see this.

“Daniel…”I whispered, watching him bend down and picking up the pictures. He ignored me. “Mr. Daniels!” I said a hair louder, which made the kids giggle even more. I ignored them. “Please stay away from my locker.”

His stare was cold. “This…this isn’t going to be allowed. Not to anyone in this school. Especially to…” He paused, noticing the crowd surrounding him.

I hiccupped once. “To what?” I asked.

When his eyes found mine, the softness and apologetic glance made everything inside me tighten. Especially to me. He shifted his feet around before he turned and walked away, ordering the students to get to class. I picked up one of the abandoned pictures on the ground and sighed.

My boobs weren’t that big.

Daniel apologized to me for the way he’d reacted earlier, telling me it had been unprofessional. I don’t want you to be professional. I shrugged to him and took my seat. He sat on the edge of his desk. The sleeves on his button-down shirt were pushed all the way up to his elbows, and he had the end of a dry-erase marker resting in his hands.

He was so handsome, and my body was going crazy over that fact. Even when I tried to get rid of my crush on him, it seemed to grow even stronger without us communicating. It turned out we communicated best in silence. A few glances here, a few tiny smiles there. Maybe our connection didn’t need words or sounds. Maybe it just was.

He was so intelligent, too.

He was so smart that it made me want to crawl into his head and live there. I wasn’t falling for Daniel during the school hours. I was falling for Mr. Daniels.

Half the students in class probably never had any idea how intellectual he was. He was just another boring teacher to them. But I was smitten by how his mind found ways to teach us. How he could push us, push me to try new concepts.

We were in our poetry section covering sonnets, haikus, and my personal favorite…

He hopped off his desk and pushed his way to the board, which read: Flash Fiction.

“Come on, ladies and gents! One of you must have some idea of what flash fiction is. Just start tossing things out.”

“Fiction about the superhero Flash!” Ryan smirked.

“Close…” Daniel laughed. “But not exactly.” My hand flew up for the first time since the school year started. Daniel saw this and gave me a sweet smile. “Yes, Ashlyn?”

“Fiction that happens in a flash…as in short, short stories. They normally tell a complete story within a few sentences, a few words.”

Avery, one of the only football players who didn’t tease me, snickered. “That’s impossible.” He was the same guy who’d been kicked out of Bible study. I wondered what he had done to get kicked out. You probably had to be pretty ruthless to have God’s people turn on you.