I stood with the others as the audience, which included all the parents of our grade, applauded us. It was probably one of the most special occasions I have ever experienced and one I’ll always remember.
As soon as we were handed our certificates and the assembly was drawn to a close, I gave Blake a big high-five then raced over to Millie to exchange a warm hug.
“Congratulations, guys!” I said to them both. “We did it!”
Deciding that I should set an example, I walked over to Sara and held out my hand in congratulations. Her first reaction was to simply stare at me in disgust, but knowing that we were being watched by teachers and parents who were standing nearby, forced her to raise her hand to mine. “Congratulations, Sara!” I said, with total confidence and then turned and headed off the stage alongside Millie.
Proudly, we joined our parents for the special morning tea that had been prepared for the new captains and their moms and dads.
A photographer was there to take our photos, and Blake and I, posing for our first ever photo in our role as school captains, smiled for the camera.
Copies were printed and handed out to each of us later that day. Amongst them was one that I really loved and it instantly became my new favorite. I packed it carefully inside a book where it wouldn’t get crushed and decided that I would add it to my dream board when I got home.
I thought surely there was no harm in that, and I couldn’t wait to get off the bus that afternoon so I could race up to my room. I knew that photo would make my dream board look better than ever!
Celebrations…
My parents took me out for dinner that night, to my favorite Italian restaurant. They were so proud and couldn’t help but announce to everyone they came across that I’d been elected school captain. People seemed to be very impressed with that. I’d had no idea that it would be such a big deal to everyone and I was glad that I had made the effort to go ahead and apply for the position.
As I sat munching on my favorite pizza, I thought about the weekend ahead. Blake had invited me over to his house the next afternoon so that we could do some practice on the drums and guitar. We were both keen to amaze Mr. Casey in our first lesson, which he had arranged for the following week. I was certainly looking forward to that but what I was looking forward to most was the afternoon that lay ahead. Thoughts of Blake made me smile with anticipation.
“What are you grinning about?” my brother, Matt asked me curiously.
“Oh, I’m just really enjoying this pizza,” I replied innocently.
There was no way I was going to tell him what I was really thinking. That would just be too embarrassing. And besides, all Matt wanted to talk about was basketball, motorbikes and girls.
He actually liked one of the girls in his class. He didn’t know that I knew, but his friend, Billy told me when he was over one afternoon.
“Did you know that Matt has a huge crush on Molly Ringwood?” he asked me as we sat watching a movie on TV.
Matt had disappeared into the kitchen to get some food and was out of earshot. I had no idea why Billy decided to tell me that, but I teased Matt about it later, after Billy had left.
Previously, he’d been going out with a girl called Lily Thompson but they’d broken up for some reason. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it at the time and I had known he was quite upset. Although he did seem to get over it fairly quickly and maybe that was because Molly had appeared on the scene.
“Do you know a girl called Molly Ringwood, Matt?” I asked him, pretending that I had heard her name somewhere and I just wondered who she was.
It was so funny to see his face turn bright red, just at the mention of her name. It was clearly obvious that what Billy had said was true, but I didn’t comment any further except to say, “I’ve heard that she goes to your school and she’s really pretty!”
He mumbled a reply that didn’t make much sense. He was embarrassed to even talk about her. It cracked me up inside though. I love teasing him and making him squirm like that. He certainly embarrasses me often enough, so I always take advantage if I get an opportunity.
Mom says he’s going through a stage. Although I must admit, after being grounded for two weeks, he’s definitely improved his attitude. And at least he now does his share of the chores around the house, rather than leaving everything to me.
“Brothers!” I thought to myself, as I reached for another piece of pizza, all the while watching Matt gulp down his fifth slice.
Lately, he has actually been less annoying and sometimes he’s even really nice. At times, he asks for my advice on things, like what T-shirt he should wear or which jeans look best. He never used to care about stuff like that, but now he really takes his time getting ready to go just about anywhere. The only problem is that he now spends even longer than before in the bathroom, so I have to make sure I get up earlier in the mornings, so I can use it before him. Otherwise, I’d never be on time for the bus.
Secretly, I think that my brother is pretty cool. Although, I’d never tell him that!
Millie commented recently that she thought he was good looking. I couldn’t believe it when she said that.
Could my brother Matt, actually be good looking?
I’m still not sure about that but sometimes, I must admit, I do quite enjoy having him for my brother; when he’s not annoying me that is!
The weekend…
Saturday afternoon could not come quickly enough and as I jumped out of the car and reached across the back seat for my guitar, I thanked my dad for giving me a lift then gave him a quick kiss goodbye.
“I’ll be back at 5:30 to pick you up!” he reminded me just before he drove off. Acknowledging him with a wave, I raced down the pathway towards the music studio that was situated at the back of the garage, and from where I could hear Blake banging away on his drums.
He was so focused on what he was playing that he didn’t see me enter and I sneaked up behind him, gently placing my hands over his eyes.
“Guess who?” I asked teasingly, realizing that he’d obviously know the answer but I was unable to resist the temptation.
“Um…Meg Nolan?” he questioned in an attempt at a convincingly sincere tone. Meg was one of the really popular girls in our class and also one of Sara’s friends.
"No!” I replied indignantly, resisting the urge to giggle. “Guess again!”
“Would it happen to be a really good guitarist who has now become school captain and her name is Julia Jones?”
Laughing, I removed my hands and sat down on the chair in front of him. The sweet smile he gave me, created that familiar fuzzy feeling in my stomach; the one that I’d been experiencing a lot lately, in particular when I was around Blake. And I smiled shyly in return.
An awkward kind of silence erupted between us and seemed to last for several seconds. All we seemed capable of doing was to stare at each other. To break the weirdness, I began babbling on with ideas for songs that we could practice.
“We really need to impress Mr. Casey in our lesson next week, so let’s get started.” I suggested, trying to overcome the anxious sensation in the pit of my stomach.
“Ok,” he replied with a grin. And I was very grateful when he grabbed his drumsticks and started banging away on his drums.
Thankfully, we then became engrossed in our music and the following two hours were spent in constant rehearsal mode. We were so focused that we had no idea how quickly the time passed by.
When we finally stopped for a break, Blake suggested that we go inside for a drink and a snack. His mom had made some chocolate brownies and I could smell the delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen.
She handed us a plate and we took it outside onto their back deck where we sat down to eat. Then, laughing comfortably, we chatted about the assembly the day before and how nervous we had both been, especially when Mrs. Harding had mixed up the names of the captains.
As I munched quietly on my brownie, Blake suddenly and quite unexpectedly grabbed my hand
and pulled me to my feet. “Come down to the back garden!” he exclaimed. “There’s something that I want to show you.”
Clutching my hand tightly, he led me along a pebbled pathway towards the winding creek that bordered the back of the property. Blake’s family was very lucky as their house was built on an extremely large block of land that backed onto some dense bush and this ran along the edge of the creek. Although they lived on a suburban street, once out in the back garden it was totally private and very pretty.
Suddenly Blake slowed his pace and began to tread softly as he approached a grassy patch hidden by tall reeds and shrubs. Putting a finger to his lips he indicated that we needed to be very quiet. It was a section that was well camouflaged and without knowing exactly where to look, it would have been very easy to miss.
He bent down on his knees and I peered over his shoulder, where I could see hidden amongst the grass, a kind of nest from which I could hear a distinct but very soft clucking sound; then to my huge delight, a pair of little black eyes surrounded by yellow fluff, peered up at me. With sudden recognition, I realized that there were six little ducklings sitting quietly next to their mother. She was a tawny brown color that blended with her surroundings; however, the bright yellow of the ducklings’ fur glistened boldly in the afternoon sun.
“Oooh!” I gasped. “They’re the cutest things I’ve ever seen!”
“Do you want to hold one?” Blake asked, delighted by my reaction. “I found them this morning when I was wandering around down here. The mother doesn’t mind too much, as long as you stay close.”
“I’d love to!” I exclaimed and as he passed me the tiny bundle of yellow downy fur, the smile on my face was of pure enchantment.
“They are so beautiful,” I whispered, gently stroking the little duckling’s tiny head and back. A few moments later, I returned the precious little creature to its nest. The mother had become slightly agitated, so I decided not to disturb them further.
Then without warning, she got to her feet and waddled down towards the water, quacking as she went. The tiny babies spontaneously followed along behind her. Watching them walk in a line, one after the other was a fascinating and beautiful sight and I laughed at the pure joy of it all.
As we observed them quietly, we could see that the smallest duckling which was desperately attempting to keep up was almost left behind. So Blake decided to give it a helping hand and gently carried the little fellow to the water’s edge. Then, with no hesitation whatsoever, the whole family hit the water and the little ones instantly began swimming around in circles alongside their mother, obviously overjoyed at being able to do what ducks do best.
We looked on in absolute awe and I felt so privileged to witness the beautiful spectacle of nature in our midst. Then suddenly, I felt a slight touch on my hand. I looked down enthralled, as Blake’s fingers curled gently around mine and as I gazed upwards, our eyes met.
“Julia,” he said, softly. “I’ve wanted to ask you something for quite a while now.”
“Really?” I asked, my stomach in complete knots as I stood there staring towards him.
“Do you want to go out with me? I mean, you know…go out with me?” He was stumbling on his words, seemingly unsure of what my response was going to be.
But the reply tumbled automatically from my lips, “Yes, Blake. I would!”
The beaming grin that spread across his face right then was so contagious that I couldn’t help but do the same. And as he wrapped his arms around me in a huge embrace, I thought my heart would burst with joy.
Then, sitting side by side, we sat to watch the wonder of the beautiful little creatures in front of us. It was like a miracle, I thought, as they swam along completely at ease behind their mother.
But that wasn’t the only miracle that had happened that day. And the wonder of that thought floated gently through my mind as I rested my head on Blake’s shoulder.
Sighing with total contentment, I realized that nothing else mattered right then except the magic of that very moment.
And I wished it could go on forever!
Being grateful...
Lying in bed that night, I thought about the afternoon I had shared with Blake. I almost had to pinch myself to be sure that it hadn’t simply been a dream that I’d just woken up from. But I knew deep down in my heart that it was real. I’d had the biggest crush on Blake for so long and now he was actually my boyfriend. My first boyfriend! I giggled to myself in awe of what had come about.
Then I thought about my phone call to Millie as soon as I had walked in the door. Of course, I couldn’t wait to tell her and I’d come upstairs to the privacy of my room so that no one else could hear my conversation. There was no way I wanted Matt to know, that was for sure. He would just tease me about it.
“Julia’s got a boyfriend! Julia’s got a boyfriend!” I could just hear him now!
As much as his attitude towards me had improved lately, he still did stupid stuff at times. Plus, I wasn’t sure how my parents would react. Mom was always worrying about my schoolwork and I know that she’d think my grades would be affected. So I decided to just keep it between Millie and myself.
As I’d expected, she had squealed with surprise on the phone, when I told her all about my afternoon. Millie had wanted to hear all the details and I’d started at the very beginning from when my dad had dropped me off, right up to the moment when Blake held my hand and finally asked me to go out with him.
Thinking about that moment took my breath away and I smiled with excitement.
There were a few other girls and boys in our class who were already going out together and I also knew that Millie really liked Blake’s friend, Jack. Ever since he joined our dance troupe for the musical last year, I could tell that she had a crush on him. But she would never admit it to me.
At one stage, she was obsessed with Harry Robinson. Luckily, she eventually found out what a loser he was though. And he’s actually become even worse this year! He literally thinks he’s better than anyone else in the entire school and I can’t believe that I actually liked him myself for a brief time. It just goes to show that you really can’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve decided I will definitely take time to get to know people before judging them in future!
Anyway, after sharing my news with Millie on the phone, I immediately began to devise a plan to get her and Jack together. If that happened, then maybe we could all hang out at school and on weekends. That would be so cool!
As I rolled over in bed, I could see that the bright moonlight shining through my window had illuminated my dream board and in particular, the photo with Blake’s smiling face caught my eye. Once more I thought about the wonderful hug he had given me that afternoon. I had barely been able to stop smiling ever since.
After admiring the pictures that were aglow on my wall, my attention was then drawn towards the list of goals I had written. The one about becoming school captain seemed to jump out at me. While reading the words, I was overcome with a dawning realization. Several of my dreams had actually become a reality. Not just one of them, but several!
With a rush of excitement, I considered the techniques I had used to make this happen.
Apart from attaching pictures and hand written goals to my dream board so I could look at the images and read the words each day, I knew the other things that I did were equally important. I also had to create a picture in my mind of the things I wanted to happen.
There have been many times when I’ve pictured myself wearing a school captain’s badge with my name on it. I was overcome with excitement as I visualized the scene where I walked up onto the stage after my name was announced. I remembered laying on my bed and feeling goose bumps. It was almost like watching a movie in my head, but it had seemed so real.
One day, as I lay there visualizing my goals and dreams, Matt barged into my room and started shaking me. “What are you doing, Julia?” he had bellowed in my ear. “You’ve got a huge smile on your face. Are you sleeping
or are you day dreaming again?”
Feeling so annoyed at the interruption, I yelled at him to get out. I didn’t admit to him, what I had actually been doing. He would have just laughed at me and said I was weird.
But I really didn’t care what he thought. If it helped me to make wonderful things happen in my life, then I was going to do it, whether he laughed at me or not!
Making miracles happen was so incredible and I felt in awe of what I was capable of, if I set my mind to it.
I felt so grateful right then. I was always sure to be thankful for everything I had and I knew that would allow even more things to come into my life for me to be grateful for. Practicing gratitude was probably the most important part.
That was actually another thing Matt made fun of recently when he overheard me saying, “Thank you!” out loud. He had asked me who I was talking to but when he realized that I was talking to myself, he’d yelped, “I knew you were crazy!” and had rolled around on the floor in hysterics. “Ha! Ha! Ha! My sister really is a weirdo!”
I was pretty embarrassed. I certainly hadn’t meant to talk out loud. But I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I hadn’t even realized I was actually speaking.
I just rolled my eyes at him though, and told him he should try being grateful himself for once, rather than always expecting stuff and complaining when he didn’t get what he wanted.
“How can you ever expect to have more things in your life when you’re not even grateful for what you already have?” I looked at him questioningly, but he just ignored me and continued on with the stupid game he’d been playing.
I might even make that my mission, I decided. I would find a time when he was not on his X-box or the computer and try to explain how it all worked. It would be great to see him changing his outlook.
I knew it would take some effort. But maybe I should mention Molly Ringwood? That might convince him to listen to me!
Julia Jones' Diary - Boxed Set - Books 2 to 6 Page 13