Pinky Swear
Age Six
The smell of fresh cut grass, dandelion seeds float up to the baby blue sky. A little boy chases after the football his older brother threw. He finds it next door at the feet of a little girl on her tire swing. Time stops, the leaves of the trees stand still, and the clouds hold their place next to the Sun.
“Hi I’m Cooper Callahan!” The little boy thrusts out his pudgy hand.
She stared at him with her big green eyes and blinked.“ Percy Baxford.”
She took his extended hand and shook. From then on Cooper was no longer just Cooper, and Percy was no longer just Percy, they were Cooper and Percy. One could not exist without the other.
Age Nine
One empty street, two doors fly open, a million raindrops fall down, down, down.
“Hello Percy Baxford!”
“Hello Cooper Callahan!”
Two grins shine bright beneath rain coats.
“Come on! The puddles wait for us!” Cooper yells over the thunder as he grabs her hand.
They trip over their too big rain boots as they run down the street. He grinds to a stop right in front of a puddle near a street light.
“Three!” he starts.
“Two!” she looks at him and giggles.
“One!” They yell together as they jump into the perfect puddle.
“Hey guys!” Cooper's older brother Crew calls out as he runs down the street to meet them.
The three friends take off together down the street. Crew fits in with them like a puzzle piece, melting perfectly into their world.
A voice calls out, popping their bubble of fun.
“Percy come back in before you catch a cold.”
“Okay be right there! Bye Cooper, bye Crew see you later.” She calls over her shoulder as she walks home.
“ I’m going to go in,” Crew says and bolts in front of her.
“ Wait,” Cooper grabs her hand.
“ What is it?” a puzzled expression crosses her face.
“Promise me something?” he sheepishly asks.
“ Of course, I’ll do anything you ask.”
“ Promise me we'll always be best friends.”
“ Cooper, that's silly, we will always be best friends forever,” she laughs.
“Do you swear it?”
“Yes, I swear it,” she rolls her eyes.
“Pinky swear?”
“Cooper this is silly we aren't six.”
“ Please, it's important to me,” he begs.
“ Fine. If it means that much to you.” She sticks out her pinky, and he links his around hers.
“ I swear we will always be best friends Cooper Callahan.”
Age Thirteen
Red autumn leaves pool around her fluffy brown Uggs that Cooper gave her for her birthday. She looks up from her book to Cooper and Crew passing a football. Cooper's messy blonde curly hair peeks out from his beanie she knitted for him for his birthday exactly one month before her’s. Unlike Cooper's blonde mess of curls, Crew had a jet black, straight, perfectly styled head of hair. When they were younger their parents used to say that Percy’s hair was half Crew’s and half Cooper’s. She had thick shiny brown waves that stopped just past her shoulders; a mix of the two boys next door.
“ Hey there Percy Baxford.” Cooper smiles down at her.
“ Hey there Cooper Callahan,” she says as she plucks the beanie off his head, freeing his flop of curls.
“ A round of applause everyone for Coop and Pers, they know eachothers names!” Crew rolls his eyes.
“ Shut up Crew.” Cooper playfully pushes his older brother’s shoulder.
“ Took you too long enough if I do say so myself.” Crew wiggles his eyebrows at her and flashes her a Cheshire Cat grin, she shakes her head and laughs. She tunes Crew and Cooper out as they continue to bicker. She looks up at the sky and smiles. The two brothers might argue but they loved each other more than anyone else Percy knew. And she had a feeling that nothing could come between them.
Age Sixteen
The text comes at 3:45 am. Just four words that hold many unsaid things.
I need you Percy.
She pulls on her University of Georgia sweatshirt that she had stolen from Crew that he had got when he was touring his future college,and her Uggs. She sneaks downstairs and into the Calahan’s backyard. She looks up and sees that the familiar glow is gone from Cooper’s bedroom window. She frowns and pulls out her phone.
Where are you?
Football Field.
Are you okay?
Her brow furrows in worry and hurries to her car,but not before she glances at their driveway and sees that not only Cooper’s car was gone but Crew’s dark gray truck was as well.That wasn't strange at all she thinks, Crew was often out late with his friends.
After four broken traffic laws, passing a police car in front of an ambulance,she makes it to the high school football stadium in five minutes instead of the usual ten. As she gets out of the driver’s side, the clouds split open, dumping their contents upon the ground. She runs out to the field,not seeing anything past the tips of her shoes.
“Cooper! Cooper!” she yelled.
She jogs out towards the center of the field. When she finds him, he is on his knees hunched over.
“Cooper? Is everything okay?”she kneels next to him on the damp grass.
“Cooper?” she asks tentatively, placing a hand on his back. He looks up at her and she can tell something is very wrong. His eyes were clear blue the way they turned when he cried. In the ten years she had known him she had only seen him cry once, when his dog Sammy had been put down when they were ten.
“He left me,” he croaks.
“Who did Cooper?” panic seeps into her voice.
Even before he says it she knows deep down.
“ Crew. Crew left me. He left us.”
“ No, no he didn't, Cooper. He's going to graduate this year. And he’s going to Georgia next year. He didn’t leave us Cooper, he can’t have. He still has so much to do, still so much time to live.” She didn’t realize she was crying until Cooper wiped the tears off her face.
“ He’s gone, Pers. He left us alone.”
It takes Percy a second to understand what he is saying, and then it hits her. Crew’s truck gone from the driveway, and the ambulance she saw on the way there.
They stay on the field till the Sun rises in the sky, they stay on Crew’s field till the Sun rises in the sky. The Sun still rose even though Crew was gone. The two broken friends held onto each other and stayed on Crew’s field till the Sun rose in the sky. The two broken friends hold onto each other, and watch the Sun rise in the sky, even though Crew is gone.
“Percy?”
“Yes?” her voice was hoarse from crying.
“I need you to promise me something.”
“I’ll promise you anything Cooper.”
“Promise me you’ll never leave me.”
“ I promise I’ll never leave you.”
“Swear it,” his voice broke on the last word.
“I swear it.”
“Pinky swear?” She sticks out her pinky and he links his around hers.
“I swear I will never leave you Cooper Callahan.”
