Free Never Say Goodbye by Bethan Cooper Page B

the hell!” I scream but he takes no notice and we both laugh. He slaps my behind and I gasp. “Ow, bully.” I tease.
     “Come on, you're putting me off where I want to take you, stop being distractive.” With that, he carries me across the field toward the back of the stadium, with me rubbing my now red ass.
When he puts me down, I’m in a tree-shaded area. Every tree is lit up; each individual branch has a stream of lights defining itself from the center of its life. I look around astounded at the beauty, mesmerized.
     “You like it?” He asks, looking for some appreciation.
     “Luke, it’s beautiful.” I look at him and he looks smug.
     “Is it always like this here?”
     “My dad and I went to New York about two years ago. We went at Christmas. One night we decided to go for a walk through Central Park. Now you know Central Park, right? It’s huge.” I nod in agreement. “Well every single tree at Christmas time has twinkling lights all up the branches and down the trunks. I thought it looked beautiful, unique. The amount of manpower that must have gone into that. So, when my dad helped out with this place, I noticed the back and decided to copy New York’s idea. I wanted a safe place, so I made one.” He smiles and looks at me.
    We are walking down a path that leads to a small river at the bottom. I sit at the riverbank and he sits next to me. We open up our desserts and pick at them with white plastic forks. Right now, at this exact moment, I am lost. I look down at the water and the lights reflect beautifully on its surface.
     “Wow.” I whisper. “Thank you.”
     “For what?”
     “Being here for me.”
     “Ella, I don’t understand.”
     “Don’t worry, Luke, you weren’t meant to.” His arm relaxed across my shoulder and we sit gazing, relaxed, and content.
       “Tell me something about yourself, Ella. I want to know a secret.” He tenses up after he asks.
     “Sure.” I reply and shrug. He immediately relaxes. “What do you want to know?”
     “Why have you never tried at school?”
     “What do you mean?”
     “You never seemed to try, Ella, to fit in I mean.”
     “Oh, Luke.” I sigh loudly and shake my head.
     “School didn’t accept me, not ever. Jade, my best friend has known me for at least twelve years. She has always been in my life so she didn’t have a choice but to be my friend throughout everything. I have had such a rough couple of years. Problems with my family, with myself, and with other personal stuff.”
     “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Ella.”
     “It’s not that, Luke; it’s not that at all. I’ve never openly spoken about my private life. You know more than anyone already, you have um, seen me, y’know.” He laughs.
     “Yeah, yeah I have.” He pulls me closer.
     “I had someone in my life that loved me more than anything or anyone in his life.”
     “Oh, I didn’t know you have had boyfriends before me.”
     “Um, not really, Jamie wasn’t my boyfriend.” He looks across at me, puzzled.
     “Jamie was my best friend. We played together, we laughed together, and we loved each other. Jay had me in his life and that’s all he needed.” I can feel the tears building up, ready to explode at any given moment. “Um...”
     “Ella, you don’t have to tell me.” He whispers and gently kisses my hair.
     “Yeah, I do, otherwise you will never understand...Jay had Leukemia in its most violent and intrusive form.” I swallow, trying to find my words. “Um, we met when we were seven. His mom had chats and coffee with my mom and we would play silly games like Superman in the garden. I remember it was sunny the day my mom told me about his condition. I cried for him. I knew what cancer was when I was thirteen. He had it