Chapter 1

It took a lot of coaxing but Alden was finally able to convince his mom to do the neighborly thing and welcome the Mendozas to their neighborhood. It had been three days since the Mendozas moved into the house opposite theirs. Three days that he was not able to see the girl and he so wanted to see her again. He was intrigued that someone so young would be stuck in a wheelchair. She must be lonely being cooped up in the house without anyone to talk to. Alden really wanted to get to know her and hoped that he could become her friend.

His mom delayed the meeting saying that their neighbors would still be in the process of fixing their house. There would be a lot of things that needed to be arranged. The neighbor's house was big so it would take time for their neighbors to be ready to accept visitors.

So Alden waited for three days. Each day when he came home from school, he would look beyond their gates to check on the activity that would be coming from the neighbor's house. And each day, he would run to his mom and ask if they could visit. But each time his mom said no. Alden would be frustrated each and every time, climbing up the stairs to his bedroom and sulk. And each time he would wonder what the girl would be doing. Would she be in her room? Would she be reading a book? Would she be sleeping? What type of music would she like? What type of book would she like to read? These questions would be running through his mind every time.

Finally, that third day when he came home from school, he saw his mother fixing something in the kitchen.

"What's all this?" Alden asked as he watched his mom arranged some containers with her special pasta recipe.

"I thought you wanted to welcome our neighbors?" His mother asked.

"Seriously?" Alden asked in disbelief. He pushed his glasses to the ridge of his nose to hide the smile that slowly formed on his lips. He'd finally see her! He'd been waiting for three days for this! He thought to himself as he tried to hide his excitement.

"Are you just going to stand there and smile stupidly?" His mom said. "Or are you going to change from your uniform and join me to welcome our neighbors? Something, I might add, that you've been pestering me to do for three days already!"

"Give me 10 minutes," Alden answered and rushed up the stairs to his room.

Tossing his backpack on one side of the room while he hurriedly started unbuttoning his uniform, he flung his closet doors wide open and searched for something decent to wear. He was tossing shirts left and right looking for the perfect one that can offer a good impression.

With a minute to spare Alden came rushing back down, wearing a blue polo shirt, denim shorts and sneakers. His mom have already packed everything and handed him a bag once he was at arms reach. Taking the bag as he pushed his glasses back, he followed his mother out their front door and towards the house across the street.