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After the funeral, Ellie was feeling exhausted from all the emotions and decided to study to try to take her mind off everything that had happened in the last few days. As she got further into school work her mind drifted off and soon found herself picturing Miah playing basketball with Carlton and the rest of his team, or strolling in the park right by her side while the leaves on the trees were changing from green to brown and falling around them.

“Ellie” she heard Miah whisper

“M-Miah?” She said shakily as she turned around from her desk to see him standing in the doorway.

“Hey how are you doing Ellie?” Miah asked in a soft whisper as he entered the room

“This can't be real” she said her voice breaking

“Well I'm here aren't I?” He said as he slowly strolled closer to ellie.

“I mean I'm not very good, and it's mostly because of what happened to you.” Ellie whispered.

“It's ok now because I'm back, you don't have to keep crying,” he said in a comforting soft voice

“This can't be real, I went to your funeral and as much as I want to believe it, I know it isn't real” she said shakily, while slowly moving towards him.

“Well that's a shame,” he said in an almost upset tone.

As he reached out to embrace her, she hesitantly went for it. As soon as she went for the hug she woke up.

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“There’s my little sis.” Anne said, an awkward but loving smile on her face. It was almost time for her commitment ceremony.

Ellie hesitated for a moment before jumping in for a hug. She knew how distant they’d been recently, how hard it was for them to be “normal,” but she knew she couldn’t reject her sister. Not again. Not today. Anne squeezed her back in an embrace.

“I..” Ellie started, feeling her eyes well up with tears. She didn’t understand the tears, but she didn’t try to stop them.

“I know.” Anne said, giving her another squeeze. “I’m sorry.” She leaned out to look at her. “I should have been there for you. God, I was so excited for you, but..” She trailed off. There was a flash of guilt in her eyes.

Ellie sighed. “I can’t forget what you said. But I can’t stay mad at you either.” Ellie sort of hated it, how much she could be mad at her sister but at the same time need her at her side.

“It was wrong of me, though. Out of all the people, your sister with a girlfriend is shocked by your crush.” She said. Ellie laughed and wiped away a tear.

Despite the laughter, somehow, Ellie knew they were both thinking the same thing. Whenever Ellie closed her eyes, she saw Jeremiah. His face, his hands, his eyes. Jeremiah’s eyes. A silence hung between them for a moment.

“I miss him every day.” She whispered.

Anne hugged her one more time.

“I know. And I’ll be here every step of the way.”

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“My son would blow his mind right now if he saw us talking to each other.” Nelia said.

Marion giggles and said “Yes he would, I am very sorry for your loss Nelia.”

“It’s alright, we all have to move on with our life at one point. How is Ellie? I hope she is doing better.” Nelia said with a frown face.

Marion sadly said “She is doing amazingly better now, but in a while she ends up crying because of how sweet Jeremiah was and how he take care of her.”

Nelia happily answer” I am very glad I taught my son right, I wish he would still be here, they would be the cutest couple I have ever seen in a while.”

“I wish I could have met Jermiah, my daughter was going crazy over him, I think she even skip a class for him” Marion said with a happy voice.

“Haha yes, I also want to give a huge thank you to Ellie because she gave Jeremiah the best time of his life, at least he was happy while he was still here” Nelia said.

Marion sadly said”I wish he was still here, they would have taken care of each other very well, thank you to your son for making Ellie very happy as well, she became a night owl for months when Jeremiah was gone.” Marion continued to add on “ You raise your son very well, he can balance homework, being popular, sports and taking care of my daughter Ellie.”

Nelia proudly said” Thank you, you are so sweet! Ellie sounded like she was so sweet to Jeremiah as well, when I first met her, she was very nice, confident and sweet.”

“I am very glad we had a nice conversation, I will see you some other day. Maybe there will be a high chance of us becoming friends and hanging out!” Marion said.

“Of course, I would love that to happen, I will greet you some other day Marion, thank you.” Nelia happily said.

“We will forever remember my sweet son's name I hope. His beautiful eyes that make Ellie fall in love, his funny personality, and his gorgeous hair that make him look like an angel.” Nelia added on, then she left after with tears on her face.

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After the funeral Ellie had her head down standing next to Miah’s grave. With a sudden gust of wind she turned her head to see Carlton approaching.

“Hey,Ellie.”

“Hey.” she replied coarsely.

“You know Miah once talked to me about you.”

Ellie’s head perked up slightly, still staring at the ground.

“He said He never thought about dating a white girl,till he met you.”

She stayed silent

“He said even though you two hadn’t talked yet he felt like he knew you he said it was like he could look inside your eyes and see everything” Carlton chuckled and said “I told him that sounded a lot like love.”

At that moment Ellie felt a tight pain in her chest and tears bubbling up.

“That was all before he even knew your last name”

Ellie managed to form a small smile.

“Thank you, Carlton”

“I thought you should know.” “ Keep in touch Ellie”

“I will”

As Carlton walked away, Ellie felt tears rolling down her cheek but also a smile forming

She was happy to know He loved her from the very start.

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“I'm sorry I didn't know him” whispered Anne

Ellie was curled up on the couch, next to the fireplace in the living room. The air smelled of smoke and wood. Anne had flown in from San Francisco the day before, and was sitting across from her in an armchair. Their parents had gone out to give them some time alone.

“you're right, you didn't know him,” Ellie snapped back, “you didn't even want to know him.'' Anne just glanced at her in a way that held no emotions back.

“And I'm sorry that I was like that. If I could go back and meet him I would,” said Anne regretfully. “It hurts me to see you like this Ellisha. I could only imagine what would happen to me if I lost Stacy.” Anne added.

“this is what would happen to you if you lost her. And stop trying to make this about yourself.”

Ellie was starting to lose her patience. She looked out the window, and at the light streaming into the room.

She was mad at Anne, mad at the world. Mad that her one true love could be shot dead in the park they had their first kiss. Mad that her sister was here, only because that happened. Mad that Anne didn't want anything to do with Miah until he was dead.

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It was a cold snowy afternoon and it started to get dark. Jeremiah had decided to walk Ellie to her house, he brought his orange basketball with him so he wasn't  lonely on his way back home. While going to her house, they decided to walk through the park since it took a longer time to get to her house and they wanted to spend more time together. Usually they'd take the max but it would be a faster way to get to her house. As they were walking, talking and dribbling his basketball.

Ellie told Jeremiah, “ Get ready, I'm going to tell them about you.”

“Who?” said Jeremiah.

“My parents, I think it's time” said Ellie. As she finished her sentence, she turned around to see Jeremiah, he had the brightest smile on his face….but he was falling, letting go of his basketball. Ellie immediately moved to catch Jeremiah, setting him down carefully on the floor. She was scared, thinking about why he had fallen all of a sudden. That was until she saw the blood that was starting to stain Jeremiah’s clothes. She started to look around the area thinking,

“Who could have shot Miah”

As she was looking around she was able to see police officers a bit farther than where her and Miah were at. One officer had a gun, the other one was on his walkie talkie talking about “how they had just catched the criminal.” Ellie was still crying holding on to Jeremiah, having a feeling that it might be the last time she gets to talk to him, hold him and see him. His eyes were starting to close, still mumbling things to Ellie. Jeremiah lifted up his hand, going to grab her cheek that had tears going down. He didn’t have a lot of energy to say many things so the only thing he was able to say was,

“I love you… forever” still having a smile on his face. His hand starting to fall but was catched by Ellies hand, she gave it a sad kiss. His eyes also starting to close. Ellies grip had tightened as she replied,

“I love you too.” While leaning down to give him a kiss on his cheek. Those were the last words they ever said to each other before Jeremiah had passed away. A few years have passed, Ellie is about to graduate highschool and she still has Jeremiah's basketball that he had taken when they were walking to her house, in the corner of her room.

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I’m a senior in highschool and I haven't spoken to Anne in a while after our last conversation about me liking Miah. Even her invitation to the commitment ceremony with her girlfriend, Stacey. Ellie thinks that to herself in her mind.

“I really want to talk to Anne..but I know she’ll get uncomfortable again if I bring up my past relationship with Miah.” In Ellie’s point of view on her bed, spacing out looking at her white ceiling.

“I want to talk with Ellie, we haven’t talked in a while and I want to check in with her. However, I know I’ll freeze up like the last conversation.” In Anne’s point of view as she was talking in her mind. It was all clouded suddenly up in their minds. It feels lonely. It sounds so quiet like snow.

“Anne..I want to talk to her. I want to make up with her as it doesn't speak like the past,” Ellie determinedly said. Ellie runs downstairs to the phone. She sits at the dining table looking out at the window as heavy rain starts to pound at it while dialing Anne’s number. Anne suddenly got a vibrate.

“Ellie? Why would she call for me, has she been thinking about me too?” Anne questions herself in disbelief.

“I’ll accept the call and apologize.” As Anne picked up Ellie’s call, she quickly said “Hey Ellie, if you called me about that boy you liked, I apologized for my actions that led you to pouting although you say you didn’t. I shouldn’t react like that, but be like a big sister and support whoever you like in regards of black or white-”

As Anne said her sincerest apology, she cried with tears escaping her eyes. Ellie can hear her shaking in her voice. This is not Anne that has a lot to say. She’s respecting the boundaries without saying too much thought into it.

Ellie took a deep breath and calmly said, “Anne, please stop, it’s okay. You don’t need to say anything else, I know, you felt bad and you can’t help it if you reacted that way,”

“Ellie..” Anne groaned, “I’m sorry if I’m not the Anne you used to know, I should’ve washed my mouth with soap-”

“Anne, what did I say? Honestly, people and us sometimes mess up by saying something. This conversation was long overdue when I was a sophomore. I’m a senior now, let’s drop this. We’re better than to keep having the burden like this to us” Ellie comforted Anne with her words of wisdom.

“You’re right, we can’t keep being like this any longer,” Anne agreed.

“From now on, we’re going to be sisters forever!” Ellie said as the rain outside suddenly does a light sprinkle on the window pane.

“Sisters forever always.” Anne said softly to Ellie.

“Oh Ellie, may I ask you one request?”

“What is it, Anne?” Ellie asked Anne.

“If your graduation ever comes, don’t forget to let me know. I can fly over there to see my little sister grow right in front of my eyes,” Anne smiled, knowing she would have loved to see her in that robe and cap.

“I will never forget that, I promise you.” Ellie was touched.

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“I’m sorry, Ellie.” Anne sucked in a breath, “I should have been there.” for you, her words cut off. But Ellie understood. The hug was awkward but not entirely uncomfortable. Anne continued, “I should have been a better sister.”

“You can still try,” Ellie whispered into Anne’s shoulder. “I’m not saying I forgive you fully, but I don’t want to stay mad forever.” Anne hugged her tighter. Ellie thought back to Miah, how his hugs felt warm and safe, a place she never wanted to leave. Anne’s hugs were like that of a mothers, a tight squeeze but gentle in a way that felt like you were surrounded by still water. “I’m so thankful that you’re my little sis,” Anne said.

They broke apart after what could have been forever. Anne took Ellie’s shoulders in her hands and looked into her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, you know that? I think about that phone call a lot, I think about how much I said and did wrong. I never want to make that mistake again, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t come to me about this stuff,” Anne hesitated, “about boys.” There was a short silence before Ellie’s eyes started to fill up with tears. Would there ever be another boy? She still wasn’t over Miah, she didn’t know if she ever would be. “I miss him a lot.”

“I know.”

Ellie felt hands wipe the tears off of her cheeks. “But look at you, you’re about to graduate! You've come so far, Ellie. Please don’t cry or else I’ll start crying too,” Anne said lightly. Ellie laughed wetly at that.

“Thank you, Anne. I’m glad you’re my sister too.”

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“Excuse me, are you Ellie's mother?” Nelia, wearing all black with tears in her eyes, approaches Marion. I feel my mom's hands tighten around mine.

“Yes, I am, and you are Jeremiah's mother. I'm so sorry for your loss,” Marion sniffles again and Nelia’s eyes glisten at the sound of her beloved son's name. Eyes that matched Miah’s. She opens her mouth to say something, but doesn’t. What did she want to say? With Miah gone, now her eyes were alone. All alone.

“I suppose you heard our kids were in love.” Nelia doesn't say his name.

“Yes, for quite some time, too. But it was all a secret to me.” Marion looks at me like I was supposed to say something. The whole room swirled in a blur of my tears. I already said enough. For once let her figure it out herself.

“Now you know about it all. Yet it feels like it's too late to meet you properly.” I knew what she meant even if Marion didn't. Her reaction to Miah being black is dulled by the shock, the atmosphere of the funeral. At this point Marion wouldn't care what race Miah was. He's dead now.

“My son loved your daughter very much. You didn't know but I saw it right in front of me, how much they cared for each other,” Her voice broke, reflecting her heart, also broken. Of course. Nelia saw it, how it was true love, what me and Miah had. But it was never meant to be. All the time we spent together, it didn't matter where, in the park, at school, in his home. It all ended here. With Marion holding my hand like a frightened child. Like how I would have when she left. But it was Miah who left. And I was stuck with my mother.

“Ellie is always welcome at my home. I enjoy her company, if that's okay with you,” Nelia, the mom who respected my preferred name, was not actually asking. She knew I would still visit her, her house was now emptier than mine. Nevertheless with more happy memories, now turned to bitter-sweet. No way Marion would stop me and a small, frail part of her knew it.

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