Fairy House

 

            Jenna pretended the small rock in front of her was a soccer ball as she kicked it down the sidewalk. She was walking home alone – again. Her best friend, Paisley, was staying after school for play practice. Not that she would want to walk home with me anyway, Jenna thought.

            Ever since the start of 6^th grade, Paisley had decided to become part of the drama club. Jenna supported her friend, but she had no interest in joining her. Now, Paisley had new drama friends, and Jenna was starting to feel left out. She and Paisley had been best friends and neighbors since kindergarten, but things were changing. They still said “hi” to each other, but they didn’t really hang out anymore.

            Jenna tried not to let it bother her. She had her soccer team, after all. Jenna smiled as she thought of their game last night. Her team, the Wolves, won 2 to 1 against the Panthers. She kicked the rock again as she thought about how she had scored one of those goals. She raised her arms and let out a whoop as she ran down the sidewalk. “And the crowd goes wild!” she cheered.

            She reached her house, and was surprised to see Paisley walking toward her. “Hey, Paisley,” she said cordially. “Didn’t you have play practice today?”

            “It was cancelled,” Paisley said sadly. “I thought I would just come over and see how things are with you.”

            “They’re good,” Jenna answered. “The Wolves won last night.” Jenna couldn’t help smiling at that.

            “Good for you!” Paisley said enthusiastically. “I wish I could say that the play was going well, but I’m having a hard time learning everything. I don’t have the lead part, but I feel like I have a lot of lines to learn.” She hesitated a moment, and then asked, “Would you help me practice?”

            “Sure,” Jenna said immediately. She missed her old friend, and was glad to feel needed.

            They went inside for an afternoon snack, and then went out to the backyard patio to go over Paisley’s part. Jenna read from the script, while Paisley recited her lines. Jenna soon realized that Paisley didn’t actually need any help. She knew all her lines, and they went quickly through the scenes.

            “Nice job!” Jenna congratulated her. “It sounds like you’ve got it all under control. Do you want to go do something fun? How about we go walk along the creek for a while?” She held her breath, thinking that Paisley would probably say no.

            Paisley surprised her by saying, “Yeah, sure! That sounds fun!”

            Together, they took the path down to the creek. Jenna was amazed at how much she had missed their friendship. They talked about everything. It was like they had to catch up with each other after all the time that they had grown apart. When they reached the creek, Paisley asked, “Do you remember when we used to look for fairies?”

            Jenna smiled as she remembered the hours they had spent together along the creek, trying to capture water fairies. “Yeah, and we made all those fairy houses, trying to entice fairies to move in.”

            Paisley laughed and said, “We should make one now.”

            The two girls spent the next hour gathering rocks, leaves, and twigs. They arranged them into what they thought would make a beautiful fairy house. Jenna was so relieved to know that she and Paisley were still friends. She threw herself into the task of beautifying their creek-side fairy abode. They gathered flowers and placed them around the area.

            By the time they were finished, Jenna knew she would have to go home soon for dinner. She had enjoyed the afternoon and didn’t want it to end. Both girls gazed at the miniature fairy house they had made. “You know, I think that’s way better than anything we ever built before,” Jenna said. “Maybe we’ll actually get a fairy to move in this time.” She grinned at Paisley, and Paisley grinned back at her.

            “I forgot how much fun it is to do this,” Paisley said. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been around much lately, what with play practice and all.”

            Jenna shrugged and said, “That’s okay. I have soccer practice and games, too.” She paused and then said, “Next time you don’t have play practice after school, let’s make some more fairy houses to make a whole town!”

            Paisley’s eyes lit up and she said, “Yeah, that sounds so fun!”

            The girls headed home, discussing how they were going to improve their fairy village. When they were out of sight, a fairy zoomed over the water to inspect the new house. Another fairy soon joined her.

            “Wow!” the first fairy said, as she glowed brightly. “This is the best one the girls ever made!”

            “It’s been a while,” the second fairy said. “Did you hear that they’re planning on building more? We’ll have to tell the other fairies. If they’re all as nice as this one, we could use this as headquarters, at least for a little while.”

            The two fairies continued to gush with praise over the beautiful house. Jenna and Paisley might have never seen a fairy, but they were famous among the fairies in the area. The girls weren’t the only ones who were glad to renew their friendship. As the village grew, more and more fairies moved in. It became the most beautiful spot along the creek. There were more flowers and foliage along that section of water than anywhere else.

            Jenna and Paisley never knew that they were the cause of a lot of celebrations among the fairies, or that they were the recipients of fairy magic. They both did well in school. Paisley excelled in the drama club, and Jenna played a great game of soccer. All of this because they were kind to beings that they didn’t really believe existed. You never know how far your kindness will go.