Dear Diary,

April 1 (I already glued James morning coffee to the table, good old April Fools day)

7am

Dear Diary,

It’s been a few days since I have written anything down. Things have been very hectic, I had a couple of tests in home schooling, and my year will end quicker then regular High School. I studied my butt off for at least a day. Mr. Burke is now in the study grading my exams, they are preparations for my finals, another thing I need to study for. I get my grades today for the testing I just took; and I’ll admit I am a little nervous.

There is so much that has happened; I cannot wait to write it all down. First I’ll start with my “date” with Cliff, which started out a little strange.

The other day while I was studying Cliff had been sitting by my side in the dinning room reading through the books I had taken out of the library. He patiently waited for me to finish so that he could take me on our “date”. Once the words started blurring together I knew it had been time to stop.

We drove to his house; it wasn’t too far from mine just across town. The property was surrounded by a red brick wall, and a big black metal gate stood tall in the center. He also had to buzz in to get into the property.

We slowly crept up the long recently paved driveway. I looked around me, the property ran for miles. The grass was in perfect condition for it just having been winter, and all of the trees had just bloomed with new buds. The prettiest trees were the random pink and white colored ones scattered throughout the lawn. We pulled up to a circular part of the driveway with a fountain in the middle. About three steps lead up to a huge brick mansion. Windows covered the length of the front, as well as a huge one directly above the door.

Standing on the steps in front of a giant arched wooden door was an older gentleman. He informed me as we came to a stop that it was his father. His father is a very tall man with locks of brown hair on his head and a receding hairline on top of that. He stood with his hands behind him. I was about to open the door when I noticed it pulling open. I turned my attention to Cliff who must have raced around the car to open the door. I knew I was blushing, but I couldn’t help it.

He put his arm against my lower back and led me up to the stairs. His father acknowledged me with a nod.

He stuck out his hand and shook mine, and told me it was a pleasure. We had to go inside for a few minutes, and I was just blown away. The main room had tall ceilings a humungous chandelier and a sun roof high above. The floors below me were green and white marble that shone in the sunlight.   

This is when the strange part comes to play; I was standing there admiring the tall ceilings and gorgeous art work along the walls, when I heard the sound of a tiny motor. I looked towards one of the entry ways and an old man in a black motorized wheel chair was headed for us. He seemed like a disgruntled old man. His lips were pursed; he had lines on his forehead from squinting, and was mumbling to himself in a low angry tone as he stopped in front of us. (Things kind of went like this…)

Cliff: Grandpa

Grandpa: *huff*

Cliff: This is my friend Madison

Grandpa: *looks up at me and his eyes go wide* huzza … wazza… she … humma …. A …. Wa wa wa …. Wi … wit…. Witc…… witch.. she … pow … pow… stole… stole …

(his voice increased with every  humma wa) *This is what it sounded like he was saying*

Cliffs Dad: Dad, Dad calm down. *turns to me* I apologize Madison, he’s a little senile at his old age.

Me: Oh, it’s okay.

Cliffs Dad: Cliff, why don’t you bring her out to the car I’ll be out in a minute *he grabbed the wheel chair and pushed him out of the room, he finally was able to get the words out and the entire way to the door I could hear him scream witch, and magic stealer.

When Cliff led me back to the car he explained that his grandfather had lost it years ago. I just nodded, but deep down that day I wondered if the old man knew more then I did, or if he was just senile like Cliff’s dad had said. Everything after that went pretty smooth. Cliff’s dad came out ten minutes later and hopped in the backseat. We drove for at least a half an hour until we reached a small airport. I kept asking Cliff what he had planned for us but he would not spill his guts.

We parked close to a couple of small planes with covers over them. Cliff helped me out of the car and led me over to them, his father not far behind. He brought me over to a small white plane under a tan tarp. He and his father uncovered the plane and his dad hopped in. He refused to answer where we were going, but first asked me if I had a fear of planes. Luckily I was okay about it.

We both sat in the seats behind his father, and after a good while of him doing what he needed, we were headed down to the runway. I had been in a few big planes but never small ones, the take off was a little rough but once up in the air I had stopped squeezing Cliffs arm so hard. He pointed below as we past certain land marks, both of our homes and then in the clearing was a view of New York City.

We landed in a small airport on Long Island. Once we had landed there was a black town car waiting for us. Cliff’s dad stayed behind and told us he’d meet us back here a few hours from now.

The car took us to several places on Long Island; first we hit a horse stable where he taught me to ride a little. I had never been on a horse and it had been an amazing experience. Then he took me “Out East” as he had called it. We visited a town called Greenport; it had tons of small shops and amazing restaurants, including a merry-go-round. Which of course I made him take me on.  We had ice cream and ate dinner together too. Afterwards he took me to one of the beaches, it was a little too cold, but it didn’t bother me. We collected shells and walked around barefoot on the sand for at least an hour before the sun set. It was beautiful. We sat down in the sand, there was no space between us, and I could feel the warmth of his body through his jacket.

The sun was amazing it had this weird glow to it, orange with a little purple dancing off the clouds. It was the perfect end to an amazing day.

This really is me trying to remember the whole day, but I know I left a few details somewhere along the line, so sue me it was a long day and I am honestly still in shock because of what happened next.

We got back around eight o’clock. Before dropping me off he took his father home, I thanked him for flying us out to Long Island for the day. He seemed like a nice man. I could not stop babbling in the car ride home about the day, I kept going through the shells we had collected, and was happy with the new black beret hat he had bought me at a shop in Greenport.

We pulled into my driveway and Cliff shut the engine off. Once again he went around and opened up the car door. I stepped out and he shut the door behind me. Once at the door we both stopped, he took both of my hands in his. They were warm.

Cliff: Thanks for coming out with me today

Me: No, thank you for inviting me, for the dinner and for this cute new hat

Cliff *he laughed* yeah it’s definitely cute on you *he pushed my loose hair behind my ears* (EEP)

Me: Well I should get inside, I want to get up early see if I can do more garden research, I am going to get to the bottom of this whole thing, I just have to. *I went to turn and he grabbed my shoulders*

Cliff: I am going to do something really stupid right now, please feel free to slap me *Stupid was right, but what did I care, I’m a 15 year old girl and deserve some sort of boy to EEP about)

THE KISS!! The kiss was AMAZING!!!!

Crap! I have to write the rest later, about how I got the book open… I have to get to class now… and then I am going to the garden to try it out… I promise I will write later, it’s CRAZY!!  And in regards to what Cliff’s grandpa said maybe it’s not far from the truth after all …

*Madison Rhodes*