Ashley POV:

15 December 1997

Hi,

My name is Alexander William Gaskarth. But everyone calls me Alex, and that's fine by me. I'm 10 years old and I like to sing in the shower. Actually, I like to sing everywhere. But mostly in the shower.. Yesterday was my birthday and my uncle bought me this notebook. At first I had no idea what to do with it, but than I decided to create a diary. Some people think it's only for girls, but I don't. I like to write about things, that way I can remember them forever. So when I find this book again in a couple of years, I can smile at the memories. I can laugh about all the silly things that happened to me all over again.

The first thing I'm going to write about in this book, is about my bestfriend. Her name is Ashley. Ashley Sparks. She is 8 years old, 2 years younger than me and we are always together! She likes to buy new clothes and everytime she does, she invites me over. Then we go to her room and I will sit down on her bed while she changes into her new clothes. When she's ready, she walks into the room and pretends she is a model on a catwalk. I clap and tell her it's very pretty, because it's always very pretty.

Yesterday, at my birthday, she had baked me a birthday cake, with a little help of her mother. We ate it together, we always share everything. We played with the new ball my dad got me for my birthday and when it was almost dark, her mother came to pick her up. Today at school we played together again and tomorrow I will see her again at school. I am really tired so I am going to sleep now. I'll tell you more about my adventures tomorrow!

Goodnight,
Alex

At the bottom of the page was a photo of Alex and me. It was taken in his garden at his 10th birthday. We were both making a weird face and we had cake in our mouth. I smiled at the pictures and remembered it all. "Alex.. This is amazing." I looked up at him and he smiled at me. "I'm sorry for the spelling mistakes and sloppy handwriting. I was 10, forgive me?" he pouted. I grinned and gave him a kiss. "I forgive you."

We sat there on the rooftop for a long time. He had wrapped his arm around me and my head rested on his shoulder. Together, we were reading his old diary. I was mentioned on every page. Even when we hadn't done anything together that day, he would still write a sentence like: 'Today I haven't seen Ashley and that's why I'm a bit sad. I wish I could see her everyday and do fun things with her all the time.' I felt kinda special, reading his diary. We laughed about the stupid things we did, about his silly sentences and tons of spelling mistakes. We smiled when he wrote about the stupid fight we once had, arguing about stupid things only kids could argue about. We were so silly. When I turned the page again, I saw drawings of red hearts everywhere on the page. I started reading, curious of what he had told his diary this time.

24 May 1998

Hello!

It's me again, Alex. Today was a great day! We didn't have school because it is weekend and so Ashley and I went to the big soccer field. We made a delicious picnic that we ate while we sat on the soft grass. She had braided her hair and I picked flowers that I put in her braid. She looked like a little princess. A beautiful little princess. Ashley is different from other girls I know, she is special to me. I don't know exactly why, it's just a feeling that I get when I'm with her. A feeling I can't describe, a really good feeling. Everything about her is beautiful and what I am going to write down right now, is a secret. Nobody knows, but I know that here in my diary it will be safe. I think I'm a little bit in love with Ashley. She is the prettiest girl I know and also the sweetest and she makes my heart beat that little bit faster everytime she looks at me with her big brown eyes. But it is my secret, she can not know about it. Because she is my bestfriend and I don't want to lose her. Tomorrow I can see her again at school. Thinking about that makes me really happy.

Goodnight,
Alexander

I stared at the page filled with red hearts, drawed by Alex' small hands. He had also written A+A all over the sides of the page. "I thought it was about time you knew the truth." Alex said in a soft, husky voice. I closed the notebook and turned to look in his brown eyes. "Alex.." I whispered. I didn't know what to say. I had no idea that he had a crush on me as a child. He never told me about his feelings back then, so it was very unexpected. I sat on his lap now, staring into his eyes. He stroke my hair behind my ear and his face came closer. I closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to touch mine. My heart skipped a beat when they did and I opened my mouth a bit so his tongue could look for mine. My hand was on his cheek and the other one was held by his warm hand. When he pulled back, he smiled at me. "Now I'm very curious about what other secrets you had that involved me." I joked. He chuckled and also took my other hand in his. "You have to promise me one thing." his voice was warm and soft. "What is it?" I asked him. "You can read everything I wrote in this diary, except for the last page. You can't read that one yet." He looked into my eyes and I could hear in the sound of his voice that he was very serious. "Why not?" I asked, curious as always. "Because you have to read it when the time is right." he simply answered. "How will I kno-" I started, but he interrupted me. "You just will."