Leap of Faith by Cassidy Shay (the giving tree read aloud .txt) 📕

She hugs me again. “Thank you so much.” This hug lasts longer, and when she pulls away, I don’t want to let her go.

A few minutes later, we all have a mug of hot cocoa. Lisa gives Amia a hug, and says she has to go to her room. “I’m behind in all my online classes,” she explains as she leaves the kitchen. “Thank you for doing this for her, Mikey.”

After she’s gone, we all talk for a while. I talk to Amia’s mom about what she does for a living, and she asks me about my plans after high school.

“I’m not really sure,” I say. “My mom and dad ask me all the time, since I’m graduating in May. But I don’t know what I want to do, so it will be hard for me to decide where I want to go.”

She just nods. She stays for a few more minutes, then decides that she’s going to go do a few things in her room.

And then it’s just Amia and I. It’s silent for a few seconds. “Thank you,” she says. “You have no idea how much this has helped me.”

I just shrug. I don’t feel like I did anything spectacular. “I just did what anyone else would do. I came to make sure you’re alright. And I remembered what you said about her making you hot cocoa, so I stopped by the store and grabbed some. It’s nothing. Really.”

She nods slowly. “You don’t think that you did much. But you did. Before you showed up, I couldn’t find a single good thing about today. But now? I’ve been reminded that I have family and friends who love me. What more could I want?” She looks at her mug for a second, and then back at me. “And tonight is just a small sample of what you’ve done for me. You’ve made me a happier person, and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

When our mugs are empty, I take them to the sink and turn to look at her. “What do you want to do now?” she asks.

“Honestly? I hadn’t even thought past knocking on your door.”

Right then, both of our stomachs growl. She puts her hand over her stomach. “Did you hear that?”

I laugh, nodding. “Yeah. I heard mine too.”

“We should probably eat something, then,” she says. She thinks for a minute. “I have an idea.”

She runs up the stairs and comes back a couple minutes later with a purse. “I’m going to take you out for dinner.” Without waiting for an answer, she goes outside.

By the time I get there, she’s waiting in my car, in the driver’s seat.

“What are you doing?” I ask as I get close.

“I’m gonna take you for a ride,” she says.

I just shake my head. “Amia, you can’t drive my car. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to drive if you can’t hear. I know it’s illegal to drive with headphones in.”

She just smiles at me, sticks her arm out the window. “Come on,” she says. “Give me the keys and get in. It’ll be fun.”

I open the door and motion for her to get out. When she doesn’t, I shake my head again. “Amia, get out of the car now.” I don’t understand why she’s doing this. “You’re going to get us both in trouble or injured or killed if you drive. I’m not going to let you drive my car.” My face starts to heat up, and I know that it’s red at this point.

She knows that I’m serious, and she slowly gets out. “I’m sorry, Mikey, it was just a joke. I wasn’t really going to drive your car. You put me in a good mood and I…” She pauses, looks up at the sky. “I don’t really know what I was trying to do. I’m sorry.” She walks around to the other side of the car, and I slide in. Of course she was joking.

The drive there is silent, except for Amia giving me directions. After about twenty minutes, I pull into the parking lot of a restaurant. It’s a small red building with a green tin roof. The sign has a picture of a big grizzly bear running away.

Once I park, I turn to face her. “Amia, I’m sorry. About earlier. I didn’t realize that you were just joking. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you.”

She nods her head. “I know.” She shrugs. “I don’t really know why I did it, it wasn’t funny. I didn’t plan it, it just sort of happened.” She looks at the restaurant and smiles. “But that’s done and over. Let’s go inside. This place is really good.”

I turn the car off and head inside, and following Amia. There’s a jukebox in the corner of the room, but it’s not playing anything. It doesn’t even look like it’s turned on. By the cash register is a glass case filled with donuts and pie, and there are only about ten tables in the entire building.

We sit down at a table and wait for a waitress to come over to us. She gives us our menus, comes back a few minutes later to take our order. Once she leaves, I lean back in my seat. “How do you know about this place?” I’ve lived in this city my whole life, and I’ve never heard of it.

“It’s just been one of the places that my family always goes to. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about this place.”

I nod, and it’s quiet for a minute. Not an awkward silence, but an okay one. Then, I remember what Joe said.

“So, uh… I heard that you saw Joe at the store.” She nods. “What did he say to you?”

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about it.”

“It does matter,” I insist. “I know my cousin. And I know that he said something that I wouldn’t want him to have said, or you guys would be telling me what it was.” Joe knows me better than anyone, and he knows how to read a situation pretty well. I doubt that my developing crush on Amia has gone unnoticed by him, even if I do my best to hide it around her. I don’t want to mess up our friendship, and it doesn’t seem like she liked me that way.

She sighs. “Mikey, it really doesn’t matter. If your school day is anything like mine, then you’ve probably already heard it. Like, a billion times.”

I nod, instantly knowing what she’s talking about. And it seems pretty clear that she doesn’t want to talk about it. Not a good sign. I decide to change the subject, get my mind off of my idiot cousin and his quest to embarrass me. “Speaking of school, how is it at our school? With the whole ‘I-can’t-hear-a-thing’ thing that you got going on.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “It’s hard. The aides are helpful, but it’s still difficult. And the teachers try their best to help me out, but it’s hard on them too. Not really fair to any of us.”

I nod. “Yeah, it seems kind of ridiculous to put all that extra stress on everyone.”

She nods slowly. “I think, for next year, I’ll just take online classes. That is, if I can’t convince my mom to let me go back to my old school. Because this way… my grades are terrible. My highest is an 81, and I’ve always had straight As.”

The waitress comes and sets our food on the table. “Can I get you two anything else?”

“No, thank you.” She leaves, and I turn my attention back to Amia.

“I’m gonna try to talk to my mom about it, see if she’s still expecting me to magically hear again.” She just stares at her plate and doesn’t say anything for several seconds. “Why is life so difficult?”

I feel like it was a rhetorical question, but I try to answer anyway. “Life is always going to be hard. No matter what. But if you put your faith in God, and get your strength from Him, then you will always be able to handle anything that comes your way. No matter what, He’ll always be there when you need him.” It sounds cheesy, but it’s all I got.

She smiles. “It’s funny, because when bad things happen to people, they always blame God. They turn away and lose faith. That’s what my entire family did, except for Lisa. It’s just a big cycle of bad things.”

“That’s why I’m so happy that I have the foundation that I have,” I say. “My parents ensured that I never had to go without God in my life. I know that He’s always there for me. I can’t imagine going through something tough without God by my side.”

She looks down at the table, and her voice sounds sad. “I hope nothing ever happens to you that makes you lose your faith. To me, that’s who you are. I can’t imagine you without your faith.”

We finish our dinner, pay the bill, and head out to the car. “Where are we going now?” I ask.

She raises her eyebrows. “I was thinking we should go home.”

I shake my head. “Nope. It’s a Friday night. You’ve had a hard day. I am taking you somewhere, whether you like it or not.”

“Are you kidnapping me?”

I roll my eyes, but we’re both smiling. “I guess. But it’s not kidnapping if you want to go. So do you want to go somewhere?”

“What do you have in mind?”

I get in the car and put the key in the ignition. “I don’t know. I think there’s a party going on somewhere. At Alex’s or Mark’s.” I send a quick text message to see where it is.

“Are you serious?” she asks. “A party? That’s so unoriginal.”

I shrug. “It’s better than siting in your house moping and missing your aunt, right? We don’t have to go if you don’t want. I just thought it would be fun.”

She thinks for a second. “Alright. Let’s go.” She smiles, the uncertainty obvious in her expression. “It’ll be fun, right?”

I check my phone and find out that the party is at Mark’s house. I put the car in gear and we head off down the road.

We pull up to the house, and I’m speechless. It’s a big house. And there are more people here than I’ve ever seen in one house before.

Mikey comes over to my side and opens the door for me. “Thank you,” I say, my eyes still on the house. “This house is huge, Mikey.”

He nods. “Yeah, it’s pretty big. Mark’s parents have money. They both work, and they’re doctors or lawyers or something. Good people, but very concerned with money.”

I just shake my head. I can’t get over how big it is. There’s a four car garage, the house is three stories. My whole house could fit in this driveway.

We walk through the front door, where two guys are collecting money. Mikey hands one of them a five-dollar bill, and the guy stops us when we try to move on.

“It’s five each.” He’s glaring at Mikey, and Mikey just glares right back. He looks annoyed.

“Jake, I’m driving home. No drinking. So I’m only paying