Under The Magnolia Read online

  Under The Magnolia

  Kelsey Soliz

  Copyright © 2021 Kelsey Soliz

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living

  or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or

  by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written

  permission of the publisher.

  ISBN: 9798510168334

  Cover design by: Kelsey Soliz

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you. Wait, no I'm not.

  Enjoy. Or don't, I'm not here to tell you what to do.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Amelia, age 5

  Amelia, age 10

  Amelia, age 13

  Amelia, age 14

  Amelia, age 15

  Amelia, age 16

  Amelia

  Cameron, age 17

  Amelia, age 18

  Theo

  Constantine

  Amelia

  Theo

  Amelia

  Alex, age 18

  Amelia, age 18

  Constantine, age 19

  Theo

  Amelia, age 20

  Theo

  Cameron

  Alex

  Amelia

  Constantine

  Amelia

  Constantine

  Alex

  Cameron

  Constantine

  Amelia

  Theo

  Amelia

  Alex

  Amelia

  Cameron

  Amelia

  Theo

  Cameron

  Amelia

  Acknowledgement

  Books By This Author

  Amelia, age 5

  First day of kindergarten

  “OK class, welcome to kindergarten. My name is Ms. Wheeler, and I am

  so excited to help you learn this year! Before we all go find our desks, we

  have four birthdays already this week we need to celebrate. Would

  Constantine, Alexander, Cameron, and Amelia please stand up front here

  with me?”

  I was excited to have birthday buddies. I didn’t have any brothers or

  sisters at home, so I had been hopin’ for some friends to call my own. When

  my nice new teacher told me we all had birthdays this week, I thought it

  was perfect and I decided right there that we were all going to be friends.

  Ms. Wheeler must have thought the same thought, because she put us all

  at the same table. She said kids that were born so close together ought to

  stick together. That was one smart woman.

  I give my biggest smile, hoping the boys will want to be my friends, too.

  The class sings us all happy birthday and Ms. Wheeler lets us each pick out

  a new pencil as a treat. I picked a blue one, because I wanted the boys to

  know I didn’t love pink all the time.

  I could be fun.

  Constantine looks embarrassed to be stood out in front of the class, his

  cheeks are getting red. I think that means he’s embarrassed. He picks a

  black pencil that matches his hair and carefully looks around our new table,

  his dark eyes looking at me a little longer than he does the boys.

  Alexander is grinning almost as big as I am, he seems hyper and excited

  to celebrate his birthday so early in the day. He tells us his real birthday is

  tomorrow and that he gets to have doughnuts for breakfast. Momma won’t

  let me have doughnuts; she says they’re not good for me. He picks a blue

  pencil, he says it matches his eyes.

  Cameron just seems sleepy and a little bored but thanks Ms. Wheeler for

  the red pencil he chooses. He places it carefully in his pencil box and turns

  to me to shake my hand before doing the same with the other boys.

  I tell them I’m having a birthday party this weekend and would they like

  to come, because Daddy says there will be ponies to ride. Constantine says

  he doesn’t want to play with no girls, but Cameron says he loves horsies

  and what kind are they because he’s got a couple on his farm. Alexander

  tells me his daddy might be busy but maybe his momma could bring him.

  A few other kids from my class come to the party, Momma spends all

  morning yanking on my hair and combing it over and over again, pulling it

  into braids that hurt my head. But she says to quit complainin’ and to hold

  still or else it will never be done. She sprays a bunch of yucky stuff on it

  and helps me zip up my poofy pink party dress.

  I tell her the boys won’t want to play with me if I’m in a poofy pink

  dress, but she just pinches my arm real hard and tells me folks like us don’t

  play. I can talk to my friends and sit carefully on a pony but if I ruin my

  dress she’ll be angry.

  I try real hard to keep it clean just like Momma asked. Constantine comes

  after all, his Momma sticking around and complimenting me on my dress.

  She starts asking me about all my favorite things to do for my birthday and

  what flavor cake I picked. She’s real nice. Constantine seems grumpy and

  he gets in trouble when he stomps in manure and gets my dress all messy.

  His Momma makes him say sorry, but I don’t care about the dress.

  Maybe now I can play since it’s already messy. I run around for a bit

  chasing Alexander and Cameron, they teach me how to play tag and hide

  and seek.

  Momma finds me hiding behind a tree and her eyes do that scary thing

  when she’s angry. I have to go inside and take a bath before we cut the cake.

  Momma sends all my friends home with a goody bag and I watch them all

  leave from my window.

  Amelia, age 10

  First Day of Fourth Grade

  I run up to my friends and give them each their happy birthday hugs,

  even though theirs won’t be for a few days each. We make plans to meet at

  our secret spot after school to celebrate together. There’s this big magnolia

  tree that has these big pretty flowers this time of year, and the trunk is so

  wide that we can all sit in it together.

  The dark glossy leaves hide us pretty good, so no one bothers us there.

  We found it last year and have decided it’s our top-secret hangout. It’s

  between my house and Cameron’s farm so I can usually make it there and

  back if I’m quick.

  “No fair, why does Cameron get to sit next to you, Amelia?”

  I laugh at Constantine’s fake sad face. “If you would have asked me at

  lunch like he did then you would be.”

  Constantine still pretends like he doesn’t like girls, but then he gets a

  little angry when other boys sit next to me. Even if it’s one of our other best

  friends, Alex or Cameron.

  I climb up a few branches and reach for the biggest flower I can find,

  trying to pull it off so I can smell it. Magnolia flowers smell so good but

  they don’t last very long. Cameron
is yelling at me to be careful, and Alex

  is climbing next to me, trying to find a bigger one.

  I fall and hurt my arm, and Constantine is the first one to jump down

  from the tree and help me. It hurts really bad, and I know that I’m not

  supposed to cry, but I can’t help it.

  The boys all help me get home, but Momma won’t let them come in to

  make sure I’m okay. She tells them to keep away and to go home. The door

  closes and Momma gets angry that I’m dirty and that I was climbing a tree.

  Girls aren’t supposed to climb trees, she says I’m supposed to be a lady and

  wear pretty dresses and play piano.

  I hate piano. Momma makes me take lessons twice a week and it’s so

  boring.

  The doctor comes to our house and pokes at me a bunch of times, then

  uses some fancy machine to take special pictures. He tells Mama it’s broken

  and Momma gets angry that I have to wear a big cast. My dresses won’t fit

  over my cast and I smile because now I get to wear t-shirts for awhile.

  The boys make me pictures at school and color on my cast. I love seeing

  their names written on my cast so much that I won’t let anyone else write

  on it. This makes some of the other kids angry but Constantine fills all the

  space in with flowers for me so it’s pretty.

  Amelia, age 13

  Underneath the Magnolia, day before school starts

  I stare at the tree that never seems to change. I can hear the boys

  roughhousing as they walk towards me and I turn my head to the side to

  smile at them. I haven’t seen them all summer because Daddy sent me to

  Grandma’s.

  I didn’t want to come back because everything was so much happier

  there, but I couldn’t leave behind my boys. Momma died and Daddy didn’t

  want to see me.

  I look back up at the tree, climbing into my favorite spot and wondering

  why I’m not sad about Momma dying. Was something wrong with me?

  Daddy doesn’t care about my clothes the way Momma did, so I get to

  wear jeans now. Grandma helped me pick out new clothes for school and

  for the first time ever I got to pick out things I liked. September is hot so

  I’m in a new pair of shorts and a tank top and my hair is down because

  Momma isn’t there to braid it.

  “Amelia?” They boys all stopped walking.

  “Duh, you have other girls I should know about that you hang out with in

  this tree? Tell me now because I might have to stake my claim.”

  I look down at the boys and they’re all staring at me funny.

  “What is wrong with you guys? You’re acting weird.”

  Alexander shakes his head and bounds up the tree, nearly pushing me out

  of it in an effort to hug me. He gives me a big cheeky grin and pulls at my

  hair a little, scooting to his spot while Constantine comes up next.

  “You look different.”

  “Oh. Oh God, do I look really bad? I’ve never picked out my own outfits

  before, did I do it wrong?”

  “You look pretty, just like these magnolia blossoms.” I roll my eyes at

  Cameron’s cheesy line but can’t help the tickles I get in my belly when he

  smiles at me and hands me a dinner plate-sized flower.

  “Thanks, Cam.”

  Constantine is still staring at me, so I stare back, slowly moving closer

  until he has to blink.

  They tell me all about their summer, how they went swimming almost

  every day in the creek and had campfires at Cam’s farm. They try to tell me

  they’re sorry about my Momma passing, but I won’t let them talk about it.

  I don’t want to ruin this day with them by bringing her into it. She has no

  place here, this is our tree. I snap back into the conversation when they start

  talking about some girls we go to school with, how they hung out a bunch.

  “Wait. What?”

  “I said I asked her out and she said yes, so we’re like a couple.”

  I feel a stab of pain in my stomach. I know that I’m 13 but I didn’t get to

  choose when I met my soulmates. Cameron scoots closer and pushes his

  shoulder against mine. He knows exactly what I’m feeling, he always seems

  to know.

  I hate this girl. I don’t know her very well, but I hate her just the same.

  Alex is supposed to be my boyfriend.

  “I think Amelia thought you liked her, Alex.” Constantine smirks at my

  embarrassment as Alex just snaps his head towards me.

  “What? Amelia? She’s like, one of us. That would be weird. What if we

  broke up and then you didn’t want to hang out with us anymore? Plus, if

  one of us dated her then wouldn’t it be weird with the other two? No, you

  didn’t think that, right Amelia?”

  I clear my throat to make sure they don’t hear the panic.

  “Of course not, Alex. Constantine just likes to be an ass because he

  knows no girl will find his rudeness attractive. Might as well push us all

  away, right? I uh, need to go. I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow.”

  I make it through the field before the tears fall and I’m mortified when I

  hear footsteps running behind me. I quickly wipe my eyes and shake my

  hands, trying to squash down my feelings.

  “Amelia, stop.”

  I breathe a little easier when I realize it’s Cam. He gives me a hug and

  pulls me into our old garden shed now that I’m back within my own

  property, making sure the other boys won’t find us or see us here. He knows

  I don’t want to talk to them right now.

  “I’m sorry, Amelia. It won’t last, she’s nothing like you. Her laugh is so

  annoying. He only likes her because she wore a bikini and flirted with him.

  She’s a total idiot.”

  “Thanks, Cam. I don’t know why I care. I mean, we’re all just friends,

  right? And Alex is right, it’s not like I could ever date one of you anyway.

  You’re literally my only real friends, so many things could go wrong.”

  “They both totally like you, Amelia Poppy, even if they don’t know it

  yet.”

  I lean into his hug again, the smell of grass lingering on his clothes. He

  smells like summer.

  “Thank you for trying to make me feel better. Really Cam, I’m just being

  silly. Of course you all want to have a girlfriend, you have to promise me

  though that we still can hang out like we do now, even if you do.”

  Cam’s breathing changes and I start to get nervous because suddenly

  something feels different. He wraps my hand in his and with the sunlight

  streaming through the windows, Cam lifts my chin up and kisses me. I’m so

  shocked that I can’t move, because I didn’t think any of them would ever

  like me like that.

  “Amelia Poppy, I spent the whole summer missing you. If that means

  that I like you more than as just a friend, then I like you as more than a

  friend.”

  He kisses me again, this time though I’m ready for it and it’s a little bit

  less awkward, his aim a little better. I feel a thrill at the fact that I’m kissing

  a boy. But not just a boy, I’m kissing Cam.

  “You can be my girlfriend, Amelia Poppy. All the other girls are dumb.

  It’s you that makes me smile. Besides, I like kissing you.”

  I’m blushing like crazy and then I realize that if Cam’s my b
oyfriend,

  then Constantine and Alex, aren’t.

  “Alex thinks it would be weird though. Will it? We’re all friends. I can’t

  lose you guys. I don’t want to make Constantine or Alex uncomfortable.”

  “It’s only a matter of time before they ask you too. You have to know that

  by now.”

  “Huh?” I’m honestly confused. What is he saying?

  “There’s no way we all grow up and aren’t together. You’re perfect for all

  of us.”

  “But…huh?”

  “Do you like Alex and Constantine?”

  I blush because how do I just come out and admit something like that?

  Amelia, age 14

  Day before school starts

  Cam and I are racing to the tree, my hair flying behind me and I’m

  laughing so hard that I can barely see where I’m going. I don’t need to

  though; I’ve ran this path so many times in my life. This tree has become

  everything to us, and when I finally make it to the trunk, I find Cam carving

  our names into the trunk.

  “You’re such a dork. CACA forever? Really? You thought that was the

  best way to memorialize the awesomeness that is us?”

  He scratches little plus signs in between the letters before a big heart goes

  around them.

  “Well now you’ve defiled the magic tree and it’s powers are going to

  disappear. Constantine is going to be pissed.”

  “Constantine is always pissed.”

  I giggle because he’s right.

  It’s not long before the other two idiots get to the tree. Constantine rolls

  his eyes at the heart, but Alex just studies it for a minute before adding his

  own inscription underneath.

  “For eva? Oh my gosh, you guys are so corny.”

  “But you love us for it Mils.”

  “When did you get boobs?”

  I pause mid-climb to look up at Constantine and flip him off.

  “Don’t be a perv, Tina.”

  We got to hang out this summer a little bit more which was fun, but the

  boys don’t know that me and Cameron are boyfriend/girlfriend yet. He only

  holds my hand or kisses me when they’re not there.

  “Ashley wants us to meet her for ice cream later. She’s bringing Cassie

  and Lauren. You guys game?”

  “Okay, no. You want to talk about chicks, do it on your own time. I don’t

  need to hear about all those annoying girls, it’s going to make these flowers