Her Name

year seven

"Happy birthday!"

The girl spins to find Luca beaming at her, a wrapped box in his hands. Via stands a couple of steps behind him, a smaller box in her hand as well. 

A warm, fuzzy feeling envelopes her, and the girl smiles. "Thanks, guys." 

Via gives her a toothy grin before elbowing Luca out of the way. "Open mine first!"

The girl glances over at Luca who only shrugs. She gives him another look before she takes the box from Via. Inside was a necklace, with half a pendant. 

"We're matching!" Via says, excitedly pulling out her half. She puts the two pendants together, and the two girls look at the whole heart. "Do you want to help you put it on?"

Nodding, the girl unclasps the chain and holds it out to her friend. She feels the necklace move a bit before Via moves back into her sight. "Done!"

"Thank you." The girl pulls the other into a tight hug. "You're such an amazing friend."

Via only smiles before she steps back to let Luca give his gift.

He offers it to her cautiously. "I didn't really know what to get you, so I asked your mum," he mumbles. 

"That's okay!" the girl chirps. She takes the present and carefully unwraps it. There were three things inside. Two books and another smaller box. 

The girl opens the first book to find it full of pictures. Many of them were of the two of them, and the last few included Via within them as well. "Aw."

The second one was full of empty pages.

"Your mum says that you have a lot of thoughts," Luca says. "So, I got you something to write in. The thing is, you aren't allowed to write in the first twenty pages. Those are reserved for me."

"You?"

"Yeah! I'll write in there every year or when I feel sad and want to say something to you," he explains.

The girl smiles. The thought in the present meant everything to her. "Thanks, Luca."

She turns her attention onto the last box. It takes her a moment to open it, but she finally gets it open after a struggle. "Sorry, my arms are weak," she says giggling. Her eyes widen when she sees two silver rings. "What are these?"

"Friendship rings." He holds up his hand to show his and the girl is surprised that she missed it. "Well, technically one of them is for Via."

"Really?" Via looks at him in shock.

Luca nods. "You're my friend, and you're a part of this group."

The girl agrees with him, handing her one of the rings while slipping the other onto her own finger. "I love you both so much," she gushes.

The two scream it back at her and they both rush forward at the same time for a hug. Falling into a pile, their laughter fills the air as they tumble through the grass. 

Later that night, the girl lies awake, staring at the rest of the presents her other classmates had bought her. Many of them were candies or a simple card.

She loved all of them, but after all the chocolate was eaten and all the cards were hidden away, the only ones she would truly remember were the presents that Via and Luca had given her.