wow!

“Girls!” Granny peeks her head through the kitchen window, “you’ve got thirty minutes ‘til dinner!”

“Okay!” Nyla calls at the same time Tamarack says, “Okay, Omi!”

Looking back at her, Tamarack beams. Neither of them had been invited to this special slumber party, so it made sense to throw their own. “Maybe Omi will let us stargaze after.”

“If she doesn’t, we can sneak out when she sleeps.” The two of them share matching expressions of mischief at the thought. Is it really a slumber party if there isn’t? Not that Nyla had many in her life before moving to Golden Grove to make the comparison. Movies are really her only insight into the childhood ritual. Moving from apartment to apartment, it left little time to connect with kids enough to be invited to one. She’d never been a fan favorite enough in any of her previous classes for it in the first place.

That much hadn’t changed in Golden Grove.

Hers and Tamarack is a similar problem—too.

Too loud. Too much.

Or maybe they’re just boring. Nyla’s pretty sure they’re just boring and her best friend would agree. It’s only been a month or so since Nyla and her mother moved to this mountainous town in Oregon, but it has always felt like she’s known Tamarack Baumann her entire life.

She’d tossed a paper airplane at Nyla’s shoulder and the trajectory of Nyla’s life changed forever.

A glint of gold pulls Nyla from her thoughts. They’d been in the middle of digging around for mushrooms when Granny made her announcement and Nyla realizes she hasn’t continued since. “Nyla,” Tamarack cocks her head. She’s set aside her haul of pretty stones and mushrooms in favor of furrowing her brows in concern. Nyla’s chest warms despite the cold. “You okay?” There’s hardly a quiet moment between them with how much they talk.

“Did you know I can hold stars in my hand?” Nyla says suddenly and Tamarack blinks at the sudden declaration.

“Really?” Tamarack leans. “You can?!” Her red eyes widened, cheeks puffed in a smile of surprise.

Nyla grins with a nod, “uh huh!” She scoots closer across the leaf-dappled ground. “I’ve never shown you before but I can.”

It’s the second part that really gets Tamarack excited, bouncing on her knees like she can’t contain it. “Show me! I wanna see you hold a star!”

If Nyla were like Mrs. Murray or Qiu, she’d hum to draw out the suspense. Pretend to hem and haw before doing exactly what she already planned. But she’s isn’t. She’s buzzing with too much energy to even try. “Alright.” Nyla shuffles to sit directly in front of Tamarack. “But you have to close your eyes first.”

Giggling, Tamarack squeezes her eyes shut.

It’s nothing for Nyla to cup Tamarack’s fluffy locks in her hands. Nyla has met a lot of people in her 10 years of living.

Some of them had cranberry hair like Mom. Some of them had red hair like Mrs. Murray. Some had dark brown, orange, pink, purple or even peach. None of them ever had hair that sparkled—Tamarack is the first and only.

It’s amazing.

“Tada!”

Tamarack opens her eyes and a series of expressions pass over her face from anticipation to confusion. “Where are the stars?”

Tamarack giggles, “That’s my hair, Nyla!” Contrast to her usual movements, the way Tamarack shakes head is careful. Nyla watches in amazement how the natural occurring shimmer never fades, moving like glinting sun on waves of gamboge. “That’s not a star!”

It’s hard to breathe as Tamarack’s apple-red eyes look up at her, just as dazzling as the sparkling strands that frame them. Still Nyla stands firm. “Nope.” The ‘p’ pops against Nyla’s lips in a mirthful-variety of stubborn. Seldom is there a topic the two of them disagree on, this will simply have to be an exception.

Soon evening will fall over Golden Grove. The sun will set beneath the horizon and the town will drape her shoulders with a star-dusted shawl and it will be evident to all that the stars above rest upon a crown of gold on Tamarack’s head. It never has to be a specific time of day to see them.

Tamarack Baumann is the prettiest girl in town, and probably the entire world too. Magic. She’s made of magic. Nyla’s known that since day they met underneath a rainfall of leaves in the middle of the forest. This was truth in its purest form even if Nyla knew half of the child-aged population of Golden Grove would be keen to disagree.

Nyla wiggles her fingers and marvels at every individual speckle.

That’s okay, Nyla thinks. I’ll think it enough to make up for it.

—

It’s four years later and it’s the first day of school—or, it had been. It’s been a couple hours since the school day ended and Nyla and Tamarack are leaning against the stone edge of the bridge. A final adventure before the day ended and they were forced to retire for the night by rules imposed on them by their respective families.

Nyla’s neck aches as she looks back at the skies and she gives it a break. The milky way is crystal clear. Something to do with a lack of light pollution, Tamarack told her. As a man of science, it’s a factoid that would make Mr. Murray proud.

Tamarack has stars of her own—their glow may be faint in the low light their cellphones and the moon above provides, but still they shine. They’re from her mother, Nyla learned over their years of knowing the girl next door. Not that Nyla ever had a chance to see it with how often Dr. Nichole Baumann dyed her hair.

That makes Tamarack’s all the more special.

It takes a moment before Tamarack realizes Nyla’s eyes aren’t on the skies above. Her eyebrows knit for a heartbeat, concern flashing over her face—then her expression relaxes as if recalling Nyla’s words in front of the Diner Place. If Nyla were upset, she’d tell her. So Tamarack smiles, soft. “What’s got your mind so preoccupied?”