11:11

Lea walked up to the teacher’s desk with a demon on her shoulder, whispering things it knew she didn’t want to hear.

“Don’t walk too slow, don’t walk too fast”

“What are you doing with your arms?”

Lea quickly folded her arms, trying her best to act nonchalant. Struggling to make eye contact, she asked for a bathroom pass. On her way to the door, a blanket of laughter fell over the room, and the spotlight was on Lea. The laughter managed to distract her, and she tripped over her own feet.

Lea sat in the first stall of the bathroom attempting to catch her breath. Her vision became blurry, the ringing in her ear became unbearable - then she woke up.

Lea awoke with her heart jumping out of her chest. She lied awake, focusing on the ticking of the clock, thinking of every second passing. Another second closer to a dreadful day.

Lea turned over and glanced at the clock.

11:11

She pulled herself up, and began her wish.

“I wish that this burden of anxiety will be lifted off my shoulders, so I can live.”

Lea took a deep breath, turned out the light, and fell back asleep.

The next morning, Lea felt slightly less anxious than she was used to. She spent 20 minutes less than usual in the mirror, and didn’t give much thought to others walking on the sidewalk.

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something in her peripheral vision. She stopped, and felt breathing on her neck. Before she could turn around, a tall skinny boy with dark blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt jumped in front of her. Her first instinct was to swing her arms.

“Ow!” He screamed. “Couldn’t you have slapped me on my arm or something?”

“I’m so sorry.” Lea rubbed his face, and instantly regretted it. “S-sorry”

“It’s fine, it was my fault.” He turned his head to look where Lea was staring. “Hello?”

“Sorry!” She popped her knuckles to avoid the awkward situation.

“You sure do apologize a lot”, the boy said with a chuckle.

“I’m s-super, uh going to be super late to school”, she replied, contemplating whether to walk off or not.

“Look I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to introduce myself in a spontaneous way, and that was the first thing to come to mind.” He held out his hand. “I’m Nicholas, but you can call me Cole if you want.” Lea squeezed a fist and held out her hand. “I’m Azalea, but you can call me Lea.”

Cole sparked up a conversation with Lea on the 30 minute walk to school.

“It’s my first day”, he said excitedly.

“You aren’t nervous?” She gave him a concerned look while taking a bite out of a granola bar Cole had offered her.

“Why would I be? Going new places and experiencing new experiences is exciting”

Lea suddenly had this weird feeling of comfort. She realized she was communicating with another human, besides her parents, with no sign of anxiety. She felt like she’d known him for twenty years, not 20 minutes.

During class, Lea couldn’t help but think about the wish she’d made last night. What a coincidence that Cole showed up the next day. Out of boredom, she wished on 11:11 in her third period class.

“I wish for $20,000”

That afternoon, Lea invited Cole over to do homework at her house. They stopped at an ice cream shop on the way back. Cole ordered a chocolate ice cream cone, and Lea ordered a chocolate shake. When they reached the doorstep, Cole accidentally kicked a box. The box didn’t move easily, so he ended up tripping.

“My ice cream!”, he whined. Lea wasn’t phased. Instead, she went over to the box and opened it.

“Oh no thanks, Lea, I can help myself up”, Cole snapped sarcastically.

“I’m gonna puke.” Lea sat down on the doorsteps in disbelief.

“What is it?” Cole proceeded to investigate the box, “Holy Moly!” He crawled into a comfortable position, and began to count the money.

“1, 2, 3, 4…”

“Cole, can I tell you something?” Azalea didn’t know if she should be excited or scared.

“Yeah yeah, 13, 14, 15…”

“It’s a long story”

“Mhm, 22, 23, 24, 25…”

Azalea took a deep breath. “I have social anxiety, it led to depression and gave me a negative outlook on life.”

“31..” Cole stopped counting, and made eye contact with Lea.

“Last night, I wished on 11:11 for the burden of anxiety to be lifted off my shoulders. You appeared the next day and gave me a strange feeling of peace”

Cole smiled, and put one hand on Lea’s shoulder.

“In third period, I wished on 11:11 again, just to test it out. I wished for $20,000 and it… appeared on my doorstep.” Lea watched as Cole dropped the money out his other hand.

“First of all, can you repeat that? You were talking too fast.”

“Nicholas!”

“I’m just kidding, I'm just kidding. Second of all, you knew the amount of money in this box, and you just let me sit here counting it- like an idiot.”

Lea laughed. “I’m gonna take a bath full of money!” Cole grabbed a handful of bills, “We can take a shower right now, cause I’m about to make it rain!”

Lea told her parents about her eventful day. They didn’t take her seriously, they never did.

“That’s great sweetheart, can you pass me the remote?”

That weekend, Cole and Lea planned how they were going to spend the money.

“Okay, we’ll split it half and half.”

“And that is..”

“$10,000 each”

“Thanks”

Lea paced around the room, while Cole came up with fun things to do.

“There’s a carnival in town. We can buy a lot of tickets and try every ride!”

“Oo, we can also go to every fast food place and try every food on the menu!”

“And we can order a bunch of stupid costumes from Amazon and go out in public doing crazy dares!”

Cole continued to list every idea that came to mind. “Okay, okay, let me process this.” Lea just wanted to enjoy the feeling of finally having a friend, a best friend.

Cole’s dad has a job that causes them to move frequently. Cole overheard his parents talking in the living room last night. They’d stay for two more months, before they moved across the country. He expected to move, but didn’t want to leave Azalea. So, he decided he was going to teach her how to live. He was going to show her how to be optimistic, and how to adventure.

Cole and Lea spent the next two months going on crazy adventures and creating long-lasting memories. The walls of Lea’s room were filled with polaroid pictures. They spent long days exploring the city, visiting small shops, parks, volunteering, and reading as many books from the library as they could. They spent nights camping in their backyards, and examining the nature around them. But most importantly, Lea learned to control her anxiety. She felt hopeful for the first time in forever. She was smiling a real smile. Cole taught her morals that changed the way she perceived her life.

When it came time for Cole to leave, Lea didn’t focus on sadness. She focused on how grateful she was to have met Cole. Cole gave Lea a little black notebook with the words “To Azalea” on the front. Lea opened the notebook. The first page read, “Use this notebook to journal the adventures you have without me.” Lea hugged Cole so tight he began to shake.

“Sorry”, Lea said, with tears in her eyes.

“That’s another thing. Don’t say sorry, live life with no regrets”, Cole smiled through his tears and went in for another hug, “Promise you won’t forget me.”

“Don’t worry, this isn’t goodbye,” Azalea said with a smile, wiping her tears.

Cole gave her a confused look. She waved, with one hand behind her back and a cheeky grin.