Chapter 1: Promises
"They say growing up means letting go of childish dreams.
I don't think that's true.
I think growing up is remembering why you dreamed in the first place."
************************************************
The summer air smelled of rain and fresh grass.
Five girls lay on an old picnic blanket in the middle of a quiet field, watching the stars slowly appear one by one.
No phones.
No worries.
Just laughter that echoed into the night.
"I'll become a singer one day," Maya declared, sitting up with a grin. "Not just any singer a world famous one."
Stella laughed. "Then I'll be an actress. I'll be in movies, and you'll sing the soundtrack."
"You two are impossible," Noelle teased. "I'm going to become a doctor."
Claire smiled as she hugged her notebook close to her chest.
"I just want to write a story... one that makes people feel seen."
Everyone turned to Rebecca.
"So?" Maya asked.
Rebecca looked up at the stars.
"I want to create clothes that make people feel confident. I want someone to wear something I designed and think... I can do anything."
Silence settled between them.
Not an awkward silence.
A hopeful one.
Maya suddenly pulled out five tiny pieces of paper.
"Let's make a promise."
"A promise?" Claire asked.
"We'll write our dreams down. Ten years from now, we'll meet again under this same sky."
"And if one of us gives up?" Noelle asked.
Maya smiled and stretched out her pinky.
"Then the rest of us will remind her why she started."
One by one...
Five pinkies linked together beneath a sky full of stars.
No one noticed the shooting star racing across the sky.
Or perhaps...
The stars were listening.
To the girl who once dreamed.....
You have every rights to dream✨
Don't give up
