Harper was floating again. It wasn't the first time I had seen it, but it always took my breath away. She always made light of it (no pun intended), but it never failed to stop me in my tracks.

She was near the ceiling this time, sitting cross-legged in the air. Her short silver hair kept falling in front of her face as she leaned over, deep in the world of the book she was reading. Every few seconds she would pull the stray hairs behind her ear, only to have them fall again.

I smiled at the sight, then tapped the familiar rhythm on her window so she would know I was there. Harper looked up and grinned at me, then spread her arms out wide as she began to glide towards me. Once she was in position, she sat in the air and put her hands beneath her to descend. Soon she was sitting on her bed, and lifted the window

"Blu!" She tried to look cheerful, but I could see the frustration and loneliness behind her smile.

I smiled back, clambering awkwardly onto her bed. "Hey, Harpsichord. Sure would be easier to get in here if I could fly like you."

She laughed her slightly amused laugh, a high throaty sound, but her real laugh came from deep within her stomach, and I hadn't heard it in a long while. "Its been awhile since you've called me that, Blue Cheese."

"Hate the stuff," my face twisted into a disgusted expression. "How's school?"

"Changing the subject I see," Harper laughed again, but then sighed, her happy expression fading. "Only you would ask that. Why do you care about school anyway?"

I studied her words for a moment. She changed the subject herself, telling me that she must have been upset about something. "Did you do badly on your Physics test again?"

She grimaced, answering my question before even opening her mouth. "I don't like Physics."

"No, you don't understand it," I corrected, grabbing her textbook off of her shelf. "Once you do, you'll like it, I promise."

"No I won't!" She protested. "I just don't like it; there's nothing wrong with that!"

"I'll teach you how to understand it, and if you don't like it by the time we're done, you win," I replied thoughtfully.

"Why do you have to make everything into a challenge?" Harper mock groaned. "Fine...but what do I win?"

I am already making a list; one of my habits. "Hmm let's see...bragging rights, a homemade plate of brownies, and an apology card from me."

"Not the lists! Anything but the lists!" She covered her face with her hands. "But add a pizza and you've got yourself a deal."

"You drive a hard bargain," I grin. "Shake on it."

Harper took my hand, trying not to laugh by scrunching up her nose. She'd always been my best friend, since we lived next door to each other for years, even before I had memories of us together. I found myself lost in nostalgia, gazing at her beautiful green eyes. Wait...beautiful?

Harper coughed, and I realized I'd been shaking her hand for longer than was socially acceptable, so I dropped it suddenly.

"Sorry I..." I cleared my throat awkwardly and picked up her textbook again, trying to appear interested. "I was lost in thought."

"I thought that was my job," she sighed, looking out the window. "I'm always dreaming a way out of here anyway."

"Is it really so bad here?" I asked her earnestly. "I mean, you've got me!"

"Yeah," the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and she turned to face me. "I've got you, Blue Cheese."

I resisted the urge to protest against the hated nickname and waved the Physics textbook in her face. "Let's begin."

"Not now!" She leaned over and ruffled my blue hair, messing up the part I worked painstakingly on for five minutes this morning. "Not after I just took a test and failed! Let's look at our map instead."

Even I agreed this would be better than Physics, so I stood and followed her to the vast bookshelf at the end of her room. Harper loved reading, which I've always thought contradicts her wild, spontaneous nature, but somehow she managed both.

Eagerly she pulled out the worn case and slides the map out, spreading it out on her wooden desk that was littered with books, paper, and pens. Typical Harper. We smoothed it out and placed books on all four corners to prevent curling.

Harper got this map when we were ten years old, and it's been our favorite possession ever since then. We memorized all the counties and capitals together, labeled all the places we wanted to go, practiced drawing it from memory, and countless other things.

My grandfather used to say that a map was the best toy a child could own, but I didn't believe him until Harper and I explored it together.

"Let's have another memorization contest," her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me from her 5'5 height.

We used to be the same height until I turned fifteen and starting shooting up. Since then I've been five inches taller than her, and it constantly bothers her. But at that moment she was too excited to care, a challenge gleaming in her eyes.

I sighed dramatically. "If you insist."

She flipped the map over and ran to the end of the room where she kept her clean sheets of paper, while I followed close behind. Using my height advantage, I reached my arm over her head and grabbed the same sheet of paper she did. No matter how hard we tried, we both ended up sprawled on the floor, laughing.

"I guess we're doing the desk version," I finally gasped, clutching my stomach.

Harper nodded and I helped her off her feet, despite the glare of independence she gave me. We walked to her desk, and she swept off all the papers into one huge pile on the floor, causing me to roll my eyes internally. I took the other one that she asked her father to buy a few years ago, since we used to always be squished at hers.

Harper picked up her phone and a pencil in her other hand, while I grabbed a pencil of my own and held it at ready.

"Go!" She said suddenly, almost slamming the phone down in her haste.

We both began drawing the map as fast as we could, but also as accurately as possible. I glanced over at Harper, her cheeks sucked in and the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration. Then I looked down, engrossed in my own work, everything fading out as I concentrated.

• ⑊ •

Twenty minutes later, almost on the dot, we slapped our pencils to the paper and grinned at each other.

"Done!" We shouted simultaneously.

Neither of us bothered to jinx the other; instead we raced to each other's maps and began to examine them thoroughly.

Soon there would be shouts of our discoveries, such as:

"You missed the border between Yemen and Oman!" I called to Harper.

Or:

"America is too large for your scale!" Harper yelled back.

It was great fun, and our favorite part was finding the mistakes so we could correct them, grow better and better. Well, at least that was why I liked finding mistakes. Harper simply liked to point out what I did wrong, but I didn't mind. It was our way. A good way.

"Let me call in Patsy," Harper told me excitedly. Patsy had been their housekeeper since Harper was a toddler, and had been judging these little competitions for years. She would look at the map and see which one of ours was more accurate. By now she too had memorized it, and hardly ever had to look at the real map.

"Patsy to my room please," Harper called through the PA system in her room.

A few moments later a gray-haired middle aged woman scurried in. "Ah, miss Harper and young Blu. How are you dear?"

I smiled at her."Very well Mrs. Patsy. And you?"

"Good," she wiped her hands on her apron. "Another map contest I suppose!"

We both nodded empathetically, so she began pouring over then studiously.

"Hmmm well the border between Oman and Yemen isn't correct Harper my dear," she murmured after a moment.

"I told you!" I laugh and she attempts to silence me with a glare.

"You're cute when you're mad," I blurt our before I can think. Wait...cute?

Her face turns red and she opens he mouth, but before she can speak, Mrs. Patsy utters another mistake.

"I do believe America is a bit large for my taste, Blu."

She lifts an eyebrow and smirks at me, her turn to laugh now. "Don't be so quick to laugh, Blue Cheese."

"I think you've tied," Pasty told us, smiling."For the first time ever."

"How's this even possible?" The ever competitive Harper exclaimed.

"I guess we both get a point," I smirked, snatching the worn out scoreboard that was over five years old. "I'll tally it." Both Harper and Patsy bent over my shoulder as I began to count them up again after I gave each of us another mark. "We're tied again!"

"I don't belive it!" Harper picked the paper up and scans it again, and the familiar furrow between her brow appeared as she concentrated.

When did I start noticing these things about her? I wondered to myself.

"You were right," Harper looked up at me with a defeated sigh. "We are double tied up for the first time."

A/N:
Hey everyone! I hope you are enjoying this story so far! I'm really enjoying writing it, and I'd be very happy if you'd drop a comment and tell me what you think about the first chapter!