A/N: I wrote this for English class, so I have vocab words, and density and ballooning facts in here. Otherwise, enjoy! Oh yeah, since I stole this idea off of my friend Laurie-the-Duck, you should go check out hers too.

Not much is known about Suttertown, New Mexico, but the one thing that everyone knows is the friendship/love of two very special people, and a balloon. Maybe you've heard of Dev and Amy? Well, if you haven't, then I guess I'll tell you. It goes like this.

Amy's father, Bill, was the owner and founder of a very good prosperous large music business. She had a sister Krista and her mother Mary. The family had lived "happily" in Suttertown, New Mexico since before Amy was born, even though her father left frequently on business trips. The neighborhood was very close knit. It was the type of community where everyone knew everyone else and his brother. They lived in a beautiful replica of a blue and white Victorian style house and in the house next to them lived.

Dev's family had been living in the States many years before he was born, and his grandfather's business had been handed down to his father, and would eventually be handed down to him. Dev's family was a little different that the others in the neighborhood. They were Indian, and quite proud of it, especially Dev and his little brother Rahul. They lived in a wonderful house that had almost all the members of their family living in it. Apart from Dev and Rahul, there was the only daughter of the family, Pooja. Both of their parents lived in this house, but their father was usually out on business trips. The last member of the family was their grandmother, Dadi Ma. She was by far the smartest, nicest and all around best person in the house. She would talk about others in Hindi, even though she knew English well.

Dev and Amy had been next-door neighbors for a while and had been best friends even longer, if you get what I mean. Dev always taught Amy about Indian culture, and they would spend many hours making fun of lame Bollywood (equivalent of Hollywood in India) movies. They had recently discovered the classic "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?" and were busy making fun of Salman Khan's clothes when the phone rang.

"One minute, the phone is ringing," announced Amy as she stood to answer it. "Hey Officer Brown, what's up?" she asked, "What?" Amy stammered. A few seconds later she dropped the phone and melted to the ground, like a piece of ice on a hot summer's day. Thud.

"Amy, are you okay in there?" questioned Dev. "Amy? Amy!?" he shouted as he got up. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw someone that he didn't recognize. He saw a girl there, about 5'7", with brown hair and green eyes. She reminded him of his best friend Amy, except that this girl seemed so unconfident about, well, everything. More than anything, she seemed vulnerable, like a newborn baby. The Amy that he knew was as confident as a lion. She was not vulnerable at all; instead she was the strong one, the iron bean that supported them all.

"Amy, are you okay?" Dev asked softly. She hugged him, sobbing uncontrollably. "What's wrong?" he asked again. In between the sobs he heard " accident." and "dead."

Amy couldn't believe it. One minute she was sitting and laughing and the next she was sitting and crying. Her mother, dead? No, this couldn't be. A car accident? - but her mother was the best driver she knew. 'This can't be happening to me, Mom and I were supposed to go see a movie tonight, and have dinner out, and, and.'

She let go of Dev and tried to collect herself. "I need to be alone," she said as calmly as she could.

"Okay," he responded. He got up, picked up his things, and left. As soon as he shut the door, Amy broke into hysterical sobs. Her father was off on another one of his business trips; Krista was at summer camp. Amy and her mom were to be the only ones home, but since she had to work today, she invited Dev over for a good laugh. 'I've gotta tell Dad,' she thought to herself, 'what about Krista?' She finally decided that she should at least try to collect herself so that she could be strong for everyone else. Since they were living in such a close-knit neighborhood, everyone felt the pain of something as serious as this.

While Amy was busy in thought, Dev ran across to his house and burst in the door. His grandmother asked him what was wrong and he told her. "Amy's mom died, in a car accident."

"Kya?" (What) she stammered amazed.

"I'm pretty sure it's true," he responded.

"Bechari! (poor girl) - all alone in that big house!" she grabbed Dev's hand, "Come on."

"Where are we going?" he asked as he was dragged along.

"We're going to Amy."

Amy heard a sharp knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"Its Dev's grandmother, open the door!" she ordered. While she was waiting, she told Dev to get Amy's house key. "It's in the drawer in the kitchen, next to the sink."

Amy couldn't move, even though she wanted to, but by the time she got up her courage the door was already open and Dev's grandmother was inside. As soon as she saw Amy she exclaimed "Bechari! Aaja." (come) and held out her arms. Amy didn't refuse the offer, because she knew that she would find comfort in the old woman's embrace.

As the investigation went on, it was found out that Mary's death was not a mere accident, but a planned suicide. But for some reason, Amy blamed herself for her mother's death. From her perspective (1), she had caused her mother's death. Her mother had always told her that she was overweight, but Amy had never listened, instead they would get into big fights over small things like that. After a while, Amy started having qualms (2) about her mother's death, and decided to go on a diet. But over time, she became obsessed (3) with losing weight. Amy was grappling (4) with anorexia and bulimia.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Here Amy, eat something," pleaded Dev.

"Um, no thanks Dev, I'm okay," she responded.

"But you haven't eaten anything in three days!" he exclaimed.

"Yes I did, I had some of that, that thing they were serving at the funeral, you know, the orangey thing," she said.

"That was an orange. One orange for three days is not enough. That's not even enough for half a day let alone three whole days!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"There's no need to shout. Who do you think you are, my father? No wait, you couldn't be my father, you care about me, he doesn't," retorted Amy just as her father walked into the door.

"Amy, don't say that, your dad loves you, of course he does," whispered Dev; unaware that Mr. Johnson was standing in the doorway.

"Oh you think so huh? Well then, let's ask the accused," she quipped.

"What?" stammered Dev as he turned around and saw Mr. Johnson.

"Oh yea, I'll take some of that Nutri-Grain ® bar now, if you don't mind," she added grabbing it out of Dev's hand. She shoved it down and quickly ran to the bathroom where you could hear her giving it all back.

Amy's father came home as soon as he heard about the "accident", and he tried to console the girls as best he could, but he knew that he could never take care of the girls as their mother had done. In fact he believed that Mary had killed herself because he hadn't been around. He wasn't there for the girls' first words, not their first day of school, not even their first birthday parties.

After he saw Amy's state, he blamed himself. He decided that he would be more like the father the girls never had. The one they saw in movies, the one that was always there for them.

Amy had been taking the matter of her mother's death to the extreme. At the edge of town was a small promontory (5) that opened up into the Sutter Bay. It was the focal point for many town picnics and get-togethers. One night, as the annual bonfire was going on, Amy decided to jump. She decided to jump and let it all be over. She went up to the promontory and prepared to jump, but before she could, someone, or something caught her arm. As she stood there trying to free her arm from the strong grasp, she tried to remember whom she had told, if she had told anyone at all, about her plans tonight. Then it dawned on her.

"Dev! - let go!" she screamed.

"It's not Dev," said a voice quietly, "but thanks to him I found you before it was too late," he swiveled Amy around. It was her father.

"Dad?! What are you doing here?" she marveled.

"Dev told me you would be here," he replied calmly.

"Dev, I should have known, I'm gonna kill him!" she boomed fiercely.

"I don't think so, I think that first off you're going to march over and thank him, then we're going home to talk about all of this," he commanded.

"Well, what about Krista?" she questioned.

"Krista's staying over at the Smith's house tonight, so don't worry about her," he replied calmly, "now lets go."

He grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her away from the edge. He walked past the bonfire, and past Dev and his grandmother.

"Thanks Dev," he mumbled as he brushed past.

Unfortunately for Dev, Amy thought that he had done the worst thing ever; betrayed a friend. She glared at him before turning away. She then vowed to herself to never talk to Dev again.

"Amy, what do you say?" asked Mr. Johnson

"Thank you," growled Amy.

"We'll be on our way, and again, thank you," said Mr. Johnson again.

"Y-you're welcome," replied Dev hesitantly.

'You're welcome, humph, I'll show you, Mr. "You're Welcome," I'll show you,' thought Amy to herself.

"Dadi Ma, what have I done? Amy seems so mad, so angry, do you think I did the right thing by telling her father?" questioned Dev.

"Bevaquoof (fool), if you hadn't said something, she would have killed herself. Now you tell me, do you think it was worth it?" appealed his grandmother.

"I guess you're right again Dadi Ma," he replied morosely.

"Of course beta (son), of course," she chuckled.

After the scene at the cliff, Amy and her father grew closer together, and so did Krista. Amy finally realized that being suicidal was not going to get her anywhere, because every time she tried, she was found out. That didn't stop her from going into a case of mild depression. When Mr. Johnson went to the doctor to ask what he could do, the doctor said 'We have given her the medicine, but she needs something enjoyable to do to take her mind off the pain. Find some activity to divert her attention somewhere else.'

"No Dad, that's stupid. Ew, why would I ever do that? Are you crazy?" These were the responses that Mr. Johnson got from Amy from every single activity he offered her. "How about skydiving?"

"No."

"Jet-skiing!"

"No."

"Bungee jumping?"

"NO! Dad, why don't you just give it up?"

"I'm not going to give it up until I get you to comply (6) with one of my ideas. I'll get back to you in a few days with some fresh ones. Until then, don't kill yourself."

"Okay dad, I promise, scout's honor."

"I'm not joking." He implied, pointing his finger at her.

"Neither am I," replied Amy, pointing back.

Unknown to Amy, Mr. Johnson met with Dev regularly to discuss ideas for Amy's enjoyment. Even though Amy had shunned him, Dev refused to give up on his best friend, especially in the time that she needed him most. He hoped to be her recourse (7), because he knew that she would need one eventually.

"Thank you Dev. I wish I had such a solicitous (8) friend looking after me when I was in need, just like you are doing for Amy," chimed Mr. Johnson.

"Oh, it's no problem Mr. Johnson. I'm ready to do just about anything to get the normal Amy back, I'm in desperate need of a person to laugh with me at crazy movies," replied Dev. "Heh heh, okay, I'll try my best. Well I've got to go read up on these new ideas, though I must say, ballooning sure is an interesting one," he murmured.

"Well, I try my best Mr. Johnson. Good luck!" he exclaimed as Mr. Johnson walked out the door.

"It's nice to see my bacha (child) at work, using his dimag (mind). I'm so proud!" bubbled Dadi Ma as she walked by.

"Thank you Dadi Ma. Dadi Ma! Don't go into the kitchen!" screamed Dev.

"And why n -!" a large thud resounded from the kitchen.

"No, Dadi Ma!!!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Dad, who was on the phone?" asked Amy.

"That was Dev," he said uncomfortably.

"Oh, you mean that traitor?" she remarked snidely.

"Mrs. Malhotra, his grandmother, is on the way to the hospital, and Dev needs a ride," he replied.

"What? Something happened to Dadi Ma? Now Dev is really dead!" Amy exclaimed as she grabbed her jacket and walked out the door. "Dev!"

'What's going on around here?' Dev thought to himself. 'How could this possibly happen? And to Dadi Ma, out of all people! I'm glad that I can at least get a ride to the hospital. Okay, I've called Mom, and told Mrs. Jacobson to take Rahul to the hospital. God knows what Pooja's doing, her phone wasn't even on! Well, I left her a message; from then on it's her responsibility. "Dev!" Who could that be?'

"Dev! Come on let's go! What are you doing in there, examining the crime scene so you don't get blamed for anything?"

"What? What are you talking about Amy?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You thought you could hurt Dadi Ma and just get away with it. Well, that's not going to happen!" snapped Amy.

"Hurt Dadi Ma? Are you nuts? Why in the world would I do that? She's the only sane one in my house! Plus I love her, she's my grandmother," retorted Dev.

"Uh huh, right, whatever. Just shut up and get in the car."

"I don't have to listen to this, I could easily get a ride from someone else you know."

"Get a ride from someone else? Ha! That's a laugh. I don't see people queuing to give you a ride."

"Yeah, but think about it, who besides your dad would give you a ride," smirked Dev.

"Okay guys, enough! Stop it, or I'm turning this car around and NO ONE is going to the hospital!"

"Sorry Dad."

"Sorry Mr. Johnson."

"What is wrong with you two? You're really getting at each other's throats. Sounds like your married or something. Cut it out."

"Married, and to him?" said Amy, stifling a laugh.

"Ha ha, very funny. You laugh now, but just wait, I'm gonna get married before you are, just watch."

"Uh-huh, I can tell it's going to be an arranged marriage."

"Um, no offense or anything, but can I ask why we're talking about you two getting married again. I mean, who really cares?" asked Krista.

"Thank you Krista, it's about time someone said something to these two," chuckled Mr. Johnson.

"Thank you Krista," mocked Amy, "ha!"

"It's about time someone said something to these two," mimicked Dev, "right."

"Are you a relative of Mrs. Radhika Malhotra?" asked the nurse.

"Yes I'm her grandson. Can you tell me what happened?" replied Dev.

"Well, I'm afraid it's kind of bad. Seems like Mrs. Malhotra has broken her hip. How did you say this all happened again?" questioned the nurse, getting out some paper and pen to write it down.

"Well, Nandana, the maid, was there and she had just mopped the kitchen floor. Um, Mr. Johnson had just left from the back door, and Dadi Ma came down. She started to go into the kitchen, and I told her to stop, but she didn't. I called 911 after she fell."

"Yea right," muttered Amy under her breath. The nurse walked away leading Dev with her to the room. Amy followed.

"I'm sorry ma'am, family only allowed," said the nurse.

"But, but I." stammered Amy.

"Am not family," finished Dev as he shut the door. Amy sunk to the floor in a flood of tears.

'How dare he say I wasn't family, me, Amy!' That's when she realized that she had broken herself away from the family. It wasn't Dev's fault, it was her own.

A few weeks later, Dadi Ma was back home, in a wheelchair. Dev and Amy were now on speaking terms, only to yell at each other's stupidity, but it was a start.

"Stupid girl!" spat Dev as he walked inside after another long fight with Amy. "I hope to never see her again."

"You say that everyday, but still, you go by her house, on purpose. Do you have to go by her house? No, but you do anyways, and why? Because you want to, that's why. Now leave a poor budhi (old woman) alone, I gave you my interpretation for the day. Daffa ho. (get lost)" chuckled Dadi Ma as Dev stormed upstairs.

"Whew, sounded like a real bad one today. Tell me, what was it about?" joked Mr. Johnson.

"Its not funny Dad, that guy is just so full of himself," replied Amy.

"You know that he goes home that way for a reason, don't you? Of course, you do."

"Dad, drop it. You never were too good with stuff like this."

"Oh yea by the way, I wanted you to meet a friend of mine," smiled Mr. Johnson.

"Sure Dad, I love meeting your friends, so where's he from, the company?" she asked.

"Nope, from Nebraska. He's a balloonist, he said that he wouldn't mind giving me a ride, but on one condition, that I bring the family with me."

"You mean I get to go on the balloon!" exclaimed Amy.

"And Krista too, but, only on one condition, Dev is coming too," said Mr. Johnson smiling brightly.

"You've got to be kidding me," joked Amy.

"I'm dead serious. It was his idea, it's only fair he gets to go along."

"I don't want to go anymore, I just remembered, I have plans that day."

"I didn't tell you a date, stop fussing and come along, it'll be fun," murmured Bill.

"Okay fine, but I get shotgun!"

On the day of the trip, all the members of the group assembled outside of Mr. Johnson's car. Amy and Dev managed to keep their mouths shut, but stared at each other with look that could kill.

"Alright, let's go!" exclaimed Mr. Johnson as they got in the car. "You know, I took a bit of physics in high school, let me see if I can tell you how a balloon works. He began. He started to tell them that in order for the balloon to rise, the air inside had to be warmer than the air outside. This was because warm air is less dense than cold air, or the air outside of a balloon. S1 "They have that flame thingy in there because as temperature rises, gas expands." S2 The concept of density was still new to the kids, so Bill went ahead and explained that to them as well.

"Density is the amount of matter in a given space, or volume." S3, said Mr. Johnson.

"What's matter?" asked Krista.

"I know the answer to that one," smiled Amy, "Matter is anything that has volume or mass. S4 Everything is made up of matter. S5

'Good, we're finally here, I won't have to listen to miss show-off over there talk about density or matter anymore,' thought Dev to himself.

"Hello, my name is Robert J. Wilkins Jr., you can call me Rob," winked a man about Mr. Johnson's age.

"So you and Dad were friends back in Nebraska, and ended up finding each other here? Far out," stated Amy.

"Yep. Now, let me guess, you're Amy, and this lovely with the curly hair is Krista, and you are." said Rob pointing at Dev.

"Hi, I'm Dev Malhotra, I live next door to Mr. Johnson," said Dev as he stuck out his hand.

"Well hello there Dev, nice to meet you. I hear this whole ballooning thing was all your idea, good choice," he winked.

{"Is that it?" wondered Dev as he looked in amazement at a wonderful balloon lying on the ground. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, his gaze was fixed upon the great teardrop shaped balloon in the sky. It had the most amazing colors, red, yellow, green, blue, and some others that he didn't see. Rob saw him staring up and said,}

"That's one of mine. Do you like it?"

"Very much, I think it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," replied Amy. Dev glared at her for answering his question.

"Would you like to take a ride, if it's okay with your father?" he grinned at her.

"Oh Daddy, could I?" she pleaded.

"Oh Daddy, could I?" mocked Dev.

"I don't see why not," he responded, "actually, I don't see why we all can't go, that balloon can hold all of us, can't it Rob?" asked her father.

" I'm not sure about just one balloon, but we can take two. So, would you all like to go for a quick trip up in the sky?" Rob questioned.

"Yes yes!" was Amy's answer, but Krista was a bit skittish. (9)

"I'm only going with Daddy, no one else!" announced Krista.

"No! Krista please, can't you go with Dev, or, or me? Please?" Amy pleaded.

"Yea Krista, if you go with your dad, I'm going to be stuck with miss show- off here. Please, you can ride with me, we'll have lots of fun, promise," Dev chimed in.

"We'll have lots of fun, promise," mimicked Amy. Dev glared at her, Mr. Johnson glared at her, Krista glared at her, Rob glared at her, and to top it all off, the shape and design of the balloon was such that it seemed as if the balloon was staring at her too! "What?"

"You're going with Dev, and I'm going with Krista. That's final, no buts," announced Mr. Johnson. "Come on Rob, I'm itching to get up there," he grinned.

In the end, Amy ended up going with Dev, and Krista with her dad. Seemed as if all was lost, but this trip had been to help Amy, so maybe it did, or maybe it didn't.

(Amy decided that she could try to enjoy the ride. It felt like she was just sitting in the air, it didn't feel like she was hundreds of feet up in the sky because the wind wasn't blowing against her. Instead she was floating with the wind, as if she was the wind. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. For an instant, a beautiful instant, she forgot all of her worries, all of her fears, all of her troubles and she was just floating with the wind, completely at it's mercy, going wherever it decided to take her next. It made her feel as if she was blasé (10). Then someone woke her from that dream.}

Dev was pulling on her jean jacket.

"Wake up Amy, we're going to go down pretty soon," he told her. Amy refused to open her eyes. "If you don't wake up, you're going to make me have to bore you awake," Amy's eyes were still shut. "Okay, here goes. Did you know that the Montgolfier brothers invented the hot air balloon, or that the first man to go up in a hot air balloon was also the first man to die in a ballooning accident, OR that the first passengers on a balloon were a sheep a duck and a rooster, or..."

"Okay, okay, stop! I'm awake now, just please, don't tell me anymore weird facts."

"Thanks for waking up, I was starting to run out of ballooning facts, grinned Dev.

"Well, I guess I should be the one saying thank you. I hear going ballooning was your idea."

"They were all my ideas," he chuckled.

"Oh, well thanks, it really helped. It sort of took me away from the harshness of everyday life. It showed me there was more to living than not eating, or trying to kill yourself, or hurting your best friend," she said as she put out her hand towards Dev. "So, let's start over. Hi my name is Amy Johnson."

"Hey, my name is Dev Malhotra, nice to meet you." "Wanna be my friend?"

"Sure, why not?" grinned Dev. They shook hands in agreement.

"I think that is the start of a wonderful friendship," said Rob from his post as pilot. Amy and Dev laughed.

"It was a great friendship to begin with, it can only get more wonderful from here," smiled Dev.

"You're right, thank you, and I'm really sorry for being such a brat before," she got down on one knee, "please forgive me!" she joked.

"Of course of course, why not? If I don't make friends with you, I'm going to be stuck with Rahul as my only friend for life."

"And we couldn't let that happen, now could we?" joked Amy.

Now you've hear the story of Dev and Amy, how one helped the other pull through. This isn't the end of the story, but only a chapter, there was some before, and much more after, but this part was the life-changing part, in both of their lives. Ballooning became a regular pastime for kids in the neighborhood. Dev and Amy would take them up, when they got their license, and of course, they would go up themselves whenever they found the time to. I hope you've enjoyed this scene from the lives of two friends, if you decide that you want to hear a little more about these two friends, just come back, I'll be glad to share a story with you.