Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3
My heart was beating faster and faster by the minute. In a split second I would have a meltdown. A small tear ran down my cheek, causing me to break out in an even faster run towards the nearest bathroom. Four more leaps, three, two, and I was in. I slid down against the door, crying, not aware of my audience. Then I heard the whispers.

"That's that girl, Alicia, right?" someone muttered.

"No, I think it's Allison," someone else contradicted. I looked up just a tiny bit, enough to see five or six girls who had been fixing their hair and makeup when I interrupted. I put my head back down and let them argue for a couple more minutes, pretending I was still unaware.

"It's Alice," I finally choked out, before breaking into another round of tears. Why the hell am I crying? There was absolutely no reason to cry. I just, I just... I couldn't think it. I couldn't do anything but... I jolted up on my feet a little too quickly, causing me to stumble a bit. Someone helped me stand up straight for a minute, before I ran out the door.

I had two minutes until lunch/break, so I was fine for about another hour or so. I found our usual hiding place, the place where we could just sit and talk, about anything and everything. Well, everything except us. Of course, to him, there was no us. So again, why was I crying?

He was Zac. My best -and only- friend.

We were neighbors even before kindergarten. We met the day his family moved into the house next to ours. I was three-almost four, he was six. Even now he says he's 3 whole years older than me, even though we're only two and a half years apart.

For me, it was love at first sight. For him, not so much. When I heard we finally had a new neighbor, I was delighted. Two years previous, an old couple lived there. Now that a big family was moving in, I was sure there would be someone my age. I was hoping for a girl, and I was all ready to invite her to my princess birthday party.

The day they moved in, I sat outside on the rocking chair with a pitcher of lemonade and plate full of my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies. I was so excited, I couldn't keep still. When I saw the U-Haul coming up in the distance, I jumped up and called my parents out.

"Mommy! Daddy! They're here!" I remember yelling. I had been jumping up and down for a full three minutes before the truck actually pulled in with a silver SUV, and kids started unloading. I counted as they came out, waiting for my best friend. One, two. Two more kids came out, but I didn't notice at the time. I stopped at two. Because he was the second to come out. He had short, sandy blonde hair and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. The green had me.

"Ali, why don't you go say hello?" Mom asked me, giving me a little nudge. I snapped back from my staring and ran to greet the family.

"Hi, I'm Ali! I'm almost four years old and I live right there," I started. Nice start for a three-almost-four year old, right? Then I went on. I have a tendency to say more than needed. "The old people who used to live here were mean. I hope you're not mean. I'm having a birthday party next week. A princess birthday party! All of you can come! My favorite color is green because trees are green, grass is green, watermelon is green, and Tinkerbelle is green! Pink is my other favorite color because the inside of watermelon is pink, and" By then everyone but the boy with the striking green eyes had moved on, taking boxes out of the truck. They all gave me a smile and waved before leaving me with him.

"Because every girl's favorite color is pink," he said, smugly.

"Nuh-uh," I contradicted. "My mommy's favorite color isn't pink."

"That's because she's a grownup," he snapped. I really didn't care too much. I was too distracted.

"But my first favoritest color is green. Your eyes are green. My favorite kind of green. How do you get green eyes? I want green eyes. Mine are just boring blue. Yours are green like a Christmas tree. I love Christmas. It's my favorite"

"Why do you talk a lot?" he cut me off again.

"My mommy said I'm cool because I talk a lot and I'm only three, but I'm going to be four next week. Do you wanna come to my birthday party? There's gonna be cake, and ice cream, and candy... " I was confused then. He just walked away. While I was talking to him. I was so used to having people listen and soak in every single word that came out of my little mouth, that I was intrigued by this little boy who just walked away.

"Where are you going?" I asked him while I followed.

"Inside my new house," he answered without even turning around.

"Oh," I said, stopping. "What's your name?"

"None of your business," he said to me, and went inside.

Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3