Adolescence

Prologue

When Collins Easterly met Harry Styles the universe seemed to stand still. She was too young to remember all of the details, but Harry claims that he knows exactly how it happened. He says that she had just moved into the house next door to his, this Collins knows to be true. She was in a pale pink and yellow dress, typical of a five-year-old, matching bow in her hair to go with it as well. Harry saw her sitting on the curb as her mom and dad worked to unpack the moving truck and sat next to her as his mom introduced herself to the new neighbors. Collins looked over at him and didn't say a word, but young Harry did not accept that. The five-year-old boy looked at her and said with confidence,

"Hello, I'm Harry. You have to be my best friend now."

See Collins doesn't remember him being quite that bold at all, but it was also a losing battle to argue with Harry. He also would always say that that is when Collins fell in love with him, but she was pretty sure her five-year-old self was more scared of him at that point.

The rest is history from there. Harry Styles and Collin Easterly were never seen apart from there on out. They were like magnets. The neighborhood adults had never seen anything like it. At neighborhood events the other parents would always tell the Easterlys, "She's going to marry that boy one day," and for a while, they believed it.

Collins remembers the day she knew she never wanted to let Harry go. She had just turned ten. She had a decent amount of friends at school, well she thought she did. She was young and naive and had a habit of believing the best in people. Her parents let her have her friends from school over for her birthday party. She thought nothing could ruin her new favorite day. The day came. She thought everyone was just running late. Maybe she screwed up the invitations. It was probably her fault no one was there yet. She sat in her room and waited for visitors and her parents watched the door wanting to cry for the young girl inside. Harry showed though. He was the only one. The boy went straight up to Collins' room and sat on the floor next to her. She looked over to him with tear-stained cheeks.

"No one's coming Harry," She said softly the pain leaving traces in her voice.

"I know," He responded, "I know"

Harry went out of his way from that point on to make sure, no one ever hurt his favorite girl again. He tried his best to protect her from the bitterness in the world. That's when Collins knew, her world would be a darker place without Harry Styles.

She was fourteen when she left. She didn't even get to say goodbye. Her parents packed up their things and she moved halfway across the world. She knows it's her biggest regret. If she could pick one moment in her life to change completely, she would say goodbye.

Harry never expected it. He went to their spot in the school building. The arts hallway, in the back where they always met to walk home. She never showed. He waited and waited, but still nothing, and decided he waited long enough. When he got home his mom was sitting at the kitchen table. He knew something was off. And that's when he found out, his best friend left him, abandoned him, and couldn't even say goodbye. That's the day he knew she was a phase, a stage of his life and you can't spend your life trapped in your adolescence.