"Michael! No fair!" I yell, running after Mikey with Luke hot at my heels.
"I win!" he shouts, slapping the tree in front of him. I pout and cross my arms.
"No fair, you cheated!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Michael! Nina! Behave!" our babysitter yells curtly from the bench she is sitting on, not even looking up from her magizine. Calum and Ashton walk up behind her with their sitter and they run to come and play with us. Its a warm spring day and the sun is playing peek a boo between the clouds.
"Hey guys! What are you doing?" Calum asks
"Michael was cheating."
"WAS NOT!"
"WAS TOO!"
"Michael! Nina! Don't make me have to say it again!" the sitter yells again.
"Well what do you guys wanna play now?" Ashton asks, kicking an acorn on the ground
"We could play superheros!" Calum shouts
"Noo! everytime we play superheros you always make me be the one who gets captureded!" I whine.
"Fine."
"What about hide and seek?" Luke suggests. We all look around at each other and smile.
"1,2,3, not it!" Calum, Ashton, Michael, and I all yell as we run to find hiding spots
"No fair!" Luke yells after us, and I hear him start to count. My brown hair bops againts my shoulders as I run and my bangs are damp with sweat, sticking to my forehead. I find a huge tree and run behind it. Luke will never find me here!
"Hey! Find your own spot, Nina!" Michael whispers to me
"No!"
"I got here first!"
"Okay, I have an idea. this way he wont find either of us and we can both still hide here." I say, and i start to climb up the enormous tree, Michael follows in suit. I climb as high as i can and scoot myself onto a branch. Michael sits next to me.
"I want a rematch in that race." I say, shoving his shoulder.
"Bring it on!" he yells
"Shhh!"
"Too late! found you!" Luke yells from below.
"Awwww!"
Michael and I drop down from our branch. Poor Mikey is sulking. I wonder how I can make him feel better, and thats when it hits me. I grab his cheeks and kiss him quick, giggle, and run away.
"Hey Nina! Wait up!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wake up from my dream- or more like a memory- of my very first kiss. I'm no longer 5 and Michael is no longer 6. We arent in the park playing hide and seek. I'm 17 and laying in my bed, Luke sound asleep in my rocking chair in the corner of ther room. The worst part of this reality is that the boy who was my first kiss isnt laying next to me.
I bring my hand to my neck and hold onto the necklace he gave me for my 15th birthday, the love pearl, and try to bring him back, even if its just in my head.
