Neighbors (Avin)

Chapter One: 5/6

***Alright! I'm starting something new, and I'm really hoping it's not horrible actually. Kind of panicking right now, since I wrote this very last minute with the head of a sleeping child on my thigh. I just... I hope its okay. Comment/Vote/Follow? ***

I watched Esther race around with Josh on bikes while waiting for my new friend, Kevin, to come out of the house that was vacant only a week ago. The sun was very high in the sky, seeing that it was a sunday afternoon, and I waited.

The last time I'd spoken to Kevin, we became quick friends. I had never gotten a friend so quickly. He was like the brother I'd never had, since I only liked Josh some of the time. Kevin sprinted out of his house and up to me, smiling with those large front teeth of his.

"Hi, Avi!"

"Hey! Wanna play football?"

"Yeah!" He raised both of his hands above his head.

"You first!"

I tossed the small Nerf football to Kevin and kept an eager eye on him as he sprinted towards me in our youth game of Two-Hand-Touch football, all that my mother would allow. He spun around me, evading the grasp of my second hand and sprinting to my front porch, which was a touchdown and 3 brownie points. We continued until we got tired of chasing each other, which didn't take long since we were 5-years-old.

"Avi! I got this new toy for my birthday."

"Your birthday is in two days! You got an early gift?"

"Yeah!" He held up the small plastic cello toy with plastic strings that kind of made noise if you bowed them hard enough. "I can get a real one next year!"

"Really? That's so cool! Can I see it?"

Kevin nodded and handed me the large cello, well, large for my small child body. He had this large smile of pride plastered across his face as he folded his arms. "Now, that may be a toy, but it's really special. My daddy bought that just for me."

I nodded and stood up. Incorrectly, I tried to play the cello, but Kevin quickly took to correcting my form, with the little knowledge that he knew about cello-ing. We spent the rest of our time outside having a play cello teaching session. I couldn't remember the last time Kevin had had that much fun. He was so happy in that moment. My mother called us inside for a snack, starting the inevitable.

I stood up from the small stoop I was sitting on and dropped the cello in a hurry to get inside. I had over estimated the strength of the plastic on the hollow structure, as well as the height from which it was dropped. The cello rolled down our slanted walkway and into the direct path of my older sister, Esther's bike. The thin neck of the fake instrument shattered under the combined weight of Esther and her bike's front wheel.

"No! My cello!"

"Kevin, I'm so sorry!" I tried to grab his shoulder, but he shrugged my hand away.

"Sorry isn't gonna fix my cello!" He stormed away from me and started picking up the broken pieces of his cello.

"Wait... What?"

"You heard me, Avi! This was really important to me and you broke it!" He collected the curvy body of the cello and marched back towards his house.

"Woah, Kevin. I think maybe you should calm down," Esther tried as Kevin fumed up his driveway and disappeared behind his house.

"Well... Fine! I didn't... like playing with you anyway..." I sulked into my house and spent the rest of the day crying in my room, similar to Kevin's exact situation.

The next day at school was no improvement for us. Though Kevin was a grade ahead of me, our teachers were good friends and took our classes to recess together. We spent most of our time outside racing each other, tagging each other, or wrestling. By the end of that day alone, we were in a childhood feud. Just as quickly as our short friendship had started, literally a week before when Kevin and his family moved in, we were sworn enemies, a trend that would likely continue for a long time.