Ivy Grows

The Only Exception.

Sam's POV

I first met Ivy when I was only nine years old. Her parents had just moved in next door. Mom and Dad offered to help them to be 'friendly neighbors' or whatever. I think they just wanted to be nosy and see who was invading our quiet street.

"Hi," was the first word I ever said to her. I wanted to make her feel comfortable so she'd stop hiding behind her mom's leg. Her moss green eyes met mine and even then I felt my heart flutter. Her red hair was separated in two braids and each one had yellow bows at the end.

After that day, we were fast friends. She was always coming over to my house. We'd go to hers sometimes but she always seemed happier at mine, with my family. I don't think her parents spent a lot of time with her.

The friendship would never last though. Back then, I thought boys and girls couldn't be friends and she proved it to me every day. I wanted to do cool stuff like play video games and trade Pokémon cards. She didn't even have any pokémon cards.

So, we'd try to do the imagination games. Those didn't work either. She always wanted to be a knight and that was my thing. I just wanted to protect her. Even if it was from imaginary creatures and villains.

We butt heads a lot.

Everything she did started to annoy me. So, I'd tell her that. She'd cry. My mom would make me apologize. She'd forgive me and the cycle would start all over.

It didn't help that my family had started to pick on me about her. Claiming I had some kind of stupid crush on her. Jake and Josh would give me the worst of it. Always singing that stupid K-I-S-S-I-N-G song every time I'd come inside after playing with her all day. I think that honestly made me resent her and that wasn't fair. But I was a kid.

So, I shut her out. I would only talk to her if I had to and avoid seeing her if I could. She latched onto my family but I knew why. She felt at home there. I wish I would've been nicer to her. I wish I could have stayed friends with her and then eventually told her how I felt.

Which was a pretty serious thing. I'd realized it at about fourteen. I was going through um-, changes. All I could ever think about was her. Which made me hate her more. Of course it was never hate.

Every time I seen her my stupid heart would skip a beat. I wish that wasn't true because do you know how hard it is to hold something like that in? Day in and day out wanting to tell her but the only words I could ever say were mean and hurtful. I just couldn't bear the jokes from my family and the embarrassment of telling her. What if she didn't feel the same? In fact, I knew she wouldn't because she hated me. She actually hated me.

The idea of telling her and making things so awkward she couldn't have my house as a safe space anymore crushed me. So, I kept it all in.

Being mean to her was the only thing I could really do. I knew if I got too close, I would fold and tell her exactly how I felt. But I couldn't not talk to her at all. I needed to hear her talk to me, even if it was telling me to fuck off or shut up.

Unfortunately, I think my mom caught on. Early on, I might add.

When I was about to turn fifteen my mom was planning a birthday party. We were going through the guest list one by one and I noticed she hadn't invited Ivy. My stupid mouth outran my brain.