Strictly Platonic

Ten Years Old

Ten years old, and Cassie finally knew what Ryan had been referring to all those years ago when her own parents had officiated their divorce. Love was complicated, and in her mind, extremely brittle.

One day, her parents were happily married. The next, Mom had moved into an apartment across town. Two months later, divorce time. Custody was split fifty-fifty.

For a long time after the divorce, her parents refused to speak to each other. More than that, they couldn't stand to be in the same room. Holidays were difficult, school events even harder, and birthdays seemed impossible. Luckily, Cassie's brother, Mitchel, was the first one to experience the brutality of a post-divorce birthday.

There was a lot of debate about where the party would be held, and who would be invited. It was Amber's weekend, so she had sole control over the arrangements. She had wanted to do something affordable, like a party at home. But she also lived in a three-bedroom apartment. Not to mention that Mitchel had just joined the football team last month and wanted to invite the entire team to his party.

Then, Mitchel suggested they have the party at the local park and playground, Bayview National. While this fixed the spacing problem, a new issue arose: the pesky rental fee. The park would allow parties, but since it was technically city-owned, there was a rental fee for weddings, birthday parties, and Bat Mitzvahs.

Amber barely had enough money after the divorce to sustain a minimalistic way of life. An afternoon rental fee at the park was nothing to laugh at. That's where Dad entered the equation. If he agreed to split the pavilion rental fee, he was also allowed to come to the party.

So, that's how Dad and Bayview's Pee Wee Football Team ended up at Bayview National Park on that Saturday afternoon. If that wasn't bad enough, then came along Diane and Ryan.

Since the divorce, Diane and Amber had only grown closer. Apparently, misery loves company. Together, they were surviving veterans in the war of dysfunctional matrimony. It came as no surprise how much Dad loathed Diane, especially since it was upon her suggestion that Amber had finally discovered the infidelity.

Despite the overwhelming mass of people varying in age, the party actually went off without a hitch. As long as Mom stayed at one end of the pavilion with Diane, and Dad stayed at the other, there was no fighting.

At some point, the football kids became incessantly bored by the adults. Naturally, one of them suggested a rousing game of two-hand touch football. The crowd of boys trailed from the pavilion, and Mitchel hastily went around to hug the last of his family members for making an appearance. Not that he noticed.

Just as he hugged Aunt Rita and started after the rest of his friends, Mom beckoned him back with her infamous pointer-finger curl. "Take your sister with."

Before he could bicker or argue, she shot him a look that only a mother could give. With rolling eyes and a deep sigh, he finally agreed. He grabbed Cassie by the arm and dragged her out to the mass of coalescing boys.

Cassie insisted that she observe instead of participating. She begged her brother to release her. This behavior merely made him tighten his grip on her wrist.

"No!" he grunted, his freckly face scrunching against the sunlight. "I know you'll just tell on me if you don't get to play."

"But I don't want to," she remarked, trying with all her little might to break free from his grasp. Instead, he yanked her onward and muttered some unintelligible profanities beneath his breath. It was no use to attempt escape unless she wanted to encounter his testosterone-induced wrath.

The boys, and girl, split into two teams. Since Cassandra had never played before, she was put on the defensive line between Cody Wiles and Jayson Estrada.