I Love You

Chapter One

I remember in the fourth grade, our teacher Mrs. Kimber had us make love jars for Valentines day. We all got to decorate jars, mine had red ribbon tied around the top, and a large pink heart on the front. Once we finished decorating we were given little slips of paper, that we had to write reason to love someone on. She gave us examples like being nice, making someone laugh, and having a nice smile. We weren't supposed to think of anyone in particular, but just a general list of things that would make us love someone, although I could not keep myself from looking over at Andrew, and thinking of all the reasons why I loved him. 

Andrew and I had been friends since we were babies, our families were close friends, and almost every weekend we were at each others houses. Our parents would get together, talk, and have a few drinks. Him and I were only children, so we would immediately get together and explore the fields behind our houses. We spent hours playing pretend, changing out lives in ways we could only imagine. Sometimes I was a helpless princess, stuck on a tower (a large boulder in real life) and Andrew would have to pass over dangerous land, hide from evil witches, and even slay a dragon (his dog Freddy), in order to save my life. Other times, we were racing to the end of the world to meet with a mystical being would could save our world from extinction. 

Our minds were limitless in those moments and everyday was a new adventure. Even as we got older, and we started getting strange looks from our parents, our friends, and even passerby's, we still played pretend. Both of us escaping from our seemingly perfect lives to the imaginary worlds that we created in minutes. Our parents would call us in, and even in the house we would keep up the game. Only addressing each other by our make believe names, and correcting our parents when they addressed us wrong. Even as they sighed loudly and tried to get us to stop. He and I were partners, together forever, practically joined at the hip. 

The first time I realized that I loved Andrew was when we were in the second grade, we had been playing in the grass at recess, in this particular scene were were both centaurs who needed to defend the forest from humans that were determined to tear it down, one tree at a time. We were galloping, brandishing fake bow and arrows, and screaming unintelligible words, when a girl in the same grade approached us with several of her friends, both male and female. 

"Wow, Vicboria, are you boring Andrew with your dumb games again?"Her friends all snickered, both at the insult and the nickname I had earned a few months ago. "Andrew, your so nice playing with the crazy girl, but you don't have to keep doing it." They all laughed, and a few of the guys started calling Andrew over to them. 

Andrew turned and looked at me, then turned back to the group and started walking forward. My heart about broke, watching him walk away from me, but then he suddenly stopped a few feet away from them. He puffed up his chest, flipped his hair as if he had a long black mane, stamped his feet, and fisted his hands on the sides of his hips. Then in jerky English spoke to the group. 

"You are ones, destroy forest, destroy spirit of Victoria. Begon wraths, leave forest, or face doom." He stomped his feet again, then rubbed his right foot along the ground, like horse stomping the ground before charging. The group giggled a little at first, but then their eyes widened. 

"Whatever weirdo's." The leader said, as they all started backing away from us slowly. 

Andrew then turned to me, raised his fake bow, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Charge!" We both began galloping at the group, shouting,and shooting our fake arrows. The group ran off, screaming as Andrew and I collapsed on the grass together laughing until we had tears coming out of our eyes. 

"Thanks Drew." I said, breaking out of character. We were laying on our backs, looking up at the clouds.

"Anything for you Tori, your my best friend, and I wouldn't want you any other way." He reached down and grabbed my pinky in his, our shake to promise to always be friends. "Your going to be famous one day, Tor." Andrew always said incredibly smart things, even when we were young. It was like his mind was ages older than his body. As we held hands my heart swelled, I knew that one day, I was going to marry him.