CHAPTER 1
AGE 4
Ezzah was running around the backyard, hunting for ants. She really liked playing with ants. They always fascinated her. Ants were such tiny, cool little things...and so funny when they were crawling with stuff on their backs, she thought. They were like little people who talked and greeted each other, made queues, helped each other and made her laugh too by tickling her when they ran their tiny feet across her arm.
She had just ran after an ant when she bumped into someone. She looked up and immediately recognized him as the cousin her mama had introduced her to the other day. He was weird 'cause he played with weird stuff, big boy stuff her mama had told her but she liked him even though he did scare her as he was quite big....just a little bit though. Mama had told her she was a brave girl when she did not scream after seeing his huge cat which she was sure had growled at her.
"Hey! I am Zeb, your BIG cousin" he emphasized the big. "Wanna play horsie ?"
"Horsie ?" She asked puzzled. "But there ain't no horsie here to play with! " She said as she looked around in confusion.
"No, silly! I'll be the horsie and you can take a ride on me. " He explained.
"Ohh that makes sense." She conceded. "But I ain't silly!"
"My teacher said nobody likes silly people and I want you to like me." She frowned.
"Okay, then. You aren't really silly cause I sure do like you, you know." He confided with a shy smile.
She decided then that he had a really nice smile and told him just as shyly that she also really liked him and that they would be best friends forever and ever and ever.
They played horsie all afternoon and the next and the next. Everyday their mothers found them together giggling madly. She found her entire world was in his eyes and in her he saw the little sister he never had.
"Thank God, she has found him. I was afraid she would never find a friend being the shy introvert she is." Her mother remarked one day to her sister-in-law who was her daughter's new friend's mother.
"Yes, I was also afraid regarding him as he has always been very anti social. Even though he is 4 years older than her they have grown quite close." His mother replied.
Their friendship grew day by day until one fateful summer day it all changed.
Ezzah was as usual riding her beloved horsie when while reining in her horsie by pulling at Zeb's shirt she heard a horrible ripping sound and realized she had torn his t-shirt. Horrified she jumped back and promptly tumbled to the ground as Zeb straightened up. In a second he was surveying the damage to his favorite tee. It was his favorite color too and the same as his big brother's which showed how cool it was. He said nothing after a few seconds of observing that it had torn at the seams, just gave her a disappointed look and left. Not a word was spoken but in that silence the heart of a little girl was shattered to pieces.
He had not even been angry at her. Didn't even say a word to hurt her but she ached as if she had received a mighty blow. A strange stinging sensation appeared in her eyes. She had never ever received that look. She didn't even know she could ever get that look directed at her. Now to see it in the eyes of her only friend caused warm wetness to flow from her own.
She had never felt more embarrassed and vowed then and there as warm silent tears coursed through her small face that she would make it her life's mission to avoid the one person who had been her first and bestest friend so never again would she embarrass herself enough to see that look in his eyes again.
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A/N: So this is chapter 1. Hope you like it. This story is gonna be around 31 chapters long I suppose. The outline is written but not the chapters so as soon as I write the next chapter I will upload it. Thanks for reading :)
