The Promise

Chapter Two

I was born in New York, I loved it, I loved my home, I loved the weather, I loved my friends. My best friends, Jake, Landon, and Chrissy were the best friends a girl could have. Jake and I were inseparable, we lived next door to each other since we were born and our moms were great friends, if I wasn't over his house he was over mine, It was perfect.

Jake was outgoing, and nice to everyone he came across, and for as long as I could remember he had my back and I had his. I always remembered feeling so privilege to be his best friend, all the girls in school would hate me for it because even at a young age Jake was someone that all the girls liked, it was annoying if I'm being completely honest. I met Landon in my second grade class, he was my first friend that I actually made on my own, he was closed off and shy like me and I just remember sitting next to him and realizing that he liked a lot of the same books I did. Jake met Chrissy in his class, and as soon as I met her i loved her, she was a lot like Jake. It was perfect, we balanced each other out.

I had a perfect life, and then we had to move because my father decided to join the army, now I know I should be proud of him for it. I am, really, my father is my hero he is kind, and selfless, but I never hated him more than when he told me that we would be moving to Texas. I was in eighth grade and already knew what High School I was going to, we had it all planned. We would all attend the same High School, we would graduate and move in together in the city. The plan fell apart though when my dad told me we would most likely not be coming back.

Jake was the most devastated out of everyone, and I cried for hours while he hugged me. Landon and Chrissy came over and we all just tried to figure out how we can be together again after high school. We all loved each other, we were young but we knew that what we had was real friendship, but then one day I realized that what I had with Jake was different than what I had with Landon and Chrissy. It feels like it was just yesterday when I realized I liked Jake as more than my goofy best friend from next door. It was the summer going into sixth grade, and we were goofing around like always in our tree house my dad had built us. Jake was torturing me the only way he knew how, by tickling me.

"Please stop" I laughed. I probably sounded like a dying cat.

"Say the magic words Mia" he laughed while he pinned me down with both his legs on each side of my body

"Jake.... I'll kill you, I said stop" I yelled. I hate being tickled, it was the worse thing he could do to me and it was always a punishment for making him mad

He was relentless, he started tickling me until tears started forming, finally I gave in. Which is surprising, I'm very stubborn.

"Jake you're the best friend ever, and I would never be able to live without you" I yelled while uncontrollably laughing

He finally stopped tickling me but still pinned me down, both of us out of breath. I looked up at him, I was pissed but I couldn't contain the stupid grin I had.

"Aw Mia, you are too sweet." he smirked

I looked at him and all I could think of was how hot he looked. WAIT WHAT? I'm pretty sure my eyes looked like there were going to pop out of my sockets. I mean of course I knew Jake was handsome, I wasn't blind, but this felt different, it had to stop.

"You're a jerk, could you get your fat butt off of me please, you're heavy" I glared at him trying my best to keep a serious face. It was hard not to smile when I was around him.

He just laughed, and pinned me down with more force "No can do, my little Mia"

I glared at him "I hate you!"

he stopped smiling "you know you love me Mia, don't hurt my feelings" I saw him take a glance at my lips and quickly looked back up to my eyes

My smile quickly diminished "Of course I love you"

Before I could even question why he was staring at me like that, he leaned in slowly, his lips almost touching mine, I felt his breathe and my heart stopped. I could tell he wasn't going to continue, he wanted me to meet him halfway. So I did. I closed the small space between our lips and gently kissed him. His lips were soft, and he tasted like the mint ice cream we had earlier. We stayed there with our lips touching, eyes closed, it was perfect. The best first kiss a girl could ask for.

He pulled away slowly, opening his eyes and staring at me

"Wow" he smiled

"Wow" I smiled back at him

We never called each other boyfriend and girlfriend, and we didn't kiss again after that. We knew we had something different, something worth it but we were only 12 years old when we kissed. Far too young to have any sort of relationship, and like I said I didn't like change. I didn't want Landon and Chrissy to feel weird and it was just difficult for me to differentiate my feelings with Jake. So we continued to act like we did before, just best friends. All though out middle school we had moments where we both knew we wanted more, but we silently agreed to just wait. We thought we had more time to figure everything out. We were wrong of course.

The night I left, was tough. I didn't even talk to my parents for weeks leading up to leaving I was so upset, and all my dad could say was "Be tough Mia, you'll be fine' I wanted to kill him. It was the weekend before high school started when I left. Chrissy, Landon and Jake were standing by me, while my parents waited in the car

Chrissy was the first to cry "I'm going to miss you so much" she hugged me

"Oh stop crying Chrissy" I laughed while hugging her back

"High school is going to go by so fast, before you know it we will all be together again, living it up in Manhattan" I quickly wiped my tears to look at her

"Just don't forget about us alright, I'll call you every day" Landon said taking me from Chrissy's arm to hug me

"Of course Lan, don't get into trouble and watch out for those two, you know their saps" I grinned

"Hey" Chrissy and Jake yelled

Landon and I were the tough ones of the group, we laughed. Landon kissed my cheek "love you Mia"

"Love you too you goof"

It was starting to get hard to contain my tears, and I knew my tough shell wouldn't last when Jake finally took me into his arms

"I love you so much Mia" he gave me the tightest hug of them all

"I love you too Jake, don't forgot about me, please" I finally gave in and cried into his shoulder

We never wanted to let go, he looked at me and I knew he wanted to kiss me and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him back, but we never did. Before I walked away he grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me back to him

"I promise I'll never forget about you, I'll call every day, I'll wait for you. We'll be together" he whispered in my ear

I was stunned, I always thought we would become more than friends as we got older, but it was never something we said out loud. I wiped my tears looking at him with a smile

"Don't keep promises you can't keep; you know all those girls in High school are going to want you" I teased. My heart breaking a little at the thought of it, I wasn't good at expressing my emotions, all I could do was joke around

He smiled "I only want you, you know that I'll never be with any other girls, I'll wait for you"

All I could do was nod

He smirked "I'll see you soon yeah?"

"yeah" I smiled

Finally letting each other go, I waved to them and got in the car, my parents turned to face me "You ready hon?" my mom smiled

I shrugged "I guess"