I Hate That I Love You

Chapter 1 Part 2

~No One's Point of View~

Many moments from her elementary school days stood out in Holland's memory.

In the third grade, shortly after school had started, the teacher had the students play a game inside the classroom. They had to dance around the room with a partner until the music stopped. When the music stopped they had to switch partners with the person closest to them. Lucky Holland was dancing with her friend Alex and the music stopped. She looked around and only other person left without a partner was Dylan. Dylan smiled at her and linked their arms together. The music started and they skipped around the room together. Holland tried her best to refrain from showing how much fun she was having, but it was no use. She smiled and laughed as they made their way around the room. All the while, their friends were shouting their names from across the room in amusement. 

In the fourth grade, Dylan was wearing skinny jeans with a really big hole in the thigh. Holland was sitting one seat away from him. There was a boy named Conner in between them. They were doing math worksheets and Dylan, like usual, got bored and wanted to chat. So, he opened up the hole in his jeans even more to show Holland and Conner how white his thighs were at the time. Holland felt that she was staring more than necessary, and when he caught her she immediately looked away. He laughed and turned to continue his work. 

In the fifth grade Holland and Dylan were sat together multiple times. Whether they were at the same table or right next to each other, Dylan would not stop talking, and Holland would not stop telling him to shut up. Sometimes they would go to recess and Dylan would try to talk to Holland and her best friend at the time, Alex. He would walk up behind Holland, and Alex would stop talking and point. Holland would turn around in disgust and ask what he wanted. He would politely ask for one of their fruit snacks, or whatever it was that they were eating. Because Alex didn't have a crush on Dylan, she kindly gave him one. As soon as he had his snack, she would drag Alex somewhere else. Maybe she was trying to prove a point. Maybe she couldn't take the butterflies anymore. Maybe she was worried that she would say or do something stupid. Dylan didn't know what to think of her actions. Maybe he knew that she liked him all along. Maybe he just wanted her to be his friend. Maybe he thought they were already "friends" and that this was all just playful banter. 

The end of fifth grade was the turning point for Dylan and Holland. They were at Out Door Science School, or OSS, which is a place that the school took the fifth graders every year. Holland was in a cabin with all of her friends, and she thought that it would be safe to tell them that she in fact had a ginormous crush on Dylan. She asked them all to keep it a secret, and they agreed. The next morning, they were put into hiking groups, and Dylan was in the same one as Holland. They hiked until they came to a clearing with perfect snow man building snow. They were split into teams and built their snowmen. Dylan had a fight with his group because he wanted to make the head of the snowman look like a bunny, but the group didn't agree with him. He walked away for a bit and cried. When they were half way done with the snow man, Dylan had successfully made the head of a snow bunny. He set it on a tree stump and stared at his group, which consisted of Holland. after about ten minutes he came back and helped finish the snow man. He began singing a song about milk, which made Holland laugh so hard that she fell on the ground and snorted. The whole group laughed. 

The next day, they hiked for a while until they reached a nice hill with no trees which would be perfect for sledding. After about an hour, there were about three hiking groups there. Holland decided to sit down and watch for a while. Her friend, Jenna, who was in her cabin, sat down next to her. Dylan was friends with Jenna also, so he sat down next to her. They were all talking for a while until suddenly, Jenna turned to Holland. She whispered, "If you don't tell him you like him, then I will." Holland stared at her in horror. She didn't believe that Jenna would do that to her. She had sworn to secrecy. She had to be joking. Holland shook her head violently, as she realized from the look on Jenna's face that she was completely serious. Jenna quickly turned to Dylan and said, "Holland has a crush on you." Dylan leaned to look at Holland with a shocked, wide eyed expression. From the looks of his face, he had no idea. Not a clue. Holland tried to cover up her mistake. She said, "Oh, no, Jenna. You misunderstood. I only said that I thought he was funny. I don't have a crush on you." But looking at Dylan's face, Holland could tell that she had only made matters worse. She had only given him the reason for why she liked him. 

For the rest of the school year he teased her about it, usually in the form of a taunting song, "You liiiike me... you think I'm sexxxyyy..... you want to kiiiiiisss mee.." He would point at her and wiggle his little butt all around like it was his favorite song. Holland usually just glared at him and tried to deny it, but there was no turning back now. 

At the end of the school year, they were getting ready for their fifth grade graduation. It was the day of graduation, and Holland was wearing a pretty white dress. Her hair was curled, and pulled back out of her face, and she had a little mascara and lip gloss on. Dylan came up to her from across the classroom, just before they were supposed to leave for the ceremony, and began singing "Baby" by Justin Bieber. Holland ran away. That was the last face to face encounter she had with Dylan. 

They went their separate ways for three years.