Fell In Love With My Best Friend

Prologue

 It's the first day of school and new middle schoolers, Liam Jones and Erica Blake were walking towards the bus stop. Neither of them was looking forward to this day, but they both had different emotions about it. Liam was okay, he wasn't freaking out, but Erica, on the other hand, was doing the complete opposite. It was the beginning of fall and the end of summer, and today was sunny, breezy with leaves starting to fall slowly from the trees high above them as they were walking. Then, Erica decided to ask, "Are you excited for our first day of middle school?"

Liam looked at her, and he smiled. "Should I be excited?"

"Maybe," Erica replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I know I'm not."

"Why not?" Liam asked when he didn't need to since he already knew what she was going to say.

"Middle school is really scary. Anne said that middle school is really hard, and I believe it. We're the youngest kids in the school, we're not the cute young kids there, but we're the dorky little kids there. We're most likely going to be picked on a lot by the 7th and 8th graders. Well, probably mostly the 8th graders since they "rule" the school," she exclaimed, making sarcastic quotation marks with her fingers. "There's going to be hard classes, it's going to be hard to find our classes..."

"Don't listen to your sister. Everything will be fine," Liam assured her, walking ahead of her.

"But what if it's not? Why shouldn't I believe her? She's in high school now! She's been through middle school," Erica said, getting more concerned by the second.

"Erica... Calm down. I'll be with you. It's okay," Liam assured her as the bus pulled up.

"But, what if it's not?" Erica asked while they walked towards the bus.

"It will be. Don't worry." Liam looked up as the bus opened its doors and motioned them to get on. While they were walking, Liam said, "You'll have me. Everything will be fine."

Erica got on the bus with Liam, and Liam went towards the middle of the bus and took a seat. Erica clung to Liam's arm as the bus drove away. As the bus drove down the road, Erica stared out Liam's window as some of the other kids got on.

"Erica... Calm down. You don't have to be so clingy," he said, trying to pry her arm off his.

Erica loosened her grip, but she didn't move her hand. Liam chuckled and continued to look out the window. They started to pass smaller houses, so that's how they knew that they were getting closer to the school. Erica's foot was tapping as Liam's eyes were wandering.

"Why don't you look nervous?" Erica demanded, looking over Liam. Erica couldn't believe him. How can he not be nervous? This is our first year of middle school, and he's all 'chill' about this? Is it because I'm a girl? Do girls get more nervous than guys? I can't be overreacting about this, can I? No, this is nerve-wracking, but he just doesn't realize it.

"You'll be fine," Liam said as if he read her thoughts.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Have I ever let you down?"

"Let me down? Why are we talking about letting me down? We're just going to a new stage of school...There's no way you can let me down..."

"Erica... Everything will be fine," he said, laughing a little. "We will get our schedules, be sent to our classes..."

"What if we're not in the same class?"

"Erica... You have more friends than just me. You can still have someone to talk to. Even if we aren't in the same classes... I'll always see you at lunch," he said, smiling down at her.