It Must Be Her

Prologue

Prologue

I had not seen my friend  Francesca since the beginning of the summer.  I had just gotten home from staying with my uncle in Italy when my mom told me Frenchy was having a party. It was her  thirteenth birthday party. It  was being held in the basement  of her parents  row house.  When I arrived it looked as if practically every teenager within a five mile radius  was at the party.  It was semi dark and the music was loud. 

I found my two buddies  talking with a group of girls. I walked over to them. I was getting a lot of attention  because things had changed for me over the summer I had grown four inches and I got my braces off. Now I had confidence.  It just happened one day I got up looked at me and smiled. My skin was clear I didn't have braces and girls liked me.   Like now ..I knew they were checking me out but I didn't care I wanted to see my friends whom I missed.  The first one was French she was beautiful with  long brown hair  and big brown eyes and a smile that made guys all goofy. I picked her up and swung her around. Kissing her cheek. Then I noticed Lauren she looked like an angel golden hair and cool green eyes my world stopped. Along with my heart. What had happen to us.

Me Francesca  and Lauren had been friends since first grade I thought of myself as a tag along then. I don't know how or when we became friends it just happened.  And I tagged along..  We did everything together road bikes, climb trees, played baseball. We were best buds. That was until I turned twelve and a half and I started to see things differently. First thing I started to notice was that French and Lauren were changing. They started dressing and smelling different. They keep their hair neat and they worried about getting dirty.  Oh I started to smell different too. If it  wasn't my feet it was my arm pits that stank. And  hair seemed to sprout all over. My arm pits,  my legs on my chest even down there in private places.   And if that wasn't enough  my voice started to  change it got deep . Finally we started to see things differently.  They wanted to be Britney Spears. I wanted to do Britney Spears. So as we changed.  I started to hang more with the guys and we saw less of each other.  Even though me and Frenchy lived on Ellsworth and Lauren lived around the corner on Carpenter.  I hardly saw them anymore.  That was until today. The party was in full swing and  I had suggested we play spin the bottle. 

The  Dj blasted music from a booth in the back. The girls were sitting  in a circle. It was my turn to spin. The girls outnumbered the boys by four. I spun the long neck bottle in the center of the circle and backed up. I looked around at the group of twelve girls.  There were only three I didn't mind going in the closet with.  Frenchy, Lala, or Carla.  Holding my breath I watched as the bottle  started slowing down. God if it  stopped on Pimple pus Patty I would die. Please! Please. Closing my eyes I prayed. Yells and wolf whistles went off.  I  heard Laurens name called. I looked up at her.  She smiled nervously at me. I could feel my heart beating through my shirt.  It was like the best day of my life.   I looked over at Frenchy as she spoke to La. She had an  mischievous look. They walked toward me. A group followed them to the closet. French smiled and winked at me. She opened the door and waved use  in. Lauren walked in first I followed. The door was closed and locked. In the dark we stood awkwardly for what seemed like a life time before I  finally got the courage to kiss her.

 I cupped her face in my hands first. For some odd reason I wanted to taste the cherry color gloss that coated her full lips.

"I never kissed anyone before Robert." Her voice broke the silence so soft it was barely a whisper."Just relax I"ll show you." I bent down. Sticking out my tongue I  licked her upper lip. "What are you doing?"  She pulled away. "I wanted to taste your lip gloss."

"It's cherry flavor." She answered the question.

"I know no."I smiled in the dark.

Satisfied with my first  attempt  I moved in and  pressed my lips to hers taking her lower lip between mine.  I   nibbled and sucked softly coaxing her into opening her mouth for her first French kiss.  She moaned and I had my entrance.  Our  tongues entwined  I felt her relax as she wrapped her arms around my waist. A click and the bright light illuminated the dark closet.  We separated quickly. I blinked letting my  eyes adjust. "Get the hell out of the closet Lauren."   I  watched Lauren stepped out. Her brother Carmine grabbed her arm pulling her behind him. Carmine was fifteen and had me  by twenty pounds and three inches.  I  knew what was coming. Every eye was on me  as I emerged from the closet. As soon as my  foot came across the thresh hold. POW. Carmines fist connected with my  eye.  I fell back into a set of boxes in the closet. I grabbed my eye.  It hurt like hell.  I looked  up at  Carmine with the good one  he  stood over me . "Be glad that I'm settling with just giving you a black eye Deluca."   I watched has Carmine grabbed Laurens hand pulling her along. She gave me a wave and a smile. Her lips puffy and red from our  kiss. The music was still  blasting. The crowd of kids went back to partying.  Francesca came over  to me  with a cold can of soda placing it on my eye. "So was it worth it." She asked smiling at me. " Hell Yeah."