Chapter one--
Hot. Thats all I could think as I ran down the long winding roads of New Hampshire. It was 75 degrees out when I started my run that beautiful summer morning but the temperature had crept up to a mere 95 degrees in just about half an hour. It was ridiculous. All I could think was, 'if I'm this uncomfortable in New Hampshire's heat, I'd sure a hell hate it down south'.
Finally, I rounded the last corner of my six mile route, glistening with sweat in the afternoon sun. As I looked ahead I saw a boy, close to my age, mowing his lawn. He was wearing a navy blue shirt, gym shorts and bright orange Nike's. He looked quite familiar but I couldn't yet put the face with the name, I was to far away. As I came closer to the house, he noticed me. I immediately wiped the sweat off my face, fixed my ponytail and wiped my, probably smudged, makeup of of my face. Trying not to look obvious, I was intently scanning the boy trying to figure out if I knew him. As I got closer he turned off the lawn mower and looked right at me. He smiled and I instantly knew who it was. Cam Smith. My best friend Kara's ex "thing".
Approaching his stopped lawn mower, I noticed that he had a crew hair cut instead of his spiky, and long hair like the year before, which I thought was extremely attractive might I add. As i came face to face with him I all of the sudden I got nervous. I waved to him and he cautiously waved back as if he didn't recognize me. Excitedly, I said "Hi Cam!" and smiled. He smiled back and said, "hey!.." with kind of an unsure drag at the end. I had a feeling he didn't remember me and I thought to myself, 'say your name you idiot'. Still running, finally I replied to him, "It's Balie, Balie Morrow". "I know," he answered with a warm smile. I was timing my run so with that I ran past home and yelled, "sorry I'm timing myself!" I felt terrible. Sprinting my way home all I could think was how stupid I was for running. Away from him. He stopped the law mower and clearly wanted to talk to me and what did I do? Walked away... Good job Balie, great first impression. As soon as I got home, I immediately grabbed my cell phone and texted Cam, "Hey Cam it's Balie! Sorry Iran past you earlier... I was timing myself because I run cross country!" Right after the text was delivered he answered back with, "Heeey! That's okay! Oh cool you do cross country?" And that's how it all began.
