Her skin wrinkled around her eyes as she smiled. Her grin is smug, full of pride and victory, as she pushed me back into the muddy ground.

"Get off!"

"No! I'm the King and you're the peasant! Stay there!"

"That's not fair!"

"Too bad."

Her hands combed through my curly brown hair and before I knew what was going on, I felt her tug as hard as a 5 year old could. And as a child myself, I did the bravest thing I could do at that very moment.

"MAMA!"

We were quickly separated by the strong hands of my mother and an older looking man who the girl referred to as "No-no".

'What a brat', I thought as my mother rubbed my cheeks raw to get the mud off my face. The weird girl squirmed as her 'No-no' lectured her, her bright smile now replaced with a childish pout. When my mother had finally finished getting whatever dirt she could off my brand new shorts, the girl walked over, the older man in tow. She glared at her bright blue sandals for a moment before finally glancing up at me.

"I'm sorry you're such a big baby!" She shouted before bolting off towards the playground, skillfully avoiding the older man's arms as he tried to catch her. He turned to my mother and I, an apologetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry about that. Lovi is a very… exuberant child. Very energetic." He explained before extending his hand out to my mother. "I'm Romus, by the way. I'm Lovi's grandfather. It's very nice to meet you Ms…?"

Being the friendly child I was, I took his hand instead. "Hello! I'm Antonio! It's okay! I don't mind. It wasn't very painful anyways." I said, smiling brightly. Romus ruffled my hair before turning my back to chat with my mom. Getting rapidly bored with their old people conversation, I walked off into the playground, looking for the sandal wearing trouble maker.

A few minutes of searching brought me to the bright red tube connecting the big slide to the small slides. The girl was curled up inside the tube, pouting as she analyzed the little flowers on her sandals as though they were the most interesting thing on earth. I smiled and slipped inside, moving to sit beside her. She immediately sat up, head barely touching the ceiling of the tube.

"What do you want, you weenie? I'm not apologizing if that's what you're here for."

I simply shrugged and shifted closer.

"You're stupid." She mumbled, frowning. Despite her words, her body seemed to relax. This perked me up.

"No, you are!"

She punched my arm.

I playfully punched back.

A shocked expression spread across her face as she looked at me.

"You can't punch a King!"

"Who said you were King?"

"I did!"

"But thats not fair…"

"Too bad."

And with that, she began to crawl out of the tube and onto a platform. Once she was outside, she turned around to look at me.

"So are you going to play with me or not?"

I smiled, nodded, and followed her out, wondering what kind of adventures this strange girl would bring.

"I'm Antonio, by the way."

"I'm Lovina."

"That's a funny name!"

"At least I'm not a poop head."

"I'm not a-"

"Yes, you are. Now come on, Captain poop head! We have gold to steal!"

And thats how I found myself spending an entire day running around the playground with the strange girl that was Lovina. I had finally given in and agreed to be her servant, following her around the entire playground while she commanded me. Surprisingly, I didn't mind.

When the weather began to grow chillier, my mother called for me to go home. She nagged me about my muddy clothes as we began to walk away. I took a quickly glance behind my shoulder to see Lovino one more time. She was standing on the big kid swing, her hair blowing in the wind. I couldn't see her face but she looked pretty anyways.

"Bye Lovi!" I called back, realizing that I would probably get scolded for interrupting my mother.

However none of that seemed to matter when the girl turned to look at me and waved.

"Bye poop head!"

My mom, to my surprise, let out a chuckle and continued to lead me towards our house.

"So, is Lovi your girlfriend now?"

"Mama, ew! Girls are icky!"

"Whatever you say. But maybe you should invite her over some time. She seems like a nice girl."

I stuck my tongue out at my mom and continued to deny it all the way home, despite my obvious fascination with the girl.

As the summer continued to pass, I would visit Lovina at the park everyday. And everyday, she would demand we play different games together, all involving her being in command or have some sort of control over me. We would take control over the big slide, demanding that kids payed a special toll before going through. We pretended to be power hungry pirates, stealing toys from Lovina's younger brother, only to be scolded by our parents and forced to bring everything back. We sat on the monkey bars together, chatting about our interests or fantasies. By the end of the summer, I had grown so close to her that it almost felt as though we were ment to be friends from birth.

She had become my very best and truest friend. And without much realization, I had begun to think of her as my princess.

However, the summer soon came to an end and a new chapter was about to begin in our newly developed friendship. One that went by the name of 'school'.