The Best Girl.
INTRO.
13 YEARS AGO.
Jill Taylor was outside, watching her two sons, 4-year-old Brad, and 3-year-old Randy, play in the front yard, when she suddenly spotted a moving truck, pulling into the house beside them.
"Mommy, look at the truck!" Brad exclaimed running over to his mother, with Randy close behind.
"Yeah, Brad, it's a big truck, huh, honey?" Jill smiled slightly, and looked over at the house, "I think we might be getting some new neighbors. Maybe they'll have some kids for you and Randy to play with!"
Randy wasn't talking very much yet, so he just nodded, with his thumb resting in his mouth.
"Come on, boys, let's clean up a little bit before we go over to meet our new neighbors!" Jill led the boys inside and made them both wash their faces and hands and brush their teeth before they made their way over to the house.
Jill knocked on the door, and faintly heard a girl wailing from the inside, "Mommy! Nick pushed me!"
"Oh, honey, come here," The door was pulled open and a tall woman, with black hair and blue eyes smiled, "Hi, there,"
"Hi, I'm Jill Taylor, I live next-door and I just thought I should introduce myself to you, and welcome you to the neighborhood."
The woman smiled brightly, "I'm Veronica James, and thank you very much, it'll be nice to know somebody." She looked at Mark and Randy, "And who are these two?"
"These are my sons, Brad," She patted Brad's head, "And Randy. Can you two say hi?"
Brad mumbled hi, and Randy just looked at her with big blue eyes.
"If you just hold on a sec, you can meet the kids… GUYS! Come down here for a second!"
Two dark haired boys came running down the stairs, followed by a girl with curly dark hair, who was dressed similarly to her brother, with jeans and a loose t-shirt.
"These are my kids, Jack, Nick, and Jessica. Kids, this is Mrs. Taylor, she lives next-door to us, and these are her sons, Brad and Randy." Veronica introduced.
Jack, who seemed to be the oldest, nodded at them, while Nick waved, and Jessica just looked shy.
"Jack, why don't you and your siblings take Brad and Randy out to the back yard to play?" Veronica suggested.
Jack nodded, and Brad said, "Can we, Mom?"
"Sure thing, honey, go have some fun." Jill nodded, smiling. The kids took off for the back yard, and Veronica said, "Would you like to have a cup of tea? I'm afraid that's about all we have."
"A cup of tea sounds nice, thank you." Jill nodded smiling.
Outside, Jack, Nick and Brad were starting a game of soccer, and they had decided to leave the two younger kids out.
"I'm Randy. What's your name?" Randy said, not removing his thumb from his mouth, as he sat next to Jessica.
"Jessica." Jessica replied, looking at Randy with big brown eyes, "Wanna be friends?"
Randy nodded, "You don't have cooties do you?"
Jessica shook her head, "Uh-huh."
"Then we're friends."
12 YEARS AGO.
About a month after Randy's brother Mark had been born, it was Jessica's fourth birthday.
"Hey, dude." Brad greeted as he and Randy entered Jessica's house, "Happy birthday."
"Yeah, happy birthday, Jessie." Randy nodded in agreement, before looking at her strangely, "What are you wearing?"
Jessica didn't look very happy, as she was wearing a pink, somewhat frilly, dress. "My mommy wanted me to dress pretty for my birthday party."
"You look very pretty, Jess." Jill said, leaning down and hugging her with her one arm, "Happy birthday, honey."
"Thanks, Mrs. Taylor."
Jill, Brad and the new baby Mark went into the kitchen where Veronica was, and Randy handed Jessica a bag, "Here's your present."
"Thanks, Randy,"
"Open it," Randy urged. He had stopped sucking his thumb, and was much more talkative now.
Jessica nodded, and pushed away the tissue paper until she found the present. She pulled out a small, pink, stuffed pig, "Thanks." She nodded at him, smiling slightly.
"You like it?" Randy checked.
Jessica nodded, "Yeah, it's really awesome! What are we going to name him?"
"Well, it's your pig, Jessie, you can name him whatever you want." Randy informed her.
"Well, you're my best friend, and you gave it to me, so I think we should name him together." Jessica said.
"Okay… well, how about Bailey?" Randy suggested the first name that came to mind.
Jessica smiled, "Bailey sounds just right, dude."
"Did you really mean it?" Randy said a few moments later.
"Mean what?" Jessica looked at him blankly, carrying Bailey under her arm.
"That I'm your best friend?"
"Well, you are."
"Oh." Randy nodded and then said, "You're my best friend too."
"That's good, doofus, but I already knew that." Jessica said, sticking out her tongue at him.
Randy laughed and said, "I'll race you to the kitchen."
"You're on."
5 YEARS AGO.
Jess' parents had been having problems for years, and it had become so bad that Jess was spending more time at Randy's house than her own.
One night though, Randy looked out his bedroom window and saw Jess sitting on the swing set in her back yard. He raced down the stairs as quietly as he could, because everybody else was already in bed.
"Hey," He greeted her casually.
"Hey." She didn't look up at him.
"What are you doing outside?"
"Escaping." She scraped her Chuck Taylor's in the dirt.
"Are your parents fighting again?" Randy asked.
"Nah." Jess shook her head, her dark hair swaying in its ponytail as she did.
Randy sat next to her and realized that she was crying. This made Randy more than a little concerned, as he'd only seen her cry twice before, once when her father had announced he was going overseas for six months, and again when she had to have her tonsils taken out when they were six.
"What's wrong, Jess?"
Jess sniffled before saying, "My parents are getting a divorce, Randy."
"Oh, Jess." Randy rested an arm around his best friend's shoulders and sat with her, until she stopped crying, when he dragged her into his house and made her sleep over, like she had so many times before.
So that was just an intro, to show everybody what Jess is like, and a little bit of a history on her and Randy's friendship. So, please read and review, and I'll try to have the next chapter up soon (: