"Happy tenth birthday, Gwen! Sorry I'm late. My sister has her learner's permit, and dad made her drive super slow all the way over here."

"Sara! I'm so glad you're here! You can save me from my annoying cousin. He's really getting on my last nerve," said Gwen. "As soon as this party is over, we have to go all the way to Bellwood for his birthday party."

"That totally sucks having to share your birthday with..." Sara stopped talking as Gwen's cousin walked over.

"Hey Gwen! Who's your friend?" Ben asked.

"Ugh...Ben this is my best friend Sara, Sara this is Ben that I was telling you about. Sara, let's go play!"

And they did. Gwen had an awesome swingset and her parents had rented a massive bouncy house to jump in. Unfortunately, Ben followed them everywhere they went and kept staring at Sara. Sara found it a little creepy. Ben couldn't help it though. With her blond hair and blue eyes, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

When they finally got away from Ben for a little while, Gwen told Sara all about her summer plans with Grandpa Max. They were going to travel all summer in his RV. Sara was sad Gwen wasn't going to be around for play dates this summer, but she didn't tell her.

It was time to cut the cake and sing to Gwen. Gwen's mom forgot the candles in the kitchen and asked Sara to run inside and get them. When she got into the familiar kitchen, she found her newest least favorite person already in there looking for the candles, too.

"What are you doing?"

"Uncle Frank told me to find the candles for Gwen's cake," Ben said.

"Mrs. Tennyson told me to get them. Have you found them yet?"

"Ummmm, nope," he said as he slyly put the candles back in the drawer he had just found them in.

"We'll she said they were in that drawer you're looking in," Sara said as she marched over to where Ben was standing. "Duh, they're right here dummy, how could you not see..." At that moment, Ben grabbed Sara and kissed her on the lips. Sara noticed how green his eyes were as she punched him.

8 years later

The campus was beautiful on this hot August day. It was Sara's first week at college. Her roommate totally sucked, but she had made some friends on her hall and had been getting the scoop on all the sororities on campus. She knew her mom would have wanted her to join a sorority like she did. Too bad she wasn't around anymore to give her any advice on how to choose the right one.

As she was leaving her Calculus I class on the way to get some food at the dining hall, she heard someone say, "Sara Linstrum? Is that you?"

She turned around to see a familiar red-headed girl. "Gwen?! Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed as the girl gave her the biggest hug ever.

Sara hadn't seen Gwen since their last day of school before Gwen went RVing with her grandpa. She ended up moving to Bellwood with the rest of her family at the end of that summer. They had been pen pals for a while, but since technology and internet wasn't as popular back then, they lost touch. She had heard in the news about how her and her cousin somehow saved the world or something. She had other issues at the time to deal with: her mom had cancer and died. And then, as if that wasn't horrible enough, her sister and dad died in a car accident just a few months ago. Her parents were only children, and her grandparents had died when she was young. She literally had no one. College was a welcome escape, and seeing Gwen was an awesome surprise.

It seemed that no time had passed for the two friends. They got lunch and caught up on the past eight years the rest of the afternoon. Sara found out Gwen had already been in college for two years, and was dating some guy named Kevin. Gwen apologized for losing touch with Sara, but explained all the craziness/awesomeness of her life. Gwen was devastated for Sara about her parents because they had been like second parents to Gwen for years when they were little. Gwen even offered for Sara to move into her apartment after hearing about her roommate and how terrible she was, and she accepted. They even laughed about the drama at Gwen's 10th birthday party when Sara punched Ben for kissing her. Apparently he had a black eye for a week. Sara also found out that no one at college really knew who Gwen was, even though she used to be in the news a lot. Gwen refused to let Ben visit her at school because then everyone would figure it out, and she went by Gwendolyn now.

The next few months were great. Sara moved in with Gwen (she had enough college-level credits from high-school to be considered a sophomore and eligible to live off-campus). She met Kevin when he came to help move her into Gwen's apartment. Other than the few times Gwen went home to Bellwood to see him and her parents, they went out every weekend at school. Sara was a shoe-in to Gwen's sorority come rush in the spring.

It was Monday night before Thanksgiving break. Gwen came into Sara's room and noticed that she hadn't packed any clothes to go home tomorrow after classes. "Do you need help packing?" she asked.

"Actually...umm...I'm staying here over break."

"Why is that? I thought you were going to eat with your friend Samantha's family," Gwen said.

"Well, I was going to, but I just decided not to go," Sara said as she tried not to look at Gwen.

"What's wrong, Sara? Tell me."

Sara explained, "When I went home for fall beak, it really...sucked. I mean, I had fun with my friends, but being home in that big empty house by myself was pretty horrible. I don't think I want to go back home unless I absolutely need to. I just miss my family so much, and I just can't be in that house..." She was crying at this point.

"Why didn't you tell me you had such a bad time?"

"Well, you came back and were so excited telling me all about how you went to some planet with your boyfriend to help your cousin and his partner fight off that crazy alien guy, and I just hated to ruin your mood by telling you about my fall break and how horrible it was."

Gwen insisted that Sara come home with her to Bellwood. Sara didn't want to because it was so last minute, but Gwen called her parents and they insisted she come. After classes the next day, Sara rode home with Gwen to Bellwood. She was greeted by the familiar faces of Gwen's parents. She got a tour of the house, put her things in one of the guest rooms, and helped Gwen and her mom prepare supper. She felt right at home with Gwen's family, and they loved having her. They did Thanksgiving Wednesday night with Gwen's mothers's family. Gwen had warned her beforehand that they weren't as fun as her dad's side. Sara agreed they were a little dull, but she enjoyed being around everyone. Afterwards Gwen and Kevin kept her entertained telling her about some of the adventures they had together with Ben. Ben wasn't going to make it to Thanksgiving this year, so Gwen and Kevin were a little disappointed. Sara was actually relived he wasn't coming: she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing the guy who gave her her first kiss 8 years ago that she immediately gave a right hook to.

The next day, Gwen and Sara helped prepare Thanksgiving lunch. Gwen's grandfather, aunt, and uncle came over to celebrate, as well as Kevin. They ate, they talked, and they laughed. Sara was having a great time. She helped the ladies clean up as the men settled onto the living room furniture to watch football. Ben's mother pulled out a few bottles of wine so that all the ladies could relax and eat dessert. Sara was a little surprised that Gwen could drink with her family, but she figured she would drink a glass if Gwen was. Gwen never drank much, so she only had one glass and announced she was going to take a nap. Sara had two glasses in the same amount of time, and was definitely feeling a little tipsy. She decided to excuse herself to go take a little nap, too.

Just as her and Gwen were walking up the stairs, the front door burst open. The most handsome brown-haired man strolled through the door with a beautiful smile on his face. He looked right at Sara, and she saw his deep green eyes. She recognized that they were the same set of beautiful eyes that belonged to the boy that gave kissed her 8 years ago. Sara's heart was about to skip a beat...

Then he spoke.