She rode past the park where she had spent so many years with him. Sure, she may only have been sixteen now. She knew she was still a kid. But he had moved on now. He didn't need her anymore. She slowed to a stop as she felt a blush creep into her face. She blinked, and found herself in a flashback.

I had just chickened out of the slide, and, feeling sorry for myself, had gone to sit by myself in the shade for a while, partly hidden from all the pointing and the laughing.

What kind of six year old girl couldn't go down the swirly slide?

And then he had jogged over to her. He had eyes like melted chocolate.

"Hey, you're the chicken girl right?"

"No." I said, not wanting to get made fun of.

"Hey guys, I found her!" He had called out to three other boys, two of which had already bullied me.

"Come on dude, she's old news. I heard the girl that moved here from Louisiana just got here. Let's go play with her." A couple of them ran off, leaving me with the boy with the eyes and his friend.

"Yo. You wanna be cool, right?" The friend asked.

"I am cool," He returned, somewhat angrily.

"Not until you," I couldn't hear the rest of what the friend said, as it was whispered into the boy with the eyes' ear. I tilted my head a little.

"Lemme see your arm," The cuter boy said, and I slowly reached out my arm.

I was then given possibly the worst Indian burn of my life.

"Ouch! You stupid jerk!" I cried, wrenching my arm from his and running off towards my mother.

She snapped out of her flashback. That had been the first time he had made her cry. She rested another moment before continuing down the sunny path. It wasn't long before she encountered the short school building, made of bricks that were decorated with assorted colors of sidewalk chalk.

Another spitball hit the side of my face.

"Would you stop it?" I hissed at him, and he replied with a smile. And then another spitball.

"Teacher! He's bothering me!" I said loudly, pointing at him. His smile faded a little. He was nicer to me the few days after I had called him out on being a buttface.

The next Friday, a folded up piece of paper landed on my desk. It asked for a simple date to play house. I smiled, and checked the little yes box under the question. The playdate had been fun. I made him a Play-Doh steak and he "devoured" it. Unfortunately for me at the time, I didn't really understand what a date was. And so, when Kyle from the other class asked if I wanted to come to his birthday party with him, I agreed without a second thought.

She snapped out of that flashback. Even though the words had been juvenile... that was the first time she had ever hurt someone. It brought her back to the day they had met. He had made her cry. That day, when he had jogged over and shouted her name, she had felt so terrible. Those words...

"You're a fart face, and I don't like you no more!"

Could that have been the reason she started to hate Kyle? Was it possible that such a simple phrase could cause her to hate every single sentence that kid said? It had taken a while, but their seats were next to each other, as always, and he forgave her eventually.

They had grown up best friends, and she quickly hopped back on her bike and continued back towards home. She noticed the leaves beginning to turn orange on the trees. Was it close to fall already?

It was getting closer to October...

October... their last Halloween as friends, she thought, a tear creeping into her eye.

I ran out of the house in my Hermione costume, to meet him in his Weasley costume. With a quick hug, we ran down the streets, excited and hyper. Not two hours later we were sitting on my front porch, disappointed.

"Your neighborhood sucks for candy getting. I should've gone with my other friends."

"Jerk face, at least you got more than I did."

"I know you are, but what am I?" He mocked, and I rolled my eyes. We were thirteen, he could've at least tried to be more mature.

"I bet I have a spell to make you less whiny," I said, waving my wand around. A car pulled up in front of my house and honked, and he gave me a quick hug before jogging away.

"What is with all the memories today?" She joked to herself, wiping the tear out of her eye. Sure, they fought a lot, but they had always remained best friends. What had torn them apart?

Oh, right. He spent more time with his guy friends, and less time with her. He stopped caring about her life, is what happened. She couldn't talk to him about her father anymore, and he wouldn't listen with those caring eyes or gently squeeze her hand and tell her that her drunk of a father wasn't important.

He hadn't been there for her the night that happened.

When word had gotten out to the school... She pretended it was just one huge rumor, but he had cared then. After it had gotten to him through gossip. And he had his new, popular friends to talk to. He had become more shallow, as well. His looks hadn't declined at all, which had just made everything worse. She had to get off of her bike before she injured herself, she wiped away her tears and swallowed down the pain. The pain of losing her best friend. The pain of knowing that she cared so much and he didn't care at all. And the pain of knowing he never loved her the way she loved him. She finally pulled up to her porch, hiding the bike in the bushes and walking up the steps. There was a CD sitting on the rocking chair beside the door, and she picked it up. As she realized what it was, her hand shook a little.

"Idiot... what a jerk." She said, tracing the outline of his face with one of her fingers.

"I know you are, but what am I?" A voice came from behind her. She jumped and turned, her eyes widening at who she saw there.

"You're-"

"I'm sorry, I never came to say goodbye."

"You mean-"

"No, I'm not back. But I have these for you," He handed her tickets to a show he and his band were playing a few weeks into next month. "Did I say I was sorry yet?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"But you... you didn't care," She set the CD back down, along with the tickets.

"Actually, I cared a lot. But... I stayed away, because I felt like I had failed you. Best friends are supposed to be there for each other, and I wasn't."

"I forgive you," She said quickly. "I definitely forgive you."

In a quick movement he stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her. He had gotten stronger. She placed her hands around his neck and held him tightly. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips, and her eyes brimmed with tears.

"James," She said, in a single whisper. Her best friend was finally hers again.

And she wasn't going to let go this time.