The friend-ship that sailed

Okay, so before I start telling my story I need you to understand that I'm not one of those super popular girls or one of the school bullies that everyone's afraid of. No, I'm not that geek that sits at the back of the class, drooling because my braces are too big for my mouth as I finish off the project due in three weeks. I'm just a regular girl. I have my little group of friends that do as they please but also as their told. I don't have bleach blonde hair or wear a mask of makeup every day. I actually have dark brown hair that cascade softly down, reaching my waist. My olive colour skin, inherited from my Aboriginal descent glows in the sun. I don't have gawky teeth or a huge nose but I'm not perfect by far. My beauty has always been natural. I never thought my beauty would ever find me that someone though. But it did. Or maybe it was just luck or my mother, god only knows who to blame. So heres my story, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Enjoy.

I entered the little holiday care centre, hosted by my old primary school. My mother had just dumped my into this hell hole. I mean I was in grade 7; I could easily take care of myself. All I did all day was skulk around, avoiding people that were over cheery and endangering my bad mood. If I was going to be here I was going to show everyone and anyone that would see it, that it was against my will.

No later than I had entered what they called the 'wet area' (an indoor concreted area which held our bags and a couple of steel basins) than I saw him. My male doppelganger, he looked just as unhappy to be here as I did. The problem though was that he looked much darker than me, much unhappier. At first I thought that maybe his mood had simply shifted because he wanted to be alone but then I saw it, a little flicker behind his bright blue eyes. He wasn't unhappy to be here with me hanging around per say, just unhappy to be here.

From his spot, sitting on the edge of one of the basins he looked up at me and I let a small smile grace my features. "Hey" I greeted as I strode over to him and lent on the basin next to him.

"Hey" he replied as he lifted his head fully, lightly flicking his head to push his long, black hair out of his face.

"So what you doin' out here?" I asked. Smiling a full on, Rose smile I continued, "Escaping the over joyful poison in there?"

He let out a mildly pitchy laugh that rolled over me like hot caramel. "Yeah, I'm Jake." He said as he shifted to look at me fully. He seemed different. Most guys look you up and down and then focus on a spot a little higher than your chest but lower than you eyes. His eyes immediately came up to meet mine when he'd finished his once over of me fully.

"Rose" I responded. A silence engulfed us for roughly a minute but amazingly it wasn't uncomfortable as you might assume. He just kept looking me in the eyes and slightly smiling.

"So why you dumped here?"

"My mum's just got this new job, great for her and me in the long run, you know the financial aspect but also means me being stuck here for the rest of the holidays. What about you?" I shifted slightly as I was uncomfortable and he seemed to notice, thankfully.

"Hey, you wanna go back in. I'm sure we could find somewhere quiet to hide?" he asked. I just smiled and started walking inside. Leading him over to a spot that allowed us to be hidden behind a large stage block, I sat down cross-legged and started playing with some large, toddlers Lego.

"So why you here? You never told me." I asked looking up at him through my fringe.

"Oh, um, my little brothers here. And plus my mum doesn't really want me home on my own. You know breaking stuff. All the parties' parents think we have." He ended and we both let out throaty laughs.

In year eight, as you do. We started high school and of course fate throws us together again and we end up at the same school. Of course this was AFTER I'd completely fallen head first into a crush with him and then found out he had a girlfriend. It's okay though. Even as the crush lived on we unspokenly agreed to fall into a comfortable friendship until one day my friend felt the need to interfere.

"You two should totally hook up." Said Alice completely out of the blue.

"What?" me and Jake both exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah, you two should hook up." Alice pressed.

"Um, okay then" concluded Jake.

"Sure, why not." I soon after agreed, even though I knew with every nerve in my body that it would screw up what comfortable relationship we'd built. We went off into the bushes and we did as we'd been told. I'd never told anyone that I was a complete and utter fridgid. I'd made out with my friend Jane's cousin in a closet once when I was about eight but that was it.

We pulled apart just to turn and be face to face with a whole class full of visiting year sevens and the school baseball teacher. 'wow, embarrassing.' I thought as I hid my face in Jake's chest and felt comfort as he engulfed me with his arms. My comfort soon ended as a loud, booming voice hollering, "Oi, you two. Come over here" met Jake's and my ears. We silently split apart and ran, focusing on nothing except running until we were at the other end of the school where we collapsed into a fit of laughter against the hall.

From then on, for the next two years we were only 'just friends' when one of us was dating someone. Every other day we would explain ourselves as 'friends with benefits' and that's what we were. Slowly falling deeper and deeper into love each time our lips met. That was until one day when after many unfortunate events that kept us from being a couple I let fire my anger at him and we both exploded in a heavy round of tears and 'I love you's. The next day though it all went to hell and everything was lost. Things between us disintegrated and he ended up dating someone else. Consequentially breaking my heart which he said he didn't want to do. Now, we don't talk, we don't hug as a greeting, we simply mutter a 'hi' and continue on our journey. And that, my friends is my tale of the friend-ship that sailed away.