You know it's never been easy to be me. Hey it's me Lars yeah the mean older brother that Twister continues to complain about but really I never did anything I'm serious he's the one that acted like a jerk to me. Like one time when we were little we had just moved in to Ocean Shores and right away he and Otto became best bros I was out cold. My little brother the one that I had had since he was born ditched me for that show off on a skateboard I could do those tricks and more. I tried to get Twister to hang with me, I even got him a video camera so he could tape me, but he turned around and taped Otto. I was so mad that when he got home I told him that he had monsters under his bed and that if he kept hanging out with Otto they'd eat him. For a couple of weeks he believed me, and everything was great, but he then said that he no longer cared about monster and if they ate him at least he spent his last minutes having fun. Urggh and off he went what was I suppose to do I tried hanging out with them but Otto would say I was a lame-o I didn't even know what a lame-o was. Reggie was cool though she let me hang with her for a while until Otto said that it was either his way or the highway it's always his way or the highway, but not this time. This time I know what I'm doing. I'm not after Twister anymore. I don't care if he no longer likes me. I have my friends Pi and Sputz, oh sure they're not great friends and they ditch you if you don't act a certain way, but they're cool, they take orders. I'm after something bigger something better, you see I've always have had this thing for Reggie ever since I was little. When I got a little older, I grew out of it, girls were icky, and I didn't want anything to do with them, but right now Reggie is the best thing that would happen to me, if she could just see that I liked her. Only if she'd see me for whom I am and not how I act. But here was the plan a letter slipped in her stuff after Saturday's Hockey game, it stated:

Dear Reggie
I have watched you from a far Seen your beauty grow. And how I long for you in my heart How I wish we never had to part.

I've watched you though my window by day And dreamed of you at night But, I can't hold it in side Meet me by the Whirl n' Twirl ride Tomorrow at noon
Signed,
A Rodriguez who loves you

It was perfect right but I couldn't sign it Lars R. Rodriguez no I had to do something poetic, something smooth, and something that would confuse me with my stupid brother and sure enough it did. I was so surprised when I realized Reggie actually showed. She was so perfect in every way, she had her hair up in butterfly clips that I knew had been her mother's and was waiting very patiently. I walked right over to her and said.

"Waiting for someone," I grinned trying to lose my cool acted that I liked to play in front of my friends.

She sighed, "Yeah," and looked passed me, "See I got this note Twister wrote it see and well I thought he'd be here."

"Twister!" I say realizing my mistake right there.

"Yeah see Twister and I have this secret relationship, we've never told anyone about it, because Otto is really protective and stuff so we have to sneak around and stuff," Reggie says looking at her watch.

"A secret relationship?" I say realizing my defeat.

Reggie groans, "I bet he forgot that little nerd," She stands up and starts to leave not looking too upset about it I follow I have to find out more about this.

"So he does this a lot?" I say.

"Oh sure, he forgets, Otto ties him up, or something, but its cool I understand," Reggie says.

"Well I don't, he ditches you, and you let him get away with it that's cold, you're just telling him its ok for next time," I say following her to Madtown.

"Why are you following me?" Reggie asks.

I think fast, "Well I don't think its fair you wanted a date so you should have a date look you even have your mom's butterfly clips in."

She covers them up, "How did you know they were my mothers?"

"I...Well I was there when she gave them to you," I say and she stops to look at me.

"You were?" Reggie says like she didn't know.

I nod, "When we were friends."

She laughs, "We were never friends." She starts skating again. How can people forget something like that? How could I love her so much and she can just skate away? 'We were never friends,' that's a kick in the balls. I can't believe she does not remember. Hey maybe Twister just never remembers when we were friends. Well it didn't matter then, because Otto, Twister, and that Squid skated by towards Reggie. I had blown my chance. Again! How was I ever going to get her attention? I decided to go home and lay down. I did. I just stayed in my room the whole night looking at a picture I had of Reggie, from a long time ago, when we were friends. We had been so close she had told me so many things like she does with that Squid now. Oh Sam's not that bad I guess, but I'm suppose to be there, I'm her best friend, did you know Best Friend and Boy Friend start with the same letters. I didn't get up until Twister popped his head in; he looked at me worried. "What?" I say.

"Mom says dinner," Twister says about to close the door.

"I can't eat...," I say and Twister opens the door more, "I'm on a fast."

"That's cool what kind this time?" Twister says.

"A juice fast, 10 days, now leave me alone," I say glaring at him which, I think scared him so that he left.

So I was alone again and on a love fast again. Another one. That was the fourth since May and it was only July. I was never eating anymore. How could I with Reggie circling around me like this? If my heart was wasting away then my body could go along with it. Of course, no one knew this, Twister never told anyone about my fasting. He didn't know they were dangerous. Our grandfather goes on a fast once a year, but you see Twister doesn't realize that once a year and twice a month is not the same thing. I stood up, I couldn't think lying down, I need something, and I had to think of something, something different something new. Urggh, nothing I had tried everything, but the last one telling her. She'd never like me, she already showed me that, when she said 'we were never friends,' evil huh? Is it eviler to be evil outwards or to not know your hurting the person you're hurting? Whatever, all I know is that I needed her, but my rotten brother had her and no one knew it. I knew, I was perfectly capable of womping her out of him, but that's not how I wanted her. I wanted her to be mine because she liked me as much as I liked her even if it took me my whole life I'd get her. But I knew I had to be crafty about this one I had to loose him without hurting her too much, maybe I should just wait, but see waiting never got anyone anything. Nice guys finish last after all. I decided, in the end, to sleep it off.