Pippa and I sat by the lake, our backs resting against the wall of the boathouse, our faces turned to soak up as much of the sunlight as possible. We had stolen away to our old spot to talk. Distantly we heard the excited, happy shouts and laughter of the younger girls playing on the lawn. I couldn't remember being that young.
I turned slowly and looked at the face of my dearest, oldest friend. Before coming to Spence I had been a frightened, lonely child, spooked by the smallest shadow. I had never made friends other than Simon. With him I was strong and powerful, a leader.
When I arrived at Spence I decided to reinvent myself. Gone was the lingering shyness, the fear of adults. here all the girls were stupider and weaker than me and thus I had made myself their leader.
But in addition to that I had made something much dearer: a friend. It was something I hadn't had before, not truly. No one to giggle with, to tell secrets too. Upon meeting Pippa all that had changed.
So I sat there looking at her. At the perfect ebony ringlets, the soulful sapphire eyes and was overcome by the urgent need to kiss her. I suddenly wanted nothing more in the world than to wrap my arms around her tiny waist, to hold her, to kiss those soft pink lips. And I have never been one to needlessly hold in my desires.
I reached over to turn her face toward mine. She looked at me, giggled. I wrapped my arms around her waist in an embrace that had happened a thousand times before. I kissed her nervously on the lips. She went rigid, put her hands on my shoulders as if to stop me. But then the started to giggle nervously and wrap her arms around my neck. I smiled slightly. This was going better than I had imagined.
We stayed in that position for awhile, our tongues gently exploring each others mouths. I was wondering how much time had passed- a minute, an hour?- when she jerked away panting slightly. "Fee?" she questioned softly. "Yes" I said running one finger softly over her lips. She edged away from me, giving me nervous glances. She began to pick at her petticoat, her fingers plucking nervously at the fabric.
"It's- it's sinful Fee. Wrong. Morally reprehensible." I raised my eyebrows. Pippa never used words like that."No it's not" I said, more confidently than I felt. "It's perfectly natural for two dear friends to have these feelings." She looked at me doubtfully, but with a small flicker of hope in her eyes. "And anyways we can't. What if someone found out?"
"Pippa Cross!", I said imperiously. "Who are you, of all people, to say we can't?" I scooted closer to her, whispered in her ear."We can do anything. Anything at all! You have turned rocks into butterflies. So why can't we do this?", I said with certainty. She smiled at me shyly and I grinned recklessly in return. It was then I turned to look at the sky and saw the red sun sinking rabidly into the horizon. More time had lapsed than I had thought. " Come on Pip, let's go home."