5 Years Earlier


“Samantha! Over here!” I yelled to the pretty, muddy, little girl playing football. She throws the ball perfectly, making it land right in my hands.

“TOUCHDOWN!!!” she yells. “We win!”
“No you don’t!” shouted Tommy Turner defiantly. He was a kid on the opposite team.
“Yea we do!” I said defensively.
“Let it go Tommy.” My brother, Danny, said walking up next to Tommy.
“I'm not letting it go. They cheated.” Tommy replied angrily.
“How did we cheat?” Samantha asked putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side.
“Well a girl can’t make a pass like that.”
“Well, then I guess I'm not a girl because I just made a better pass than you.” Samantha said poking Tommy in the chest. All the other boys started surrounding them.
“You think you can throw better than me!? Well I have something to tell you Sam Taylor, eat dirt!” Tommy balled up his fist, drew it back, and plunged it towards Samantha’s face. It hit her square in the eye making her fall back.
Sam laid there dazed for a few seconds. Tommy stood over her and said, “That’s how a boy throws.” Sam shook her head twice trying to stop the throbbing in the back of her head.
“And this is how a girl kicks!” Sam roared as her foot darted forward. As it connected with his private all of the boys gasped in unison. She got up and brushed the grass off her knees. She stood there watching him writher on the ground holding his bruised private and saying every curse word he’d learned in his short eleven year life. “And I have something to tell you Tommy,” she said, “eat MY dirt.” Samantha kicked dirt in Tommy’s face and walked off with a smirk on her face. Tommy just lay there holding his hurt spot and staring at Sam in disbelieve.
I turned and saw that Sam was half way across the park field. “Sam!” I yelled running after her.
She stopped and turned around right when I got to her. “What Cane?” she asked. Her eye was starting to blacken and swell.
“I…I wanted to see if you were okay.” I said.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, your eye……”
“It’s fine. If anything, you should be worrying about Tommy.”
“Why would I worry about him?”
“Because he’s your friend.”
“So, you’re my friend too.”
“When did that happen?”
“Um, uh….I…”
“Stop worrying Cane, we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember.” Sam said punching me playfully in my arm.
“Ow.”
“Wimp.” She laughed.
“Maybe you should go put ice on your eye. It’s starting to look bad.”
“Whatever you say doc.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~???~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I got home, I found my mom cooking dinner in the kitchen.
“Mom.” I said tugging on her dress.
She turned, “Oh Samantha!” she screamed, “What happen to your eye!?”
“I was playing football, and I beat Tommy Turners team and he said I was cheating, and that no girl can make a throw like I did. So I said I wasn’t a girl and I poked him in the chest. So then he punched me in the eye, and I kicked him in his private.” I explained happily.
“Oh dear.” Said Mrs. Taylor putting an ice pack on Sam’s eye.
“I'm going to call Tommy’s Father and tell him what he did.”
“Its fine mom.” I said.
“No its not. A little ten year old boy shouldn’t be picking on a girl.”
“He wasn’t picking on me.”
“Well then how do you explain your eye?”
“I just did.”

“Well then I guess this is a good time to tell you that you’re going to camp.”

“What! No! I don’t wanna.”

“Well you are.”

“Is this because of Tommy?” I asked.

“No. I was going to put you in summer camp this year because you hang out with too many little boys.” Sam’s mom turns and starts cooking again. “Start packing, you leave tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~???~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Packing was hard. I couldn’t stand leaving my friends. What about Cane? How will he handle himself this summer? I’ve always been there to defend him. He’s like my little brother, even though he’s three months older then me.

“I'm gonna miss you Sam.” Cane tells me.

“It’s ok; I’ll see you before school starts.” I say.

“Well that’s a long way away.”

“Just count the days, things will go by faster.”

“Ok, I’ll try.”

I smile and open my arms out to Cane. He doesn’t hesitate to embrace me. I look up at him, stand on my tippy toes, and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Bye Cane.” I say.

“Bye Samantha.” He replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~???~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I watch Sam run across the street, with her bags, to the bus that will take her to camp. Even though I was just ten, and didn’t really know what love was, I knew, right then and there, that I was in love with my best friend, Samantha Taylor.