Sometimes if I look up in the sky on a rainy day, I'll see her face. I'll also see the last three years I had spent with her; laughing, crying, and hanging out. It makes me sad to think about her though because she's been gone for over three years now. A few times I've even dreamt about her and I'd wake up before anything happens. I'll tell myself that I need to get along with my life but it's hard. I mean, she was my first love. You never get over you first love. "You're thinking about her again, aren't you?" The question was growled from Connie, my girlfriend, who also happens to be my first love's sister. Connie is seventeen and the most beautiful girl in the world. Of course, my opinion is a bit biased due to the fact I'm in love with her. She has shining blond hair that glows in the sun and crystal clear blue eyes that remind me of the sea everytime I look into them. Connie is also about five-six and a hundred-and- twelve pounds. All in all, the perfect girl. She gets very jealous over me considering I'm her first boyfriend. I don't blame her for that; I was the same way. Which brings me to the subject of me. I'm five-eleven, a two-hundred-and thirty-two pounds. I have black hair which I put into braids quite a while ago. I have dark brown skin on most parts of my body, but my chest is light brown. There's a debate about what color my eyes are. Some people say they're black and can change brown. Other people say they're brown and can change black. I'm more inclined to go along with the latter. In my opinion, I'm not a bad catch. My sister says I don't get an opinion, though. "So what if I am?" I replied. "I'm never going to forget her, you know? You never forget your first love." I whispered that last sentence to the sky but Connie managed to hear it all the same. I spun around as she started to cry. "You don't love me anymore," she accused. "You never loved me. You only went out with me because I look like Debbie." Connie then crawled into a little ball on the blanket that she had been sitting on. I walked over to her and took her into my arms. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Please, forgive me. I shouldn't have said that." I held still as she cried, her tears soaking my shirt. I wished she hadn't heard that part about never forgetting your first love. "Connie, I do love you, and not because you look like your sister. You are smart, pretty, funny, and the list goes on and on…" I heard her chuckle at that. Connie is a bit of a perfectionist and it's widely known. "…I'm sorry I made you cry but you've got to understand that I'm never going to forget her." After a few minutes, I managed to calm her down enough to ask if she wanted to go for a swim. She agreed. When we got to the water line, all the little kids from the morning were gone and only a few other teenagers were swimming around. Some were playing "chicken;" some were swimming laps, while most of them were taking turns jumping off a large rock at one side of the lake. Connie and I headed over there so we could take our turn. Connie was glancing around at the trees surrounding the lake. Even though she's been in Maine for over a year, she's still not used to the green leaves that seem to be everywhere. In California, where we used to live, the trees were only green in springtime. In the summer, the leaves started turning red and brown like it was already autumn. Sometimes Connie will stop what she's doing just to marvel at the green. I always smile when she does that. It's like watching a little kid who's at an amusement park for the first time. Connie was so into the trees she didn't notice the small child until almost too late. I stopped her just in time from stepping on this cute, little five year-old who was playing in the shallow water. Connie immediately blushed when she realized what she had almost done, then gushed over the young girl she had nearly tripped over. Connie has always loved little kids as far as I know. She's always telling me what a great mother she would be and that she can't wait to find out if that's true. She said that to the wrong person one day and he raped her. I try not to think about that but sometimes I can't help it. She means the world to me. She's my reason for living. I love her more than I ever thought I loved Debbie. I want to protect her from everything bad in the world and I felt devastated when I found out she had been raped. I felt like somehow it was my fault, like I hadn't done my job. That's how I know I love her. I want to protect her and that's the first feeling you get when you love someone. We were the near the big rock then, so we got in line to wait our turn. The line moved quickly so we didn't have time to talk, but we didn't need to; we already knew what the other was thinking. As we got to the top, Connie grabbed my hand and smiled at me. I stopped in my tracks when she did that. It was the most beautiful thing in the world to me. I could have written forever and still not be able to describe it. Her smile was just beautiful. The angry shouts of the people behind us brought me out of my trance. I tugged Connie's arm and together we ran and jumped off the cliff. For five whole seconds, it was like one of my dreams. Connie and I floated down from the sky, holding each other's hands. Then we hit the water. I let out an involuntary yelp as the cold water closed around me. We dropped beneath the surface for seconds before Connie and I let go of each other's hands so we could swim back to the surface. I felt a momentary pang of loneliness when we stopped touching each other but reminded myself that it was only temporary. We surface about three feet away from each other and quickly swam to the side of the lake. As we got out of the water, Connie abruptly started laughing. Feeling I was the subject of her laughter, I asked what she thought was so funny. "Y-y-you," she replied, gasping. "I never heard somebody yelp before when they hit the water. It was the funniest thing in the world." I don't really like being laughed at, but this was Connie so I knew I could tolerate it. I still decide to justify myself. "The water was cold," I explained. "And when you're hot and you suddenly come in contact with cold water it causes an involuntary reaction and in my case, the yelp." As I got done with my explanation, I heard Connie laughing again. I turned to face her and gave her a stern glance. "It's just that you sound like a college professor when you explain it that," she said before I asked her what she was laughing at. She then proceeded to mimic me in an almost perfect imitation of everything I had said. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that and just the sight of her enjoying herself made me forget my hurt feelings. Suddenly, Connie jumped back in the water and raced towards the opposite shoreline. I immediately followed, knowing she wanted to race. I was the faster swimmer, so I gave her a ten second headstart. When she was about fifty feet from the shore, I took off and swam as fast as I could. My timing was perfect and we ended up getting to the shore at the same time. Connie came up grinnig and spat some water in my face. In response, I pick her up and threw her back into the water then pretended I was sleeping while she came back ashore. Laughing she chased me around the lake until a group of children joined in. After a few minutes, we headed back up the hill to our blanket. "You want some lunch?" I asked. All the swimming and running we did had made me hungry. My mouth was already watering at the thoughts of the food I'd made for the picnic entered my mind. I had made a couple ham and cheese sandwhiches, a fruit salad, and some cookies. I brought along some soda and some water to drink. To cap it all off, I brought Connie a special little cake I had made for her in my culinary arts class. I had decorated it with little hearts and the words "I love you" in purple, her favorite color. Connie shook my arm just then and asked if I felt okay. She looked a little worried and I asked her why. "Oh, it's nothing. You just seemed like you were in a trance and you weren't answering me when I called you." She said this in an offhand matter, but I could tell there was something more. "Why were you calling me?" I asked. It seemed like a ligitamite question to ask. She bit her lip before she answered and I could tell she was going to lie. "And please, tell me the truth." Connie flushed and tried to hide her face but I kept my hand under her chin so she could continue to look in my eyes. She took a deep breath and babbled out a load of nonsence that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. "Connie. Slow down, sweetheart. I can't understand what you're saying." I gave her a reassuring smile and she smiled in return. "I'm sorry," Connie said."But there's three really big guys following us and it's making me a little nervous. What if they try to…" "It's not going to happen," I cut her off at the same time I glanced back at the guys. Connie was right. They were really big. "Nobody's going to hurt you again. Not as long as I'm alive." With that, we quickened our pace. We reached the blanket in a couple of minutes and I immediately told Connie to sit down, grabbed the knife I'd brought, and hid it under the blanket. The three guys joined us in a few minutes and without a word, sat down on the grass at the edge of the blanket. There was no doubt that they were after us. They seemed to have recognized me from somewhere, though I don't remember seeing them. They were all above six feet tall and weighed about two-hundred and fifty pounds each. All of them had on the same style suit and the same sunglassess. None of them smiled, but I sensed they were happy to see us. I glanced at their chests as a reflex and noticed a bulge near the shoulder which meant they had guns. I finally felt the need to speak after five minutes of silence. I mean, if they were going to kill us, why not get it over with.
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