By: Leandra Drache

Rating: PG

Author's Note: Thanx goes out to Hellewise, Josi, Hippolyta, Adonia Galena, Aviendha Sundance, Jessica and Zeeb for their comments and suggestions about the story.
Also, comments are always welcome. Just send them to Leandra84@hotmail.com. Enjoy!

It smelled of grape punch and fruit loops the first day I saw him - or rather, the first day I saw him again.

As I had walked down the stairs that day with my best friend, my foot fell into a pool of spilled punch, splashing all over the leg of my cargo pants. In anger, I uttered a cry of frustration and strode with furious purpose towards the washroom. My friend was following, assuring me that all would be well, that punch was not so hard to get out, when I heard a shout. Fruit Loops rained down upon my hair, down my shirt, onto the floor, into my bra.

Without a second thought, I reached up and tugged at the collar of the boy before me, pulling his face down to eye level. As I turned my gaze up to look him in the eyes, a motion beside me caught my eye.

I caught a glimpse, just a glimpse, of a profile, of chiseled features and blond highlighted hair before he was swallowed up by the crowd. But that one glimpse had been enough for me to place him If it had been anyone else, I would not have known them - after all, it had been three years - but him, him I would have recognized if we had met again on Mars.

Transfixed, I stared, eyes glazed, at the spot where he had been, lost in the misted sunshine memories of childhood. Although it was January, the dead of winter, I could smell the sweet flowers of summer vacation, taste the orange cream-sicles and hear our laughter as we played in the summer rain.

Faintly, I could feel Juliette pulling at my hand, trying to pry my fingers away from the collar of Fruit Loop Boy. Frankly, I had forgotten about him like I had forgotten about all else except The One.

Carelessly, I loosened my grip on the boy and he scrambled away. I heard Juliette say, "Selena, what's gotten into you? We have to get that punch off your pants before we're late for class!" Then, she began pushing me in the direction of the washrooms.

I let her do it, limply being guided by her as my mind wandered.

He was back.

God. He. Was. Back.

Now, if only I could find the nerve to talk to him…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"He has a nice smile."

I simply sat there, staring at Juliette incredulously as she smiled hopefully at me.

After a long, pregnant pause, I prompted, "Well, is that it? He has a nice smile?!"

"Um…" and now you could tell she was really reaching, "He has good hair?"

In reply, a pillow went whizzing by her head. "Jules!" I screeched. "This guy is like, my soulmate and you, my best friend, can't think of anything to say about him other than, 'He has good hair'?!" With that, I faked a swoon and fell back onto my bed.

A snort of laughter escaped Juliette's perfectly cherubic lips. I felt the bed bounce beneath me and then a pillow smashed into my head.

"Really, Lina," my best friend admonished, still laughing. "You're much too melodramatic!"

I lifted a corner of the pillow and squinted up at her. "Well, how else am I supposed to act after you've just so quickly and seamlessly dissed my Mr. Perfect Man?"

Still smiling, Juliette arched a brow and held up her forefinger. "One," she counted off, "he is not a man, he is still just another 17 year old boy. Two, come on now, Lina, we both know he's not Mr. Perfect."

This time, the pillow was fully lifted and thrown into a corner of the room. I sat up, so I was eye-to-eye with Juliette and said quietly, seriously, "How can you be sure he's not The One, Juliette? How do you know this?"

The smile bled from her fact to be replaced by bewilderment. "What, you mean you're serious?"

"Yes! I mean, well, sort of. I-I mean…look, I don't know. If you had asked me that three years ago, I would have said yes for certain, but in retrospect, I wasn't certain then either. After all, I was 13. Can you really know yourself at 13?"

"Okay, what?" Juliette said, interrupting my rant. "Look, Selena, you're going to have to back up here because I have no idea what you're talking about. We only started talking about him like, 10 minutes ago and I didn't know you 3 years ago, remember? I had no idea you two had a history!"

Well, it wasn't so much a history as a tolerance of each other when it all began, but I didn't correct her. A small detail, that, when you thought about it. Because what had begun as tolerance had blossomed into something more - at least on my side of the relationship. No one could speak for Kevin Thomas.

At Juliette's prompting, I told her basically what had transpired between Kevin and I so many years before.

When I had been 8 years old, my old neighbours moved away. It was a sad time, as they had had 3 children, 2 of which had been my close friends. I had heard that the new family moving in had 4 kids, but that did little to reassure me - at the time, I was as timid as a dormouse.

I soon discovered, however, that there was little to fear.

The day the new family moved in, there was an excited knocking upon our front door. When I slowly peeked out from behind it, I was surprised to see a willowy girl of about 7, with lank brown hair hanging in tendrils over her brown eyes. Freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks. Her wide grin lit up her large eyes and showed the space where one of her front teeth had fallen to perfection.

All I could do was stare at this strange vision as she waved and exclaimed, "Hi! My name is Kyla! I just moved into the house next door. Let's play!"

"Um…er…"

It was then, when I was prepared to tell this peculiar little pixie to bugger off, that my mother decided to make an entrance.

"Oh, hello. Can I help you?"

Kyla turned that devilish smile on my mother, and I was horrified to see that she appeared to be charmed.

"Hello! I'm Kyla! I just moved in! Can I play with her?" She pointed a grubby finger at me.

"With Selena?" mom repeated. "Why, of course."

My own mother! I had been betrayed by my own mother! Oh, tragique!

I, of course, didn't want to go, but now that mom had spoken, there was little left to say in my defense. If I didn't go, that would just be rude and mom and dad just didn't stand for that sort of thing.

And so, quite reluctantly, I stepped out into the sweltering heat, with the bright sun beating down upon my dark hair without a cloud in the sky to hinder it. Oh, bother.

Behind me, the door seemed to close with fatal finality and after a moment, I finally resolved to look up at the pixie, at Kyla.

"Let's climb your tree!" she cried as soon as I showed her the slightest hint of attention. She raced down my front lawn toward the giant maple at the end of it. The maple was an old one and tall, seeming to reach into the heavens, for someone as young as eight. When I had first moved into my house, two years ago, I had climbed it, trying to conquer its branching, ancient heights. The hulking trunk split into two, a bit jaggedly - as if it had unsuspectingly been struck by lightening, although this had not been the case - about a meter off the ground. Then, it flowered into two sections, both magnificent, but there was one side I would never climb, not after what Devindra, my old neighbour, the one who had moved away, had told me.

On the left side of the maple, a branch had visibly broken off and when I had first moved in, I had asked Devindra about it. I had never been particularly observant as a child, but it was hard not to notice such a wound on an otherwise perfect tree.

Devindra's eyes had grown large at my question. "You should never climb on that side," he had warned, seeming to mean every word, for his eyes were earnest.

"Why?"

"Because," Devindra whispered, "that branch broke when someone stood on it. It was a little girl who used to live in your house and when she fell, she died."

"What?" I hadn't known whether to believe him. At the time, I had only known him a week, but I had already identified him as a prankster.

"It's the truth! That's why no one ever climbs that side anymore and you shouldn't either, Selena. It's dangerous!"

By that time, I had decided he was serious, since I didn't think even HE had the capacity to lie so wholeheartedly. And indeed, true to his word, Devindra never climbed the left side of the tree and no one else did either.

I had taken the warning to heart and was horrified to see Kyla scrambling up that side now, quick as a fox.

"Kyla!" I cried, running now, toward the maple. "Don't climb that side! You'll get hurt!"

"What are you talking about?" Kyla yelled back, already 2 meters up the tree. "No way this thing'll let me fall! Look how sturdy it is!" And to emphasize her point, she began to jump up and down on the thick branch, delighted laughter streaming from her lips.

My goodness, my young little heart almost went into cardiac arrest. Any moment now, I expected Kyla to fall, to plunge to her death, as I stood there watching. With a cry, I flung an arm over my eyes so I wouldn't have to see such a sight.

Strangely, I didn't hear any branches cracking or any screams of pain. Instead, I heard someone else begin to laugh behind me. More curious and upset now than afraid, I slowly turned around, lowering my arm in the process.

Oh, but he was a beautiful sight. Even at eight years old, I could appreciate it, what he was. Or maybe not, because when I think about it, I was more angered right then than anything else. It's only in retrospect that I realize he was a beautiful child.

Who was "he", you ask? Well, who else but Kevin Thomas, Kyla's older brother, come out of his new house to mock me with his laughter. The bright, tormenting sun streamed through a break in the leaves of the maple, to fall perfectly upon this brown-haired boy of nine. The taunting grin upon his full lips was directed towards me, but when he spoke, it was to his sister.

"Hey, midget! What are you doing? Can't you see you're scaring the little girl?"

I resented his calling me a little girl and told him so myself. Sure, I was normally shy, but when I got mad, there was no stopping me. That is, until Kevin opened his mouth to reply.

"If I've offended you, I'm deeply sorry," he replied immediately. "I did not mean to insult you."

Simply put, I was struck dumb. When I spoke my mind, when I got angry, I was used to people responding in kind. Sometimes they would also taunt me or indulge me with a patronizing smile. No one had ever apologized so sincerely - or so it seemed. I examined his face closely, his eyes, his lips, anything that might give him away as false. His lips were perfectly firm, no hint of a smile, of uplifted corners. There might have been a twinkle in his green eyes, but the sun was shining into his face and it was hard to tell.

Finally, I grudgingly acceded, "Well, okay. I guess you're forgiven."

There had been absolute silence all around me as I scrutinized Kevin. It lasted a moment longer before Kevin and Kyla both burst into laughter.

"You…oh, my goodness…you actually thought I was serious?!" Kevin managed to gasp between chortles. "Oh" - haha - "that's funny! You really are a little girl!"

Right then, I wanted to smack him, punch him, beat him up. But I had been taught better than that. Besides, I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes and hitting someone with water streaming down one's face hinted at insanity. Head bowed, I made a mad dash towards home, already half-blinded by my sobbing. Because of this, I didn't hear Kyla stop laughing. I didn't hear her call out to me, "Selena! He didn't mean it! Come back!" and I didn't hear her begin to scold her brother on my behalf.

Mom called out from the living room as I charged through the house, up to my room. I muttered that everything was fine, that Kyla had had to go home, and retreated to my bedroom. There, I threw myself onto the bed, weeping like my best friend had just moved away - which he had, to be replaced by a mean-spirited, brown-haired devil and his little pixie sister.

Devindra, how could you have done this to me?

An hour must have passed before someone knocked on my door. By then, I had composed myself and taken a little nap. It was almost impossible to tell that I had been crying my little heart out only 60 minutes before, and I preferred it that way. I didn't want to explain my humiliation to mom; I really didn't want to face her pity right then.

"Honey, a boy named Kevin is at the door," mom said, peeking her head through the door. "He just moved in next door and he wanted to meet you."

"We've met."

"Oh, really?" She sounded surprised. "Well, he's here, so you should probably come talk to him anyway."

If I told her I didn't want to, she would ask why, so I resigned myself and, with a brave smile, followed her to the front door.

The first thing he said was: "Can you come out to play?"

This time, mom didn't answer for me, but something about him made me say yes. Maybe it was something in his eyes or his demeanor. It didn't matter that I knew he was a fabulous actor; his expression still convinced me to step out the door and sit down beside him on my front step.

When the door closed behind me for the second time that day, Kevin spoke. He didn't look at me, preferring to stare at the maple instead. I didn't know whether to be offended or grateful.

"Selena…wait, it is Selena, right?" He began, acting as if I wasn't there, even as he asked me the question.

It wasn't the most brilliant of first lines, but I liked it better this way. I would have walked back inside without a word if he'd tried to be smooth. "Yeah, I'm Selena."

"Right. Well, um…I'm Kevin," he said, finally turning to me this time, just a little, and sticking out a hand for me to shake.

I took the hand, hesitantly and awkwardly, since I'd never met someone by shaking their hand before. It was an adult thing, shaking hands, and at 8 years old, I didn't think anyone had any right being very adult. But Kevin was nine, and maybe it was different when you were nine.

After a pause, I let go of his hand and said, "I know you're Kevin. My mom said so."

"Oh, right." He scratched his head and turned back towards the maple. "Um…well, I came back to…uh…apologize, for what I did. It was mean, I guess -"

"You guess!" I cried out. "Of course it was mean! I can't believe you!" And I stood up, prepared to leave.

"No, wait!" And he reached up, taking hold of my arm.

"Let go of me this instant, Kevin whatever-your-last-name-is!"

"Thomas."

"Huh?"

"My last name's Thomas."

The transition was so bizarre that I had to stop for a moment and register it. Then, I said, more calmly this time, "Okay then. Kevin Thomas, please let go of me right now."

"No."

"What?!"

"Look, I came to apologize and I…well, I was hoping you'd forgive me."

Amazed at his audacity, I gaped at him. "Why should I?"

He was still sitting, so he had to look up at me as he replied, biting his bottom lip and looking sheepish, "Because if you don't I'll be grounded."

"Well, I hope you are!" I yelled and pulling free of him, I stormed back inside.

This time, mom stopped me. "Selena, what was that about? You were very rude to that little boy!"

"He was rude to me first!" I shot back, then immediately regretted it.

Sure enough, mom made me recount the whole story. Immediately afterwards, she stalked out the door and across our lawn, to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas. My humiliation at that moment rivaled what I had felt earlier in the day.

A short while later, mom came back, an agitated look on her face. "Well, I have to say, I'm not surprised the children have turned out the way they have, with parents like that!"

I looked up at her, a question in my eyes.

She didn't answer it. Instead, she just said, "Don't worry, honey. Kevin and Kyla won't be bugging you anymore."

I was very happy with that idea.

That is, until 2 weeks later, when I realized that this was turning out to be a very dull summer. Devindra and his sister, Maya, had come to visit 2 times, but that still left 12 whole days of nothingness. Books and movies were quickly becoming monotonous and pet fish weren't the most stimulating of companions.

For the first week, I had at least been able to console myself that Kyla and Kevin (or the 2Ks as I had gotten to calling them) weren't out playing either. I saw their older brother and sister going in and out of the house, but never the 2Ks. The second week, however, they emerged and I could see them playing right on my sidewalk; they never came any close to out house than that.

They looked like they were having so much fun, I almost wanted to go out to them right then. But I restrained myself, reminding myself about what had happened the last time I'd given in to Kevin Thomas.

That memory held me back for another week, but in the end, human nature won out. Children are generally social creatures and besides, I was so bored that I was beginning to talk to the fish.

So, one sunny Thursday, I braced myself, laced up my running shoes and trekked toward the 2Ks with determination written across my face.

When I reached them, they were completely silent and still, staring at me with a mixture of curiousity and expectation,

"Right," I said after a moment, then was quiet again.

"So?" Kyla asked, face expressionless.

Quite suddenly, it dawned on me that I'd never thought of what I'd say. "Um…can I play with you?"

"You got us grounded!" Kyla accused, angry now. "I didn't even do anything! I told you Kevin didn't mean it and I was still grounded!"

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered in a small voice.

"You should be! I don't see why we should let you play -"

Kevin, who had been silent the whole time, stopped his sister. "Kyla, if Selena's mom hadn't come to talk to mom and dad, we would have been grounded for 2 weeks instead of one."

Well, that was news to me! But how could that be? Mom had made it sound like their parent's were unreasonable.

But I didn't continue that train of thought, since Kevin was still talking. "Right, let's just let her play with us; hide-and-seek's funner with three people anyway."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"And that's how we met," I finished with a shrug. "Later, Kevin explained how my mom had upset their parents so much that they decided to reduce Kevin and Kyla's punishment just to get back at her. She'd said it had been all the 2Ks fault and strangely, this got the Thomas' to realize that it had kind of been my fault too."

Juliette was quiet another moment, reminding me of the silence before Kevin had made a fool of me 8 years ago. But Juliette didn't laugh.

"And this is the guy you like? Your Mr. Perfect?"

"Well, I didn't like him then," I admitted.

Juliette laughed. "I can see why! I wouldn't either."

"But he had his qualities, Jules."

"I'm sure he did, thought I couldn't get what after that story!"

I racked my brain, trying to remember all the stories. "He loved animals, he played the piano, he was a great basketball player - we used to play together. Whatever he put his mind to, it seemed he could perfect. After 5 years with him, I think I could have forgiven him anything…except maybe one small thing."

My best friend cocked an eyebrow skeptically. "And that would be…"

"He shaved his head once."

Juliette's eyes grew like full moons. "He cut off that beautiful hair?!" she shrieked, only half-joking in her shocked expression. "Get out of my face!" And she picked up them pillow I'd thrown away, whacking me with it a few times as we both dissolved into giggles.

"Well," I admitted when we both calmed down a little. "I suppose I could forgive him for that too - if he didn't do it again."

That, of course, brought to mind the horribly funny image of the present Kevin with no hair. It was a long time before we stopped laughing again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everywhere I went for the next 2 weeks, I heard Kevin's name. At school, I would hear someone yell, "Hey, Kev!" and I would respond as if it were my name that had been called out. At Thrifty's, where I worked, it was the same scenario. It got to the point that one day, I saw a customer who - from the back - resembled Kevin and without a thought, I walked toward him. He was being served by Rosaria already, but I didn't notice that. I had eyes only for him and when I tapped him on the shoulder, I felt quite a sense of vertigo to see that it wasn't Kevin at all.

"Uh, sorry," I managed to mutter, flushing a bright, tomato red. "Er…carry on."

Afterwards, Rosaria came to talk to me.

"Selena, are you feeling okay? You've been out of it all week," my manager pointed out with an expression halfway between concern and annoyance. "If you need to switch shifts or if you need a day off, I'm sure something could be worked out."

I tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace. "Thanks, Rosaria. I know I've been kinda ditzy lately. I'll try to focus, I'm sorry."

"Look, Selena, maybe you should take the rest of the day off. Your shift's over in half an hour anyway and it's not really that busy. We can cover for you."

Well, this was an unexpected kindness! Still, if I left now, I would feel worse than incompetent. "No, Rosaria, it's…" I trailed off as I saw an all-too-familiar face pass by the store. "Actually, maybe that's a good idea. Yeah, thanks Rosaria! I'll be in tomorrow, I promise."

"Yeah, you better be!" Rosaria replied with a smile, but I'd already rushed over to the counter to grab my purse. Within seconds, I'd picked up my coat and purse and was racing out of the store.

Now, where might he be…

Trying for non-chalance, I scanned the crowds at the mall that afternoon while pretending to window-shop.

Again, it was his hair that tipped me off. It wasn't pale, shining blond or striking black, but a light honey-brown, usually called non-descript. It wasn't non-descript to me though, and I felt the urge to spin quickly in his direction. However, I checked the impulse and managed to turn slowly, naturally his way.

But of course, that didn't matter. He had been staring right at me the whole time.

It was a shock to look straight into his gold-flecked eyes after 3 years. I had forgotten their intensity, even though I had never dreamed I would. Then again, the last time I had seen him before, his eyes hadn't been intense at all. They had been unfocused, the pupils dilated and he had smelled of weed as he bade me good-bye with a doped-up smile. I cringed inwardly at the memory.

It triggered something though, and I averted my gaze - with more difficulty than I would have liked to admit - away from Kevin's and towards his friends. To my dismay, the people he was with were some of the biggest "druggies" from school. Even this far away, I could tell they were high.

This far away? Suddenly, I checked myself; I hadn't realized I'd been drawing closer.

I stopped and turned my eyes toward Kevin one more time. His green eyes were still on me, but this time, I realized they looked so intense because he didn't know who I was. His gaze was so concentrated because he couldn't place me when he was so high.

Oh, Kevin, what have you become?

Tears sprang to my eyes again, like the first time I had met him and he had mocked me. He was mocking me again, but this time, he was too stoned to realize it. It was almost worse this way.

Well, no matter how stoned he was, I wasn't going to let Kevin Thomas see me cry. Abruptly, I spun around and hurried away as fast as I could without running.

It was probably my imagination, but I thought I heard some cry, "Selena!" behind me.

* * * * *

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