Once Upon A Time

Back in the day, in the mystical land that was once my school, there was this boy. This boy...I tell you, was...something. Some-thing.
What was it about him, pray tell, you ask.
Well gosh, I don't know. I don't know what was so special about him. He was simply...him.
The legacy of Mason and Chris began at a very early age. I recall I was practically a fetus when we first met, the pair of us toddlers, still in our highchairs and pull-ups. My mom babysat him nearly every day, along with my old best friend, Celine. Celine lived, and still does live, somewhere around a mile away from me, on the shores of a lake where I would while away my childhood hours swimming and joking.
Anyway, the three of us quickly became best friends, that is until we went off to Kindergarten and I never did hang out with her too much after that. But Mason and I, we had something special, we had the kind of friendship you couldn't just diminish. At least that's what I had thought.
I'm not going to say some cock and bull story about how perfect we were together, because it honestly wasn't like that, and believe me, this is all from my perspective, so if you hear otherwise from him, point no fingers.
Life happens. School happens.
It's pretty typical for a boy and a girl to just grow apart, unless they were utterly inseparable. We weren't like that. As much as I would love to say that, I can't. We're like any other person in this world. We had different interests and clearly the connection I thought we had had at the time was simply a product of availability. We hung out because we saw each other every day, and although we still did so at school, he had friends who were boys, who liked the same things as he did, and I had girls who liked the same things that I did. It's simple.
I wasn't heartbroken, or any sob story line like that, I was indifferent. We still talked, hung out a little, we didn't ignore each other, after all, how could you ignore anyone when you have a class of ten, and then nine people?
I had close friends; Kayla, Morgan, Vanessa, and Galle. Galle was the closest, but we had a sort of falling out when I became closer with Kayla and her with Morgan. Vanessa was sort of Switzerland.
He had his close friends; Cody, Nick, Levi, and Jayden. They were also my close friends down the line.
We had our own lives, it was as simple as that. We didn't mind. Until...
I admit it now, I'm a weird kid. I grew up fast, and by fast I mean speed of light fast. My friends were thinking about fractions and I was thinking about boys. So honestly, to me, it's really no surprise that I started liking Mason so quickly.
I can't remember it that well, but it was like there was some sort of connection, some sort of "Whoa" moment where I realized that maybe I liked him as a little more than a friend. After all, he was the cutest boy in the class and the most desirable. We also had our brief past.
So boom, I had my first crush. Followed shortly after by my second, Cody, who used to like me also. But yet, there is my head saying "No, you idiot, you like Mason" and therefore, I liked Mason.
This liking lasted, and in the fourth grade, I do believe, I got up the lady balls to do something I quite honestly regret.
You see, I have a bit of a track record with jealousy. Ahh yes, the giant green monster. My friend Kayla liked him also, and being the envious little brat I was, I thought she was going to steal my future husband out from under me. It's that little nagging thought that drove me to do the worst thing I've probably ever done.
I wrote a note. 'Oh, Chris it's just a measly note, nothing to get too worked up about!' Yeah, that's what you think. It was no measly note, because in it I unleashed my inner asshole. I'm not even sure I want to tell you what it said, but make note that I had wrote this in the middle of math class under my desk with a bright red pen and no time to think it over. It was not nasty per say, but it involved something along the lines of 'I like-like you' and a small poll of if he liked me or if he liked Kayla. Remember how jealous of her I was? Oh yeah, this is my bad side.
Needless to say, I slyly slid the note over into his vicinity on the bus after school, and I ended up with a crumpled piece of paper getting chucked at my face with a large 'NOOO!!!' written in shiny gray pencil.
A part of me died that day.
But of course, being the relentless little bastard that I am, I didn't give up like any normal human being would, no I continued to like him because apparently, I believed he liked me back, despite what he flung at me.
I had reasons, though. I had been told he liked me by his best friends. He blushed a lot whence asked if he liked me. And he picked on me a lot. I think in child rules, that qualifies as a crush, does it not?
Thus, I liked him through fifth grade, through the cruel split that was my school closing and us going to two separate schools, through the Wednesdays of religion classes where he slowly started ignoring me, through the general departure of one another from each other's worlds.
I'm not entirely sure if I still like him or not, I mean, I think I do, but I also like some of the new boys I've encountered at my new school.
All I know is this:
He has adorable blue eyes.
He has a cowlick in the front of his hair so it's never really been long.
He loves the Redskins.
He gave me some of his Pokemon cards when I know it took him a long time to get the money to buy them.
He likes my glasses.
He's really into sports, basketball mostly, I think.
He has the most adorable crooked smile.
He is probably the sweetest person I've ever met.
And maybe, somewhere along the line, after four years of crushing hard...
I've fallen for him.
Maybe I'll never know, though.