Once upon a time there were two friends. They’d always thought a boy and a girl could just be friends, no matter what anyone else said. And it worked. Until one day the girl began to see him differently. And she wasn't so sure.
Then he left. His parents split. They whisked him off to a new school, two houses, two lives. And she couldn't keep up. He had to leave her in the dust of his mother’s green Jeep.

And she never did find out if he felt the same.
X

I was with my friends, at our usual Friday ice cream stop, wolfing down a mint chocolate chip cone when my heart bounced out of my chest. It was HIM! But I had to be sure. So, like the amazing stalker I was, I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
Part of me knew. It just knew. I needed no assurance. I knew by the way he smiled, the way he flung his arms wildly about when he talked. I knew by the way his friends reacted to his words, his clever remarks. It was him.
I did what any sane person would do: I swallowed the last bit of waffle cone, stood up, and stood next to his group like an idiot, trying to work up the courage to say something. Anything. I ran over scenarios in my head.
“Hi. I’m Cassidy Wilder. I think I know you… Did you go to Bright Skies Middle School?”
My heart skipped a beat. Two. Three. Then it began to flutter, beating faster and faster until it erupted out of my chest, courage swelling inside me as I prepared to go up to him and then…
I saw her.
I had known her for an instant, only just seen her, and every atom in my body hated her with a growing ferocity. Her black roots, dyed bleach blonde in the very fashion I despised. Her brown eyes, outlined in a hard black, hiding herself behind make up. I hated the way she laughed, the way she-
Then it hit me. I was jealous. Cass Wilder, coveted blue eyed natural blonde junior, was jealous. Jealous of a girl wrapped in an insecure blanket of societal values, the picture of every girl who strived to be like Cass. Like me.
And I was Jealous, because she had him.
I thought for a moment, maybe he didn't like her. Maybe I still had a chance.
But I saw the way he smiled at her. It was the look that said “she might be the one.” A look that many had tried and failed to imitate on me.
I realized they had gone. I quickly ordered a Coca-Cola and sulked back to my seat, picking up the shattered pieces of my heart along the way.
I tried watching him out of the corner of my eye, but it made my heart ache. My friends kept talking, chatting away. I noticed him get up to leave, come towards me.
“My name is Luke Peterson. You look familiar. Do we know each other?”
Of course we do. You’re Luke, the boy who thought my favorite favor of ice cream looked like cow dung littering a field. I’m Cass, the girl who teased you for playing Pokémon but who you taught to play anyways. You’re Luke, I’m Cass, and we grew up together, fending off ferocious dragons and putting on puppet shows for our little brothers.
We were best friends.
A million memories flooded my mind, all of them happy except one, and I knew what I had to say.
I looked into his deep green eyes, pretending to be scanning my memory but really storing ever feature of his face, burning the beautiful image into my mind.
“No. I don’t think so.”
And he walked away, the girl on his arm, ripping my heart out with every step he took.
“Dude,” Kat whispered after he’d left. “Why didn't you say yes? That Luke guy was like, an even eight.”
I knew why. The girl, the way she followed him around like a little lost puppy. If I took him, would she be an orphan left out in the rain? I couldn't do that.
And Kat was wrong. He wasn't an eight. He was my perfect ten.
X

Once upon a time, a girl let love pass her by. She thought it was to save another, but deep inside she knew the real reason the let the perfect boy walk out the door.

She was afraid. Afraid to talk to him, afraid to put everything on the line to take a chance. Afraid to ruin all those wonderful memories with two simple letters: N-O.

She never realized what she had done to him.

That night, they both cried.

We might never know if Cass and Luke got another chance, but somewhere out there is a little blonde haired boy with green eyes, whose parents decided to take matters into their own hands.