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Chapter 1

I met Collin Stewart in the first grade. I hated him back then. He was always trying to one up everyone else. He turned in his spelling tests first, he raced the rest of the class to be first in line at lunch. He was such a little jerk, pushed girls out of the way and everything.

Actually, his constantly trying to race everyone to do everything was how I met him in the first place...with a head-butt.

I should have known then that our relationship would be a painful one.

I just knew that I was about to get to the high swing first this time. The teacher started erasing the chalkboard and we all sensed that it was time to go. I could almost hear the faint trumpets of a bullfight waiting to happen as Collin and I looked at each other from across the room, as if in silent challenge. It was like he knew just what I was planning to do. Like he saw it in my eyes that there was no chance I was letting him beat me to the playground this time.

"Alright class. It's time..."

Ms. Swann couldn't even get the rest of her sentence out before Collin and I got into our racing positions and were off!

The race came to a temporary standstill when we both reached the door at the same time. I guess his mama never taught him to let ladies go first, because he sure wasn't trying to let me go. When I was right in the middle of the doorway, his big butt squeezed right up in there with me and got us both stuck for a good fifteen seconds.

There we were, Curly and Mo, both trying to get through the door at the same time, both blocking the rest of the kids in and blocking each other from getting out.

Finally, I gave in a little and moved my foot back an inch.

Collin knew he had the upper hand then and bumped me out of the way, right into the doorframe and took off running. If nothing else has ever been fortunate about my life, I can thankfully say that I've always been faster than Collin Stewart.

It's saved me more times than I can count.

So when we rounded the corner and the high swing came into view, I passed by him with ease. But right when we got to the swing set, he stuck his foot out and tripped me. When I didn't lose my balance, I guess it pissed him off because he grabbed me by the arm and pow! Lights went out.

According to playground legend, we fell into a head-butt and knocked each other out cold. But I know the truth. I felt him grab my arm and pull me to him. I never really believed that Collin was also unconscious, either. The way I see it, he probably panicked after he knocked me out with that big ol' 4x4 head and went down when I went down, just so he wouldn't get in trouble.

When I came to, it took me a minute to figure out where I was. The bright white walls were all out of whack until I focused in on the window and then on the bed beside me.

Collin was sitting up on the edge of the bed, staring at me intently. I knew he knocked me out on purpose, but the look on his face and the concern in his eyes made me think twice about ripping him a new one.

When he realized that I was alert and looking right at him, he hopped off the bed and scurried over to me. Of course, being only six years old, he could barely see over the bedrail. The way his little caramel colored eyes peeked up at me made me laugh out loud. At the sound of my voice, the nurse peered over the steamy romance that had been holding her undivided attention for who knows how long, and then put the book down.

Before she could make her way over to us, though, Collin took in a deep breath and with the most sincere expression he could muster, whispered the two little words that would later become the driving force of our relationship.

"I'm sorry."

❤️