(Technically the prologue but shhhh)

Tristan Preseley used to be my best friend in the fifth grade.

Actually, he only agreed to be my best friend because I dared him to.

When I told my other friend, Leah, about what happened she dared him to be her best friend. But he looked her dead in that face and said "no."

So, I think it meant something that he agreed with me.

We went through a rough patch before we were thick as thieves.

He used to bully me. And by that I meant he chased me during recess since the second grade.

I know what you're thinking.

That just means he had a crush on you.

No.

When he caught up to me, he would shove me to the ground and kick my shins. It didn't happen all the time though. Sometimes he just liked to chase me I guess.

And sometimes I liked to be chased. I would tease him by calling him a girl and referring to him as "Trisha" so he would get annoyed and come after me.

But one day he told on me for it and I had to sit out.

I cried that day.

I'm not usually a crybaby, I just never got in trouble at school, like ever. And then he just had to be a big baby about it, and it got me in trouble.

Every day after school I could see him walking home from the bus window when we passed by.

That day when he saw me through the window, I flipped him off.

It wasn't always bad between us. Sometimes we would be civil with each other. Like when we were talking Xbox games. I have two older brothers, so I was educated on the topic.

Or that day in the fifth grade when Leah and I were arguing and she had to sit next to me in class. She shoved her elbow into mine because it was "in her space." So I shoved my elbow into hers.

Tristan saw our little power struggle and he surprisingly had my back by telling Leah she had a spider on her shoulder.

There was no spider.

But of course, she completely freaked out and forgot all about our struggle.

When I thanked him for it later he acted like he had no idea what I was talking about. But I knew he knew. That's what gave me the courage to dare him to be my best friend.

So I went up to him before getting on the bus that day, looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Tristan, I dare you to be my best friend."

And he said, "okay."

And just like that, we did everything together that year.

We spent most of the summer at my neighborhood pool.

When we weren't swimming together, we were at the park, digging up insects and making mud pies.

We were doing just that when Tristan recommended we added parsley to our mud pie.

"That sounds just like your last name," I told him. He only grunted in response.

I called him Parsley since that day.

When we weren't at the park, we were riding our bikes to the local gas station to buy our favorite gummies and share a slurpee.

It was my favorite summer. Then the sixth grade happened.

I remember the first day of school. We didn't have any classes together. I think that was where we first went wrong.

I saw him halfway across the hallway that day and he gave me a big wave when we made eye contact. I smiled and waved back.

And that was the last time he ever interacted with me.

✨authors note✨

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