Never have I Ever? Hold my Coffee-PT. 2

I grew up in a neighborhood where most of us kids and teens had each other's backs. Did someone say something they shouldn't have? You might have a group show up and start a neighborhood war. Did someone attempt to bully the shy boy down the street who was different? They'd better run.

We lived in the prime spot in the neighborhood—woods behind our house, the field, the second field, "Rock City." Best of all, some of the coolest older kids lived right across the street. They never made us feel like we didn't belong or were too young or uncool to hang out with them. We played countless games of tag, manhunt, baseball, football, etc... No one was left out.

I was in the odd position of growing up in a house full of boys and the cool kids across the street. Most of the neighborhood kids hung out at some point in the day at our house or across the street. So, I usually met all the new kids who moved into our neighborhood or were accepted into our group by chance first.

There was this one time that didn't happen. I was probably around 13 years old at the time. I was hanging out with friends at the "wall" by the lake. It was beside the right of way that we all liked. There was a group of boys swimming. We watched them, trying to determine who was cute, how old they were, and why I didn't know them.

We peeked through the fence that separated the property and saw shorts on the ledge. They were skinny dipping! It was in the middle of the afternoon. Naturally, one of us had the brilliant idea to snatch the shorts and swim out to the middle of the lake. The dare was issued. One of us had to do it. Being the only one who hadn't spent an hour on my hair or makeup, I was chosen.

I snuck around to the ledge and went to grab the shorts when one of the boys saw me. I managed to grab one pair, jumped in the water, and swam. My friends, by this time, were laughing and cheering me on. All of these newbies were trying and failing to catch me. I was starting to slow and breathing hard.

That is when he caught up. I was leaning on the raft, and he tried to rip them from my hands. I was laughing really hard at this angry boy. I was speechless (trust me that's an accomplishment)! This boy was furious at us, at me. I handed them over, but not without some mockery, and swam back to my friends.

By this point, my brothers and a few other boys from the neighborhood had shown up to swim. They came over to the wall to see who the angry and embarrassed boys were furious with. When they saw it was us, the laughter and teasing amplified. It was then we discovered my brothers and the other boys invited them to this coveted spot. They were saving them from the dreaded summer day camp.

I was still annoyed that I had been caught; these boys couldn't take a joke, and I hadn't already met them. I walked down to the Del's with a couple of our friends to cool off. As we made our way back to the wall, we could hear them talking about us. The same way we were talking about them earlier. That was the beginning of the first and only time that I had a rivalry with one of my best friends.

The boy who caught me was torn between the two of us. They always chose her. I couldn't blame them for liking her. She was pretty, funny, and smart too. She had filled in at all the right places. I was still a bean pole and 80lbs soaking wet. Everyone liked her.

This time, I was chosen. She was annoyed, not used to it. We didn't know what to do and had never been in this situation before. Were we breaking some neighborhood rule? A girl code? We weren't sure. We both attempted to keep the others out of the rivalry, but my situation made it seem like I had used it to my advantage. For the first time, we didn't all have each other's back.

I would never do that to a friend. My brothers would never stand for it either. Besides, I was her friend, but she was frustrated. In the end, she punched a tree and hurt her knuckles; we made up, she started seeing a different boy, and all went camping in my backyard. It could have ended worse. But I'm glad it didn't.

That's how I met my first "love" and had my first best friend fight.