One- You promised me you weren't hungry.
We'd been in year seven, and it was the first day of high school. We'd made other friends, but we were lost and sat behind what we thought was the gym. The day had flown by, but my stomach had been in knots thinking about lunch. Who did we sit with? Where did we sit? What would happen?
I was nervous, and I could tell you were too. You're just a better actor, always had been. We'd met in drama club four years before when we were just eight. You'd been the best there by far, and had walked up to me and asked if I'd be your partner. I'd been terrified and not spoken to anyone, so I was ecstatic when the star pupil asked me to work with him.
Behind the gym, we were shielded from any bigger kids by the tennis courts. We were sat with our backs against the harsh brick wall and talked about the kids in our class.
"That kid with the hazel eyes was funny, he seemed nice too, maybe we could be friends with him?" I offered.
"Yeah, I think his name was Alex. He gave me his spare pencil in science." You replied. My voice was an anomaly in Manchester. I was from Reading, so I sounded different to the Northerners. But you found it funny.
I had taken out my dorky lunchbox, and started opening my cheese sandwich. As I started to take a bite, I caught your eye. You were looking wistfully at my lunch. So I reached for my apple and tossed it into your lap.
You looked at it, and threw it back to me. "Keep it, I'm fine."
"No you're not. Where's your lunch?"
"Ian's meant to buy some for me, but I'm not going to find him. I'm not hungry, I promise." You replied with. But I could see it in your eyes; you were hungry, and too scared to go out into the unknown to find your older brother.
"Take my apple anyway, just in case." I smiled at you, and I could see that you knew I understood. So you nodded, and took a bite into the juicy green skin.
Two- You promised it was rugby.
We'd been having a sleepover at my house, and it had been a good day. It had rained, and we'd run about, splashing through the puddles. Then the ten minute walk home had been spent in silence; we'd been enjoying the pounding of water on our heads, the smell of the rain, and the feel of our wet hands clasping each others. But we'd hold hands as friends, because we were that close.
When we'd got home, we'd dried off - my mum's orders - and gone straight to Sonic. We'd played for around two hours before dinner, with me beating you almost every time. You weren't great at it- always getting distracted and talking to me. But you were good at so many other things, better than me.
When we were about to go to bed six hours later, we got changed. We'd stayed up late, and it was past midnight. At fourteen, that was normal, but you had to leave for a drama workshop early the next day. I'd stopped doing drama; I'd crawled into the shell of teenage awkwardness and watched as you shone brighter. You'd be going to drama four times a week, but we still spent as much time together as we could.
Because we were just friends then, we got changed together. It was just like gym, but without the annoying popular kids comparing stupid things like armpit and chest hair. Still, opposite sides of the room. But we still talked.
"So what happened when he found out?" You had said. I could see you through my peripheral vision, taking your shirt off.
"He just looked surprised that Alex literally had a girlfriend before him. His face looked like this." I turned towards you, and dropped my mouth open, widened my eyes and slumped my shoulders.
I saw you laughing at my impression of our friend Charlie, a new kid in our year nine class. But then I got distracted. During the joking, I'd forgotten you were shirtless. I was too.
