A Shout into the Void.

Jaime.

You know that look that can make you shake in your boots? That one look that can send shivers up your spine and make you regret you were born? Well, aparently I was a pro at it ever since I had been born. My mom used to tell me all about how I hated to be held by anyone but her as a child so to prevent anyone from getting close to me I would give them a look that could kill. Everyone I've ever met has backed off from that look (I even once made my English teacher look like he was about to pee his pants when I gave him the look right before he called on me to anwser a question when I clearly hadn't been paying attention), well everyone but Sam. 

Sam was immuned to all of my many facial expressions. So he, unlike any normal individual, took one look of my death stare and smiled, giving my pigtail another pull. I let out a squeal and knocked his hand away, squeezing my eyes shut in preparation for another tug. But it never came. 

I peaked my eyes open just in time to see a boy's hand shoot out from the seat behind us and grab on to Sam's wrist. "Knock it off. She doesn't like it," the boy yelled. I relaxed in my seat with the new realization that this boy had saved me from Sam's agonizing torture session. I turned around and smiled at him when I froze. The blonde haired, blue eyed boy was extremely recognizable. He was Jaime Carter, the Pricipal's son. He was a fourth graded (I know right so mature... *cue eye roll here*) and was allowed to skip school to go on all regulated school field trips that his mom chaperoned. Basically he was as close to king of the elementary school playground as he could get and he had just rescued me from my own dragon aka Sam. 

Now I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that when I saw Jaime it was love at first sight or how we ended up being the king and queen of middle school and later on the homecoming court as our high school's cutest couple or something incredibly stupid like that. Come on, I was in third grade for Pete Sake. But Jaime did become one thing to me in that moment. He turned from being a sluggish stupid evil dragon hair tugging boy like Sam to my second best friend (and yes friendships happened that quick back then). 

My admiration for Jaime grew even more when we got to the Campsite. The Girls had been put on the East side of the lake while the boys were on the West. It seemed all fine and good and all seeing that the teachers set up their tents in between the two groups at the center of the camp fire. Unfortunately for the authority figures who were too busy gossiping about the other teachers we had left behind and discussing their break plans, us, kids, had quickly figure out a way around them. 

Instead of mindfully remaining on our two sides, we planned an all out war against each other trying to both conquer the lake. Maddie and I were the leaders of the girl's side while Jaime and Sam were the leaders of the boys. So the war began. It consisted of mainly chasing each others around and using up all of the toliet paper the teachers had brought by tee-peeing each other's camps. But finally, us, girls, were able to make a break in their defenses when Maddie discovered that she had brought an entire pack of smackers lip balms with her. 

Note to any girl out their with a younger brother or annoying little kid on their trail: what little boys fear most=being tackled down and having "lipstick" or in this case lipbalm forced on them. 

Jaime was the first to realize that the boy's had no chance of winning so he quickly switched sides. If something like this happened now, I probably would have been pissed off that Jaime hadn't had any loyalty to his side or anyone but himself for that matter. But nine year old me could only see the prize of winning and gladly welcomed Jaime into the girl's forces. He was our double agent and led the boys right into our trap. Still to this day it brings me great pleasure to know that at the age of 9 I was able to pin Sam down and force him to wear lipgloss. I had been my own hero while Jaime had been my trusted comrade. 

But our victory was short lived. Basically we were forced straight back on to the bus and driven home in the middle of the night once the teachers finally looked up long enough to see all of the girls running through the woods screaming out a series of hoots as we chased the boys into the center of the lake.

The last time I talked to Jaime had been when we were forced back into the bus, all of the boys dripping wet but him. He whispered "Thanks Dani. That was fun" to me before he was forced to spend the rest of the bus ride being scolded by him mom. 

After that year, Jaime Carter was sent off to Private School for his middle school education only to come back in the middle of our Junior Year in High School, insisting that everyone call him "James" and joining the tenis jocks at their prestine table on the other side of the cafeteria. 

Back then I would have given anything to have Jaime stay behind and send Sam in his place instead. My mother used to insist that I was being silly and that Sam was just being a jackass to me because "he liked me" (not in those exact words of course because who in there right mind would say 'jackass' in front of a nine year old?). And part of me would give anything to prove that cliche wrong; to prove that the delusional belief that a guy treating you like crap means that he likes you was just that: crazy, disfunctional and programing acceptance to abusive behavior into children! But maybe just maybe this once my mom had been on to something...