Taga Long

Through the years

"Hey Caleb!" One of the other boys ran towards us. His name was Josh, I knew him from third grade. He would always pull my ponytails during read aloud.

He and Caleb smacked palms. "Hey Josh! What's up?"

"Why are you always with," he shrunched his nose together. "Tagatha."

Caleb punched his arm. "Hey it's Tabitha."

Josh stuck his tongue out as I did the same. "Whatever. See ya later lovebirds!" He made little kissy sounds as he ran off.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Ignore him Tab. He's weird."

I nodded. "Okay." He smiled. "Oh Caleb," I started. "Promise you won't let them tease me?" Every year after second grade the kids in my class would tease me because of a little accident I had when I couldn't get to the bathroom in time.

He squeezed my hand. "I promise. I'm right here."

I sighed in reliefe.

* * * * *

8 years ago

"But it's what Josh said the grown ups do." Caleb and I were in a tent in his backyard. It was almost the end of summer and we would be starting 6th grade soon.

"Are you sure?" I raised a brow. Brushing a few curls out of my face.

"Yeah! Josh said he's kissed a girl plenty of times." We both sat on our knees starring at each other.

I paused. Would I get in trouble because I kissed Caleb? Or was it okay because he was my bestfriend?

I shrugged. "Okay, if you say so." Caleb beamed, and then just sat there. After a few moments of just sitting there, I spoke. "Well, do you know how to do it?"

I saw his cheeks become red, like they did when he was embarassed. "Uh, yeah. Like um...this." He leaned in closer to me than before. "Okay so, you have to put your lips like this." He poked his lips out and we both giggled. "And then I do the same, but...our lips have to touch, or it's not a kiss."

"Do we keep our eyes open?"

He shrugged. "They don't on TV."

"Oh, well, okay, so let's do it."

He nodded. We both poked our lips out, making sure that they touched each others. When he pulled away, he looked at me, a brow cocked.

"Was that okay?"

My whole face felt hot, it was as if it was on fire. "I...think so."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. I would never tell him this, but that was the moment when Caleb began to look like someone totally different in my eyes.

* * * * *

4 years ago

All the girls in school were starting to get boobs, while the boys were getting taller. Before school started, I had been taller then Caleb, now he was taller then me. His voice wasn't as high anymore either.

I on the other hand had stayed the same more than anything. I had no boobs, and I was still the same height.

Caleb had developed a liking for all kinds of sports. He played football, which was too rough for me, so I never played with him. He also liked hockey, which was something I didn't really like either. But we did go swimming together sometimes. I was much faster then he was, and he didn't like "getting beat by a girl" anymore.

I had to get braces because for some reason, my teeth just wouldn't grow the way they were supposed to. And my eyesight got worse along the way.

Caleb said my glasses looked nice on me, but the other kids thought otherwise.

I didn't know why, but most of the girls didn't like me. They hated that I was always with Caleb. And the guys didn't notice me too much because I wasn't in an A-cup like the rest of the girls.

I prefered to read and draw instead of playing outside like the other kids. Caleb usually played outside with the rest of them, so I didn't see him every waking moment like I use to.

Our school was having an end of the summer fair like they did every year. I didn't really want to go, but Caleb wasn't going to go without me. So I went.

My mom dropped us both off and gave us each ten dollars.

"Thanks for coming with me Tab." He shared some of the popcorn that he'd just brought with me.

"Yeah, I was really enjoying Harry Potter. But...I guess I could give you a shot too."

We were both laughing when Josh and his friends caught up with us. "Sup Caleb." They smacked palms. Josh had changed just like everyone else. He didn't sound like a mouse anymore and was tall just like Caleb.

"Sup Taga." I cut my eyes at the stupid nickname they called me. They knew me as Tagaitha Long, Taga long for short, because I was always by Caleb's side.

"Hey, guys, chill, it's Tabitha." He punched Josh in the arm.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, let's go look for high school babes." Josh smiled wickedly.

Caleb laughed and patted me on the head. "You okay here with just the girls?"

I could feel them starring at me now, but decided to keep my mouth shut so that he could have fun with his group of friends. So I just nodded.

I had no fun whatsoever. All the girls did was ignore and talk about clothes and lipgloss. Neither was of intrest to me. I still wore the same Mickie Mouse sweatshirts I'd always worn, and not once had I ever thought about putting on lipgloss. It wasn't something I was worried about at thirteen.

When the sun syarted to set, and the fair lights began to come on, I was still sitting in the same spot by the pond on a bench. I watched as the light made ripple affect on the water, silently, not saying anything, and not really thinking either. I was startled when someome tapped my shoulder.

"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to startle you." Caleb said bashfully. I turned to face, a brilliant smile breaking out on my face.

"What's that?"

Caleb extened a hand. "These are for you." Caleb had an array of different color ballons tied in a ribbon in his hand.

"Wow Caleb thanks!"

"Yeah. Sorry for forgetting about you today."

I smiled. "It's already forgotten."

From that point on, ballons were my thing.

* * * * *

3 years ago

I saw Caleb less and less. We just didn't hang out with the same group of people. Wel, I didn't really hang out with people at all anyway.

At first I was devastated. I hated seing him holding other girls hand's in the hallway, or going out with his friends and brining me along. After all, I was his Taga Long.

The last thing we did together that included just the two of us was when we went to the movies together for his 14th birthday. He ended going bowling with some friends afterwards and I didn't. I had the chance to though. He'd asked me if I wanted to go, but I could already see the eye rolls of his friends. So I turned it down.

After that, we just stoped hanging out. Playing in the backyard or at the park wasn't fun, or cool anymore. He only came over my house when his parents came for dinner or holidays. Other then that, we made small talk when we saw each other at school.

What put an even bigger gap in our relationship was when my family had to move. My mom was having another baby, and our little suburban villa that was right next to his wouldn't fit all of us anymore. So we moved to the other side of town, where the houses were a tad bigger and a lot further away from the little suburban neighborhood I grew up in.