My First Kiss - July 26, 2010

    I saw endless green grass going every direction, while I stood on the porch of my new house. I had blonde hair and green eyes and was going to be turning sixteen that summer. My parents decided to move to move to a rural area, when I told them my dream to pursue horseback riding. I had a horse named Blondie who was white with a speckled texture, that I had gotten for my fourteenth birthday along with a personal riding instructor. I loved horseback riding and wanted to do it for the rest of my life.
    Later that day I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw two boys about my age. One was tall with brown hair and eyes and the other was shorter with blonde hair and blue eyes.
    The tall one spoke first, “Hi, I’m Christian and this is my best friend, Trevor. I live down the road.”
    “Hey, my name’s Melissa.  So, I guess I’m your neighbor then, right?” I asked.
    “Christian looked down the road to where his house was, “Yep, I guess so… I saw your horse, she’s beautiful!”
    Then Trevor spoke up, “Do you ride her often?”
    “Yeah, I love to ride. That’s why my family moved here,” I replied. “Want to come in?”
    They boys both nodded and came inside.
    I introduced Christian and Trevor to my parents and then we sat in the living room. I had fun getting to know the polite and kind Christian and the shy and humorous Trevor.
    “Well, it’s getting late,” Christian said, “We’d better go.”
    “Okay, see you guys later” I said as I followed them to the door.
    Christian looked back, “Let’s go on a horse ride, tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, that would be tons of fun!” I said as my heart melted looking into Christian’s dark brown eyes.
    “Great! See you later, Melissa,” Christian said, and Trevor waved as they walked home.
    All I could think about that night was how awesome Christian was and how excited I was to go horseback riding the next day.

    The next day, Christian and Trevor came on two beautiful brown horses.
    “They’re gorgeous!” I exclaimed.
    “Meet Antonio,” Christian said gesturing to the horse he was on and then pointed to the horse Trevor was on, “and this is Crystal. They are brother and sister.”
    “Because it’s so hard to tell,” Trevor sarcastically remarked. I laughed; they were practically identical.
   
    We rode down the road about a mile, when Christian pointed, “There’s my house.” It was much smaller than mine, but nice looking.
    We kept riding. I loved the feeling of the wind in my hair; I felt a sort of freedom.
    After a while we reached a clear blue sparkling lake, and Christian said, “This is Trevor and my lake. We swim here every summer.”
    My mouth dropped, “You own this lake?”
    They both laughed and Trevor said, “Nope, but might as well.”
    “Once it gets hotter you should definitely come swimming with us,” Christian suggested.
    “I would love to; the water is beautiful,” I replied.
    I was having a wonder time. In two days of living in the country I had already made two best friends and had plans for the rest of the summer.

    After a few weeks of hanging out with Christian and Trevor, I woke up to my parents in my room.
    “We have a surprise for you, Melissa!” my mom exclaimed.
    “What?” I croaked, still half asleep.
    “Your cousin, Hank, is going to be staying for the rest of the summer,” my dad replied.
    My heart sank. Hank was a few years older than me and had always been a bully looking for a fight. I didn’t quite see how my parents thought this was a good thing. Hank’s parents were probably happy to send him off.
    Later that morning the doorbell rang. There was Hank with his mess of blonde hair with his bags.
    “Hey, Hank,” I said, while I invited him inside.
    For the next week my life was pretty much the same. I would get on Blondie and hang out with Christian and Trevor, while Hank would stay home and play video games on his Xbox. It was mean of me, but I knew it was best that Hank stay out of trouble.
   
    It began to get really hot, so I went to the lake with Chris and Trevor.
    We arrived at the lake. It had a sandy beach with small doc. Christian jumped off Antonio and ripped off his shirt. He sprinted to the doc and dove into the water. Trevor and I stared at him in dismay.
    “Come on guys! Get in; the water feels great!”
    I tied up our horses and then took off my dress revealing my dark blue bathing suit. I walked into the sandy beach and swam over to Chris, “Try the doc next time; it’s tons of fun.”
    “Sure,” I said as I laughed a little.
    “Hey Trevor! You coming?” Chris yelled.
    Trevor walked up onto the doc and sat on the end with his feet hanging in the water.
    “Are you going to get in?” Chris asked.
    “Nah. I guess I’m just not in a swimming mood,” Trevor replied.
    Chris and I swam after each other in the water. Then Chris climbed on the doc, “Hey Mel, watch this!” He ran and did a flip off the doc.
    “Wow, that was really cool,” I said.
    “Hey, guys it’s getting late,” Trevor said, “We should start heading back now.”
    “Agreed,” Chris answered as he got out and grabbed his towel.
    When I got out Chris gave wrapped my towel around me.
    “Thanks,” I said.
    “No prob. Let’s get you home.”
    The once hot and beating sun was starting to hide behind the mountains. We galloped home. I put Blondie in her carol and went inside.
    After I got in bed and turned the lights out my mom came in and whispered, “Hank’s been here almost a week and you’ve abandoned him, everyday. How about you invite him to go with you tomorrow?”
    “Okay,” I replied and then dozed to sleep.

    The next morning I hesitantly woke Hank up, “Hey you coming to the lake with my today?”
    “Um… sure,” he replied as he got out of bed.
    “Okay, Chris and Trevor will be here in about a half and hour,” I informed him and then walked out of his room.
    When Chris and Trevor arrived on Antonio and Crystal I introduced Hank to them.
    Automatically Chris said, “Here, Hank, you can ride Antonio and I’ll ride on Blondie with Mel.”
    “Um…okay,” Hank said as he struggled to get on Antonio. Antonio was extremely well trained and would just follow us as Hank held on.
    Chris jumped up onto Blondie with me. He held onto me tightly as we rode to our lake.
    When we got there Hank didn’t look like he enjoyed the ride as much as I did.
    Chris and I held hands as we ran off the doc and jumped in. Trevor came and sat on the doc like he had the day before.
    Hank walked to the end of the doc and shoved Trevor into the water and then jumped in after.
    “Come  on, Hank. Why’d you have to do that?” I complained.
    Hank grunted and then swam away.
    “Well, I guess I was going to get in sooner or later anyways,” Trevor said, as he laughed off Hank’s mean gesture.
    I apologized to Trevor for Hank’s rude behavior. We weren’t really sure where Hank went, but we kept swimming and tried not to talk about him.
    Hank swam back when it was dark, darker then when we usually left.
    “Hank, where were you?” I yelled, annoyed and impatient, “We usually leave a lot earlier than this.”
    “Geez, sorry. Just taking a swim.”
    No one spoke after that. We all just got on our horses and rode back to my house.
    Chris and I got off Blondie, and Trevor came over be us. Hank stumbled off of Antonio; we still hadn’t said anything.
    “Well, I guess we’ll see you guys later,” I said while I began to walk inside. Hank followed and pushed Trevor, knocking him over on the way. Rather than just forgetting about it, like last time, Trevor lunged back. He ran and pushed Hank with all his strength. Hank fell forward, his face smashing into my concrete porch. Hank got up with blood dripping from a cut in his forehead. He just stood there a step away from Trevor, looking at him with hatred in his eyes. Chris went between them, “Guys, stop. This is ridiculous.”
    But Hank hadn’t had enough. He lunged his fist forward. I assumed at Chris, but he passed Chris and punched Trevor in the eye.  Chris was tired of watching Hank beat up his best friend. He swung one of his arms and punched hank right in the rib. Hank fell and didn’t get up.
    Right at that moment my mom came out. She gasped as she saw us standing there and Hank was just laying on the ground. “What happened?” my exclaimed, as she kneeled down next to Hank.
    “My rib… I think it’s broken,” Hank managed to whisper, while he just laid there.
    My mom turned around and looked at Chris and Trevor, “Get out of here,” she said in her stern mom voice.
    I made quick eye contact with Chris and then he got on Antonio. Suddenly, Chris and Trevor where gone.
    I ran inside and locked myself in my room.

    The next morning when I woke up, Hank was gone. My mom told me that she had called Hanks parents and they picked him up last night. She also said that Chris and Trevor were trouble makers and I wasn’t allowed to hang out with them anymore.
    The next few days I was bored out of my mind. I really missed Chris. I locked my bedroom door and climbed out my window. I jumped onto Blondie and started riding as fast as I could. I just wanted to get away from home and forgot what had happened in the last few days. I went on a trail I had never been on before. Blondie was running faster than I had ever made her fun before. Before I knew what was happening I saw a large branch that was sticking out into the trail. My face smacked into it and I was thrown off Blondie backwards. My nose was bleeding, my body was soar, and everything around me looked blurry. Then I blacked out.

    “Oh my gosh! Mel, what happened?” I woke up to see Chris looking down at me. It was dark outside.
    “Chris, I love you,” I said drowsily.
    “Mel, you don’t even know what you are saying. I need to get you home,” he told me as he picked me up and put me onto Antonio. He got up behind me and put his arms around me to hold the reigns. He rode me home and pulled me up off the horse. He knocked on my door and my mom answered it, to see Chris holding me with my bloody face and bruised body.
    “What did you do to her?!” my mom screamed. She grabbed me away from him.
    “No, mom,” I whispered, “He saved me.”
    “Melissa fell off of her horse, but I think she’ll be okay. She just needs to lie down.”
    “Oh…” my mom looked at Christian, “Come in.” My mom set me on my bed. “Here sit down,” my mom said to Christian gesturing to the chair next to my bed. “Thank you for bringing Melissa home. I better go call her father and tell him she’s okay. He’s been looking for her all night.,” my mom said and walked out.
    “Thanks… for, you know, saving me,” I said.
    “No prob.” he chuckled.
    I looked up at him, “I really do love you.”
    He didn’t say anything he just bent down, looking deep into my eyes, and kissed me.


-Marie