First love

"Gary wake up!" Frosty yelled as he vigorously shook Gary from his sleep. Gary sat up, annoyed at his brother, to see him jumping exuberantly by the window. The two shared the attic in their new house which happened to be the biggest room in the house. The ceiling was roughly ten feet tall in the middle and declined at a forty degree angle down leaving three feet of standing room where the wall and ceiling met. They had two twin beds, one on each side of the room, with the window in the middle. There was a TV set up in front of their beds with two banana chairs facing it. In the middle of the room was a stair case that came from the second floor up to the attic.

"What is so important?" Gary asked in a grumpy morning voice.

"It's a snow day! We don't have to go to school today! Come see." Frosty said as he rushed over and yanked Gary from his bed and over to the window. Gary looked out to see the whole neighborhood covered in two feet of a fluffy blanket of snow.

"Well what are we waiting for let's go play!" Gary said as he ran off to get ready.

For hours the two brothers played in the snow joyfully making igloos and pretending to be spies on a mission to Antarctica. After a while Frosty wanted to go inside but Gary wasn't done having fun in the snow. As if on cue when Frosty left Haley came out to play in the snow. Gary immediately went over to Haley's house and asked if she wanted to play. She said yes and started to play.

At first they made a snow man together naming him Rowland. Once Rowland was finished and topped off with a top hat the two friends decided to journey off and see what adventure lay ahead of them. Close by there was an acre of forest sitting unoccupied and ready to be played in. The two ran through the snow pretending to be superheroes on the look out for an unknown enemy, stopping every now and then for a battle with the imaginary evil villain Grog. At one of the battle sites Gary got hit by a lazer beam shot by Grog's lazer gun arm. Gary fell to the ground acting as if he was mortally wounded. Haley ran over in a panic to tend to the wound before it was too late.

"Don't you die on me Gary we are the only heroes this world has left." Haley said through exaggerated fake sobs.

"Tell my mother . . . I . . . love . . . her." Gary whispered as he feigned his death. After a long sigh Gary went limp playing the role of a dead man with conviction. Out of the blue Haley did something that shocked Gary. She leaned down listened to his breath and then kissed him on the lips. Gary's eyes burst open at the realization of what was going on. When the kiss was over Haley sat up and looked at Gary with a innocent smile. Gary not knowing what to do stumbled up and tried to stutter some remark but was ultimately left speechless. Haley sensing she had erred in kissing Gary got up and ran away embarrassed at what had just transpired. Gary stood there frozen still not knowing what to do, wanting with all his heart to chase her and get her to come back.

Gary solely made his way home still trying to mull over what had just happened. When he finally got to his house he couldn't help but look over to Haley's house hoping that she would come over and talk to him. This was all too real for him and an entirely new situation to him. He had never had a girl kiss him before and wasn't quite sure what it meant. Where they boyfriend and girlfriend now? Does he need to buy her flowers? Will they get married? It was all too much for the ten year old boy and all he wanted to do at that moment was go inside and hide away until it was all over.

Gary opened the door to his house and walked in wearing a puzzled look on his face.

"What's on your mind Gary?" Mother asked.

"Mom if a girl kisses me does that make us married?" Gary asked trying not to reveal what had happened.

Mother laughed and studied the young boy for a moment before guessing "Did Haley kiss you?"

"Well . . . uh . . No I wouldn't kiss her that's gross." Gary said defensively shifting uncomfortably under mom's omniscient stare .

"I didn't ask if you kissed her, I asked if she kissed you." Mother said knowing by Gary's response the truth of the matter.

"Well she didn't and that's that." Gary yelled as he stormed off to his room.

He sat in his room staring at the sloped ceiling wondering what he should do next. As he thought about the kiss he realized that he actually liked it and wanted to try kissing her again. These feelings surprised Gary, they were foreign to him and the nature of the feelings left him with a vulnerable sensation deep within. It was happening way to quick for his liking, he wished that he could go back in time and stop Grog from shooting him with his lazer beam so Haley wouldn't have ever kissed him.

One question kept coming back to his mind. What is going to happen when they see each other tomorrow at school?