My bestfriend and I had always been a part of eachothers lives. Our parents grew up together, and we grew up together. We were practically family.

Even sitting here, listening to Ethan rant about something or other, I couldn’t imagine my life without him. There would be a huge gaping hole in my heart.

“It’s honestly terrible how schools work us so much. We get up at six o’ clock every morning just to go learn how to find x! We stay there until three every afternoon and still have other things we have to do. How do they expect us to do all of this work?!” Ethan was staring at his school work.

Piles of it lay on the porch as we decided what to do next. “Maybe if you didn’t stay up till three am you would get more sleep.” I knew he was right though. There’s no way that they expected us to get all of this finished.

“Maddie, please just agree with me for once. This is insane!” He groaned and sat back in the porch swing. He laid his down on my lap and I toyed with his hair.

I looked up at the sunset in front of us. His house always did have the best view. It was right over a lake with woods behind it. I could sit here for hours.

“I do agree with you. School sucks. It’s like they want you to be on top of everything and still have a social life or they think you’re depressed or something.” I said. It kinda surprised me. I don’t talk about it often.

Ethan sat up and looked at me. His eyes shined with concern and I felt tears start to prick in my eyes. “Are you ok?” He asked. It felt like there was a bowling ball stuck in my throat.

In my freshman year there was a group of girls that would constantly degrade me and make fun of my body. They did everything in there power to make me believe that I was worthless. They would kick rocks at me and they even cut my hair with kitchen scissors once.

A fresh wave of tears spilled down my cheeks and I choked back a sob. “There doing it again.” I blurted out. He stared at me in shocked silence for a moment.

He snapped out of his daze and forced me to look at him. I could see tears in his eyes. “Don’t let them bother you. If they start hurting you again, tell someone. Even me. I can help.” I nodded and sniffed.

He said it like it was easy. It’s not. People don’t talk about how bullies make you feel alone, or like no one can help you.

“Look at me.” He said. I dragged my gaze back to him. “You are perfect in every way, no matter what they tell you.” His face was really close to mine. I could feel his uneven breathing against my face.

I leaned in and kissed him. I almost froze, scared of how he would react but I didnt need to worry. He put his hand around my neck and kissed me back.

When we broke apart he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat.

It felt right. For a moment I could forget the other girls, my grades, homework. I had grown up with Ethan. We know everything about each other, from our favorite color to our darkest secret.

Now I just fell like I knew him a little better.