“Let’s see it then.”
Sweetie took his hand and he helped her up. Since Boogie was old enough to walk, he loved to dance. In fact, let his mama tell it, he dancedbeforehe walked. And she claimed it wasn’t that cute little baby bounce normal toddlers did. Nah, he was two steppin’ by the time he was two. It was where his nickname came from.Boogie. His entire family called him that, and when Sweetie learned that fun fact years ago, she took on the nickname as well. His real name, Darren, never really fit him in his opinion anyway. Boogie was a free spirit who never took anything too seriously. Darren sounded too mature and grown up for him.
He’d been teaching Sweetie how to dance since they were five, and he couldn’t lie, his protégé was good. Almost better than him.
He stood back with a smile and his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Sweetie dance to the routine he had come up with for her. She added her own flare that made him proud, and when she was done, he clapped.
“I see I’ma have to teach you somethin’ new. You killed that.”
She grinned as she breathed heavily. “Or maybe I can come up with something for you for a change.”
Boogie’s brows rose. “I can get wit’ that.”
She blushed as she looked down at her watch. They weren’t allowed to have their phones during school hours.
“We only have a few more minutes. Want to work on the tree?”
Boogie glanced back at their favorite tree. For years, they worked on carving their names into the bark. It took them that long because Sweetie was a perfectionist, and they only worked on it a few minutes every school day.
A wicked grin spread across Boogie’s face. “I have a better idea.”
He walked over to the drying cement and picked up a stick on the way. He tested the cement and saw that it still gave in slightly. He held the stick up in triumph and turned to look at Sweetie, who was already shaking her head. “No, Boog. We’ll get in trouble.”
“We’ll do it small. Come on. You don’t want to remember the place we first met?”
Sweetie’s features melted into a smile. He knew he got her there. Before they renovated this space to a courtyard, it used to be the playground. Sweetie and Boogie both had a hard time getting adjusted to kindergarten and never really played at recess time. They sat right there under that tree, but never too close. After weeks of this, they started talking, after an ant crawled across Sweetie’s hand and she freaked out. Better believe Boogie laughed about that to this day.
She sighed. “Fine.”
Boogie grinned and handed her the stick. She made quick work of writing her name in a small corner of the cement before she handed the stick back to him. He wrote his name, and then, as an afterthought, he drew a small heart around their names.
When he stood, he noticed Sweetie blushing. His body seemed to have a mind of its own that day because before he knew it, he leaned in and kissed Sweetie right on the lips. It was quick and innocent, but it was their first.
Sweetie gasped when he pulled away, and Boogie, for what had to be the first time in his life, suddenly felt very shy and unsure of himself.
“Uh, so we should get back inside,” he said as he grabbed at the back of his neck and looked down at his shoes.
“Y-yeah,” Sweetie said. She walked over to her backpack and packed everything back up before she straightened and handed him his jacket.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Boog?”
“Yeah?” he asked, still avoiding eye contact. He couldn’t believe he’d just kissed a girl. He couldn’t believe he’d just kissedher.
“Thank you.”
He finally looked into her pretty brown eyes and got lost in them for a second. “For what?”
“For the kiss . . . and for being my very best friend.”
With that, she turned on her heels, burning bright red, and rushed back into the side entrance of the school.
Boog stood there, still shocked by what happened. His eyes traveled over to the cement, and he grinned before he waltzed back into the school, eager to see Sweetie again tomorrow.
After lunch, the day seemed to drag. This term, Sweetie and Boogie didn’t have any classes together. That day, Sweetie decided that was a bad thing. Some days, she thought it was easier because having to pretend that they didn’t know each other got harder the older they got. But some days she would have preferred to see him and pretend than to only see him once a day.
She sighed as she listened to her history teacher drone on and on. This was her last class of the day, and at least at home, she could hole up in her room and think about what happened today.
