Stuck Between Gangs

Chapter One

PAST

2004

"Noah, look at me!", I yell to my best friend over the playground.

I'm hanging upside down on a bench. I manage to swing my upper body back and forward. I've always been a skillful child. I know I won't fall. I never do. I spot Noah on the other side of the playground. He starts laughing when he sees me.

"Let me help you down!", he yells and starts running towards me.

Like a skilled acrobat, I jump into my best friends' safe hug. Noah steps back and takes two candies out his pocket. He gives me one. Of course, it was the best thing that could happen that day.

"Thanks, Muffin!", I yell happily.

"You're welcome, Strawberry.", Noah grins, showing his teeth while shoving candy into his mouth.

PRESENT

2016

I wake up in full shock. I can't believe I had a dream about Noah. After all these years, it's happening again. I look around the room and then stop at the clock. Three in the morning.

Ever since I've known about myself, Noah was there. His family moved to a house next to mine when Noah and I were two years old. Basically, we've known each other for a whole life. Since we were kids, we used to play and hang out at each others' houses nonstop. We promised each other we'll never stop hanging out. But of course, since life isn't children's' fairytale and child promises mean nothing, Noah and I separated.

It all started when we started middle school. Noah was a cute boy and he somehow fitted into 'The Populars', while I stayed in the group of people who just exist. Now, I'm not saying I was an ugly child and that was the reason I didn't fit in.

No.

Noah tried taking me with him, but something was holding me back. That's how I met Amy, my current best friend who's like a sister to me. Noah and I still hung out after school, but we started to slowly fall apart. We just didn't have time for each other anymore. He had to go to his football practices and be popular, while I had to...well, be me.

I didn't really have some hobbies throughout middle school. Except that I wanted to get my grades up for high school. And that's where our friendship went to shit. We didn't have a fight, we just kept ourselves distanced from each other, which led to us turning our heads the other way when we pass by.

I crash back into bed. I don't have time to think about Noah, I tell myself knowing damn well that I think about him quite a lot. He just kind of sneaks into my thoughts.

Noah has grown into a beautiful handsome guy. He's popular, a jock always has girls running for him, and he has his group of three best friends. Some even say Noah has a dark side, that he's not as good as he seems. Most of them are scared of Noah and his group, Messrs. Bad Boys, as Amy and I call them.

Oh no, Noah, I'm not letting you get into my thoughts tonight.