text: I play the song one more time and then I get the video ready in the car, and start it. Carter was looking out the window, trying to pull out of the parking lot. I was going to do the kiss your boy best friend challenge. Carter turns back around and I smile at him nervously. Carter has been my best friend since birth pretty much. Carter’s mom and my mom are best friends. Carter’s three months older than me. He looks at me confused, wondering why I’m staring at him. The time on the song is coming up. He has no idea what I’m doing. I’m so nervous I’m practically shaking. Then the song comes up. Does Carter like me more than a best friend? I lean forward quick, but he backs up and nearly pushes me out of the way. I really... I really didn’t think this was going to happen. I thought he was going to kiss me back... I thought he liked me back. We were both single. “What are you doing Reese?” he asks. “I thought...” We are both blushing now. I’ve ruined everything. He hits his head against his steering wheel and the horn blares and I jump. “Happy seventh birthday!”Carter says, smiling and handing me a present. “Finally your age!”I smile. I open my present and it’s the doll that was hand stitched that I had been begging my mom to get me for months. “How did you know?!”I gasp, hugging it to my chest and squeezing it. “Happy twelfth birthday!”Carter smiles. “What do you hope you get?” “Hmm... I really want ‘ Apex Legend’ ,”I replied. He hands me my gift. It’s a box, I shake it. Something’s in the box. I open the wrapping paper. I opened the box and I got exactly what I wanted! I still have the stitched doll Carter got me for my seventh birthday. I used to play Apex Legend almost every day with Carter, but now I almost play it every week. I get out of the car and slam the door behind me. Only friends. Only friends. I listen to sad music in my room. I hug the doll close to my heart. Carter probably hated me. He probably liked Issabella. He’d liked her since Kindergarten. I threw the doll across the room and it hit my TV. Apex Legend was on the TV stand, the doll landed on the case. I felt like crying. I’ve ruined everything! I know more about Carter then anybody else does. He likes art and soccer, golden blond hair, wavy blue eyes, I hated being like this. I hate setting my LED lights to blue, putting my AirPods in, and crying until I fall asleep. I grab the remote from my nightstand next to me. I feel numb now. I wipe away tears and turn the TV on. I get a text message from my phone. Julie. Julie and Carter hate each other. Julie being a girly-girl who hates people like Carter. plz tell me u didnt try & kiss carter I grip my phone hard. Julie doesn’t understand. Carter may be the only person who actually knows me and understands me. Julie only wants her way. I don’t bother texting her back. I watch a sad romance. At least one of the characters has to die. It’s hard watching a movie about these characters who love each other right after you get rejected. The next day at school Julie catches up with me. “You tried to kiss Carter?!” she gasps. “He’s so... gross!” I want to punch her. She doesn’t understand how much I’ve gone through that only Carter bothered to help me with. Days after the incident I don’t get any messages from Carter, he doesn’t bother talking to me in the hallways, he doesn’t even acknowledge my presence. Google search: How to get a guy to like u Ask him to do favors for you Throw a few compliments his way Stay confident Establish eye contact Express interest in his passions Be vulnerable to him See the best in him I start the first one right away. I catch up to Carter in the hallway and pretend that nothing at all happened. “Carter, I’m heading to lacrosse after school today, can you walk my brother home?” I ask. Normally Julie would do this, but I’m going to tell her to do something else in the time being. “Sure?” he says, probably wondering why I’m not talking about what happened days ago. I met my brother after my lacrosse practice and he seems to be in a fine mood. “Did Carter walk you home?” I ask. “Yep,” he replies. “Did you have fun?” I ask casually. “Yeah! We talked about video games the whole way home!” “What type of video games?” I ask. “I don’t know,” he says. “I’m busy playing Apex Legend ,” he says. “Hey! That’s my Apex Legend !” Trevor smiles suspiciously and I chase him to his room and he shuts and locks his door. Number one crossed off my list! I met Carter in the hallway the next day. He got new shoes. “Nice Air Jordans,” I compliment. “Thanks,” he mumbles. I go on all day. “I wish I had your blue eyes.” “You got in A in math?! I got a B-!” “Your lucky your mom lets you do only five chores a week for your allowance.” Number two checked off my list! I think joyfully. I stay confident in front of his friends, joking with them and talking about how Chase is really lucky to have a sweet younger sister. I stay confident in front of Chase too and pretend like nothing happened on that one day. Number three, done. Number four, done. I head out to the field to play soccer with him and his friends. After a while I got caught up and I could say I was actually pretty good. I kind of enjoyed it too, maybe I could join a soccer team. Now number six, that one might be tough. I made a group chat with a few of the boys on Carter’s soccer team. I had a plan. The next day I met Hank, Leo, and Jeff at my locker. Carter is coming down the hallway and I tell them to start. Hank, Leo, and Jeff start making fun of me and Carter looks up from his phone. “What the hell are you guys doing?” Carter asks. “Stop!” They walk away and roll their eyes just as planned. Carter comes up to me. “You okay?” It takes me a second to realise I was crying. “I’m fine,” I wipe away tears. “You sure?” he asks, putting his hand on my shoulder and peering down to my face. “I’m sure,” I reply. Number seven is easy. The next few days are nice. Every class I’m in with Carter I look over to him and he’s staring at me, but he always looks away. Then the next day is what kills me the most. “Reese?” Carter asks, running up to me as I leave the school to walk home. “Yeah?” I ask. “Want to go to starbucks at four?” “Sure,” I laugh. We meet in his car, I scroll through my phone and Carter props his phone up on the car window. He looks at me nervously. “What?” I ask. The song places and I know exactly what he’s doing. He leans in and I meet his lips.