He was a Boy, She was a Girl

Callies POV

My family has always lived in our neighborhood, also known as Crest Court. It made up of upper-middle and upper-class families. We're all there for each other in times of need. Or so I was brainwashed to believe. The day my best friend moved away though, I knew I was lied to.

You see, her mom was the 'perfect' housewife and her dad was always away on business trips. The typical family around here. But then her dad lost his job and everything just went downhill from there. When I was told we were always there for people. I took it to heart. And even though my best friend was now what would be called broke, I was still there for her. But once they went flat broke, no one else was. I tried convincing my parents to help with payments, it's not like we didn't have the money, but that didn't work out. They said that sometimes people are just meant to go back down the social ladder. “maybe” my mom told me, “someday they'll be able to climb back up”. Until that someday though, I had to watch my best friend move across the country and a new family move in next door.

A new family. The concept finally hit me. We haven't had a new family since I was born, and that was us. I look out my window at the empty room across the way. It used to be my best friends room, and now it was whoever was next.

“Callie!” my mom calls down. She only calls when we have visitors. Actually, now that I think about it, I only see her when we have visitors. My family is very distant like that. I can't remember the last time we had any meal together that wasn't with extended family or guests. We were all very individualistic.

I skip down the stairs to her side.

“callie, these are our new neighbors. Cathy and Robert.” my mom says.

“nice to meet you, and welcome to Crest Court.” that's what you say to new people, right?

“thank you.” the cathy lady replies sweetly.

“they were just telling me that their sons will be joining them tomorrow.” my mom says, leading to conversation.

“ah, yes, I do believe Aiden is about your age.” Robert says.

I fake a smile, “cool,”

Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. I mean, if aiden looked anything like his father, well, again, it wouldn't be too bad.

There was a semi-awkward silence, “well, I've got homework to finish, so I'll talk to you guys later.” I say and excuse myself from the hallway and back to my room. My math homework only took me another hour and I decided to call it a night. Tomorrow would come quickly and I defiantly wasn't looking forward to it.

My alarm blasts “That's How You Know” at the early hour of 8:00 am. I yawn and stand up, opening my curtains wide. Then, something that doesn't happen on a regular basis, my eyes widen and my mouth drops as I see two teenage boys setting up ramps on either side of my VW Bug. I quickly toss on a pair of shorts and t-shirt and put my hair up in a quick ponytail before running downstairs to stop them. I slam my front door open and sprint down the sidewalk to the boys.

“what in the world do you think you're doing?!” I scream at them.

They both look up at me and shrug, “Skating,” one says and goes back to the planning. They both had black hair that slightly covered their eyes, one of them had a blue streak in theirs while the other had a red one. The one that spoke to me was about an inch taller and looked older, he had the blue streak. I notice the shape of their faces and bodies and just took them in as a whole. They weren't that bad looking. Actually, they looked a lot like... OH. MY. GOD. These two were my freaking new neighbors!

“You're not jumping over my car.” I say strictly, putting my hands on my hips.

The one with a red streak looks over at me and smirks, “watch me.” he says. Then he backs up a few yards, sets down his skateboard and rides fast, sliding up the first ramp, missing my car by about 5 feet and landing smoothly down the other ramp. The kid walks over to me and gets up real close “see? No harm done, no need to worry barbie.”

I took a step closer and was about to yell back just as the door behind us closed.

“oh! You guys met. Callie, these are my sons Aiden and Mike.” Cathy says, oblivious to the fact that we were just arguing.

Aiden and I both take steps back. He coughs, “nice to meet you callie.” he says, holding out his hand to shake, I take it.

“likewise.” I reply with a smile. I could see mike in the background smiling and shaking his head. What's that about?

Cathy walks back into the house after talking to mike some.

“touch my car and die.” I say once their door closes. And then turn on my heel and walk back into my house..

my phone was madly buzzing on my table and I finally open the texts. There was about ten from logan, my boyfriend.

We need to talk. Now.

The last one he sent read. The others were close to that.

I dial his number and he answers on the first ring.

“I can't do this any longer.” he says instantly without any hello.

“do what?” I ask, confused.

“this. us. I can't do it.”

“you're breaking up with me? Over the phone?”

“well. I wasn't planning on it being over the phone....”

“who is she?”

“who's who?”

“the girl you've been seeing logan. Did you think I was that stupid?”

“no, I- - I haven't been seeing anyone.”

“I don't care. I got over it months ago. I just want to know.”

“her name's samantha”

“bye logan.”

and then I close my phone and throw it against the wall.

Why did I have to ask that? Fuck! Why in hell did I have to ask that?!?!! I didn't know he was cheating. I was just guessing. I wanted him to defend himself, so say he wasn't. But NO he had to fucking tell the truth. And the truth is fucking painful.

I sit there on my bed by my window crying for who knows how long. My best friend is gone. My boyfriend is gone. I have no one else to run to. I look out the window and notice the room being filled next door.

Next thing I know i'm locking eyes with aiden. “figures” I mumble to myself..

He pulls out a note-pad and writes something on it, and then turns it to show me.

“you okay?” it read.

I take out my sketchpad and reply, “what does it look like?” I ask, hoping he'd notice the sarcasm through my note. This was so taylor swift's music video. But I didn't care, all I knew was that this aiden guy might not be as bad as I thought.

He writes something and then shows me again, “meet me at the swing out back..” of course I knew what he was talking about. I helped build that swing set years ago. I nod and stand up, trudging down the stairs and out back to the swing set between our yards. I sit down on one and slowly move back and forth. Aiden comes out shortly after and takes the seat next to me.

“so, what happened?” he asks softly after a few moments.

“my boyfriend, he was cheating on me.” there was silence. He obviously didn't know what to say and I understood. What do you say to that? So I just continue, “he called and said it was over. And I don't know where it came from, but I just asked who she was and he only defended himself once, saying that he wasn't seeing anyone and then all it took was me to ask a second time for him to blatantly tell me the truth. Her names Samantha.”

“so you knew he was cheating?”

“no, not at all. Never got that hint. He was always with me, ya know? I guess it was like a late late night thing.” another silence. This aiden kid, he wasn't too bad. He knew when words didn't need to be said.

Aiden stands up and holds out his hand, “come on.” he says.

I just stare at him and his hand, “come on what? What are we going to do?”

“come on I have something that might cheer you up.” he says. I take his hand and he leads me to the car.

“seriously aiden, I just met you and I don't know if this is such a good idea.”

“seriously callie, you're not my type so stop worrying.”

well ouch, I wasn't even thinking about that. But wait, why did that hurt? He wasn't my type either.

He opens the passenger door to his audi and I slide in.

we drive for about half an hour to the waters edge and then take a ferry across the bay to an island. Once we land I was more confused than before.

“you took me to an abandoned island?” I ask.

He just laughs and drives off the ferry and to the land. Another half hour driving around the island and he finally parks in front of a fairly large cabin.

“you know, I may not look like the type, but I have seen my share of horror movies.”

“think what you want callie. But i'm not gonna kill you.” he rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. “you coming or not.”

I sigh and give in. aiden leads me to the cabin and unlocks the doors with one of his many keys. He then walks up the stairs and I follow him into one of the bedrooms. He opens the closet and pulls out a rack of just swimsuits.

“pick one.” he says.

“you know, you could've just told me to grab my swimsuit.”

“honestly, I hadn't decided what we were doing. I was just driving around.”

“okay, the black one.” I say, pointing to a plain black bikini top with black boy shorts. He takes it off the rack and hands it to me.

“down the hall and to your right.” he answers before I could even ask where the bathroom was. I quickly change and walk out, noticing aiden already in his trunks.

“so, what exactly are we doing?”

“swimming, duh!”

It was my turn to roll my eyes as I follow him down a long path to large patch of grass. There was a tire swing over the grass and a rope swing over the water.

“ladies first.” aiden motions to the rope and I smile slightly. I grab onto the rope and back up then run and jump off the edge into the semi-warm water. I was laughing and screaming the whole time. I swim to the waters edge and climb out, walking the few feet back to the the top. Aiden was holding a camera and smiling widely.

“feeling better?” he asks.

“getting there.” I reply, “you took pictures.” I state.

“i did. But you don't get to see them yet.” I stick my tongue out at him and he takes a picture. He sets down the camera and gets ready to jump.

“can I take pictures?” I ask.

He nods, “just don't look at the pictures.” he replies and then jumps, I get two pictures of it and then set the camera back down walking over to the tire swing. Aiden climbs out of the water and grabs the camera, taking pictures both of me and just the scenery.

I had to admit, it was beautiful up here, and on a clear day like today, you could see for miles.

-later-

“NOOOOO!!!” I scream as I hit the last slide that goes all the way back to the beginning. That's right, we were now playing chutes and ladders and I am now losing.

Aiden laughs and spins the wheel. He gets five, the exact number he needs to win. “i think the score is 4-2 now. Want to call it quits?”

“not at all. You are NOT going to beat me.”

“i think I am”

“this game is rigged”

“yeah, that's what you said about monopoly and life. Face it, you're just not good at board games.” aiden replies with a smug look on.

“trivial pursuit. One game and I promise i'll win.”

“i think you underestimate my IQ callie”

“and I think you underestimate mine.”

“okay, trivial pursuit it is.”

he pulls at the game and we set up. It came to a tie me needing art and literature and him needing sports. It was my roll and he picks up the card.

He smiles widely as he reads the question, “what was mother gooses sons name?”

without skipping a beat, I quickly answer “jack”

I grab the camera as his eyes widen and mouth drops. It makes a click and I start laughing at his face.

“i'm right, right?”

“how the hell do you know that?”

I notice he hadn't yet turned the card over to the answer, and my smile grows wider, “how the hell do you know that?” I repeat

“i told you my IQ was high.”

“and I told you my IQ was high. So stop acting so surprised.”

we put the board away and look at the clock.

“come on” he says grabbing my hand and pulling me up. He leads me back out to the cliff where we were before. The sun was now setting and it looked more than amazing reflecting off of the water. I sit down on the tire swing and he sits on the grass next to me.

“you never did tell me how you know about this place.” I say.

“it's mine.”

“really?”

“well, no, it's my families. But the island and the cabin and all, it's all my families.”

“how the hell did that happen?”

“see that mountain over there?” he points a little to the east.

“yeah, that's mount baker.” I say, with a 'duh!' tone.

“We're the baker family.”

“so? Baker is a common last name.”

he sighs, “that mountain is named after my great great great grandpa.”

“oh. Okay, and the island?”

“this is where he settled and the land just became ours. It became legal in the 30's I think.”

“i wish I had a mountain named after me.”

“i think we all do.” he smiles and looks out at the water. “we better start heading back.” I nod and we both get up and walk back to the car.

“what's your favorite color?” aiden asks once we're on the road.

“gray.”

“gray?”

“why? What's yours?”

“turquoise.”

“good color.” I say.

“it is.”

“so, mike's in college?”

“how'd you guess?”

“um. He's taller than you.”

“yeah. Cause you know, everyone in college is taller than me.”

“shut-up”

“yeah, he's in college at the moment.”

“any other siblings?”

“nope. What about you?”

“just me.”

“that's what I thought.”

“cause you can so tell by just looking at me.” I say sarcastically.

“you just....seem like the only child type.”

“what's that supposed to mean?!” I ask, sounding a bit more offended than intended

“that you're spoiled. It's known that only children are spoiled more than those with siblings.”

“ha! You honestly think your life was worse than mine?”

“no, actually I think mine was better. I doubt yours was too bad though.” he replies, “do people actually compare who's life is worse than the others around here?”

“yeah. They do.”

“that's just sad.”

“life's just sad.” I reply, “so, when do I get to see the pictures?”

aiden shrugs. “when I decide to show them to you.”

“you're seriously going to keep them from me?”

“mhmm.” he pulls into his driveway and I get out of the car quickly.

“thanks for today. It really helped.”

“no problem. But don't be going and thinking we're friends now barbie. I'm a punk, and you're just some little ballerina.”

“I am not a skinny little wimp of a ballerina.” I scoff, “it's called cheer-leading dummy!”

aiden laughs and I cross my arms “my point made. See you tomorrow at school barbie!” and then he disappears into his house.

Today wasn't bad. Not even close. The most fun i've had in a long long time. Just with the wrong person.

He is the wrong person, right? Right. How could I be questioning something like that?? we come from totally opposite worlds. In some ways more than others. And he's just so annoying. He jumped over my car for goodness sakes! Like I said, totally not the right person for me. No questions asked.