My mom had just started to explain to me that her long-time best friend was moving in across the stree from us. She wanted me to show around her daughter. But I didn't want to waste my entire summer vacation showing around ' the new girl '. Everyone would think that I actually liked her. Maybe I'll take her to the mall and just forget her there. And if I was gonna try to build a relationship with Tay, I don't want antone to be in the way. We went ovver to her house that night.

" This is my daughter, Bernadette. " Chris said, introducing us to each other. Bernadette sounded like a pretty snobby name, but I looked at the girl. She certainly didn't look like a Bernadette. She actually looked like a nice person.

" You wanna check out my room? " she asked.

" Sure. " I said following her to her room. I looked around. her room seemed normal. " So, Bernadette -- "

" Please, call me Bernie. I cannot stand the name Bernadette. It sounds so, so, snobby! " she said. I looked her over. She had shoulder length light brown hair and big friendly looking brown eyes. So I decided to give her a try. Maybe we could be friends.

" No offense, but that's what I thought too. "

" None aken. Hey, you have a boyfriend? " she asked.

" No, not yet, a least anyway. But I have a feeling that my neighbor has something for me. You know, he's just, I don't know, been acting different around me. We grew up basically hating each other, but the past couple of days have been really...exciting. " I said, telling Bernie everthing, as if I knew her forever.

" Oooh! What happened?? " she asked excitiedly. I went ahead and told her the rest of the story. " It sounds like he wants you, but is afraid to ask you out. He might be scared that you will turn him down. "

" Oh, well, what about you, do you have a boyfriend? " I asked, curious.

" Well, that's sort of a really long story... " Bernie said, with a hint in her voice saying, ' don't ask '.

We ended up becoming fast friends. We bonded instantly. I felt as if I knew Bernie for my whole life. We shared secrets and told stories about out " social life " almost all night. I didn't even bother going home. My mom knew where I was. I stayed the night at Bernie's house.

" Noell, some boy was calling you all night. " my mom informed me as I walked through the door. My eyes widened.

" Did he say who he was? " I asked, hoping it would be who I wanted it to be.

" No, but he called 3 times an hour. It sounded like he really wanted to talk to you. " she said. " He finally said that he would just call you tomorrow, which, would be today. " Great!! It was probably Tay! Owell, I'd see him later today, probably. I invited Bernie over to come swimming. As we were splashing and dunking each other, Taylor wandered into my yard. I looked up to see a boy with him.

" Mike! What are you doing over here? " Bernie asked. I looked at her.

" You know him? " I asked. She nodded.

" Unfortunately I do, he's my brother. " Bernie said, " Noell, this is Mike, Mike this is Noell. " she introduced with no enthusiasm in her voice. I said hi. I looked over at Taylor, who had his eyes affixed on Bernie, watching her every move.

" Hey, mind if we go swimming, too? " Taylor finally asked.

" Nope, come on. " I said, and I honestly didn't. As long as he kept his hands to himself and not on Bernie. Now what's wrong with me? We were never really boyfriend/girlfriend, so he is allowed ro like other people. But I will be jealous if he does like Bernie. During the rest of the day, Taylor was flirting with Bernie. I thought, " Yesterdayhe was like that with me! And now today he's like that with Bernie! What's this kids problem? He goes from one girl to the next! The dumb ass. "

Now I don't know what to think about Taylor. Is he just a big flirt, or was he serious when he had kissed me? It wasn't anything big, just a few pecks on the lips, but I could tell that he wanted to ' get to know ' Bernie, if you know what I mean. I looked at her and scoffed. Her in her cute little bikini, showing off her perfect curvy figure and wash board stomach. What did the girl do, like a ga-zillion sit ups a day or something? If only her contacts would fall out, then she would have to wear her really dorky looking glasses. But I shouldn't think such creul thoughts, Bernie's my friend.

Just as her brother was about to leave, he pulled measide into the corner. where no one else could see us.

" I don't know if noticed, but Taylor kinda likes Bernie. He wants me to tell her, but I can't talk to her about those kind of things, because I'm her brother. Can you tell her for me and for Taylor too? " Mike told me. I thought about it.

" Let me think about it---no. " I said almost instantly.

" Why not? "

" Well...." I trailed off. Mike smiled.

" Thanks.....I owe you. " he said and took off. I turned around to face the pool. Tay was still there, sitting in a chair. He got up and walked over to me. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. Not after what Mike had just told me. So I ignored him, turned around and walked in the house, slamming the door on purpose behind me. Bernie was waiting for me inside. We were planning on going shopping, but now I wasn't really in the shopping mood now.

Over the next few days, I saw Taylor flirting with Bernie more and more. And the more that I saw, the more mad I got. It's not like I was ever ' with ' him or anything, but it just made me mad. So I decided to give Taylor the worst thing I could think of. Ignore him. And that's exactly what I did.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diana called me early in the morning. When I answered the phone, I heard whisprering on another phone at her house.

" Noell? " she asked.

" Yeah? "

" Um, can you come over right away and watch the kids for me? Me and Walker have a really important, uh, thing that we need to go to, for the boys' music, so can you come over, please? " she asked. From the tone in her voice, I could tell that she wasn't telling the whole truth, like she was hiding something. I could tell that something was going on that she wasn't telling me.

" Well....I guess, but aren't Isaac or Taylor going to be home to watch them? "

"Well, they have to practice, and they can't be bothered. " Diana said quickly. Too quickly.

" Okay, I'll be over in 5 minutes. "

" Thanks, you're a live saver!! " she exclaimed.

As I walked over to their house, I saw that Walker wasn't even home. Hey, what was going on here? Some one was lying. I rang the doorbell. Diana rushed and answered it. She quickly pulled me outside and shut the door behind her.

" I have a confession. Me and Walker aren't in a hurry. The kids aren't even home. " she said.

" Then why did you want me to come over? "

" See, I didn't. Some one else did. " she said, hinting it was Taylor. " So, I'll be back in a few hours. I'll be shopping. Have fun! " she added, stepping into the car and pulled off. Now I was really confused. I thought that Taylor liked Bernie. What was this all about? Whatever it was, I was about to find out. I walked in the front door and saw no one in sight.

" Hello? " I said aloud.

" I'm in the living room. " I heard Taylor say. I walked into the living room and saw him sitting on the couch, watching tv. When he saw me enter, he stood up.

" Hey, what's going on? " he asked.

" What are you talking about? "

" You know, I thought we had something nice going on, and then WHOA! You start totally ignoring me! What's up with that? " he asked. I saw the look on his face that he neede some answers.

" Well, if you would've taken your eyes off Bernie for five minutes, and would;ve paid a little bit more attention to ' other things ' then I wouldn't have ignored you! It's your own fault. " I said. He looked down, as if he was ashamed.

" I'm sorry, but Bernie's, just, different. I don't know. I'm sorry. " he said.

" Well, I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that things between us didn't work out. Sure, I liked the beginning, but it was like a candle with no flame. " I said, backing toward the door. " I really wish things could have been different...I like you, but --- Bye, Tay. "

As I was walking out the door, I heard him say something to me, but I couldn't hear the words clearly. And that's when I thought that I had lost all chances what so ever to even try to build a relationship with Taylor. I blew it, ruined it. All hope was gone. Nothing left. Nothing at all....or so I thought.