Chapter 2

                                    

                                          
When I was 14, I was in the finals of the county spelling bee. There were a lot of us there, the top ten qualifiers from each of the middle schools in the county, and I was a nervous wreck. This was the first time I'd ever been in a competition like this on my own, and my brain didn't like it at all. When I was in soccer tournaments, I had my whole team backing me up, so if I made a mistake, someone else could pick me up, and I would pick them up in return. But this time it was all on me. 
We all had little numbers on lanyards around our necks, and my 1135 was right next to a very pretty blonde girl's 1136. She seemed really nervous as well, shifting back and forth on her feet with tears in her eyes. It made me feel horrible that I couldn't be there for her. Maybe we could be like a mini team together? Feeling bold, I watched her out of the corner of my eyes while I slipped my fingers over into her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. 
She jumped a little, but then her head turned to mine with a soft smile, and she squeezed back. I felt much better as I noticed that she stopped shifting as much. "Hi, I'm Abby," I whispered.
"I'm Sam," she whispered back. 
I slowly shuffled closer, so our arms were touching, and leaned my shoulder into hers. Well, into her arm. She was taller than me already, so my shoulder didn't reach hers. But regardless, there was more of us touching, and it was like she became my rock. Hopefully I could do the same for her.
"Don't be nervous, I'm here for you."
"Thank you, Abby. I needed that.. I'll be here for you too." 
We were in the back row, so we were a little hidden from people, so we kept whispering a bit while others took their turns. We'd still listen to announcements, but Sam was rapidly becoming my sole focus. 
"Your word is callipygian!" I heard the announcement over the speakers to the boy in front of us.
"Can you use that in a sentence please?" the boy on stage asked.
"My new friend Sam is quite callipygian," I whispered to Sam, hoping she knew what it meant as well as I did. Studying the dictionary for the spelling bee had finally helped!
She burst out into a muffled giggle as she put her hand over her mouth, and I knew my little heart was in trouble. I don't think I'd ever heard something quite so wonderful! She leaned back, and took a gander at my butt, I even turned and wiggled it at her before stifling a giggle of my own.
"You're quite callipygian yourself Abby,"
Neither of us won the spelling bee that day, but she won my heart without knowing it. We didn't even make it into the top ten. We were eliminated one after the other, though I think she threw her word just so she could come sit with me backstage. She pulled me into the biggest and best hug I'd ever had in my life, and kissed me on the cheek. "You made my day, thank you so much Abby."
I leaned up and kissed her cheek. "It's Abby Reynolds. I hope I can see you again some time."
"Sam Bishop, and I hope so too!"
But such was not to be. We had a few minutes together to chat, but with her eliminated, a tall man came backstage looking for her a short time later. She only had time for a squeaked goodbye and a wave as she was pulled out the door. I wouldn't see her for another year.


In my freshman year of high school, our fifth soccer game was against Robert Johnson High. I didn't know the first thing about them other than we had an hour-long bus ride to get there. I don't remember much about the school, though I guess that technically it was my first time visiting my future school, but I remembered Sam again. 
When I got on the field for the game, she was right there in front of me in the orange team jersey of her school. I gave her a tentative wave, just in case she didn't remember me, and she ran over and hugged me. I couldn't believe this! She remembered!