Chapter One

He had never really paid much attention to me, but that changed soon enough. The summer before 6^th grade, my family moved across town. We had lived there for about three days, and my older sister Bridget and I decided to take a walk.

We had only gone a few houses down, when I saw him. He was in his driveway practicing hockey with his dad. I tried to hide behind my sister. We were almost past his house when he saw me. “Hey Haley,” he said quietly. “Oh, uh hey Sidney,” I managed.

His dad said something to him, and he shook his head, but his dad pushed him toward me. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “We um, live here now. Just down the street,” I answered. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah,” I blurted.

“Well this is painfully awkward,” Bridget said. “Shut up,” I hissed. “Well, I have to go practice a little bit before it gets dark,” he said quietly. “Oh, yeah. Well I’ll see you at school I guess,” I said. “See ya,” he said.


This small talk continued for about two weeks. Every evening at about 7:00, Bridget and I would walk past his house. He would be practicing, and we would talk for about a minute. Then Bridget and I would be on our way.

After a few weeks, Bridget got tired of having to stop and talk to Sidney, so she stayed home. I didn’t know what Sidney would think if I didn’t show up, so I went alone that one night. Sure enough, he was waiting at the end of his driveway.

“Hi,” he said. “Hey,” I replied. “Why isn’t your sister walking with you?” he asked. “She doesn’t want to anymore,” I said. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah,” I sighed. “Well I could walk with you if you don’t want to go alone,” he shrugged. “You don’t have to do that,” I shook my head.

“No, I want to,” he said. “Ok,” I said. He tossed his stick into the yard and yelled to his mom that he was going on a walk. We didn’t talk much in that half an hour, but he accidentally brushed up against me three times which made up for it. When we reached his house, I waited for him to head up his driveway, but he kept walking.

“Sidney isn’t your house right here?” I asked. “Yeah, but yours is down there isn’t it?” he answered. I paused for a second, and then nodded. We walked the hundred or so feet to my house. “Bye,” he said shyly. “Um, bye. Thanks for walking with me,” I said. “Your welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow.”