Twelve is a horrible age or the cruel twist of fate

I just turned twelve. Twelve is a horrible age to be. Both socially and pysically awkward, stuck between not being a child anymore and still far from being an adult. I hated it. I wanted it to be over with as soon as possible. I didn't understand how I was suppose to act or what I was supposed to do. I especially didn't understand girls. They scared me. They scared me a lot. They did things that didn't make sense. I had no idea how to act around them. Until things made sense I was going to keep my distance. It seemed like a reasonable plan to me but I didn't know then that fate had made a different decision whether I liked it or not.

A new girl moved into the neighborhood. She just showed up one day without any warning. She had dark hair and freckles on her face, not the type of face that sends your heart into orbit around the moon. I ended up having her in one of my classes at school but I didn't pay much attention to her, that would soon change through no fault of my own.

When she was bored, she would go out and find someone to play with. I started to notice that she would orginize the neighborhood kids into games. She was always thinking of something fun to do and soon all the kids in the neighborhood adored her. It was a matter of days before she was running the place. I asked my mom about her and she said that the couple down the street were foster parents and that she had just been placed with them. I thought that was kind of sad and I started to notice her more.

One day she knocked on our door. When I answered she ordered me to join in the fun with the other children. Well, she said something like "come on, let's play" but it wasn't a question and she wasn't going to be denied her way. Once I saw that she wasn't going to leave me alone until I complied, I did what I was told.

From that moment on, whenever she was bored she would come over and boss me around. We would play games and ride bikes and take walks. One night we sat on her porch swing and she told me about her dreams in life. After awhile I started missing her when she wasn't around. I realized that the thing that I really liked about her is that I never had to guess how I was supposed to act. I've always been considered by other people a little odd but this girl didn't care about that. The thing I hated most in the world was having to guess and with her I never had to do that. It wasn't long before I started looking at her differently.

One of the things she started doing was she would intentionally bump into me and then tell me to watch where I was going. I asked my mom why she did that and my mom said that she had a mild crush on me and that was part of her way of expressing it. We did spend a lot of time together but the thought that she actaully like liked me never occured to me. The thought of anyone liking me as more than a friend was something by brain had a hard time wrapping itself around.

One of the other things about her is that she fiercely defended the people she cared about. Even though her parents didn't take care of her properly, if you said anything about them, even if it was true you were asking for trouble. One day she didn't come over. I would find out later that she had gotten into a fight at school. Somebody said something about me that she didn't like and she let them know it in a violent manner. We never mentioned it between us but when I heard about it I cried because I knew she really cared about me.

Before when I mentioned that fate had a different plan for me. It turned out to be a much better plan than the one I had. I started to feel like I was in heaven whenever she was around. I didn't have to ask her whether she liked me or not. She already acted like she owned me and I suppose in a way she did. I would have done anything for her and I think she knew it. She could have taken great advantage of that but she never did.

The day came when fate decided to deal me a cruel blow. The girl that I had completely fallen in love with was being moved to another foster home in another city. I never told her how I felt about her but I think she knew. We said goodbye and I never saw her again.