The first time I met Cedric Kilroy, we were both in preschool. I was taller than him back then and his demeanor was quiet and shy. But over the years he grew into man, and I let him forget all about me.

Preschool was simple. We shared a cubby and would play house together. Our whole lives were involved with each other. Back then we were too young to know that sleep overs between preschool kids was okay and that older kids stopped having opposite sex sleepovers.

Today, Cedric does what he always does kick a soccer ball around. He's known as the soccer boy. It's how we became friends back in preschool. Our houses shared a backyard. The backyard had a little path connecting his world and mine. The woods were safe and so was the field the neighborhood kids played field hockey in.

In the summer, we played soccer every day from breakfast until lunch. It was soccer that gave him life. The day Cedric Kilroy moved away was the day he forgot all about me, Abby Bash, the girl nextdoor.

There are worst places to be than forgotten about. Worst places to live than the little neighborhood with the empty soccer field. No one plays soccer anymore, the field has had brown grass since Cedric left. His feet were blessed and they took the joy out of the neighborhood when he moved. The other kids played less and the swings in the park stopped moving. The trees stopped swaying and the days of childhood were long forgotten.

It's my last year of high school. The days of summer are ending, and I am transferring to the larger school across town. Dad got a new job and a new attitude along with it. The price of us moving, is I am now attending the rival school of all my friends. Starting over as a senior is the last thing I ever want to do.

It's time to say goodbye to Johnson High and hello to Lincoln High. Lincoln's mascot is a chipmunk, we mockingly called it a squirrel once. That didn't go over so well with the Lincoln football team. Now I am a Chipper Chipmunk, and nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing chipper or peppy about starting a new school my last year of high school. The only name I know is Cedric Kilroy. The only person who might even know anything about me, even a bad preschool memory is him.

But he's the soccer boy, despite going to my former rival high school I have seen his image plastered all over the news and local papers. He's won awards, titles, and has scholarships to all the right colleges. If anyone will get into college before the rest of us, it's Cedric Kilroy.

"Abigail, time to go to the grocery store," my younger sister Lila says. Lila is one of those girls who is excited to transfer schools. I can't say I blame her, last year a school bully posted her humiliation online and it destroyed her reputation. It was so bad, my parents had to contact Instagram to have the video removed. The police are still investigating the bullies involved.

I secretly think dad applied to jobs in another school district to protect Lila and me. Lila is a sophomore this year. She has her whole high school career ahead of her at Lincoln to look forward too. But not me, I will think of Johnson High and miss it fondly.

The problem with missing my old school, is it will be hard to focus and concentrate on my studies. My goal this year is to keep to myself and not make friends. There's no point in getting attached to new people when I can see my old friends across town on the weekends. Dad says I shouldn't be too shocked if my friends from Johnson decide to move on from me a bit. Although they will only be thirty minutes away, it's an hour long round trip commitment just to see me. I am confident we can make this work.

"Alright, I will be down in a minute." I hate going shopping, my parents are always sending me to get their bananas, milk, and last minute cravings. I usually end up getting the frozen meals from the fancy section.

I get out the car keys and Lila hands me the list.

"You could have texted me the list," I say annoyed as Lila sticks her tongue at me. When she isn't being a jerk, she can be quite sweet. Her hair is always pulled back in a blonde braid.

The same grocery store name, Gregory's Grocery in a different part of town. It's familiar and not. Everything about the other side of town is foreign. Even the aisles are backward, the exact opposite of what I am used too.

The first item on the list is orange juice, I pull the door to the fridge and take it out. I make my way through the list. The last item is chocolate chip cookies, and of course they are way to high for me to reach. I look around for an employee. There is none to be found. A nearby box is sitting nearby. I push it up against the shelf, and I am finally able to reach the cookies. A large hand grabs the same box of cookies as me.

"I had a fun time watching you push that box to the edge of the groceries." I look down from the box and notice a soccer jersey with green lettering against a black background. Green and black are the colors of Lincoln high school. The number on his jersey is thirty. His name is on the jersey, 'Kilroy' in large bold green letters.

"Cedric, is that you?" I am not sure if it's fate or luck that has brought us back together at the grocery store or perhaps I read too many cheesy novels.

He puts his hand on his hair and brushes it back. With his other hand he helps me down from the box.

"Yeah, I'm Cedric, do I know you? You look familiar."

I hand him the box of cookies and let him take it with him. I can see why he's popular. He's tall, handsome, and outgrew his preschool shyness. Maybe he was a late bloomer. But the world helped him grow up into someone worth looking at.

I'm not an ugly person, I just never cared about looks. My parents had limited resources and after Cedric left our corner of the street, there was no reason to look pretty anymore.

My anime shirt and large black boots, are proof enough that we are from two other worlds. My light brown hair never changed. I don't dye it like Lila does.

"My name is..."

"Abby, is that you?" Cedric smiles at me when he asks that.

"Yeah, how did you remember me?"

"How could I ever forget Abby Bash, the only girl to ever score a point against me."

"That was like a thousand years ago," I reply.

"What brings you to my side of town? Aren't you going to Johnson High?"

I shake my head and bite my lip. My head shakes slightly.

"Unfortunately, no. My dad got a new job and now I am starting over at Lincoln. My senior year at a new school. I am not looking forward to that at all."

He hands me his cell phone and types my name in his contacts.

"It's not all bad at Lincoln. I can show you around. It will be like old times. Maybe you and I can kick a ball sometime at that old soccer field in the neighborhood. I haven't been there in years."

I type my name into his phone and press the call button. Cedric's number vibrates my cell phone.

"Yeah, we should visit there sometime. I would like that. Take the cookies, I will find something else for my mom."

"It's really good to see you, Abby. You look great, different but great," Cedric says as he hands the cookies back to me.

"Take them. I can get pretzels instead. My mom won't mind," Cedric says as our fingers touch slightly.

Good old Cedric Kilroy, as kind as always. Even as a man person, he is still that same kind hearted boy from my preschool class.

"Thanks, it's great to see you too. You look good, too."

"Don't tell my boyfriend he looks good. Cedric who is this?" A tall dark haired cheerleader type girl says.

"Jessica this is Abby. Abby this is Jessica."

"It's nice to meet you," I say holding my hand out to shake hers. She doesn't shake my hand, she lets it hang there in the air.

"Abby nice to meet you I guess. But stay away from, Cedric. He's unavailable." Jessica crosses her arms and steps between Cedric and I like a guard dog.

"I have a boyfriend. So you don't need to worry about that. I was just catching up with Cedric. We went to preschool together and kindergarten years ago. It's nice catching up, but I need to be going," I say as I collect my grocery items.

"Who's your boyfriend," Jessica asks as she taps her heel against the tile floor of the grocery store.

"Jesper Vicks."

"He's on the soccer team for Johnson High right? Isn't he your rival, Ced?" Hearing her call him 'Ced' makes me gag.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cedric says while agreeing with Jessica.

"I need to get going. It was nice to meet you and I'll see you both at school."

I hear Jessica whisper to Cedric about me going to their school. It doesn't matter thought because I got Cedric's phone number and now I have one friend to say hello to on the first day of senior year.