Dearest Bad Boy

7 years ago: It was winter break and Jessica was enjoying her favourite novel curled up on the bench beside the lake. Her brother Jared wanted to go ice skating and her mom made him take her along. Jared was 3 years older than her which doesn’t seem like much but when you’re a 15-year-old boy it really hurts your reputation to have your 12-year-old little sister following you around. At least that’s what he always told me. Jared was a cool kid – outgoing, popular, athletic, and charismatic to boot – he always had plans with this friend and that friend. Jessica meanwhile preferred the company of fictional characters. Her best friends were in books. Which is why their mother always sent her out with Jared. “One day some of his charm will rub off on you and you’ll find some real friends,” she would always encourage. The lake was full with all the neighbourhood kids skating together. Jessica tried to keep herself small and unnoticed as she read but being the unsociable nerd tended to draw its own kind of attention. Andrew Davis grabbed her book straight out of her hands as he went flying past her onto the lake. He was the coolest and meanest boy in her year and always found a way to highlight how different she was. “If you want your stupid book back then you’ll have to come onto the ice like the rest of us normal kids.” Her face flushes bright red and everyone who can hear him turns and laughs at her. Jess thinks about leaving the book but she just can’t. She cannot abandon the story and not find out the ending. And anyway, that was her book! As she gets up from the bench Andrew starts skating further away into the lake. Jess glances around to see if her brother is nearby but she finds him with a group of guys looking at something on the other side of the lake. She knew if she tried to call for him, he would come help her but it would make him upset. And it would be even more embarrassing for her to have to call him for help than if she just lost this fight on her own. With a sigh, she takes a few uneasy steps onto the ice. She’s only wearing boots and wobbles around like a newborn giraffe standing for the first time. More laughter erupts from the crowd watching her. Grinding her teeth together she pushed forward trying desperately to move forward across the slippery surface but she keeps going in circles in the same spot. After a while, she is tired, panting and fully red-faced from embarrassment, anger and fatigue. The kids grow bored of watching her struggle and Andrew tosses the book back in her direction. As she tries to jump to grab it, she slips and falls onto the ice with a massive cracking thud. As the crack spreads, the ice breaks and she plummets down into the freezing water. The water burns it’s so cold and Jess is already worn out. She struggles and struggles but cannot get herself out. Jessica panics. A strong pair of hands grip her arms and her pull out of the water. All she can see is an unruly mass of chocolate brown hair as she is carried back to shore. Gasping down air and trying to get her breathing and panic under control. She is set down on the bench and a strong, muscular body kneels beside her. “Are you alright?” That was the first time she ever came face to face with Kyle Hayes. Even at 15, he was tall and rough looking unlike Jared and all the gangly-looking boys he usually hung out with. He had a black long-sleeve shirt that fitted snugly around his arms and chest. There was a hint of stubble across his jaw and he had dark eyes that made it feel like you were looking into the deepest of wells. “You need to get home and change into dry clothes or you’re going to freeze to death. Do you need help?” “My b.. br.. brother,” I eventually manage to stammer out between gasping breaths. After pointing him out, Kyle goes off to fetch him and explain what happened. “Aw, come on Jess,” Jared exclaims when he gets close to the bench. “Mom’s going to be so pissed at me for this. Let’s get you home,” he sighs and picks me up. I’m shivering so much that he struggles to hold me and Kyle comes to help. The two of them carry me home and mom insists Jared stays for dinner to thank him for saving me. While I bathed and changed, Kyle and Jared got to know each other better. By the time I was warmed up and dry, they were killing zombies together and laughing like they had been best friends for years. Jared always found it easy to make friends like that. They spent the rest of the afternoon together playing video games while I lay on the couch behind them wrapped up in blankets. After dinner, Dad drove Kyle home and that was that. He was suddenly part of the family. Over the next few years, Kyle and Jared became inseparable and I became Ice-Breaker. I’m not sure which one of them came up with the nickname but it stuck to me the way my mother stuck me to Jared. The more mom forced me on them, the more I became Ice-Breaker, the pathetic little sister. Despite it all, I watched their bad-boy reputations develop as they got closer to 18. Then they graduated high school and the rebellious duo went off to college together. Leaving me with 3 years of high school alone. Some things changed. And some things didn’t.