Riley Jo, Nova, Jameson and Bo

It was the beginning of my 6Th grade year. As I roamed the halls of my new school, I was greeted by new faces and some familiar ones as well, but the only faces I cared to see were nowhere to be found.
Bo, Jameson and Riley Jo were not in any of my classes, in any of the halls in between or even in the same school. Somehow over the summer, alot had changed. My three best friends all went to another school in another county, and I was alone, in a new building, new town, with all these new people.
Naturally I was forced to make new friends, and move on with my life. I would get a few phone calls from Riley Jo every few months, but even they grew further apart, until they no longer existed. It wouldn't be until my 9Th grade year would I see any of them again. They swooped into my life all at once just as quickly as they all had left that summer before 6Th grade.

In my small town we only have one grocery store, and in this grocery store is where Riley Jo found place of employment. I began going in and seeing her more and more, and we became closer than we ever had been, but this time we were older, things had changed. We both were boy crazy, rebellious, wanna be independent teenagers, yet we still meshed perfectly together and were inseparable.
Although she attended a private school, and I attended a high school in another town, we would spend every night and weekend together staying up late at night talking about boys mostly. Riley Jo had a brother who was only a few years younger than us, Nova, who would join us in conversation and late nights.
Riley Jo and Nova quickly became my best friends in the entire world.If I wasn't with Riley Jo, you could count on me getting into trouble somewhere with Nova. I always thought of Nova as my brother and Riley Jo my sister. It could easily be said that there was a romance between Nova and I, but we knew better.The speculations and rumors didn't stop us from spending all our time together and having the best time.
We all three grew so protective over each other, nothing was gonna come between us, not again, not this time.

What could arguably be the best or worst part of living in a small town, is the fact that most everyone is related in some shape or form. Riley Jo and Nova happened to be cousins with Jameson, so I often got to see Jameson. Out riding his bike, or walking around the small town, I would always stop and speak to him. Though we weren't close like we had been in elementary school, we were still friends. If Jameson needed anything, I was there for him. I still seen him as the skinny, goofy kid I knew back in elementary school, but he had changed. He was still skinny and goofy, but he was a young man.
Jameson no longer had interest in chasing me around the playground and pushing me down. He had grown up, his thought process was different, and he viewed me in a new way. Many times I had to turn Jameson down, when he would ask me out on a date, because I just couldn't get over viewing him as that kid back in 4Th grade. My rejection didn't come between our friendship however, instead it brought us closer, unknowingly in return lead me right back to Bo.
Apparently, through out the years, the only people who hadn't lost contact were Bo and Jameson. They had actually become even closer, and like Riley Jo and myself, were inseparable.
However, despite all of our connections to each other, Bo and myself had yet to cross paths. I still to this day, have yet to figure out why, in such a small town we hadn't seen each other.

It was September 11, 2002 and our community was throwing an annual celebration at our local park. Part of the celebration involved a local church softball tournament, in which I took part. It was hot, the sun was in my eyes, and it was my turn to bat, as I approached the home plate, I heard Jameson, Riley Jo and a strangers voice cheering me on. I turned to find Bo, standing in the crowd beside my friends. The strangers voice cheering me on, was his. He was tall, muscular, had a farmers tan, wore blue jeans and a cut off sleeveless t-shirt. The sun glistened off his jet black hair, and his brown eyes were lit up with a huge smile on his face.
Regardless of my nerves from the shock of seeing him, I continued on with the game.
My team finished and we won the tournament. I ran over to my friends with excitement. In any other instance I would have leaped into either Jameson's or Riley Jo's arms in excitement, but this time, without thinking, I leaped into Bo's. He wrapped his muscular arms around me and gave me a huge bear hug. We all sat and caught up for a while, enjoying the rest of the festivities. Towards the end of the night, Bo walked me to my car and asked me to go out with him the following Friday, on a date. I was unsure at first, as I fought those 5Th grade feelings of that shy little girl who thought boys had cooties. Yet, standing in front of me was not the same little cootie filled boy I had once known.
Bo was a handsome young man, and I, well I was still a chubby overweight girl. My hair was still jet black, I was still tan and sweaty and dirty from playing in the softball tournament. Regardless of the sweat and dirt, I had this amazingly handsome guy, asking me on a date, how could I have passed that up? I didn't and though I didn't know it then, I would be thanking God everyday for saying yes this time.