Page 47 (1/1)

I pretended I had outgrown hione I would be a famous concert pianist I would travel the world, and I wouldn’t think about Saain Soust, 2000

A week before ed Kasey Judd had lived in Levan all his life, just like enerations, just like mine We’d been born a few days apart, in the same hospital, in the same year We’d attended the same church, rode the sarade, I was taller than hilasses His curly hair was always unruly, his shoes always untied, and he constantly challenged htly annoying because I regularly trounced him He had been a fixture on the periphery of my life all ofroom, or the patterns on the walls He was just another boy - until I fell in love with hih School, where every kid in the county, including Levan, was bussed to school I played truames and cheered forfor football players, but I really wasn’t interested in hearing about every single player, their stats, the position they played, the way they looked in unifor about everyone, and I mostly listened with an uninterested ear Her ability to talk non-stop without any encouragement from me made our relationship work I never had much to say, and she couldn’t shut up, so it was a in all the way around She was the only person I kneho had business cards touting her gossiping skills The cards said "If You Want to Kno or Who, Ask Tara Ballow" (Ba LOO) I suppose her chatter filled a feraduated, married, or moved out, and I lived at hoirl talk, or any other kind of talk, was pretty scarce, and Tara happily filled the void

My piano playing ability made band a nobrainer, and I was the first chair truh school band We didn’t have orchestra at the school, so when I joined the band in seventh grade, I’d wanted to learn play a more classical instrument like the clarinet until Tara told ured soet, and I’d played the trumpet ever since Tara played the flute - quite badly But the coed to keep her chair She e pink bubble she was always blowing didn’t help u cherry Hubba Bubba out of herShe’d said his dad had had all the boys in the weight roo them ready for football season Tara had been up at the football field during several practices with binoculars to check out their new muscles

We started band practice teeks before the school year started to get ready for the upco football season Practice was ridiculously early because it was "Hell Week" for the football team, which meant two-a-days The band practiced early to allow members of the football tea football practice At a small school it isn’t unusual for a jock to be in the band or sing in the chorus or to be in the school play Into a small school; less coed into that first practice withan old pair of cut-off jeans, a ratty Survivor t-shirt and flip flops, only to discover hed When would Kasey Judd ever learn? I looked, and then I stared Kasey Judd had grown up His shoulders were broad; his legs were long and stretched out in front of hilasses, and no more braces His hair was curly, like ht wheat blonde just like my dad’s (and his dad’s, and his dad’s), Kasey’s was dark brown and was now cut short to tame the once unruly mop

I sat down next to him and shyly said "That’s ot across my nose in the summertime weren’t too noticeable, and I cursed , but sadly very blonde eyelashes I’d started wearing ular basis and was thankful that I’d taken the tiliness He looked at rin and a quirked eyebrow and said "We’ll see"

His eyes were a hazel green, and his smile curled up at the ends Diht off my chair I had never had a physical reaction to a sut like a sucker punch, and I was a total goner Over the ed me for first chair in the trumpet section that day and for the first tied hi week and never let him have it back

Teeks later, we shared our first kiss under the stars at Burraston’s Pond - and despite our inexperience, it was not an aardof lips and teeth That kiss was as natural as a prayer at bedti I fell so hard I saw stars, and the funny thing is I naively thought that that was just how falling in love was for everyone We became inseparable from then on, to the point that our names became an extension of the other Kaseynjosie You couldn’t say one without the other It was all so easy with him - easy to love him, easy to be loved