That very same smile

I was a pretty antisocial person, myself. I'd been brought up to stay in the orphanage alone in my bedroom, spending all my time studying; striving to get the top place in the ranking system. It turned out I was trying all for nothing, I wasn't the cleverest, I never would be. No matter how hard I tried, that damn Nate would always be better than me. He was everyone's favourite; I'd earned myself a bad name, while there he was, the little boy in white, sweet and innocent as could be, everyone's favourite, ranked number 1.

That was when I chose to get a friend. Before, I had no need of friends. No, scratch that. I didn't want a friend; I was happy like I was, left alone to myself, basking in my misery. I'd never made friends before, so it was a bit of a struggle to say the least for me to go up to someone and ask to be their friend. God, I didn't even know what to say. I was lost; once again Near was better than me, and I couldn't do a single thing about it. All I had to do now was hope, just hope that someone would come along and approach me first. But deep down I knew that was impossible. No one liked me, stern faced, short tempered Michael.

"Hey, Michael~!" I looked up, surprised. I was surrounded by children, but none yet had spoken to me. The cute little girl with long red hair carried on, "You wanna go play World of Warcraft with me sometime? My name's Troy by the way, it's a stupid name, but I think my parents were high when they named me... not that I'll ever know, that is..."

"Eehh... sure!" I stuttered. It was as if the whole room had gone quiet, I'd accepted the gift of friendship, from a girl. Michael. Who would've known it?

"Let's go, then!" Troy grabbed my hand in hers, clasping her little fingers around mine, and smiled.

The first time they played that game, World of Warcraft together, (Michael was soon to find that Troy was indeed, a Lit Nerd and Gaming geek) they laughed and giggled. He hadn't had this much fun in ages, he was learning to live again. I looked over at Troy, she looked at me. And we smiled, a bright happy grin.

I'd grown to love that smile. Ten years from now, we were still friends, Troy and I. No - more than friends. At the tender age of 14, I'd confessed to Troy; I loved her, I was sure of it. And do you know what I was greeted with? That very same smile, as she grinned and leapt up to hug me, admitting that her feelings were the same as mine.

We kissed, days later, our first kiss. I put my lips on hers, gently, tenderly caressing them. She kissed me back, and smiled. I couldn't see, but I was sure that it was that very same smile she wore on her face the first time we made friends. And, in that moment, I knew I'd beat Nate. I had Troy and her smile.

I was the luckiest boy in the world.