*So I came up with the idea for this story a couple days ago. I will still be updating "I Need to Tell You Something...", but I will be writing this right now. I don't know, it depends  on the reaction I get from this chapter... Yeah! Love you, Soldiers! You are the reason I write. Also, I started to read The Martian!*

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

I was born in the year 1919 in a small hospital in Brooklyn, New York. I was raised in a small apartment in Brooklyn with my little sister and older brother. Our home may have been small, but our mother still made us look presentable before we left the house at any time. By "presentable" I mean dresses for my sister and I, and a clean shirt and pants for our bother. Even if Wesley was just going out to play baseball with the neighborhood boys, he would have to wear his good, outdoor clothes. He would usually come back caked in dirt which would cause our mother to have a fit.

Maxine was always very prissy. She never minded having to wear dresses every day of the week. She was six years younger than me and 8 years younger than Wes. When I turned 10, in 1929, she was 4, and Wesley was 12. Oh, sorry! My name is Louisa Allen. My parents were immigrants from Ireland. They came to America and bought a butcher shop-a very successful butcher shop if I might add. Pop always made good money in that line of business.

My two best friends in the whole world were Steven Rogers (or as I called him, Stevie) and James Barnes (Buck.) Yeah, I know. It's weird that a girl from the 1940's had best friends who were boys. You know what? I don't care. They were the best boys in Brooklyn. They even let me play baseball with them and the other boys. The other boys always needed more persuasion. Namely, Buck's fist. After their conversation (which was usually pretty one sided),I would get to play. You may be wondering how my mother ever let me play baseball in a dress. Well, let me tell you the secret of my success. I didn't tell her or my father. I told Wesley. Yup, he was a great brother. He would give me his clothes that didn't fit him anymore, and I would sneak out on the fire escape. Oh, those were the days.

I first met Steve when I was three. He was two. His parents were also from Ireland. In fact, his parents and my own were good friends, so we saw each other a lot growing up. I met Bucky when I was in preschool. Our parents were both invited to a party at the Barnes residence, so Steve and I had to come with them. Bucky was a year older than me, and Steve was a year younger than me. I had the best childhood I could have wished for.

====================================================================================

I rolled over in my bed. The sun shone through the single window of the room that I shared with my brother and sister. I yawned and sat up.  I was alone in the room. It was a Saturday. I could hear Maxine crying in the kitchen. She was always complaining. I sighed and sat up. Then it dawned on me. It was 11:30. I was supposed to be in Prospect Park at 11:15 to warm up for the game today. Stevie and Buck were gonna walk with me there. Wesley walked in the room.

"Good, you're finally awake! The you-know-what's are under the you-know-what. Better hurry or you'll be late!" He smiled at me and left the room. We had created a sort of code so that our mother wouldn't know we were talking about the clothes and baseball mitt that Wesley put under my bed each Saturday morning. I got up and put on the old pants and short he had given me. I grabbed the mitt and headed for the fire escape. Oh, and if you're wondering where we told our mother I went on Saturday mornings, we didn't tell her anything. She would be out shopping and visiting from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. every Saturday. Pop would be in the shop, and I would be in Prospect Park.

I ran as fast as I could down the already hot Brooklyn sidewalk. It was only April, but I could tell that it was going to be a hot year. I ran past Mr. Callaghan's supermarket and waved at Hazel, his daughter. When I finally made it to Prospect Park, I could see that they had already started playing. I saw Steve sitting off to the side like always, his sketchbook on his lap, pencil in hand. Stevie never really played baseball with us. After he broke his arm one time, he would always come with Buck and I and draw all of us playing.

I ran up to were Buck was standing on third base.

"Hey, Buck! Sorry I'm late!"

"See, this is why I told you that Steve and I should have come to get you this morning! I knew this was going to happen someday! I feel obligated to watch you, Louisa."

"Buck, I am 9 years old. I can watch myself perfectly well! Just cause you are ten doesn't mean you can boss me around!" I stormed over to where Steve was drawing and sat down.

"Hi, Lucy." Said Steve quietly. I couldn't tell if he was being quiet because he was concentrating or because he knew how I was when I was in one of my 'I could punch something right now' moods.

"Hi, Stevie. Watcha drawin'?" I said leaning over to look at his sketch. It was of Hugh Kane who was currently standing on first base. Hugh had an angry look on his face that Steve was trying to perfect. Steve stopped drawing and looked up at me.

"Lucy, it's a good thing that you didn't come this morning." I looked puzzled.

"Why?"

"Cecil Forest was in a bad mood this morning..."

"And? Why do I care if Cecil the Weasel woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"He was talkin' about his father beatn' up his mother. He said that he thought it was a good thing. He... He said that if you came, he was gonna beat you up." I was speechless. My inner tomboy wanted to tell Steve that I could tale Cecil down, but I knew that wasn't true. Cecil was the strongest boy in the neighborhood.

"Oh, Steve. What happened then?"

"Bucky tried to get him to stop, he really did, Louisa, but Cecil was bein' stubborn."

"What did Bucky do?" I asked, glancing over at Bucky.

"You didn't see? I'm sure that Buck'll have a shiner for at least a month!"

"He gave Buck a black eye?!" I asked, feeling the anger well up in you for the second time that morning.

"Yeah, he did, but he just took it. It was weird. Bucky would usually fight back, you know, but this time, he just stood still, all peaceful like. I'm tellin' you Lucy, it wasn't like Bucky at all!" I looked over at Bucky again, this time actually noticing the fact that he had a black right eye. Just about that time, the group finished the game, and the group started to disperse. The Redmond twins went back to their house, the Higgins boys went to their part time jobs at the antique store that their aunt owned, and Cecil Forest and Hugh Kane were walking home, talking about the newest monster movie playing at the movie theater. Bucky walked over to were Steve and I  were sitting.

"Hey, Lucy, Steve, want to climb some trees?" We both nodded our heads, and Steve put his pencils and sketchpad into his satchel.

"Can we go to our usual tree?" I asked, and they both agreed. We all walked over to a tulip tree that we had climbed many Saturdays before. We had a specific area of branches in it that we would sit on and talk. We all climbed up to that height, Steve needing a boost up onto the lowest branch from Bucky. He then made it the rest of the way up without any help.

"Buck, I'm sorry that you got a black eye from Cecil the Weasel. If I'd been here I'd have given him a good punch to the nose." Buck laughed slowly.

"I'm sure that you would have, Lucy, but I couldn't. I wasn't gonna let him upset me. I knew that you wouldn't have wanted me to get angry."

"Since when do you care about what I think?" I said questioningly.

"Since I became a man when I turned ten. I mean, I've been the man of my house since my dad left. It's just my ma, my sister, and me, and I gotta start acting like it."

"Well, Buck, it sounds like you have your whole life planned out. I mean, you told Steve and I before that you wanted to be a famous pitcher for the Dodgers. Steve will be off at art school or drawing for a fancy magazine or something. Then there's me. I'll be stuck married to someone doing nothing but cooking, cleaning, and having babies." Bucky laughed at that.

"Oh, I'm sure that if you'll have more to do than that. You can come see me play."

"And I'll invite you to all of my fancy art shows around the country." Said Steve, finally joining the conversation. He had found a pretty blossom on a branch next to him, and he picked it off of the branch and put it in his satchel.

"Thanks guys." I said, smiling first at Steve and then at Bucky.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

I often still think about that day when Stevie, Buck, and I planned out our entire lives. I mean, our dreams didn't turn out that way, I mean not at all! I'll tell you what I mean in the next chapter.

-----------------------

Thoughts? I will write chapter two "next year". Haha. I mean tomorrow. Love you all, Soldiers! Hope you all like it! Please like, comment, and hopefully follow me if you haven't already! Thanks!!!!