One summer day, at the ripe old age of 11 or 12, my best friend Tracy and I were swimming in my family's pool. As she and I were enjoying each other's company, my cousin Steven showed up outside and joined us. My uncle had dropped Steven off at the house so he could run some errands throughout the day.

At that particular age, my friends and I were not too fond of boys. We knew they were trouble and boy, were we right. As soon as Steven arrived and "cannonballed" into the pool, drenching us with a HUGE splash, we knew it was war.

After a couple of hours of splashing and dunking each other, Tracy and I decided to move onto the next activity – SIX FLAGS! Yippeee!! Of course, no boys allowed – they provided only trouble for us prim and proper girls. As we were trying to keep our trip to Six Flags a secret, Steven overheard us and was SO WANTING to go. So, we told him we were going around 3 pm – but we did not tell him he was allowed to come. In fact, Tracy and I left the house while Steven was in the bathroom! How mean were we?!

Tracy and I got back after a fun-filled day at Six Flags. Her mother was coming to pick her up from my house within the hour. We walked in – and Steven was not too happy with us. We ignored the angry look on his face and proceeded to look for Tracy's clothes (swimming suit, tennis shoes, socks, and other bathing attire) so that she could go home. We looked everywhere – we tore the house up. Could not find a single item of clothing. Looked at Steven – he was smiling from ear to ear.

We drilled Steven about where the heck Tracy's clothes could be, and after what seemed like ages, he led us directly to the toilet in my mom and dad's bathroom.

Well, I was livid. After Tracy left, Steven and I got like cats and dogs – we started to knock each other around and really beat each other up. While they're nearly twice the size of me now, back then I was taller, bigger, and stronger than the boy cousins my age. Needless to say, when Steven's dad got home – 4 hours later – Steven was still hiding underneath my bed.

I know Steven and I would laugh about that story now – even though it seemed like I was a really mean person back then! How sad! In all truthfulness, Steven was always such the intelligent and charismatic cousin. Everyone who spoke of him always had such good things to say about him. He brought a different dimension into our family – he always seemed like he was the wiser one. It almost seems like he had a different purpose in life than us other cousins – at least to me.

-Julia Kang

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