A/N This story is going to have four chapters from four stages of the lives of Tammy and James, who hate each other. Each chapter will have a scene told from two different points of view. I'm going to forwarn you that this isn't a story about two people who originally hate each other and then fall in love; there will be no romance between Tammy and James. If that's the sort of story you're looking for, you'll find plenty in the romance section.

Spelling of names will change, characters will be added or subtracted, and you'll have to notice that a lot will happen between chapters. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Tammy

Age 8

I have a secret to tell. I'm in hate. And I know that hating is bad and wrong and you shouldn't do it. But I do. I really hate James. And that's my secret. I hate James, even though I know I shouldn't.

I've always hated James. He's mean and rude. When I took Demetrie (that's our class rat) home for the weekend, James told the teacher that he didn't think that I should get to take Demetrie, because he thought I'd kill him. I didn't. And the teacher said that it wasn't nice to tell someone that they'd do something wrong. She told us we have to trust each other.

James doesn't trust me, though. He thinks I kill rats and that I can't play Chicken. So I don't trust him. I don't trust him to be the Mechanic when we play Spaceship on the playground and I don't trust him to take Demetrie home, so there.

But James always gets to be the Mechanic, because he knows big words. I don't want him to be the Mechanic because he's mean to everybody and you can't have a mean person on a Spaceship.

I always get to be the Doctor because I have a scarf and I can bandage people. But the Mechanic works in the engine place, underneath the playstructure, and the Doctor works wherever people are hurt, so I don't have to see him much.

We weren't playing Spaceship when I did the really bad thing, though. We were playing Chicken. I was playing Chicken, I mean. James was standing in line to play next.

Here's where everyone was: I was playing Chicken against Peter, and Anna, Leslie, Jon, and Rob were waiting in line with James. Anna would play against whoever won this match, and then Leslie would play whoever won that match, then Jon and Rob and James would each do the same. Amy and Sean were watching out for the teacher, who was watching the kindergarteners, but wouldn't want us to play Chicken.

It was only Mr. Peterson who didn't like us playing Chicken, though. The other teachers didn't care, because nobody ever got hurt. We were good at playing Chicken, except for Amy and Sean, who we didn't let play anyways.

Everyone else was too far away for it to be important where they were.

I beat Peter, because Peter was a year younger than us, and I was bigger than him. James didn't want Peter to play, either, but Peter said that if we didn't let him play, he'd tell Mr. Peterson that we were excluding him and we were playing Chicken, too. So we let Peter play, and James had to be quiet.

Anna was next in line to play me, and I knew I'd win because Anna was smaller than me. Leslie was bigger, though, so I wouldn't get to play against anyone else. But when I looked up from beating Peter, James was next.

"No cutting!" Anna yelled at him, and Rob and Jon and Leslie all started yelling at him, too.

"I want to play against Tammy!" argued James. "She thinks she's better than us all!"

"That's not true!" I snapped. "I don't think I'm better than everybody!"

Sean ran down the hill, looking behind him like he was being chased. "Guys, be quiet! I think Mr. Peterson hears you yelling!" Everyone ran off in different directions. I was running towards the swings when I noticed James was right next to me.

"This is all your fault!" I told him.

"No it's not! You take that back!"

"It is your fault! If you would be nice and let me play Chicken then Mr. Peterson wouldn't have heard us! You're mean!"

James tried to hit me and I tackled him. He punched me in the head and I punched him in the stomach. He pulled my hair and I bit him. He scratched me and I kicked him with my knee. And then Mr. Peterson saw us fighting and started yelling. A few of the fifth graders pulled us apart because then everyone would say they were good.

Mr. Peterson took us to the office and went to get the principal. I'd heard that if you were really bad the principal would call your parents and then they'd be really, really mad at you and they'd yell at you for a long time. I knew I was in big trouble.

James

Age 8 1/2

I hate Tammy. She's mean and rude and she thinks she's better than everyone and everyone likes her better than me. I bet my parents will take her side when they hear that I was fighting with her, and my Dad will tell me that I can't hit a girl. Even if she called me stupid and yelled at me.

She always gets to take Demetrie home before me, and she always gets to play Chicken even though she thinks she's better than everyone else who plays (especially me) and that she can beat everyone. She thinks everyone's stupider than her, but they're not.

And when I tell her to be careful with Demetrie because he's my favorite class pet ever, she gets mad and tells me she doesn't think I can play Spaceship. She thinks I'm too stupid to be the Mechanic, and she thinks I don't really know any of the big words that I know. She thinks that I'm making them up, but I'm not, honest.

So when I was standing in line to play Chicken, I asked Anna if I could cut her. Anna was the only person between me and Tammy and I bet that Tammy would beat her. I wanted Tammy to lose because she thought she'd always be better than us and she couldn't lose. Anna knew that Tammy was mean, so she said yes.

"Anna, what are you doing?" screamed Tammy. "You can't let James cut you!"

"I asked her if it was okay," I told her. "I'm going to play Chicken against you."

"I don't want to play with you!" Tammy said. "So there."

"You just don't think you can beat me!" I yelled.

"Yes I do!" Tammy said. "I think I'm better than you!"

Sean ran down the hill, like he was being chased. "Guys, be quiet! I think Mr. Peterson hears you yelling!"

We all ran off. I ran to the swings and I saw Tammy had followed me because she couldn't figure out where to go on her own.

"You wanted Mr. Jones to catch us playing Chicken!" yelled Tammy. "You just didn't think you could beat me so you made it so that he would stop us!"

"That's not true!" I shouted.

"Yes it is!" said Tammy. "You're too stupid and mean for it not to be your fault!"

"I hate you!" I told her. Tammy tried to punch me and I tackled her. She punched me in the stomach while I punched her in the stomach. She bit and scratched me and I pulled her hair.

But Mr. Jones saw us fighting and made the fifth graders pull us apart and then took us to the office to see the principal. I knew the principal would call our parents and I'd be in trouble for fighting, especially with a girl. Even if it was Tammy.