“Why don’t you guys ever throw me the ball?” Ten-year-old Kerrigan demanded.  “You guys NEVER throw the ball to me!  It‘s not fair!” she continued.

“You’re a girl, Kerr.  That’s why!” Trace responded with a chuckle, giving one of the other boys on the field they were playing football with a high five.

“Just cause I’m a girl, don’t mean nothing!” she retorted.

“Yes, it does.  It means you can’t play football.” another boy stated.

“I’m gonna beat your face in, Jared Smith!” Kerrigan threatened, giving him an evil look.

“You can’t kick nothing.  You’re a girl remember, and I’m a boy!” he retorted.

“Ok guys, leave Kerr alone.  She can so play football, and you all know it.  She’s better than half of you here, so quit giving her a hard time.” Justin spoke up.

“Thank you, Justin!” Kerrigan smiled at her best friend, and then turned her attention back to Jared.  “And you know I can so kick your butt.”

“She really can.” Trace and Justin added.

“Whatever!” Jared scoffed and then stomped off in the opposite direction.

“That’s right, runaway! Jared’s a scardy cat!” Kerrigan yelled after him.

Justin and Trace laughed at their friend.  Sure she was a girl, but if it weren’t for her long brown hair, and squeaky girl voice, you’d never know.  She played sports with all the boys of the neighborhood.  She did everything that the boys did, and half the time she did it better than most of them.  They often gave her a hard time about it, as the boys were doing that day, but it was only because they were jealous of her ability.  Or at least that’s what Justin had always told her.

It was an odd combination.  Justin, Trace, and Kerrigan.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew them.  They were always together, wherever you found one, you were sure to find the other two.  And it had been that way for years.

They all grew up on the same block.  Kerrigan and Justin living next door to each other, and Trace living just a couple houses down from them.  Their parents were all friends, and that was how the three of them had ended up meeting all those years ago.  And now here they all were.  Each of them ten years old, their birthdays only a few months apart, and they were still friends.  They had made a pact to be friends forever, and that was when they were six.  So far they were doing a pretty good job of keeping that pact.

Justin grabbed a hold of Kerrigan, and covered her mouth with his hand when she continued to taunt Jared.  “That’s enough, Kerr.  I think he gets the point.”

“Well, he’s a dummy.  Why do you guys always have to make fun of me cause I’m a girl?  I’m so sick of that.  I wish I were a boy.” she grumbled.

Justin gave Trace a perplexed look and then turned his attention back to Kerrigan.  “Me and Trace don’t make fun of you.”

“Yes, you do.  Trace just did.  He said “You’re a girl, Kerr.  That’s why!”, that’s making fun of me!” she argued.

“I was just playing, Kerr.” Trace defended.

“Well, stop it.  I hate it when you guys do that.  I’m just as good at this stuff as you guys are and I’m tired of always being made fun of for being a girl.  It’s not my fault I don’t know any girls to be friends with.” she pouted.

“You do too know girls.  There’s lots of girls in our school.” Justin argued.

“But they’re all girly.  They play with dolls!” Kerrigan replied, appalled.

“So you could play with dolls.” Trace countered.

“And I could brake your arm!” she retorted, growing more angry.

“Chill out, Kerr.” Justin laughed.  He couldn’t believe she was getting so upset over something so silly.  “It’s really not that bad.”

“Playing with dolls is so!”

“Not playing with dolls.” Justin objected, shaking his head.  “Us teasing you about being a girl.  You know we’re just playing.  Why do you get so mad?”

“Because!”

“Because why?” Trace urged her to explain.

“Because I am a girl.  And you guys always make it out to be such a bad thing.  It makes me want to be a boy.” she replied.

Her words didn’t really make a lot of sense to Justin, but he could clearly see the hurt in Kerrigan’s eyes, and that was the last thing he wanted to see.  She was his friend and he loved her and he never wanted to hurt the people he loved.  “Ok, we won't tease you anymore.  We’ll treat you like just one of the guys?  Is that what you want?” he asked.

“YES!  I just want to be treated like all of you guys treat each other.”

“Then you can’t whine like a girl.” Trace told her.

Kerrigan gave him a dirty look.  “You whine like a girl, not me!”

“She has a point, you do whine like a girl.” Justin agreed.

“Shut up.  I do not!” Trace whined.

“See!  You’re whining like a girl!” Kerrigan laughed, pointing at him.

“No I’m not!” Trace argued.

“Ok, both of you shut up.” Justin shouted over their bickering.  “Let’s make a deal.  From now on out, we’ll treat Kerrigan like just one of the guys, and we won't tease her about being a girl no more.  And if we do, she gets to slug us in the stomach.” Justin said.

“Why does she get to slug us?” Trace questioned.  “I don’t like that idea.”

“Probably because you’re the one that does most of the teasing.” Kerrigan pointed out.  “And you know I can hit hard!”

Trace rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“So is it a deal or not?” Justin pushed.

“Fine.  Whatever.  No more teasing Kerrigan about being a girl.” Trace relented.

“Thanks guys.” she smiled, feeling much better.

The only problem was, Kerrigan didn’t know that one day she would regret making that deal with them.