This is the second in a four-part series on long-lasting relationships.

About six years ago, two six graders lived down the street from each other. They walk to the bus stop and meet for the first time. Josh Petro caught a Nerd in his mouth and Marissa Naab couldn’t, leading Petro to tell her “I am superior to you.”

 After that first meeting they became friends and grew closer and closer until they were in eighth grade.

“He had been my really good friend for a long time and we lived next to each other,” Naab said. “I told Annie [Wingard] ‘Oh my gosh, Josh Petro has turned into such a stud muffin’ at the eighth grade football equipment check.”

The couple got together in May of their eighth grade year, but they are not sure of the exact date. After they had been together for about a year they began to question it and settled on May 19, 2009.

“We had our first kiss on the last day of school eighth grade,” Petro said. “She was so much shorter than me so I missed the first time. She loves to tell people that, I hit her in the eye.”

Over the years the couple has exchanged quite a few items. Among them include a CD Petro made Naab asking her to prom, but the romance isn’t just supplied by him.

“The most romantic thing that she ever did for me was when I first made varsity she made me a care package,” Petro said. “It was the first she ever made me. It had Band-Aids, Advil, a water bottle, Gatorade and a power bar.”

The couple has spent a lot of time together; whether it is out on the town or sharing an AP Biology class.

“We just enjoy doing things together, it doesn’t even have to be special,” Petro said. “Like yesterday we went to the grocery store that was it. We just went shopping then went to Goodwill and the bank. We still managed to have fun.”