by Leonardo Braga Vasquez
Fiction story
Level 4 student
I had thought that nothing could drive me into such horrible grief until I lost her. I was sitting on the right row of seats of the bus when she caught my attention. She introduced herself and so did I. We started talking so friendly as if we had been friends for a long time. A pleasant smile was displayed on my face as she told me she liked the same rap artist I liked. I had never felt so comfortable and confident with someone who shared the same music taste and spoke my same language before. I could not think of anything else but her sweet voice and the way she looked at me as we were talking. No one could understand what we were saying to each other, but I did not hesitate because I embraced the belief that I was the only one who was paying attention to every single word that came out of her mouth. A part of me had this feeling of selfishness as I kept staring at her gorgeous glowing brownish eyes because that day I felt so attracted to her that I just wanted to be her only and main attention. Sometimes I wish tearfully I would have never gotten off that bus if I had known what would happen eventually. This was just the beginning of my suffocating pain.
Days were going on after our first talk, and we did not socialize so often to be honest. Even though we would see each other every morning riding the bus on our way to school and sometimes during the bell breaks, there were times I would ride the bus after classes since cross country season was over, and I would see her sitting at the back of the bus with her headphones on and scrolling her phone screen. At first, I would just walk by her to find a free seat because I felt like I would make her feel uncomfortable, due to my lack of self-confidence. However, I realized that having a conversation with her was not as overwhelming as I had thought. Every time we talked in the afternoons, we would share our favorite things and how awful our day at our school was. Whatever the topic we were discussing was, she would draw my attention. She made me feel like I’d been waiting the whole day impatiently just to hear her soft voice and look at her eyes shining in the sunlight. It was like she had the power to dispel all my problems and preoccupations every time she looked at me with her glorious eyes and her brilliant smile.
Despite all of these feelings of attraction and my heart melting, I was not sure how to tell her how I felt because a friend of hers had told me that she had a boyfriend, so I did not want to reveal all the admiration I felt for her. However, I was certainly sure of something; I was profoundly falling in love with her.
I stopped riding the bus in the afternoons since winter track practices had already started, and I had to stay at school until half past five everyday. We stopped talking to each other as much as we used to. However, I would sometimes text her about my day at school and things that I would see on my phone that I found interesting or funny. Most of the time, we would text each other over our favorite artist’s new posts. Months kept passing by, and The Sweetheart Party was just around the corner. This party was a little peculiar to me because unlike some other parties in which boys are supposed to ask girls to be their dates, the concept of this one was completely the opposite. Some friends wanted to show up at the party as a band, so they created a group chat on Snapchat where she was included and so was I. The Sweetheart Party was two weeks away, and during that whole time, I was debating with myself if asking her to be my date at the party was worth it or not. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until my hopes went down when I was told by one of the group chat members that she already decided she would go to the event with her boyfriend. As a result, I just waited to be asked to be someone’s date until a friend from the group asked me to be her date, and I gently accepted.
On the day of the party, we decided to dine prior to heading to the event, so we went to a really nice restaurant not far from the school. We had all ridden to the place as a group except her. She was coming with her boyfriend in a different vehicle. When she finally arrived at the restaurant, I was hypnotized all of a sudden, as if my brain had lost awareness of its surroundings and my eyes had been the witnesses of an angel getting closer to our table. Her dark straight hair shone like a gemstone, and her smile was so perfect as if it was painted by the most talented artist. Her luxurious dress looked as if it had been exclusively designed for her. We all sat down to our designated tables, and ordered our preferences. She seemed really happy chattering and giggling right next to her boyfriend. I tried to focus on having a conversation with my “date”, and spending time together. However, I would unconsciously look back at my “dream” date whenever I heard her sweet laugh. She would make me blush every time she made eye contact
with me. After we were done eating at the restaurant, we headed to the school where the party was held. I was chilling and going around with some friends as I tried to stop thinking about her and just enjoy the party. However, time kept passing by, and party time was almost done, so I wanted to make sure to say bye to everyone I knew. As I was saying goodbye I could see her right next to her boyfriend. I noted an expression of discomfort, and boredom on her face. I instantly felt a sense of concern, and the need to ask her if she was okay came to my mind, but I did not want to interfere, so I just said goodbye and left with the preoccupation in my mind.
Several weeks had passed by since the last time I saw her at the party, and we did not talk much either. It was already winter, and track season was about to commence. As a result I had to stay at practice until five every day after classes, and I was excited to attend everyday. Nevertheless, I informed my coach I would be absent that day because I was not feeling well, so I headed to the entrance of the building, where the buses lined up to pick up the students. Unfortunately my bus was delayed, and I had no idea how long I would wait for it. All at once I saw her chatting with some of her friends waiting on the bus as well. I walked up to her as her friends were taking off. We greeted each other and talked. As she was talking I noticed her perfect face, an expression of worry and nervousness, so I gently asked her what was going on. She told me she was about to have a job interview, and she was not sure what questions she would be asked. Thus, she had no idea what to say. At that moment, I decided to help her by pretending we were at the job interview room with me as the interviewer. I helped her to work on her confidence and proficiency five times to make sure she was ready. We laughed and smiled at each other that day. I felt so happy and proud of her. Then she told me her ride was waiting for her outside to take her to her job interview. The last words I remember telling her were:“You will do great, I believe in you,” and then she left.
Prom Party was a month away, and I was so excited to go. Some friends and I decided to go as a group again and go out for dinner. We met up during academic support time in a classroom to discuss how we would dress, and where we would go to eat. Surprisingly, she happened to be in the same classroom too, but I noticed she was not okay as she started sobbing in silence, and I felt worried, and before getting closer to her to ask her what was wrong, she stood up and left with some friends who were consoling her. I had never seen her sobbing before,
which caused me to feel sad and worried for her. The next day, everyone in the school was asked to complete a survey about what songs we wanted the DJ to play the day of the party, so I requested some songs of my favorite artist to be put on the list. In addition, I took a photo of the songs I had requested and posted them on Snapchat. It wasn’t long before I received a message from her, telling me that one of the songs I had posted was one of her favorites. I felt so happy that I immediately asked her to be my date on prom party day without thinking twice. I did not want her to feel forced to accept my invitation, so I asked her to think about it and to give me an answer whenever she felt ready. The next day, unexpectedly, she walked up to me during AST time with that precious smile on her face to tell me she would go with me if we just dated as friends. Of course I accepted her condition. I did not even care. Just thinking of her dancing with me at the party was perfect enough to make me feel that I was the most fortunate person in the world.
The day that I had been waiting for so long finally came. Before meeting with her, I headed to Hy-Vee early in the morning to get her some roses and some other kinds of flowers for her mother just to show how grateful I was for letting her daughter be my date. The hours passed by, and the sun was already hiding on the horizon. She was on her way to pick me up while I was getting ready. I was stunned as I opened the door of her car. She was waiting for me to get in, she was glorious as always and her dress shone as if it had been made of all the stars combined. As I gave her the bouquet of roses, a bright smile appeared on her face. She told me that no one had ever given her roses before, which made me feel so lucky. We headed to her house before meeting up with our group at the restaurant in order to leave the other bouquet of flowers to her mom. We arrived at the restaurant a bit late but we did not care. Being together was good enough for us. We held hands the whole time, and we did not even dare to grab our utensils. Time was already up to go to the party, so our friends rode to the event all together while we went on our own. As soon as we got to the prom, we headed inside because it was freezing outside. Everyone there was dancing, chilling, and eating, so we stepped onto the dance floor and started dancing. To be honest, I was the one who was dancing most of the time because I was trying to make an impression on her, but I could see on her face that she enjoyed my company no matter how bad my moves were. It wasn’t long before it took us to realize the DJ was not going to play our songs and the party was almost over, so we sat on one of the couches that were outside of the dance
floor. We laughed and talked while we were cuddling until we were asked to leave because the party was already over. We headed to the entrance, but we did not dare to go outside because our ride had not yet arrived, so we waited indoors until we were the only ones in the building, but that did not bother us at all. I was just staring at her and thinking of her beauty. Our ride finally showed up twenty minutes later. As we were getting in the car, I was told I would be dropped off at my house first, so on our way we both cuddled with each other, and she noticed I was cold since I had given my jacket to her because she was cold too. She held my frozen hand with her little delicate hands. All of a sudden, time started to slow down more and more as she got closer to me looking at my lips. I felt as if I had finally found my princess who would bring me peace and happiness. She looked at me and her eyes told me that it was the right moment to kiss her, so that’s what I did. I had never felt as happy as I felt that night.
During the next month, we would meet at the bus every morning and hang out in school during our breaks. I would even skip practice to ride home with her. It felt as if every second right next to her was essential for my heart to keep beating. I had never been as in love as I had been with her. During my practices, I would sneak away from my practice time and run to her house just to check on her. Everyday she would text me to thank me for running over to her place. We would talk on the phone every night until we started to feel sleepy. However, behind our prosperous and happy relationship there was something wrong. People at school started to gossip and judge me. They would start looking down on me, even some friends would do it too. It was so hard for me to be judged and criticized by people whom I considered as friends that I could not bear it anymore. Therefore, I told her that it would be good and healthy for us to take a break until the people stopped gossiping about us. She accepted my idea in tears and walked away. I could not stop thinking about her and what I had just done. The last bell rang, and I had to go to practice. As I walked to the main entrance to go out through the parking lot to get to the track field, I saw her heading to the entrance to take the bus. At that moment, I just thought I could not let her walk away after every moment of happiness I spent with her, so I sprinted to her as she was walking out the building through the entrance. She turned around when I shouted her name, she looked at me, and I could see through her eyes that her heart was destroyed, so I told her:
“I realized that happiness is worth more than anything, so I will not let anyone take away what I love the most, I will not let anyone destroy that which I have been waiting for so long, I will not let anyone destroy the love I have for you, and now I realize that i want to be with you, making you happy as much time as possible.”
We both looked at each other and I went in for the kiss.