The Almost Forgotten Love

There he was. Sitting beside me in my English class. Brown hair, perfect darkened eyes, tall and slim. He was my eighth grade crush, always giving me that feeling of happiness and jolt of excitement when I was near him. It just so happened our seats had been changed in that class and like fate doing its magic, he ended up in the seat next to me. Like most eighth grade girls, I was boy crazy. Not obsessive, but almost to that point. But, there was something different about this crush, I knew I was in love with him, right away. The way he smiled, the way he talked, the way he did everything made me want to yell with joy. I will never forget his name, Jack. He had many girls hanging over him and I could see why, he was totally gorgeous. He was also in my gym class and every time he ran and had beads of sweat dripping off his head, I almost fainted because of how cute he looked. He was a jock, that was the only problem. You see, jocks are not always destined to be with shy people like me. In fact, they almost never are. I just wish I would have known that a year ago, in eighth grade…..1

“ Lily, come downstairs and eat your cereal!” I heard my mom calling.2

I groaned, it was a Monday and I had to go to school I quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs, tying my hair back in a ponytail. I insisted on not eating breakfast, I never did. So, I just grabbed an orange and my backpack and raced outside to the bus stop. 3

My two good friends at my bus stop, Emily and Mitchell greeted me.4

“ Lily, how’s the guy working out for you?” Emily asked jokingly.5

She was talking about Jack. I had told almost all of my close friends about him and so everyone knew I was madly in love with him.6

I just replied, “ Fine.” 7

But, that definitely, was not true. I hadn’t even spoken to the guy or anything. I was a speck of dust in his world. He knew who I was, but we didn’t communicate.8

When the bus came, I silently boarded it and sat at the first seat by the door, my regular spot. The bus door squeaked shut and we rode to school. I gazed out the bus window, thinking how I could ever get Jack’s attention. 9

When we arrived at school, I hopped off and made my way to my first class of the day, gym, one of the classes Jack was in with me. 10

We did the usual, dressing out in the nasty sweaty gym uniforms, and then running and doing activities. I watched Jack run and play soccer. He was very athletic and played many different types of sports, while me on the other hand, could barely pitch a baseball. I so desperately wanted to talk to Jack, but we had little in common.11

After gym class, I decided to write a short handwritten note to Jack. It simply stated, 12

“ I love you.” I sealed it with a heart sticker and wrote on the outside, “ To Jack.”13

Morgan, a girl who I had known throughout middle school, had known Jack since kindergarten. Morgan was not the nicest girl in the world, but she could be generous at times. I was not anywhere near brave enough to give the love note to Jack myself, so Morgan did.14

I raced to my second class of the day, math, not even looking back to see what Jack’s reaction had been to the note. Morgan just so happened to be in my math class, and when she returned, she had a look of sympathy on her face.15

I asked, “ Well, what did Jack do?”16

“ Lily, I am sorry, but Jack said he didn’t really care about you at all, he thinks you’re really strange.” she replied.17

Tears welled up in my eyes. I felt like I was in an elevator going down, that had no ending floor. I was hurt, torn, disappointed, angry, all at the same time.18

That was the first time I got hurt by Jack.19

The second time was over the summer. I still loved Jack, but had no way of seeing him. I missed him terribly. I found out from my friend, Cheyenne, that Jack had a Facebook account, so I made one for myself, hoping with all my might that maybe, just maybe he would talk to me on there. I friend requested him and to my surprise, he accepted. I sent him little messages here and there, and at first he replied. But, then his replies started getting shorter and shorter.20

And then, by the beginning of ninth grade, he stopped replying altogether. I felt so rejected, so hurt, that he didn’t even care about me enough to even message me.21

As I started high school, I attended the football games because Jack went there too. At one particular football game, it was raining, the kind of rain that soaks all your clothing. Soon, that rain would be my tears.22

I tried to snag a seat close to Jack, but he kept switching seats. The bleachers were drenched with rain and I almost slipped a few times trying to follow him. Then, I realized Jack was moving because of me. I felt like I didn’t matter, like I was worthless. I burst out into tears, the rain soaking my hair and clothing. I ran away, not even caring where I was going, the rain coming down in sheets.23

I ran out of the stadium and collapsed on the ground. I cried til I had no tears left. Then, I opened my laptop I was carrying in my arms. There was a new message from Jack on Facebook. It said,24

“ Lily, I am so sorry I have been making you feel upset, you never deserved to have been treated like this. Remember that time you gave me that note? I said those things to Morgan because I thought I didn’t deserve you. I stopped replying to your messages because I thought you had moved on. I moved away from you just now because I thought you looked too beautiful and would make me look pathetic. Please don’t hate me, because guess why? I love you too and I always have since I first laid eyes on you.”25

Love,26

Jack27

I smiled, looking up at Jack, standing right above me, grinning. Without even saying a word, we embraced each other, with passion. Love at first sight is what they call, I call it a miracle.28