Secret Love

Chapter 38

"Congratulations to Leslie Mitchell and Christina Allen." The crowd erupted in cheers as the two ladies came up on the stage. They were crying so hard that they almost couldn't speak.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much Ms. Jackson and Ms. Braxton. This is a dream come true. We have no words." The ladies each hugged Janet and Toni.
"We are happy to give you the chance to celebrate your love the way you dreamed. We hope that you guys are able to hold these memories for the rest of your lives." said Janet. The ladies went and sat down.

"Now so if everyone will turn their attention to the screen above so we can watch the love story of these beautiful ladies," said Toni. The lights in the building went low and the video began to play.

"Hi Janet and Toni, my name is Leslie Mitchell and this is my love fiancé Christina Allen, and this is our story."

The screen transitioned to a series of photos.

"Leslie and I met when we were young girls in Georgia. I joined the school on an honor scholarship and we were placed as partners in our class. Our relationship started off great immediately." said Christina.

"I never really had friends so when Christina came along it felt like fate. We had so much in common and I loved spending time with her. We always played together at recess and worked on every project together. Our families became close because of our friendship and everything felt perfect." said Leslie.

"One day, this boy came and asked me to the 7th grade dance. I instantly said no and I couldn't imagine going with any of the other boys in our class. Leslie didn't have a date either so we just hung together at the dance. We were dancing, having a good time when a slow song came on. At first we danced close as a joke but the longer I looked into her eyes the more nervous I got. I figured out then that I loved her more than a friend."

"We had the same thought but didn't think the other felt the same. It took about two weeks to have a conversation about it. That's when we admitted our feelings to each other."

"It seemed so perfect until we realized that our families would never accept us. Both of our fathers were pastors and strongly homophobic."

"So we kept it a secret."

There was a series of videos of the two ladies dancing together, trading gifts and kisses as young girls. One video showed them at 15 giving each other promise rings.

"There were times that really tested out love. We both battled heavily with depression and suicidal thoughts. There were times that we spent all night making sure the other didn't do anything drastic. There was one night where Christina almost died. I had been calling and calling her. Her parents were out of town so I went to check on her. I found her in her room, passed out. She had taken a bunch of pills. I got her to throw it all up. When she woke up, she begged me not to call the hospital."

"I didn't want my family to find out that I tried it. Them being super religious, they wouldn't have helped me. All I would've gotten was a speech about how I would go to hell."

"It was hard watching someone I love slowly fall into this hole of darkness and sadness but I was there the whole time."

"And I was happy she was because, there was no one else I wanted to be with. We eventually worked through my depression and we decided to focus on the good things in our lives."

"We had each other and that's what mattered."

"Everything was going perfectly. We had a plan to move away after high school and be together. I was going to New York to study Culinary and Leslie was going to study Theatre. We had it all planned out.