When I See You Again

One

I was walking down the hallway with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Today was the day.

Today was the day I, Taylor Abbot, was going to ask out the girl of my dreams: Rebecca Wade.

She was a straight-A student with a brace-filled smile. She was a dork, but she was my dork. She was a little bit chubby, but like a I-want-to-grab-your-cheeks-and-squish-them-all-day kind of chubby. She was short, I kind of was too, but it was seventh grade. We were all short.

I think she liked me, too. So, I was going to ask her out someday.

And today was that day.

I almost ran all the way to her last period, but I didn't because I suck at running, and saw her friend, Joey, there.

"Hey Joey! Have you seen Rebecca anywhere?"

"Yeah, yesterday," She said. Yesterday? What happened yesterday?

"Well, where is she now? I have a question for her," I said while looking around.

"She didn't tell you?" Joey said with a sense of questioning in her voice.

"Tell me what?" I said, still looking around desperately.

"She left for London last night. Her family had to move there for business,"

Everything stopped. I froze. The last thing Joey said was still processing in my brain.

I said a quiet "oh" before I politely excused myself. Everything was shattering inside of me. I walked away slowly and I heard Joey calling after me

"Taylor!" She was yelling from about twenty feet away. I heard her running after me and I stopped. I started walking home and she was trying to keep up with my fast walking pace.

After a long silence, she spoke.

"You know-" she said, panting. "She actually liked you. Even if it didn't really seem like it, she was crazy about you.

"Joey," I stopped mid step and turn to face her. "We all know how long distance relationships work, okay? Even if we had a relationship to start with, it wouldn't work out," I said, harshly.

"But-" She started. When I gave her the it's-over-we-are-done-arguing face, she ended it there and we walked the rest of the way home in utter silence.

The rest of seventh grade was a bit depressing because Rebecca left without warning. Eighth went by with a flash, same with freshman year and all of high school except for senior year.

I was headed to my first period class, Algebra with Ms. Montgomery, late obviously. I saw a few stragglers and realized I wasn't going to be the only one. When I got to B101, my jaw dropped.

Sitting in the front row was Rebecca Wade, beautiful as ever.